The amazing secrets of the Russian greeting

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The custom of greeting ancient Russia is mysterious and interesting. Despite the fact that much has been lost and some rules are not followed during this ritual, the main meaning remains the same - this is a wish to the interlocutor of health!

1 Pre-Christian greetings

In fairy tales and epics, heroes very often greet a field, a river, a forest, and clouds. People, especially young people, are told: "Thou art good, good fellow!" The word goy is very old, this ancient root is found in many languages. In Russian, its meanings are associated with life and life-giving power, and in Dahl's dictionary goit means "fast, live, welcome." But there is another interpretation of the greeting “Goy thou!”: Some researchers argue that this phrase indicates belonging to one community, clan, tribe and can be translated as: “You are ours, our bloods”.

So, the word “goy” means “to live”, and “you” means “is”. Literally this phrase can be translated into modern Russian as follows: "You are now and be still alive!"

Interestingly, this ancient root is preserved in the word outcast. And if "goy" is "to live, life", then "outcast" - his antonym - is a person cut off from life, deprived of it.

Another common greeting in Russia is "Peace to your home!" It is unusually complete, respectful, because in this way a person welcomes the house and all its inhabitants, close and distant relatives. Perhaps, in pre-Christian Russia, by such a greeting, they also meant an appeal to a housekeeper and a god of this kind.

2 Christian greetings

Christianity gave Russia a variety of greetings, and from that time on, from the very first words spoken, it became possible to determine the religion of a stranger. Russian Christians loved to greet each other like this: "Christ is in our midst!" - and answer: "There is and will be!". Russia is dear to Byzantium, and the ancient Greek language is almost native. The ancient Greeks greeted each other with an exclamation of "Hayrete!" Which meant "Rejoice!" - and the Russians, following them, took this greeting. "Rejoice!" - as it were, a man begins the song to the Most Holy Theotokos (after all, it is such a refrain that is found in the hymns of the Theotokos). Another greeting that appeared during this time was more often used when a person passed by working people. "God help!" - he said then. "To the glory of God!" or "Thank God!" - answered him. These words, not as a greeting, but more often as a simple wish, are still used by Russians.

Surely not all versions of ancient greetings have come down to us. In spiritual literature, the greeting was almost always "omitted" and the heroes went straight to the essence of the conversation. Only in one literary monument - the apocrypha "The Legend of our Father Agapius" of the 13th century, there is a greeting of that time, surprising with its poetry: "Good walk and good you will be."

3 Kisses

The threefold kiss, which has survived in Russia to this day, is a very old tradition. The number three is sacred, it is both fullness in the Trinity, and reliability and protection. The guests were kissed so often - after all, a guest for a Russian person is like an angel entering a house. Another type of kiss is the kiss of the hand, which signified respect and admiration. Of course, this is how the confidants greeted the sovereign (sometimes kissing not even the hand, but the leg). This kiss is part of the priest's blessing and is also a greeting. In the church, they also kissed the one who had just received the Holy Mysteries of Christ - in this case, the kiss was both a congratulation and a greeting of a renewed, purified person.

The sacred, and not only "formal" meaning of kissing in Russia is also indicated by the fact that not everyone was allowed to kiss the sovereign's hand (it was forbidden for ambassadors of non-Christian countries). A person with a lower status could kiss a higher one on the shoulder, and that one could kiss him on the head.

After the revolution and in Soviet times, the tradition of kissing greetings weakened, but now it is reviving again.

4 Bows

Bows are a greeting that, unfortunately, has not survived to this day (but remained in some other countries: for example, in Japan, people of any level and social status still bow deeply to each other when they meet, say goodbye, and as a token of gratitude). In Russia, it was customary to bow at a meeting. But the bows were different.

The Slavs greeted a respected person in the community with a low bow to the ground, sometimes even touching or kissing it. This bow was called a "great custom." Acquaintances and friends were greeted with a "small custom" - bowing at the waist, while strangers were greeted almost without custom: putting their hand to the heart and then lowering it down. It is interesting that the gesture “from the heart to the earth” is originally Slavic, but “from the heart to the sun” is not. Putting your hand to your heart accompanied any bow - this is how our ancestors expressed the cordiality and purity of their intentions.

Any bow metaphorically (and physically too) means humility in front of the interlocutor. There is also a moment of defenselessness in it, because a person bows his head and does not see the one who is in front of him, substituting him the most defenseless place of his body - the neck.

5 Hugs

Hugs were common in Russia, but this type of greeting also had its varieties. One of the most interesting examples is the male hug "heart to heart", which, at first glance, shows the complete trust of men to each other, but in reality testifies to the opposite, because it was in this way that men checked whether a potential dangerous rival had weapons. A separate type of hug is fraternization, a sudden cessation of hostilities. Relatives and friends hugged, and also people in the church before confession. This is an ancient Christian tradition that helps a person to tune in to confession, forgive others and ask for forgiveness himself (after all, there were people in churches then who knew each other well, and among them were offenders and offended).

6 Handshakes and hats

Touching the hands is an ancient gesture that communicates a lot to the interlocutors without a single word. A lot can be determined by how strong and long the handshake is. The duration of the handshake is proportional to the warmth of the relationship; close friends or people who have not seen each other for a long time and are happy to meet could make a hot handshake not with one hand, but with both. The elder was usually the first to extend his hand to the younger - this was, as it were, an invitation to him to join his circle. The hand must be "bare" - this rule has survived to this day. An open hand indicates trust. Another option for shaking hands is touching not with palms, but with hands. Apparently, it was widespread among the soldiers: in this way they checked that those who met on their way had no weapons with them, and demonstrated their disarmament. The sacred meaning of such a greeting is that when the wrists touch, the pulse is transmitted, and therefore the biorhythm of another person. Two people form a chain, which is also important in the Russian tradition.

Later, when the rules of etiquette appeared, only friends were attributed to shaking hands. And in order to say hello to distant acquaintances, they raised their hat. This is where the Russian expression "nodding acquaintance" came from, meaning a superficial acquaintance.

7 "Hello" and "Hello"

The origin of these greetings is very interesting, since the word "hello", for example, is not simply reduced to the word "health", that is, health. Now we perceive it exactly in this way: as a wish to another person of health and long life. However, the root "healthy" and "healthy" is found in ancient Indian, and in Greek, and in the Avestan languages. Initially, the word “hello” consisted of two parts: “Sъ-” and “* dorvo-”, where the first meant “good”, and the second related to the concept of “tree”. What does the tree have to do with it? For the ancient Slavs, the tree was a symbol of strength and prosperity, and such a greeting meant that a person wishes another for these strengths, endurance and prosperity. In addition, the greeter himself comes from a strong, strong family. This also proves that not everyone could say hello. Free people, equal to each other, were allowed to do this, but slaves were not. The form of greeting for them was different - "Beat your brow".

The very first mention of the word "hello" was found by the researchers in the annals dated to 1057. The author of the chronicles wrote: "Hello, many years."

The word "hello" is easier to decipher. It also consists of two parts: "at" + "vet". The first is found in the words "caress", "incline" and means proximity, approaching something or someone. The second is in the words “advice”, “answer”, “message” … Saying “hello”, we show closeness (and indeed, only to close people we address this way) and, as it were, convey good news to another.