Each of us has known the names of Russian trees since childhood. We do not think about what they mean, why they sound like that, and not otherwise. Just like the words sun, sky, earth or birds. All these words are not conceptual for us, for example, such as a steam locomotive or an airplane. Their meaning is hidden from our mind, but it is they who create the visual-semantic sphere of our being. If you ask what the names of the trees mean and whether they are similar in different languages, and start your little research, then you will find interesting facts. Consider the above positions on the example of the three most typical representatives of the Russian flora: birch, oak and willow. These deciduous trees, the names of which themselves represent for each native Russian speaker the conceptual components: white, strong and weeping, respectively.
Birch
The name birch tree in
modern Russian language has passed from Old Russian. And then its roots can be traced - in the Old Slavonic, Pan-Slavic and Indo-European. Even the English Birch is somehow alliteratively consonant with the Russian word. At the Old Slavonic language, birch ("brzan") has one meaning with the month, which is now called April. At the Indo-European level, the bhereg root is interpreted as white, clean or light. Thus, it becomes clear that the name birch received as a tree with a light, whitening trunk. At first glance, the disclosure of the conceptual series gave us very simple conclusions, even obvious ones, but now the word “birch” is becoming more understandable.
Oak
All attempts by linguists to decompose the name of this tree into some components
ended with rather ambiguous conclusions. For example, pulling the word "oak" to the Greek demo (build), the result is a translation - "building tree". Quite a dubious result. But identifying the Slavs as a people using mystical practices, and in particular their tabooistic experience, the understanding of this word becomes more transparent. Oak, like a bear, was for the Russian ancestors something more than rulers or masters. The direct word was used extremely rarely. Instead of "ber" they said "knowing honey," that is, a bear. Instead of “perk” they said “a tree with a hollow”, that is, an oak. Thus, it turns out that this tree is Perun - one of the main gods of the Slavic pantheon.
Willow
Rakita, willow,
branches, willow ... Many people think that these are the names of different trees. This is not true. In fact, it is one and the same plant. But only one name - willow - entered all Slavic languages. If we refer to the Indo-European proto-language, it means "reddish wood." But, turning to the mythology of the Slavs, you can find a more romantic, and possibly more accurate understanding of the name. "Willow" - "Vila" - "Samovila" - these are magical creatures who knew how to sing beautifully. By the way, the same perspective can be traced in English: Willow is the name of the tree and
Veelae - fabulous girls who can charmingly sing. Of course, a rather approximate meaning, far from the methods of modern science, but what a romantic ...
Finally
The names of the trees, like many other words of the Russian language, are a journey into the history of our ancestors - the Slavs. Into their language secret. Later, many transformations of the Russian language took place. Cyril and Methodius threw out many letters, in their opinion, superfluous. German scientists in the era of Catherine II structured the language in the manner of the European. The Bolsheviks removed the last mysterious signs. Modern Americanized Russian makes one forget the last secrets. But it is possible to reveal secrets simply by listening to the sounds and analyzing the meaning of ordinary Russian words.