The question of who such Koschey the Immortal is, is relevant to this day. Is this folk art or did he have a prototype of a historical figure? Maybe this is generally a figment of the imagination of all time? And why does this immortal fairytale antihero have such a strange name? Let's talk about all this in more detail ...
Koschey the Immortal, who are you?
First of all, we know that this is one of the brightest fairy-tale characters. His appearance is vague, and the interpretation of the image is contradictory. In addition, his name does not have a clear etymology. There are at least two versions of the origin of this dubious fabulous (and maybe not fabulous) personality:
- This is the result of popular imagination, which later became folklore and the heritage of the republic.
- Koschey the Immortal (photo) is a prototype of a real person.
Version one: folk fiction (folklore)
Koschey the Immortal, for whom for several reasons it is not possible to demonstrate to you (only drawings) how a folklore fictional character is endowed with many powers. He turns into a black crow, and sometimes - into a flying snake. This allows him to easily and quickly move around the world and different worlds, stealing everything he needs. And he needs precisely gold and other riches ... Remember how Pushkin said about Koshchei, who languishes over gold? And so it is. According to the popular legend, water gives it strength. Having drunk three buckets at a time, he is able to tame even the Serpent Gorynych! By the way, some researchers in the field of Slavic mythology claim that the images of the Immortal and Gorynych are interchangeable in Russian fairy tales. Both of them simply adore wealth, and also steal beautiful girls! However, Koschey is endowed with a little more power, not subject to the Serpent Gorynych.
Version two: real prototype
According to this version, the prototype of the fabulous Koshchei is none other than St. Kasyan himself. The fact is that the aforementioned prototype could well be called Koshchei because of the consonance of these names. In addition, two holidays coincide: the day of Chernobog and the day of St. Kasyan, the Slavs celebrated at the same time - at the end of February. According to some reports, on this holiday they put on strange outfits in the form of human bones with a crown on their heads, which to this day are popular in children's morning performances and in fabulous performances. This refers to the costume of Koshchei the Immortal. Meanwhile, Kasyan did a lot for Christianity to spread on the earth, but he was still considered evil, not holy!
Meaning of his name
The origin of the name of this fairy-tale character has a philological character: harmony and general semantics with some words, for example, with sacrilege. "Koshchun" is a sorcerer. And indeed: only the omnipotent black magicians are immortal, as well as people who turned to the dark forces for help (for example, Faust Goethe).
In addition, in the Old Slavonic language, the word “koshch” (or “kosh”) means “skinny”, “dry” or “thin”. We all remember the appearance of our antihero: skin and bones ... Some etymologists say that his name is nothing more than a mythological image of nature that has become ossified and frozen from severe frosts.
Summarize
Let's put all the above thoughts together. So, Koshchei the Immortal is a folk-folklore image of ancient Russian fairy tales, arising from dubious rumors of St. Kasyan, backed up by such Old Slavs as kosht and koshchun. Though small, but true!