Interesting facts about the word number. Interesting facts about words

One of Benjamin Franklin's hobbies was collecting synonyms for the word "drunk", that is, "drunk". During his life, the politician heard and recorded 200 original expressions.

Under the original, we mean something original: for example, the author's text, a picture painted by a famous artist, etc. And in the old days, this was the name of the stick, with which a taciturn witness was bludgeoned in court in order to literally knock out testimony from him.

It was no coincidence that the British policemen were nicknamed "Bobby", and not "Willy", "Johnny" or something else. This is a tribute to Robert Peel, the British Prime Minister, who at the end of the century before last carried out a very successful police reform.

The word "bastard" has nothing to do with the "dish" and the tasty crumbs that you can eat from it. But with the word "fornication" it is in the closest relationship. Previously, a bastard was called a descendant, whom an animal of a thoroughbred suit "started" on the side. Then such offspring began to be called scientifically - hybrids - and the original word migrated to the Russian language as a curse word.

In everyday life, we put an equal sign between the words "ship" and "ship", considering them synonyms. But sailors don't think so. For them, a “ship” is a strictly civilian floating craft, and a “ship” is a military one.

What we call "barn" in the Kazakh language is understood as a palace. And it looks like it.

The Yahoo search engine owes its name to writer Jonathan Swift. It was he who invented this word, and also introduced into the language a synonym for the word "dwarf" - "Lilliput".

In Russia 15-18 centuries there was a position with a funny name - lip kisser. If you do not know the etymology, you might think that this man kissed those whom the king-father or other important person did not personally want to kiss. In fact, the kissers were engaged in very boring cases - financial or judicial. And they were called kissers because of the oath procedure, during which it was necessary to kiss the cross. The word "labial" also has nothing to do with the mouth: that was the name of the administrative-territorial unit in Russia.

The pesky celebrity hunters - the paparazzi - owe their definition of their profession to the Fellini film La Dolce Vita. And the character from this picture - the Italian photographer Paparazzo.

Solid and completely fitting hats with slits for the eyes and mouth are today called balaclavas. This lexeme comes from the toponym - the name of the city. During Crimean War the British besieging Balaklava suffered from the cold. To protect their faces as much as possible, they pulled hats over their heads, cutting holes in them.

The first idiots weren't stupid at all. At first, this was the name given to the ancient Greeks, who were not interested in politics and public life. But with the development of Athenian democracy, speakers from the stands increasingly uttered this word with a touch of disdain. They tried to convey to the public that a person who is not interested in politics simply does not have the intellectual abilities for this. Today, "idiot" is one of the medical diagnoses of a person's mental disability.

We still call pocket knives penknives, although we have not repaired any feathers with them for a long time. And in an era when the only writing tool was a quill pen, there was a special knife for sharpening (pointing) it. From him came the word "pencil".

The Internet term for loud laughter - LOL - is actually much older than we think. In the language of the Dutch, it means exactly "fun, laughter." Only this is not an abbreviation, but an independent word, and it is written not in uppercase, but in lowercase letters.

Russian is the ancestor of many other languages, but at the same time it is considered one of the most difficult to learn. He is really beautiful and to be convinced of this, it is enough to read the works of outstanding writers such as Chekhov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy and many others. Many literary experts believe that if these authors wrote their works in English, German, French, or any other language, the result would be quite the opposite. And it's hard to disagree with that.

We present to your attention some very interesting facts about the Russian language.

The most interesting facts about the Russian language for children and adults

1. We all know very well that the Old Russian alphabet differed from the modern one. Most of the letters in it have retained their original appearance to this day, but their sound has changed. So, for example, the letter "X" sounded like "Dick".

2. A very large number of Russian words cannot be translated into foreign languages. One such example is the word "hangover".

3. Have you ever met in Russian words that have three letters "E" in their composition? And they are - it's "serpentine" and "long-necked".

5. Do you still think that there are no words in Russian that are written with a capital letter “Y”? And they exist and these are the names of settlements and rivers, namely Yllimakh, Ygyatta, Ynakhsyt, Ynykchansky, Ytyk-kuyol.

6. Without exception, all cosmonauts are required to learn Russian, since there are some names on the ISS made in our native language.

7. "High Excellency" is the longest noun in Russian, which consists of 24 letters. There is also another unusual word "take out" in Russian - its peculiarity lies in the fact that it is the only one of its kind that does not have a root.

8. Most of the words that begin with the letters "F" and "A" are borrowed from foreign languages. This was also emphasized by the outstanding Russian writer Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - he was proud that in The Tale of Tsar Saltan there is only one word, the capital letter of which is "F" - the word "fleet".

9. The word "back street" is also unique to the Russian language - it has the prefix "KO", which is absent from any other Russian word. Also in Russian there is another very interesting word “vzbzdnul” - after reading it, you noticed that it has six consonants in a row.

10. In Ancient Russia before the 14th century, indecent words were called "absurd verbs", and there were many of them then and now.

11. About 7 billion people live in the world, and 200 million of them speak Russian. It is also worth noting that linguists classified the Russian language as an Indo-European language. It is one of the four most advanced languages ​​in the world and is also one of the six official languages ​​of the UN.

12. Another interesting fact from the history of the Russian language: it is believed that the writer Karamzin is the "parent" of the letter "Yo".

13. The word "exclusively" - is considered the longest particle in the Russian language. But the leader in length between interjections is the word "physical education-hello."

14. World-famous linguists note that the Russian language is considered one of the most difficult. Foreigners spend a lot of time learning it, especially when it comes to writing.

15. The most interesting fact about verbs: the word "to be" is not used in the plural.

16. In Russian, you can use an infinite number of prefixes.

1. The Russian language belongs to the group of Indo-European languages, which directly links it with Greek and Latin.
2. The closest relatives of the Russian language are the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages.
3. The languages ​​of the Germanic group - German and English - had a strong influence on the Russian language. Although at first glance, they have nothing in common.
4. The Russian language is considered one of the most difficult languages ​​in the world. We Russians are always surprised by this, why is it so difficult. And you try to explain to a foreigner the quatrain:

I love river banks and braids

I love it when spit meadows ring

But I love my favorite braid

You do not look askance at this weakness

1. Russian is one of the working languages ​​of the UN. There are 6 working languages ​​in the UN.
2. In Russian, in addition to 16 countries of the former USSR, large communities in Israel, the USA, and others freely communicate.
3. It is believed that more than 200 million people around the world are native speakers of the Russian language. This is about 3% of the world's population.
4. In total, more than 300 million people in the world speak Russian.
5. In some territories of the US state of New York, all official documents must be translated into Russian without fail.
6. Russian is the only state language in one state - Russia.
7. In many countries of the former USSR, Russian is the state language on a par with the national language of these states.
8. The Russian language is in 8th place in terms of the number of people who consider it their native language.
9. In addition to Russia, most people consider Russian as their native language in Ukraine - 38 million people.
10. Most of the native speakers of Russian who consider Russian as their native language in countries other than the countries of the former USSR are in the United States. More than 700,000 people here consider Russian as their native language.
11. Among the languages ​​into which books are most often translated, Russian takes 7th place in the world.
12. Among the languages ​​from which books are most often translated, Russian takes the 4th place in the world.
13. The Russian language is officially recognized as the “language of science”, and is the official language of communication for scientists from all over the world.
14. The Russian language is one of the languages ​​of storage of universal knowledge.
15. As of 2013, the Russian language ranks second in the world among the most popular Internet languages.
16. During the heyday of the USSR, the Russian language was studied in more than 90 countries of the world.
17. At the peak of the popularity of the Russian language, more than 25 million schoolchildren around the world studied it.
18. At the end of the 20th century, the Russian language began to rapidly lose popularity in the world.
19. Surzhik is a special form of the Russian language, which has become widespread in the central regions of Ukraine.
20. The Russian language has a large number of dialects and dialects. This is due to the large territory of our country.
21. Linguists count more than 20 varieties of dialects of the Russian language.
22. The modern Russian alphabet was adopted in 1918 and is still in use today.
23. Historians of the Russian language distinguish three main periods in the development of the language - Old Russian, Old Russian and the period of the national language.
24. In Russian, depending on the meaning of the word, the stress can be on different syllables.
25. In the very big dictionary Russian language more than 253,000 lexical units.
26. The most famous dictionary of the Russian language, the Dahl Dictionary, contains more than 200,000 lexical units.
27. “Ridiculous verbs” in Russian were called obscene and indecent words.
28. Do not say this to schoolchildren: scientists consider the words bull and bee to be the same root words.
29. The Russian alphabet has its oddities. Some letters are written and sound like letters of the Latin alphabet. And some letters are written as in the Latin alphabet, but they sound differently.
30. Only two letters of our alphabet have no sounds. These are hard and soft signs.
31. There are 74 words in Russian that begin with the letter Y.
32. In Russian, there are words that begin with the letter "Y". These words denote geographical names. Basically, these geographical objects are located in Siberia and in the north of Russia.
33. The youngest letter of the Russian alphabet is the letter "Ё". She was born in 1873.
34. As a sign of respect for the letter “Yo”, several monuments to this letter have been erected in Russia.
35. Point of wonder. So in Russian they used to call the exclamation point.
36. In Russian, two words claim to be the longest word in the Russian language. X-ray electrocardiographic (33 letters) and highly contemplative (35 letters).
37. The scientist did not come to consensus on the emergence of the Russian language. According to one version, the ancestor of the Russian language is Sanskrit.
38. The first mention of the letters of the Russian language dates back to 863.
39. The first rules of the Russian language appeared at the end of the 15th century.
40. Schoolchildren learn 6 cases of the Russian language. Actually there are 10 of them.
41. It is believed that in no other language of the world there are so many obscene and abusive words. This speaks of the richness and diversity of the Russian language.
42. Russian, along with French and English, for its melodiousness, is considered the best language for writing songs.

1. Eastern countries they are afraid of the number 4. Its pronunciation is very close to the word "death". The Japanese, Koreans and Chinese equated it with an "unlucky" number. If you pay attention to the number of floors in buildings, you will notice that the number "4" at the end of the floor is almost never registered.

2. A little trick (elementarily explained by mathematics and logic). Take your year of birth, more precisely the last 2 numbers. Remember how old you were in 2011? To these years, add the last digits from the year of birth. I bet you got 111?

3. If you square 111 111 111, the result will surprise you! You will get 12345678987654321. These are all numbers in order. First they increase, then they decrease.

4. Guess what happens when you add up all the numbers on the casino roulette? The number of the devil that many fear is 666.

5. Many people know about the various lotteries "6 out of 49" (as it used to be in Sportloto). Do you know how many times the jackpot has been hit in the history of the game? 3 times! The real lucky ones.

6. Everyone from school remembers the number Pi - 3.14. He even has 2 holidays. Unofficial, of course. In America, this is March 14 (03.14) and July 22 (22/7). Ask why July? Because when you divide the number by the digit of the month, you get exactly the number Pi. Funny idea.

7. The largest number has 600 zeros behind one. It has its own name. It is a centillon.

8. Interesting Facts about numbers and figures concern also scientists. An American math graduate student was late for class one day. Equations were written on the board. George Dantzig (that was the name of the graduate student) thought it was a homework assignment. After suffering for several days, puzzling over how such a difficult task was given, George solved it. What was his surprise when he found out that this is an “unsolvable” problem in statistics. Many scientists have strained their convolutions for many years to unravel the mystery of these problems.

9. Guess what is the most common female name? Anna. 100 million women are named after him.

10. Famous people also with his "cockroaches" in his head and fears. For example, Sigmund Freud was terrified of the number 62. This went so far that Freud did not stay in hotels with more than 61 rooms. What if he, the lucky one, gets 62 out of all? And the composer Schoenberg Arnold was afraid of the devil's dozen. And he died on Friday the 13th at the age of 76 (do you know how much 7 + 6 is?). That's the magic of numbers. And he only says that thoughts are material. And you don’t need to create fears for yourself so that they don’t “finish off” you.

11. Another interesting fact about the devil's number. Imagine that in the USSR, architects wanted to create a microdistrict by building houses in it in such a way that the name of a great power could be read from space. However, the idea somehow fell out of favor or finances did not allow. But as a result, there is the 522nd microdistrict in Kharkov, where there are only 3 houses. And the satellite shows them on the map as "666".

12. In the Himalayas there is a sacred mountain with a height of 6666 m. Its name is Kailash. What is striking is that its height is the distance to the center of the North Pole and at the same time to Stonehenge. Some kind of mystic. But the mountain is actually very beautiful.

13. The centipede actually has far from 40 legs. People often call this a spider with long and thin "legs". It moves so fast it looks like 40 feet. However, some call centipedes centipedes, which in fact have up to 400 legs, and sometimes more. Those who count 100 legs should be wary of this insect. It bites painfully. But the so-called millenniums are generally harmless and harmless. Biology is an interesting science.

14. In Budapest, trolleybuses received numbers in 49. It was in that year that Stalin celebrated his anniversary - the seventh decade. And now the very first trolleybus was assigned No. 70 (although now there is no such route anymore). Since then, route numbers have been given after 70. There is neither the first, nor the twentieth, nor the fifty-third.

15. Is it possible to live a million days? Interesting. But if you count, it's 27 centuries. So many days have not yet passed since the beginning of our era. So the answer is unequivocal - no, you cannot live so many days for 1 person.

How are the words "rocket" and "racket" etymologically related?

The words "rocket" and "racquet" are etymologically unrelated. "Rocket" appeared in Russian under Peter I from German, and in German, in turn, from the Italian "rosshetta", which means "spindle". This is due to the fact that cracker rockets resembled a spindle appearance. But the “racquet” came from the French language, where it was borrowed from the Arabic “r??at” - “palm”.

Where does the word miniature come from?

The word "miniature" comes from the Latin name for red paint "minium" and in the original refers to ancient or medieval paintings in the genre of illuminated manuscript. Due to the small size of these paintings and the presence of the prefix "mini" in the word, an etymological metamorphosis later occurred, as a result of which any small drawings, especially portrait miniatures, began to be called miniatures. From painting, the term also penetrated into literature, where it refers to works of a small format.

What was called subbotnik before the advent of Soviet power?

Before the advent of Soviet power, the word "subbotnik" had a different meaning. So the high school students called the collective flogging, which was arranged for them by the authorities for misconduct committed during the school week. Corporal punishment itself was used in Russian schools until the second half of the 19th century.

Why is the word "untalented" misused today?

The word "untalented" today is mainly used in the sense of "talentless", having no talent. However, it is based on the Turkic word "talan", which means "happiness, prey". Thus, the word "untalented" in the original simply meant "unlucky" and initially had nothing to do with talent, and the modern meaning arose due to confusion and confusion with the word "untalented".

Where did the word "silhouette" come from?

In 1759, French minister Étienne de Silhouette imposed severe economic restrictions due to the financial crisis caused by the Seven Years' War. It was from his last name that the name of the silhouettes - portraits cut out of black paper - came from, since, firstly, they were much cheaper than paintings, and secondly, the minister himself was fond of making such portraits.

Where did the English word guy come from?

In 1605, a group of English Catholics tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament - these events were called the Gunpowder Plot, and Guy Fawkes became its most famous participant. He was instructed to light the fuse, but failed to do so, and Fox himself was arrested. His name was immortalized in the festivities dedicated to the salvation of the king - first, the word guy began to be called an effigy burned on the anniversary of the conspiracy, then a effigy in general, then a poorly dressed person. Now in colloquial American English, any man can be called this word.

Why did the creative elite get the name "bohemia"?

In the Middle Ages, a lot of gypsies lived on the territory of modern Bohemia in the region of Bohemia, and the gypsies who got to France began to be called Bohemians. Their way of life became the basis for comparison with the gypsies of the creative elite, leading an equally chaotic and eccentric life. That is why such a layer of society was called "bohemian".

Where did the word "fuck" come from and what was its original meaning?

In the Old Russian alphabet, the letter X was called "kher". From here came the word "fuck" in the meaning of "cross something on paper with a cross." And only later did this word acquire its modern meaning: “spoil”, “lose”.

How was the word "Internet" translated into the language of the Eskimos?

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Eskimos got acquainted with the Internet, and this term needed to be translated into their language. The experts chose the word "ikiaqqivik" - "journey through the layers". Previously, this word was used to describe the actions of a shaman who, in order to find an answer to any question, "traveled" through time and space.

Where did the expression "quiet glanders" come from?

The word sape means "hoe" in French. In the 16th-19th centuries, the term "sapa" denoted a method of digging a trench, ditch or tunnel to approach the fortifications. Gunpowder bombs were sometimes planted in the tunnels to the castle walls, and the specialists trained to do this were called sappers. And from the covert digging of tunnels came the expression "quiet glanders", which today is used to denote cautious and inconspicuous actions.

Where did the word "humor" come from?

The word "humor" comes from ancient Greece, but there it was used in a medical sense. Ancient doctors believed that a person's condition consisted of the ratio of fluids in his body - blood, lymph, yellow and black bile. Each such liquid was called "humor". If all four humors were in perfect balance, the person could be considered healthy and happy.

Why do football fans shout: “Shai-boo! Shai-boo!"?

The cry of the fans: “Shai-bu! Shai-boo! can be heard both on hockey and on football matches. This happened thanks to the famous hockey player Boris Mayorov, who loved to play football and even took part in the matches of the USSR Major League for Spartak. When the ball hit Mayorov on the football field, the fans began to cheer him up with the usual hockey chant.

Why is a Mitsubishi Pajero car sold under the Montero brand in Spain?

The Mitsubishi Pajero car was introduced to the Spanish market as the Mitsubishi Montero, because in the local slang the word "pajero" (read "pajero") means "masturbator".

What languages ​​have words without vowels?

Serbian and Croatian have words without vowels. For example, in the Adriatic Sea there is the island of Krk. It is even more difficult in this regard for the Czechs and Slovaks. Their longest word without vowels is ?tvrthrst, which means "a quarter of a handful." Moreover, sentences can be formed from such words, for example Str? prst skrz krk - "put your finger through your throat."

Where did the word "coin" come from?

The Roman goddess Juno had the title Moneta, which in Latin means "warning" or "adviser". Near the temple of Juno on the Capitol there were workshops where metal money was minted. That is why we call them coins, and in English language from this title came the common name of money - "money". By the way, the original meaning of the word "coin" comes into play when we toss it for advice.

Which vegetable's name comes from the word "unripe"?

The word "cucumber" is borrowed from the Greek language, in which it was formed from a word meaning "unripe". The reason for this is that cucumbers are eaten unripe.

Where did the word "bug" in the meaning of "malfunction" come from?

On September 9, 1947, engineers at Harvard University discovered the cause of a malfunction of the Mark II computer - a moth stuck between the relay contacts. One of them documented an incident called "First Bug Discovery" (in English, bug means insect). However, the word "bug" for technical malfunctions began to be used long before that, for example, it is found in Edison's diary. The word "debugging" in the sense of "debugging, correcting errors" also arose earlier - the Oxford Dictionary of 1945 described it in relation to the repair of aircraft engines.

What holiday decorations were originally sweet and edible?

Since ancient times, there has been a tradition to shower participants in balls, carnivals, weddings with sweets. They got the name "confetti" from the Italian word for "candied" (hence the candy also got its name). Later, they came up with the idea of ​​replacing sweets with small pieces of paper, but the word for them - confetti - remained the same.

What name of the armor was borrowed from the Mongols and ennobled?

Mongolian warriors wore armor called "khuyag". During the wars of Russia with the Golden Horde, this word penetrated the Russian language, but in an ennobled form - oriental armor of the brigantine type began to be called "kuyak"

What is the blue ball spinning overhead in the popular song?

In a popular song that sounded in the 1934 film Maxim's Youth, there are lines: "The blue ball is spinning, spinning, spinning overhead." The obvious illogicality of the text (what kind of ball can spin overhead?) is easily explained. In the original version of this song, which arose back in the middle of the 19th century, it was not “ball”, but “scarf” that was sung. But since the letter "f" at the junction of words at a fast pace was very difficult to sing, it was subsequently reduced.

How many nouns of Russian origin are there that begin with the letter "a"?

Almost all Russian words that begin with the letter "a" are borrowed. There are very few nouns of Russian origin with "a" in modern speech - these are the words "alphabet", "az" and "maybe".