We, native speakers of modern Russian, are well aware of the word zolotnik from the expression Small zolotnik, yes dear. We use it when we want to say something insignificant in appearance, but valuable in its content. This word also appears in other expressions that are less well-known to us, but are quite common at the end of the last and beginning of this century: Your own spool is more expensive than someone else's pood; Troubles are more expensive, and happiness is more expensive; The spool is small - yes to carry on your hand, the camel is large-yes to carry water; The spool is small, the pound is great, but it will throw some others. Of course, the meaning of the word spool in all these expressions is figurative, figurative. But what is its original, true meaning, and why was the spool expensive? Let's try to understand this.
According to etymological dictionaries, this word is actually Russian, it came from gold "precious metal" and was originally used in two forms: with the full voice zolotnik and with the incomplete voice zlatnik.
In the monuments of writing zolotnik gets quite early, in particular, in the Contract with the Greeks of 945, we read: "Entering the same Russia in the city, but do not have the volost kupiti dragged lishe 50 zlatnik" (Sofia first chronicle. PSRL. SPb., 1853. Vol. VI). In this example, it is not known exactly what the spool means: a gold coin or a gold bar, which in ancient times was used as a unit of monetary circulation.
In another example, also of an early period, in the Lavrentiev Chronicle under 1179, the zolotnik already has a well-defined meaning of "gold coin": "But I do not steal everything that I took from my shyurinu from Mstislav and Yaropolk and up to the zolotnik" (Lavrentiev chronicle. PSRL. Ed. 2-E. L., 1926-1928. Vol. I). With the same meaning of "gold coin", the spool is also used in a later monument of the XVII century when describing China: "They pour silver from them [the Chinese] with small boxes and whips and weigh the weight of lanami, and lana ponashu weighing 8 hryvnia, and in it 10 ranks ponashu 10 spool, and in the spool they will be 8 kopecks" (Description of the book of Sei of the state of China or Khinsky, 1734. Manuscript of b-ki Smolensky ped. in- ta).
The name spool in the meaning of "gold coin" was well known in ancient times, this is confirmed by data from various sources.
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written sources. Some historians claim that starting from the end of the XII century, coins made of silver were more popular in commodity and monetary circulation (Kamentseva E. I., Ustyugov N. V. Russkaya metrologiya, Moscow, 1965). In our opinion, the spool has become more widely known in its metrological meaning "weight measure". With it, the word is also found in written monuments from the XIII century. Thus, in the Treaty Charter of the Smolensk Prince Mstislav Ravirovich with Riga and the Gotha coast under 1229, we read:: "Weigh precise silver without 10 spool bars." In a later monument of 1676 in the list of gifts to the tsar it is mentioned: "The Silver Cup... weight 5-th pounds 58-m zolotnikov " (Gifts of the patriarch to the tsar at the wedding). In this example, the spool appears as part of a larger weight unit, the pound. The word is also mentioned in private correspondence, however, with a peculiar spelling: "Pyat [b] zalatnikov zhemchyugu rasypnova melkava "(Gramotki XVII-early XVIII century. Edited by S. I. Kotkov, Moscow, 1969).
The above examples show that the scope of application of the spool is quite specific: the spool weighed precious metals, products made from them and precious stones. Most likely, the meaning of the word "weight measure" or" weighing unit " was derived from the meaning of "gold coin" or"gold bar". Such a development of meaning - by metonymic transfer-will be quite logical (the word hryvnia also developed its metrological meaning in a similar way: at first it meant a monetary unit, a gold ingot, and then a weight unit for weighing precious metals and stones).
The spool was called a small but accurate weight. "Trade book" gave traders a detailed description of the measures that existed in Russia in ancient times. In this Book, not only the names of measures were indicated, but also their ratio to each other, and the spool of interest is compared in the most accurate way with the smaller unit of kidney and at the same time with the larger one - pound: the weight of the spool was 25 kidneys (according to the modern metric system-4,267 g) or 1/96 of a pound (the pound was 409.5 g).
Despite such a small weight, the spool could divide, this is evidenced by the names poluzolotnik and polzlatnik found in written monuments, which meant a weight equal to half the spool. In one of the monuments, it is reported about the scales that show the weight on the half-gold piece in favor of the seller, which was quite a fair basis for the complaint: "And now we have a bigger complaint against you, there is no half-place in your veseh berkovsk, but in the silver veseh poluzolotnik, according to the cross tsolovany shtoby they corrected it" (Polotsk letters XIII - beginning. XIV V. M., 1977).
In addition to the usual spool, the unit of trade, in the XVII-XVIII centuries
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and later the apothecary's spool was distributed, which is used respectively in the apothecary business. Experts in historical metrology claim that the value of this spool was different from the usual value, it was 1/4 of an ounce or 1/8 of an ounce (an ounce was equal to 29.8 g), the same value was another apothecary's unit of weight - the drachma (equal to 3.73 g; Kuznetsov S. K. Ancient Russian metrology. Malmyzh-na-Vyatka, 1913).
In parallel with the name spool, the language also used adjectives derived from it, which together with nouns formed the following terminological combinations: spool weight, spool duty - this was the name of the duty levied on the spool of gold and silver: "On gosudaryovo at the money yard... what is taken to the treasury of silver from merchants, and what is taken from that silver by goldenrod duties... and other books" (Acts relating to the legal life of Russia, St. Petersburg, 1857-1884). Spool weight-this was the name of the weight-lever, weighing in the spool; in colloquial speech, the combination of spool goods was used to denote threads and thin, expensive goods that were sold for spool parts (Dal V. I. Explanatory Dictionary of the living Great Russian language, Moscow, 1978-1980, Vol. I).
If initially the spool was used for weighing precious metals and stones, then over time the scope of its application has expanded somewhat. But it hasn't changed. As before, valuable goods were weighed on the spools, most often imported from abroad, for example, cloves, cinnamon, and other spices, as well as silk: "... Silk was bought for shitvo, two spools were given for rizes, two altyns were given" (Monuments of business writing of the XVII century). Vladimir Region, Moscow, 1984); "They stole one hundred and forty spools of sholku chervchatogo Burskogo" (Monuments of diplomatic relations of the Moscow state with the Crimea, St. Petersburg, 1895).
In trade documents, it is often mentioned that silk was measured by weight, most likely referring to raw silk, and not fabric, maybe spun or twisted silk.
There is evidence that the spool also measured the volume of liquids, primarily wine: "Let them make a commandment about selling wines and spring goods, so that they do not sell separately, but learn to sell, you have a commandment from the cup for two rubles, and from the foot for three rubles, from the bucket for five rubles, and from the spool to have two rubles" (Stroganov's letters of the XVI-XVII centuries. Dmitriev A. Permskaya starina [Permian antiquity]. Perm, 1995. Issue VI); later-spirits, for example: "Spirits of Cats on the spool" (Mayakovsky. Bedbug).
The spool in the meaning of "unit of weight" has existed in Russian for quite a long time. Along the way, we note that the Old Russian tradition continued in other Slavic languages, in particular in the
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Old Belarusian - spool was used first in the meaning of "monetary unit", then - "unit of weight": "I gave Robiti fifty spool rings and two silver coins, and sholku pyat [kommersant]ten spool rings" (Belarusian Archive, Minsk, 1927-1930); "... ten spool rings equal to pearls, and a spool for a kopeck of pennies " (Acts relating to the history of Western Russia, St. Petersburg, 1846-1853).
At the end of the XVII century, when the metrological system was already firmly established by the universally used measure (respectively, the name) - pound, which was equal to 96 spool units, sometimes with the consumption of silver exceeding the weight of 96 spool units, the amount of silver was still indicated by tradition in spool units, and not in pounds. So, there is information that in 1696-1697, new silver salaries and crowns on icons were made in the Pyskorsky monastery, and silver "488 spool with a half-gilt" (Letters of the College of Economy) was spent on this work. Solikamsk acts). As a small unit of weight, the spool was used until the introduction of the unified metric system, but mainly in jewelry and pharmacy. Historians note that even at the beginning of the XX century, the weight of pure gold in coins - gold chervonets (Kamentseva, Ustyugov. Edict. op.).
The word spool in the meaning of "small unit of weight" was used quite widely not only in terminological contexts, but from the XVIII to XX centuries it was also found in literary texts. For example, in A. P. Chekhov's play "Three Sisters" Chebutykin recalls a recipe that recommends:: "For hair loss... two spools of naphthalene for half a bottle of alcohol."
In the novel "Gold" by D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, one of the characters confides: "When I discovered the Fotyanovo placer, the content in the sands of one and a half spool for a hundred pounds, which means that it cost the treasury a lot of work-six hryvnias, and the ruler Frolov put three rubles in gold." In the same place, the author uses the expression go to the spool and immediately explains "it means to find a gold-bearing reservoir with a gold content of 100 poods of sand 1 spool".
In these examples, the spool is used in its direct, metrological meaning, but in the next series of examples we encounter a very original use of this word. At the beginning of the XVIII century, parodies of medical clinics were especially popular, in form resembling serious medical clinics, and in content - fairy tales and tall tales. In such parody clinics, one could find the following recipe: "... take female dancing and heart pressing, and palm splashing with 6 spool points, the thinnest flea skok with 17 spool points and mix them together "(Lit. Bulletin. 1802. Book 7). This tradition was continued by the satirical literature of the second half of the XVIII century, which, using the original form of ancient recipes,
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I tried to point out certain shortcomings of the society of my time and indicate the means to correct them. So, in the magazine of N. I. Novikov "Drone" they advise: "feelings of true humanity 3 lots, love for one's neighbor 2 spool and condolences to the impoverishment of slaves 3 spool, put together to grind and give to the patient in warm water." In all these examples, the spool has the figurative meaning "some small amount", and the name of this unit is used to give a parody of the recipe form, which ultimately creates a comic effect.
The figurative meaning of the spool served as the basis for creating a number of bright and unambiguous proverbs and sayings in which the word spool performs various functions. Most often, it is used to assess the qualities of a person or any thing: The spool is small, but expensive, and the pound is large, but it will throw. Small spool-yes expensive, great Fedora-yes a fool. Small spool-yes on the hand to carry, and a large camel-yes to carry water; Small spool, yes weighty. These expressions are used when describing a person of small stature or young, but who has many positive qualities. The spool in these expressions appears in the meaning of "insignificant in appearance", which is reinforced by the quantitative-defining words: small - weighty. The proverbs "The fool who gets spool money and spends it in pounds, ""Misfortunes fall in a heap, and happiness in spool money" also characterize a person and his condition, but the spool in them performs a quantitative function and is used in the sense of"little". And in the proverb: The disease enters in poods, and comes out with spool pads, or in Dahl we find its variant: Health comes out in poods, and enters with spool pads - the spool is used in the sense of "slowly, little by little", i.e. it performs the function of a temporary assessment.
Now, using the expression Small spool, yes expensive, we use only the first part of the proverbs considered and, of course, do not try to correlate the word spool with a certain metrological value of 4.267 g or with a gold ingot, these values have long been outdated and forgotten. And the spool is associated with something small, but valuable, so it is still expensive.
Kolomna, Moscow region
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