We can say “cook” and “cook”, but for a modern man with a masculine gender, the words “cook” already have difficulties. This word is older and once had a masculine version of "cook". What does the word mean? What is its significance? Who was called a cook in Russia? What historical errors and myths are associated with this word? All this will be discussed in the article.
The origin of the word "cook", its meaning, definition
The following interpretations of the word are given in the dictionaries:
- in the dictionary Ozhegova S.I. and Shvedova N.Yu. A “cook” is a servant in a kitchen that prepares food ;
- in the synonym dictionary, the following substitute words are indicated: maid, cook, cook, pan, cookcloth, servant, armor, cookbook ;
- in D.N. Ushakov’s dictionary, “cook” is a housekeeper who cooks dishes ;
- in the Small Academic Dictionary, this is a worker who cooks, a cook .
It is believed that the word came from the Polish “cook”, which means “cook”, “cook”. It is present in Ukrainian, Czech, Polish.
Who was called a cook in Russia
In the 19th century, it was fashionable in Russia to invite the French, who called themselves “cooks” in the French style, to secured houses for cooking, but Russian gentlemen called them “cooks”. In the Dahl V.I. dictionary, “cook” is a specially trained person who cooks food .
Serfs or mercenary women, who were called cooks by habit, were prepared for servants. It should be noted that in the 19th century the word “cook” was already outdated and was not used in speech, but “cook” was still quite actively used in the spoken language.
Those gentlemen who could not afford French specialists were prepared by the serf, and if she cooked no worse than overseas cooks, she was proudly called the “cook” or “cook”.
A cook who prepared food for the masters was called white, and for the servant it was called black. It follows that the expression "black cook" has nothing to do with mysticism. This concept is used by Tolstoy L. N. in the novel "Anna Karenina."
Myths and historical fallacies
It is believed that the authors of the common phrase “Every cook can rule a country” are Marx and Engels, but in fact, V. I. Lenin should be considered the author
The fact is that the article, from the context of which this phrase was taken out, was translated into Russian from German, and it was translated in abbreviated form. And for a long time the phrase was used in the wrong way. And initially it sounded like this: “Every cook can rule the country if she is taught!”