We have repeatedly heard the expression "Aesopian language." What does this term mean and where does it come from? It is not known whether such a person lived, or is it a collective image. There are many legends about him, and in the Middle Ages his biography was compiled. According to legend, he was born in the VI century BC. e. in Asia Minor, and was a slave to the Lydian king Croesus, however, a dodgy mind, ingenuity and cunning helped him gain freedom and glorified for many generations.
Naturally, it was the founding father of this technique who first applied the Aesopian language. Examples of it are given to us by a legend that tells that Croesus, having drunk too much, began to assure that he could drink the sea, and made a bet, putting his whole kingdom at stake. The next morning, sobering up, the king turned to his slave for help, and promised to grant him freedom if he would help him out. The wise slave advised him to say: “I promised to drink only the sea, without the rivers and streams that flow into it. Block them, and I will fulfill my promise. " And since no one could fulfill this condition, Croesus won the bet.
Being a slave and then a freedman, the sage wrote fables in which he ridiculed stupidity, greed, lies and other vices of people he knew - mainly his former master and his friends, slave owners. But since he was a bonded man, he clothed his narrative in allegory, periphery, resorted to allegories, and displayed his heroes under the names of animals - fox, wolf, crow, etc. This is the Aesopian language. The images in the funny stories were easily recognizable, but the "prototypes" could not do anything but silently rage. In the end, the ill-wishers planted a stolen vessel from Aesop, and the priests Delph accused him of theft and sacrilege. The sage was given the choice to declare himself a slave - in this case, his master had to pay only a fine. But Aesop chose to remain free and accept the execution. According to legend, he was cast off a cliff in Delphi.
Thus, thanks to his ironic, but allegorical syllable, Aesop became the founder of such a literary genre as a fable. In subsequent eras of dictatorships and infringement of freedom of expression, the fable genre was very popular, and its creator remained a true hero in the memory of generations. We can say that the Aesopian language has far outlived its creator. So, in the Vatican Museum there is an antique bowl with a hunchback drawing (according to legend, Aesop had an ugly appearance and was a hunchback) and a fox that tells something - art historians believe that the founder of the fable is depicted on the bowl. Historians claim that in the sculptural series of the "Seven Wise Men" in Athens there was once a statue of Aesop the carver of Lysippus. Then there was a collection of fables of the writer, compiled by anonymous.
In the Middle Ages of the Aesop, the language was extremely popular: the famous "Tale of the Fox" is composed of such an allegorical syllable, and in the images of the fox, wolf, rooster, donkey and other animals, the entire ruling elite and clergy of the Roman Church are ridiculed. Lafontaine, Saltykov-Shchedrin, the well-known composer of fables Krylov, the Ukrainian fabulist Glibov used this manner of speaking hazyly, but aptly and caustically. Aesop's parables were translated into many languages, they were composed in rhyme. Many of us from the school bench probably know the fable about the raven and the fox, the fox and the grapes - the subjects of these short moralizing stories were invented by the ancient sage.
It cannot be said that Aesopian language, the meaning of which in times of regimes where censorship was the rule, is irrelevant today. The allegorical style, which does not directly call the target of satire, with its "letter" seems to be addressed to the strict censor, and "spirit" to the reader. Since the latter lives in realities that are subjected to veiled criticism, he easily recognizes it. And even more than that: a quirky manner of ridicule, full of secret hints that require guesswork, hidden characters and images is much more interesting to readers than a direct and undisguised accusation of power by any offenses, therefore even those writers and journalists who have nothing to resort to elements of the Aesopian language to be afraid. We see its use in journalism, and in journalism, and in pamphlets on current political and social topics.