Proud Soviet school graduates will understand what obsolete words mean

Horace compared words to leaves. Like them, they are born, they thrive, they age, and they pass away to make room for new ones. Some become obsolete because the concepts they called (historicisms) no longer exist; others are replaced by more modern synonyms (archaisms). Our test will determine how well you know outdated words and their meanings.



We foresee the question: “Wouldn’t it be better to forget all these archaisms and speak a normal modern language?” Well, we're not asking you to use outdated words at home. But they certainly should be known. This will allow you to better understand our history, will be useful when reading the classics of Russian literature, will make the speech more vivid and expressive.

Outdated words and their meanings
  1. vestimo
    We all once learned by heart an excerpt from Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov’s poem “Peasant Children”.
    "Where's the wood?" - "From the forest, news;
    Father, you hear him, he chops and I take him away.
    Question: In what sense is the word “vestimo” used here?
    (a)apparently
    b) carry
    in


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  2. Suseki
    "I am Kolobok, Kolobok,
    I'm box-scratched,
    By the crossbow of methane
    What kind of squirrels are they, and where are they located?
    (a) floor near the stove
    (b) fenced off in the barn
    (c)window sill


  3. Alcota
    What does the old word “alcota” mean?
    (a)offence
    b) drunk
    (c)hunger
    dungeon
  4. shandal
    What does the word “chandal” mean, which Nekrasov uses in the poem “Who in Russia lives well”?
    "A bed under the stairs, a bed and an iron oven, a shandal and a samovar."
    (a) kettle
    (b) candlestick
    table
    d) hanger
  5. Fly
    What is the meaning of the outdated word “sweet”?
    a) fix
    (b) ordain
    lazy
    d)drink


  6. zban
    Do you know what "frog" is?
    (a) high headgear
    (b) lid receptacle
    (c) unit
    (g) shepherd
  7. Hide
    What can you buckle from this list?
    (a) milk
    (b) lace
    horse
    (d) meat and vegetables
  8. Cast iron
    (a) cast-iron pan
    (b) railway
    weight
  9. Beautiful.
    What letters does Alexey Tolstoy call “beautiful”?
    “I walked in a cloth caftan, a sharp sword on a barrel, beautiful letters in a hat” (A. N. Tolstoy, Peter the First).
    (a) beautiful
    (b) inciting rebellion
    c) dear to the heart
  10. Widow
    What does a gypsy girl wag in the poem “the sun of Russian poetry”?
    “And the gypsy girl is dancing, beats drums, waves with a blue width, pours and sings: “I am a dancer, I am a singer, I am a master craftsman” (A. S. Pushkin “Bells ring ...”)
    (a) trouser detail
    braid
    fan
    skirt




Outdated words and their meanings
  1. As a child, I was firmly convinced that “from the forest news” is “lead from the forest”. The teacher of Russian literature did not explain to us, or perhaps did not know. But now, fortunately, there's Google that suggests that the outdated word "vestimo" has a meaning of course, is known, goes without saying.
  2. Susek used to be called part of the barn or cistern, where flour or grain was poured.
  3. Alcohol is the same as hunger. From here, “hunger” means feeling hungry. In a figurative sense, it is passionate to desire something.
  4. The word shandal is of Persian origin. It consists of two parts: sam - "candle" and dan - "receptor". Previously, this was called massive candlesticks for several candles.


    © Phere
  5. To swim is to be lazy, lazy, idle, wandering, wandering. - Where are you going? I go, Grandpa, wherever I go. Are you trying to do things or are you trying to do things? (M. Prishvin, “Behind the Magical Kolobok”).
  6. Zhban is a jar-shaped vessel with a mug. Speaking is like the head.
  7. To spin means to fry in a large amount of overheated oil. As a rule, thick-walled dishes were used for this, for example, kazan.
  8. The first in Russia gauge railway of factory use, built in 1788 in Petrozavodsk, was called cast-iron wheel line. Later, cast iron was called any railway. Now the cast iron people thousands of three times lucky and, like a bird, flies.


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  9. Now they call a charming person charming, and earlier they called a deceiver and a seducer. By analogy, charming letters were intended to deceive, confuse, seduce a person into bad deeds. Thus, the rebels Stepan Razin and Emelian Pugachev sent out “beautiful letters” urging peasants to join the rebellion.
  10. Width comes from the word "width." The primary value is a piece of canvas cut off in width, towel, handkerchief. In Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and southern Russia, the traditional women’s headdress was called so.


The article and the preview used photos.