What does it mean to “keep a stone in your bosom”? Keep a stone in your bosom: the meaning of phraseology, history and interpretation Explain the phraseology keep a stone in your bosom

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What is "Keeping a stone in your bosom"? How to spell this word correctly. Concept and interpretation.

Keep a stone in your bosom who Feel secret ill will towards someone; bear a grudge against smb. This means that person (X), without outwardly showing his feelings and intentions, behaves with someone. insincerely, ready to take advantage of the opportunity to hurt someone. harm; often this is caused by a hidden grudge, a desire for revenge. Spoken with disapproval. unformed ? X holds a stone in his bosom. The nominal part is unism. In the role of skaz. The order of the component words is not fixed. ? - This Volynsky is a dangerous man... And we’ll save your project, Leiba, for now. Do you know what I noticed? When dealing with Volynsky, you should always keep a stone in your bosom. To knock out all his teeth at once when he starts biting... You're right. He is a dangerous man. V. Pikul, Word and Deed. It took my breath away. So that’s what he is, the idol of the regiment! Because of a stupid joke, I have to carry a stone in my bosom for so long! N. Arsentiev, Stalingrad stories. ? Oster's defender stood up. - Let me make one statement. The young lawyer was overcome with anxiety. His opponent clearly had a stone in his bosom! A. Poltorak, E. Zaitsev, Lateness. - Maybe she had fans who were jealous of her for you? Maybe you inadvertently offended someone and didn’t notice it yourself, but she knew that this person was carrying a stone in his bosom. A. Marinina, Stylist. ? - Why are you silent, are you bored? And I’ll think that you’re hiding, that you’re holding a stone in your bosom. A. Rozhdestvensky, Fooling with Buonaparte. - You are walking next to us only because the masses demand the unification of the forces of all Social Democrats. And you are against it and keep the stone in your bosom. A. Koptyaeva, On the Ural River. ? While talking with the management of Focus, I kept the question in my mind like a stone in my bosom: do they accept scrap non-ferrous metals? ... The question, you see, is for filling. Karelia, 2000. Kaleria, who was heavily carrying her child, wrinkled her lips in a smile, nodded at me and then followed my gaze for a long time: is it true that I don’t carry a stone in my bosom, I wasn’t offended by her. V. Astafiev, Cheerful Soldier. cultural commentary: The image is based on phraseols. there are natural, material and activity codes of culture, in which the objects and processes surrounding a person are endowed with functional meanings that are significant for culture. The stone, endowed with complex and polysemantic symbolism (cf. stumbling block, cornerstone, stone on the heart, etc.), in the form of phraseology. acts as a weapon (cf. the biblical myth of David killing Goliath with a stone, the custom of stoning the guilty as a method of execution); The stone can also act as a sign of cruelty and heartlessness (cf. heart of stone). The sinus is called “the space between the chest and clothing, above the belt.” (Dal V.I. Dictionary living Great Russian language. T. 3. M., 1955. P. 9.) To be in the bosom means, on the one hand, “to be involved in the inner space of a person,” and on the other, “to be hidden from prying eyes, to be kept secret.” The component to keep correlates with the activity code of culture, indicating in the phraseol. on storing something. for the purpose of use. Image of phraseology. contains a metaphor likening something hidden against someone. malice of secretly carrying weapons for the purpose of a surprise attack. phraseol. in general acts as a stereotypical idea of hidden dissatisfaction with someone, of a desire to hurt someone. troubles.

Often, each of us had to deal with people who seemed to be smiling, but it was felt that they had another bottom, that is, they could not be trusted. Let’s consider today the expression “keep a stone in your bosom”, because it just suits such individuals.

Origin

When it comes to stable speech patterns, it is always interesting where they came from. Our case is no exception. According to the official version, it happened back in the 17th century. The Poles captured Moscow. Then there was a feast. On it, city residents and Poles had fun together. True, the interventionists still did not trust the losers and brought cobblestones with them, hiding them under their clothes. Apparently, to attack friends and enemies when the banquet, according to the good Russian tradition, turns into a fight. History is silent whether our enemy needed stones in his bosom or not.

In general, this is a fairly common phenomenon when a direct historical action is filled with figurative, conditional meaning over time. This is what happened with the meaning of the phraseological unit “to keep a stone in your bosom.” By the way, Russians and Poles really didn’t trust each other at that time.

Meaning

What is the meaning of phraseology? Based on the history of origin, one can already guess the essential content of the expression. This is what they say about a person who is planning something evil. It may also be that someone is simply experiencing negative feelings without any further plan of action. And it must be said that an offended person, when communicating personally with the object of hostility, is impeccably polite, and this is a very important point in the correct understanding of the meaning of “keeping a stone in your bosom.” Remember that there was also a feast around the Poles. But they still kept a stone in their bosom. The expression would lose all meaning if it simply stated the fact of the viciousness of someone who openly exudes hostility.

"Total Recall" (1990)

In this film there is not one, but three characters that are suitable to illustrate our topic today:

Laurie Quaid;
Benny;
Karl Hauser.

Laurie is the wife of the main character. Before he found out the truth, she also pretended that everything was in order, and their family was full of harmony and happiness. But then, when Douglas Quaid discovered the truth, the wife changed and first wanted to defeat her husband in hand-to-hand combat, and then, a little later, pointed a firearm at him. What does this mean? About the fact that you need to choose your wife very carefully.

Benny is the mutant who gave Douglas a ride to the center of the underground. And then he expressed his loyalty in every possible way, but turned out to be a spy for Cohaagen.

As it turns out along the way, Douglas Quaid is a kind of front person, and Karl Hauser is the real one. But then, by the will of the one who occupied the body of the main character, the personalities switched places, and Houser turned out to be a traitor to the rebels. As mentioned above, it is the expression “to keep a stone in your bosom” that unites the characters: they pretended to be kind, but in fact they are evil and insidious.

If the reader thinks that in the era of ultra-modern technology and rifles with optical sights it is impossible to attack someone with a simple and uncomplicated stone, then he is mistaken. Not everyone has money for rifles, and crimes, unfortunately, are still not eradicated by society. But we won’t talk about real criminals. It’s better to remember such a wonderful comedy about smugglers as “The Diamond Arm” (1968).

Remember how Semyon Semenych and Gena went fishing, where the bite should be such that “the client will forget everything in the world”? Since Andrei Mironov played a clumsy criminal, he, of course, dropped his main weapon and began to pick up stones as a replacement, but he tried hard to pretend that he had no unseemly intentions. It can be said that in “The Diamond Arm” the expression “holding a stone in your bosom” was used in its literal meaning, although with some reservations.

"To have a tooth" or "to sharpen a tooth"

Synonyms are always needed. This or that stable speech pattern may not be suitable for the situation, but at the same time the need to express oneself succinctly and concisely will remain. Let's actually consider one analogue of the phraseological unit “keep a stone in your bosom.”

When a person harbors a grudge against another, they say about him: “He sharpens his teeth.” A variation of “has a tooth” is possible. Moreover, these similar expressions have different histories. “To have a tooth” probably goes back to the biblical principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This means carrying a grudge within oneself, for which one can take revenge on occasion. Naturally, now revenge does not necessarily have to be blood or radial. Another analogue of the research object comes from the life of bear hunters. When a trap was set for the owner of the forest, the “teeth” were sharpened on it, hence the expression. Now these speech patterns are identical.

"Granite pebble in the chest"

This time the subtitle will be recognized only by those who listened to or at least heard pop songs in Russia in the 90s of the twentieth century. If you take the trouble and analyze, the results can be the most amazing. For example, the author of the words of the hit did not think at all that he was drawing meaning from folk sources. Yes, the song features the famous metaphor of a heart of stone. But the text clearly implies that the newly minted admirer has a pebble not in his chest, but in his bosom. And the inconsolable abandoned gentleman, on the contrary, says that he has no such intentions, although he exudes the darkest prophecies about how his ex will suffer. Is it worth believing in insulted love? It’s up to the girl to decide, but the parallel between pop and folk art is very interesting.

By the way, the reader can again say that we are imitating Zadornov, but we reject such an accusation. The satirist always scolded pop music, but we have a different task: we find hidden meanings in it, even unknown to it. It seems that this is not bad: not to humiliate, but, on the contrary, to exalt something, especially when there is at least the slightest reason.

Now the reader understands what it means to “keep a stone in his bosom,” but we hope there are no such people around him. And if there is, then everything must be done (within reason) so that the offended person buries the stone in the ground, as if it were an ax of war. True, sometimes life works out in such a way that no one is to blame, but a person has more and more enemies. Of course, you won’t be nice to everyone, but you need to at least monitor your offensive words and actions and, if possible, correct their consequences.

In a television game for scholars, a question sent by a viewer was: “What did the Poles put in their bosom when they went to visit the Russians during the capture of Moscow in 1610?” One of the experts immediately raised his hand: “The answer is ready! The Poles put a stone in their bosom.”

Both the viewer and the well-read connoisseur knew S. V. Maksimov’s book “Winged Words.” His article on stone in my bosom, small, I will quote it in full: “The stone in the bosom - has remained in circulation since, during the stay of the Poles in Moscow, in 1610, the latter, although they feasted with the Muscovites, but, being cautious and hiding enmity, literally held on in the bosom of the kuntush about cobblestones just in case. This is evidenced by an eyewitness, the Polish chronicler Macievich. Be friends with Muscovites, and keep a stone in your bosom“Following the example of the Poles, the Little Russians began to use one of their sayings in their practical everyday leadership and in their assessment of the Great Russians.”

As you know, what is written with a pen cannot be cut out with an axe, especially if it was written by some recognized authority. And now the correct answer: when going to feast with the Muscovites, the Poles did not put anything in their bosoms, and if anything they kept it under their clothes just in case, then no way cobblestones.

We are fascinated by phrases expressed smoothly and authoritatively; we do not always and do not fully delve into the meaning of what we hear or read; We immediately reject something - something that categorically does not correspond to our beliefs and ideas, something we take on faith. At first glance, there is no reason not to believe S.V. Maksimov, an ethnographer and researcher of Russian life: he, a famous writer, author of many scientific articles, didn’t come up with all this? However, a more careful reading and, most importantly, logical comprehension of what has been read makes one doubt the veracity of the historical and linguistic information that S. V. Maksimov presents - confidently and knowledgeably.

Nobleman in kuntush

Imagine that you are one of those Poles who recently won a victory over the Russian-Swedish army in the Battle of Klushino. In this battle, you rushed into battle with wings behind your back - here in a literal, not figurative sense: the Polish hussars, whose attacks played a decisive role, had two wings attached to their armor, which may have interfered with the battle, but inspired the riders. And the riders probably imagined that they were a host of angels fighting for the true faith. In Moscow, you, the winner, are invited to visit, you go, but in front of the Russian boyar’s mansion you think: lest these insidious Muscovites take my life during the feast! And you - a proud nobleman, a flying hussar, or even a winged one - open your kuntush and tuck it under it and press it to your chest, the dirty one picked up from the ground cobblestone. Not in a figurative sense, but literally, as Maksimov emphasizes. Holding your cobblestone in your bosom, for kuntush is a loose garment, the stone itself will not rest with you bosom, you have arrived on the doorstep. And I, let’s say, a treacherous Muscovite, look and marvel: what is it that is bulging out so much on the chest of the Poles under the warrior’s caftan, what is it that is so heavy that he is holding with his hand? Surely he didn't put a cobblestone in there? And for what? If out of caution and just in case, then I, perhaps, can poison a Polish guest, or stab him with one blow, or strangle him with a quick movement when he sits at the table, holding his cobblestone with my hand so that it does not fall out. If my Lyash guest is so wary, he could secretly keep a dagger or pistol under the hem of his long caftan...

Agree that we have painted a scene in which the actions of the Polish guest are ridiculous and simply impossible.

I hear a question: we are ready to take note of your common sense, but still, why shouldn’t we trust an authoritative source, the “Winged Words” of S. V. Maksimov, a famous ethnographer and honorary academician? After all, he also involves a witness in his article - the Polish chronicler Macievich! Can you attract anyone?

Witnesses from 1610 are hard to come by, but I'll try. While others are looking in reference books and cannot find the chronicler Matseevich, I will refer to Samuel Maskevich, whose existence is confirmed by the encyclopedia of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron: “Samuel Maskevich is a Lithuanian by birth and a Polish officer who participated in the campaign against Moscow. Maskevich kept a diary in which he described his stay in Russia...” A large encyclopedic dictionary, published in 1981, considers Maskevich not a Lithuanian, but a Belarusian feudal lord; however, it is important for us that it is confirmed: he is participant in the Polish intervention in Russia in 1609-12.

What impressions did Hussar Maskevich get from communicating with Muscovites? As we will see, his testimony differs from those given by Maksimov, referring to the unknown chronicler Matseevich.

In the “Diary” of Samuil Maskevich, which in the well-known Russian version has significant deviations from the Polish original, we read about the relations of the Poles with the Russians after the capture of Moscow: “For several weeks we lived with them, not trusting each other. We celebrated with them, and the stone, as they say, is in our bosom. We were at each other's feasts, but we were thinking about ourselves. We also had to be on guard; guards stood day and night at the city gates and at some crossroads...”

For authenticity, I am attaching to my translation that part of the phrase that relates directly to the speech under discussion: a kamień, jak oni mówią, za pazuchą.

So, the Poles did not arm themselves with cobblestones, contrary to the statement of S.V. Maksimov, and Maskevich heard the saying about a stone in the bosom of the hussars for the first time in Moscow from the Russians and understood it as it should be understood - in a figurative, and not in a literal sense.

And this proverb goes back, of course, to events much older than the Polish invasion of Moscow. It is most likely from cave times. Some openly attacked enemies, marched with clubs, sharpened sticks and stones against close or distant neighbors, and others, not hoping to win in open battle, started peace negotiations with the enemy, came to the meeting with a smile on their face, with deceptive words on his lips, secretly carrying a weapon - a stone hidden inside his clothes. He, hiding his enmity, came with a stone in his bosom.

Today, in their everyday speech, people often try to use popular expressions and sayings, believing that by doing this they make their vocabulary richer and brighter. It’s true that there are not many people in life who could immediately understand the meaning of a particular proverb. Therefore, our website was created solely for the purpose of helping people decipher incomprehensible terms and aphorisms. “Drop” our site into your browser bookmarks so that you can always find us in this raging information sea. Today we will talk about another phrase, this Stone in the bosom, you can read the meaning a little later.

So let's continue What does Stone in the bosom mean??

Keep a stone in your bosom- means to harbor a grudge against someone; to plot something evil; feel the urge to harm someone

Origin of the expression Stone in the bosom

First version. According to researchers, this phraseological unit is associated with the stay of the Poles in Moscow in 1610. This year, the Polish-Lithuanian occupation of Russia began, and a Polish garrison under the command of Stanislav Zolkiewski was stationed in the capital itself. At that time, Polish officers feasted with the Moscow nobility, trying to hide their enmity, and being cautious, keeping small cobblestones in the pockets of kuntush (national clothing of the Poles).

This is mentioned by the well-known Polish chronicler Matseevich in narrow circles, as well as by the popular Ukrainian-Polish saying - “Be friends with Muscovites, but keep a stone in your bosom.”

It is worth noting, however, that not all historians support this version.

Second version. Paving the streets in Moscow required a lot of stones, and for this, the Tsar issues a decree that all visitors bring with them several cobblestones.

Third version. IN Ancient Rome there was a custom to vote with stones for or against the death penalty, that is, one “lapillus” (stone) - one vote.

Fourth version. In Latin there is a rather curious proverb “in sinu viperam habere”, which can be translated as “to keep a snake in your bosom”, that is, to cherish anger against someone. In addition, there are parallels in German, Bulgarian, Slovak and other languages.

Origin

Meaning

What is the meaning of phraseology? Based on the history of origin, one can already guess the essential content of the expression. This is what they say about a person who is planning something evil. It may also be that someone is simply experiencing negative feelings without any further plan of action. And it must be said that an offended person, when communicating personally with the object of hostility, is impeccably polite, and this is a very important point in the correct understanding of the meaning of “keeping a stone in your bosom.” Remember that there was also a feast around the Poles. But they still kept a stone in their bosom. The expression would lose all meaning if it were simply the malice of someone who openly exudes hostility.

"Total Recall" (1990)

In this film there is not one, but three characters that are suitable to illustrate our topic today:

Laurie Quaid;
Benny;
Karl Hauser.

Benny is the mutant who gave Douglas a ride to the center of the underground. And then he expressed his loyalty in every possible way, but turned out to be a spy for Cohaagen.

"To have a tooth" or "to sharpen a tooth"

"Granite pebble in the chest"

The expression “to keep a stone in your bosom,” characterizing hidden anger, a hidden intention to take revenge, to harm someone, is one of those that has long caused differences in interpretation. Already more than 150 years ago, the famous collector of Russian proverbs and sayings I.M. Snegirev, in the same book of his “Russians in their proverbs,” explains it differently. In one place of the book, he says that this phrase is “a Polish proverb, Russified among us”, associated with Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, who held a stone in his bosom against the Poles, in another - that this is an ancient ancient proverb, “similar to Plautus’ saying Ferre lapidem altéra manu, panem ostendere altéra,” noting, however, that it is also found in Polish proverbs.

Later commentators tried to find the specific historical roots of our expression. “The stone in the bosom has remained in circulation since then,” writes S.V. Maksimov, “as during the stay of the Poles in Moscow in 1610, although the latter feasted with the Muscovites, they, being cautious and hiding enmity, literally kept in the bosom of the kuntush (national clothes - V.M.), just in case, cobblestones" (Maksimov 1955, 184). This, according to him, is evidenced by both the Polish chronicler Matseevich and the Polish-Ukrainian proverb Be friends with a Muscovite, but keep a stone in your bosom. This version is uncritically accepted by other modern linguists (Kovaleva 1980,109). Some historians of Russian proverbs of the last century, apparently for “patriotic” reasons, reconstruct this version in a slightly different direction - as if in 1610, not the Poles, but, on the contrary, the Russians, feasting with the Poles, “kept stones in their bosoms just in case.” "(Ermakov 1894.29).

In his comments to the book by S. V. Maksimov, N. S. Ashukin expresses doubt in his interpretation: “The explanation that this expression arose in Moscow during the stay of Polish interventionists in it should be rejected as unconvincing! The timing of the emergence of such metaphorical expressions to what -or a specific case is hardly possible" (Maksimov 1955,409-410). And indeed, as we have seen more than once, the more specific the historical episode that is presented as the source of a phraseological unit, the more mythological and fantastic the corresponding version usually turns out to be.

The version according to which our turnover is connected with the paving of streets in Moscow is very similar to the same pseudo-historical interpretations. The stone in it supposedly means "cobblestone". Such stones, in accordance with the royal decree, were required to be delivered to Moscow by visitors for paving streets. This interpretation is not only well-known among lovers of proverbs and sayings, but was also recognized as correct by the television program “What, Where, When” (June 1983). This is how one of the TV viewers answered this question, but the “experts” suggested another option: lapillus “pebble” in Ancient Rome meant a stone for voting against the death penalty or for it.

V. N. Mirotvortsev, who wrote a special essay on the expression to keep a stone in one’s bosom, cites all these interpretations and reasonably rejects them. Indeed, they all have the character of folk etymological anecdotes and are not much different in essence from the student pun linking holding a stone in one’s bosom with building a road, which is included here in the epigraph.

Rejecting the “historical” versions, V.N. Mirotvortsev turns to linguistic facts of other languages and expressions about stone that can clarify the image of our circulation. Following the researchers of ancient proverbs and sayings (Timoshenko 1897,89), he draws attention to the structural and figurative correspondence of the Russian expression to the Latin in sinu viperam habere “to keep a snake in your bosom,” as well as such linguistic parallels as the Bulgarian. djerzha (kriya) kamak in pazvata si, djrzha zmiya in pazvata si “keep the snake in your bosom”, German. Groll im Bušen hegen gegen jmdm “to cherish a grudge in one’s bosom against someone,” etc. Others can be added to such parallels - for example, Slovak. mať nóž za sárou na niekoho “to have a knife behind the boot of someone,” Kh.-S. držati nož u potaji “keep a knife in a secluded place”, etc. Such parallels indicate that the very image of “hidden storage” of means of striking the enemy cannot in any way be attributed to specific historical episodes. “Taking into account the above,” writes V.N. Mirotvortsev, “the meaning of the expression “to keep a stone (or a snake, a knife, anger) in your bosom” is completely clear. It is also clear that this expression is not only Russian, it is international. There is a semantic universality, known to many peoples" (Mirotvortsev 1984, 149).

The word stone here, in his opinion, is only one of the options in the chain of lexical substitutions stone - snake - knife - anger in the bosom. With such an answer, he had to additionally motivate the apparent equivalence of the words replacing each other and the specificity of the use of the word stone. In many languages, as it seems to Mirotvortsev, this replacement occurred under the influence of the Gospel parable, which became widely known. A stone, knife, etc. is kept in the bosom, so that later it can be thrown at someone during punishment or condemnation. Evidence of this is the expression throwing stones “to accuse, to punish”, which came from the Gospel, where there is a phrase about a sinner caught in adultery by the scribes and Pharisees, to whom, defending her, Jesus says: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Stoning was one of the public executions in ancient Judea. Expressions about throwing a stone at someone are common in many languages: German. einen Steí$ nach jmdm. werfen; den ersten Stein werfen auf jmdn; English to cast tJÉb fírst stone at somebody, etc. They are all of evangelical origin and clarify the meaning of the Russian phrase: a stone is held in the bosom in order to throw it at someone.

So, everything seems to be extremely clear and logically justified;

But it is precisely this notorious “as if” that is preventing us from putting a final point on the etymology proposed by V.N. Mirotvortsev. Let us consider the linguistic facts he cites more carefully. And we will see, perhaps, that although we have before us a certain model about hiding something in a bosom or other stolen place, it is nevertheless heterogeneous enough to be recognized as a phraseological universal or a structural-semantic model.

In fact: is the logic of holding a stone and a snake in your bosom really the same?

The second expression has an ancient and special history, very different from the history of throwing stones at someone. It is usually explained on the basis of the ancient Greek parable about a farmer who found a snake and put it in his bosom “for warmth.” Having warmed up, she stung and killed her savior (Brewer 1971, 982). According to another version, this peasant finds not a snake, but a snake egg and warms it in his bosom until the snake hatches from it and stings its savior (Hyamson 1970,311). This parable formed the basis of Aesop's fable "The Peasant and the Snake", where the key point of the plot is stated as follows: "The peasant picked up the snake and put it in the bosom of his robe." We meet this fable in Fyodor, and in Erasmus, and in Petronius the Arbiter, and in other fabulists and writers. It became the basis of an ancient proverb, found, for example, in Cicero, Petronius and Phaedrus: in sinu - viperam venenatam ac pestiferam habere "to have in the chest (sinus) a poisonous and destructive (lit., plague) snake", viperam sub ala nutricas "you you feed the snake under your wing", colubram - sinu fovit "he warms the snake on his chest." This saying came into many modern languages, including Russian, thanks to La Fontaine’s fable, famous in Europe, and the translation of Moliere’s comedies, where it was also used. Its popularity was also facilitated by Russian folk speech, where such phrases as “fed a snake on its own neck” or “an ungrateful and insidious man” already existed. The image of such a snake is apparently international, universal in different folk cultures.

As we see, the image underlying this ancient expression is completely different than in our phrase about the stone in the bosom. What unites them, however, is the location of the stone and the snake. But even this unity is not as clear as it seems, if we take into account the ancient versions of the saying, where the snake can be located both in the chest and under the wing, and the word “sinus” is practically not directly called. The competition of these concepts in Slavic expressions is also typical here: for example, in Polish the phrase mieć coś w zanadrzu “to have something in the bosom” corresponds to mieć coś na wątrobie “to have something on the liver, on the inside”, meaning to remember how- any offense, “to be vindictive.” If the first was recorded only in 1957 as a single use, then the second has been known since 1655 and is used extremely actively (NKP III, 826, 629-630).

The point, however, is not a matter of competition between the sinuses, gut, chest or liver. More importantly, the logic of expressions about a snake and a stone is multidirectional: the snake stings the one who warms it in his bosom, and the stone is used by those who keep it for attack or protection. This semantic “scatter” does not allow them to be combined into one “universal” model, as V. N. Mirotvortsev does.

A more detailed examination of foreign language correspondences does not allow this either. If the saying about the snake and the bosom as internationalism is known, as we have seen, to many European languages, then the expression about the stone in the bosom practically does not even go beyond the East Slavic languages. True, it is sometimes recorded in Bulgarian and Polish dictionaries: djerzha (kriya) kamak in pazvata si (Koshelev, Leonidova 1974, 259), chować kamień w ząną (BRPS II, 6) - but these are, rather, tracings from Russian of later origin . It is no coincidence that for the Bulgarian circulation "Russian-Bulgarian Phraseological Dictionary" ed. S.I. Vlahova gives the mark “literally”, and Polish is not recorded in the monumental four-volume collection of Polish proverbs and sayings, ed. acad. Yu. Krzhizhanovsky. Ukrainian and Belarusian expressions trimati (hold, mati, hovati) kamin (kamenyuku) behind the bosom (at the bosom); tugging the stone in the bosom, apparently of rather late origin. Firstly, they are practically not reflected in old paremiological collections, and secondly, they are known only to later fiction. It is significant that the Ukrainian holding a stone in your bosom is used only by the Soviet writer V. S. Kucher in the novel “Difficult Love”, and keeping a stone in your bosom in G. M. Udovichenko’s dictionary is given without context, although most phraseological units there have illustrations.

In other European languages, the expression to keep a stone in one's bosom has only equivalents that are very far from the Russian language. Thus, French dictionaries give as an equivalent the idiom être prêt à un coup de Jarnac “to be prepared for Jarnac’s blow”, English - to nurse a grievánce “to cherish a grudge”, tôliâbôût a grudge “to harbor evil”, German - Boses im Schilde fuhren “to lead “evil on the shield”, etc. In the same languages where there are phrases with the word “bosom”, there are no exact analogues with a stone in the bosom - cf. German etw. in den Bušen stecken "to hide something in one's bosom", French. mettre quch. en son sein "put something in your bosom" - "hide, hide something." Slavic parallels such as Slovak are already known to us. mai nóž za sárou “to have a knife in the boot” or h.-s. držati nož u potaji "to keep the knife in a secluded place", reflecting the general idea of hiding the murder weapon, at the same time they convey it in completely different images. It is therefore impossible to talk here about the linear genetic succession of such expressions.

A comparison of Russian phraseology with similar foreign ones leads to the conclusion that holding a stone in one’s bosom is actually a Russian phraseological unit of relatively recent origin. By the way, this is confirmed by an appeal to the fiction and journalistic literature where it is used. In the collection of M. I. Mikhelson, not a single context-illustration for our expression is recorded, and it itself is given only as part of proverbs: Be friends with a Muscovite, but keep a stone in your bosom; The Poles feasted with the Russians, and held a stone in their bosom (1611) and Be friends, be friends, and hold a knife (stone) in their bosom; Keep a stone in your bosom “be careful.” In all dictionaries, without exception, the phrase “keep a stone in your bosom” is illustrated with examples from Soviet literature or, in very rare cases, literature of the early 20th century: “[Sokhin] called on everyone... to sincerely and publicly cling to the common flow, and not keep a stone in his bosom" (P.D. Boborykin. On the detriment); "It is not always clear, but with ever-present constancy the Bennigsen group was supported by the intelligent, proud, ironic Ermolov, who outwardly revered the field marshal, but kept a stone in his bosom" (JI . Rakovsky. Kutuzov); “No, you can’t approach him, you can’t grab him with your bare hand: with cunning - with cunning, with deception - with deception. Suppress anger and hatred, accept the enemy in a friendly manner, and have a stone in your bosom and at the right moment hit with this stone" (A. Peregudov. In those distant years); "You have nothing to be afraid of, I don’t have a stone in my bosom" (V. N. Azhaev . Far from Moscow); “You are marching next to us only because the masses demand the unification of the forces of all Social Democrats. And you are against it and keep a stone in your bosom" (A. D. Koptyaeva. On the Ural River); "I know that you will forever keep a stone in your bosom" (A. Malenky. Neighbors); "Now come to us with a stone for Don’t poke your nose in your bosom - we’ll peck you!” (Yu. S. Krymov. Tanker “Derbent”); “However, Marchenko doesn’t wear stone 3â in his bosom. Having punished a person fairly for a bad deed, he will justly thank everyone for a good deed" (Pravda, 1980, April 30).

As can be seen from the above contexts, the expression about the stone in the bosom is quite dynamic. Apart from the morphological variants of stones in my bosom, I don’t have a stone in my bosom, don’t meddle with a stone in my bosom, etc. it allows for the replacement of the verb to hold with the verb to wear, and the revival of the direct plan: “hold a stone... and hit with this stone.”

Thanks to such options, our turn of phrase also allows for a semantic shift - it “allows us to think no longer about the feeling of anger, but about the desire for tangible, physical revenge” (Kovalenko 1972, 160-161): “Standing at the table, he already encouraged, though in a mocking voice , collective farmers: - Come on, come on, don’t carry a stone in your bosom, put it on the table..." (F. Kravchenko); “Take a closer look and you will understand that behind this dusty abuse there is nothing left, not a small pebble in your bosom” (D. A. Furmanov. Chapaev).

In some cases, the variation of our turnover goes so far that only a philological analysis of the text allows us to state that we are faced with a transformation of its component composition and image. Thus, in A. Mezhirov’s poem “Towards Spring,” our turn of phrase is intricately intertwined with the expression (not) to do something. behind someone's back. (Nekrasova, Bakina 1982, 235):

The lantern will speak, trembling like jelly, Glowing like a jar of honey on the window, - He is not slanderous and truth-loving And does not hold intent behind his back, As we, having barely used words, Attribute a different meaning to them.

An excursion into the use of our phrase in modern literature once again confirms our feeling that it is purely Russian: in other Slavic and non-Slavic languages we either do not find it at all or do not register (as for Polish, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Belarusian) such activity and readiness to variation.

This specificity of use can, perhaps, be explained by only one reason - the recent origin of the phraseological unit “to keep a stone in your bosom” and its originality for the Russian language. It was born in a way characteristic of the formation of sayings - by truncation of the proverb Be friends, but keep a stone in your bosom. We have already seen that it is in its composition that this phraseological unit is recorded in the collection of M. I. Mikhelson. And, what is especially significant, it was in the form of a proverb that it was used by writers of the 18th century:

“Skvalygin: Otherwise, he would try to fight off his uncle from himself. He will plant a nettle seed! Be friends with such a person, and keep a pebble in your bosom” (M. A. Matinsky. Comic opera in the St. Petersburg drawing room courtyard).

In this context, the expression to keep a pebble in your bosom, interpreted as “to be ready to take revenge, to respond to a dirty trick with a dirty trick” (Palevskaya 1980, 99), is clearly still part of the folk proverb.

Recognition of the original Russian origin of the phrase about a stone in one's bosom forces us to reject its direct connection with the biblical phrase to throw a stone at someone. As a matter of fact, it is refuted - as in the case of the phrase "warm up a snake in your bosom" - even by the internal logic of Russian and ancient phraseological units. After all, throwing stones in ancient Judea was a form of public, i.e. open, “public” (even if not always fair) punishment. And if so, then there is no point in holding a stone in your bosom: if we were talking about the custom of throwing stones, then these stones, on the contrary, would first be shown to the person being punished and to the spectators.

The logic of the expression to keep a stone in your bosom is different. The stone is usually reserved by those who themselves fear both a strong opponent and public condemnation of their treachery. This is how our expression differs from the international book expression to throw a stone at someone. This difference, at first glance, brings it closer to another ancient phraseological internationalism - to warm the snake in your bosom, where the emphasis is precisely on the insidious and evil preparation for revenge. However, this vengeance is directed at the “carrier” or “holder” of the snake itself, in contrast to the “holder” of the belly stone, who hides the insidious weapon clearly not for suicide.

Thus, having been born in the associatively close zone of two ancient expressions to warm the snake in the bosom and throw a stone at someone, the phrase about the stone in the bosom turned out to be independent and primordially Russian both in meaning and in form. This independence is ensured by the fact that it is in the literal sense, “came out of the people,” that is, it was formed by truncation of the popular proverb “Be friends, be friends, and keep a stone in your bosom.” Moreover, the proverb that gave birth to it eventually became a passive part of the Russian literary language, and the phrase, thanks to its use by modern writers, was included in the phraseological active. It is quite possible that this was facilitated by the figurative echo of the folk saying about the stone behind the back with ancient ancient expressions about the snake and the stoning of sinners.

Hold the stone in your bosom. Express To hold a grudge against someone; be prepared to harm someone. It is not always clear, but with constant constancy he supported Bennigsen’s group, who outwardly revered field marshal, but holding a stone in his bosom, the smart, proud, ironic Ermolov(L. Rakovsky. Kutuzov).

Phrasebook Russian literary language. - M.: Astrel, AST. A. I. Fedorov. 2008.

See what “Keep a stone in your bosom” means in other dictionaries:

KEEP THE STONE IN YOUR SINK

keep a stone in your bosom- Razg. To feel anger against someone; plan something bad towards someone. With noun with value faces: a stranger, a neighbor... holding a stone in his bosom... It’s not always clear, but with constant constancy he supported Bennigsen’s group outwardly... ... Educational phraseological dictionary

keep a stone in your bosom- for whom, against whom, see stone... Dictionary of many expressions

Keep a stone in your bosom- Razg. Disapproved To harbor a grudge against someone without showing it, to have hidden intentions to harm, to take revenge on someone. FSRY, 192; BMS 1998, 243; ZS 1996, 229; BTS, 252, 774 … Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Keep a stone in your bosom- to harbor a grudge against someone. FSVChE... Psychology terms

keep a stone in your bosom, behind your soul- against whom, against whom To harbor a grudge against someone, to have in your soul the intention of taking revenge, to harm someone... Dictionary of many expressions

Keep a stone in your bosom- Keep the stone in your bosom. Wed. And no matter how you make friends with the Germans, brother, hold on to a stone in your bosom. Pl. Obodovsky. Book Shuiskie. 5, 1. See: Be friends, be friends, and keep the knife in your bosom...

keep a stone in your bosom- Wed. And no matter how you make friends with the Germans, brother, hold on to a stone in your bosom. Pl. Obodovsky. Book Shuisky. 5, 1. See be friends be friends... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary

CARRY A STONE IN YOUR SINSUS- who To experience secret ill will towards someone; bear a grudge against someone This means that person (X), without outwardly showing his feelings and intentions, behaves with anyone. insincerely, ready to take the opportunity to... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language

Be friends, be friends, and keep the knife (stone) in your bosom- Be friends, be friends, and keep the knife (stone) in your bosom. Keep the stone in your bosom (be careful). Wed. “Be friends with Moskal, and keep a stone in your bosom.” Wed. The Poles feasted with the Russians, and kept the stone in their bosom (1611). S. Matseevich. Wed. Ferre... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

One day two people met on the way to the mountain world and they decided to go together to support each other in difficult moments, and have more fun together. They walked for a long time, and it was hard for them. But then one day they met a man coming down from the mountain. His appearance was beautiful, and freshness, strength, joy and love emanated from him. Two travelers stopped and, as if enchanted, stared at this man. They could not understand how it was possible to rise to such heights and descend with so much strength.

The man smiled, seeing their perplexed faces and, understanding what was going on, asked:

Is it difficult, brothers, to walk and drag such a mass of stones?

Both travelers looked at each other and asked at the same time:

What stones?

Yes, those that you have in your bosom,” said the man.

The travelers did not believe the man’s words, because they knew that they had not placed any stones there, and they decided to prove it to him. They opened their clothes: and how surprised they were to see how stones of various sizes began to fall out from under their clothes. And then they began to gather in groups so that in front of each there was a pile of his own stones. Then they were completely dumbfounded, and kept trying to understand where these stones came from.

At first they decided that this man was an evil sorcerer who had cast spells on them. But, looking into the man’s kind and open face, the thought of his evil intentions immediately disappeared from them. And they asked:

Good man, can you tell us where these stones came from? Who planted them on us without us noticing?

“Nobody put them there for you,” the man said, “you put them there yourself.” True, you didn’t realize when you put them there, and the appearance of these stones was completely different. And they were not so hard and heavy only because you were insensitive to them. The fact is that this heavenly world into which you have entered is not simple, it has its own laws and makes everything invisible visible and increases sensitivity to everything. Previously, these “stones” were grievances. You have long forgotten about them, but they, as you see, remember about you.

They examined their clothes to see if there was anything else left in them, but finding nothing, they fastened their belts and said:

Thank you, kind man, for helping us, otherwise we would never have reached the top of the mountain world with such a load.

They were about to bow to this man, when pebbles again began to fall out from under their clothes and gather into piles. But the piles of pebbles, oddly enough, did not grow larger.

The man laughed with such an infectious laugh that even the two travelers involuntarily smiled, although bewilderment reigned in their souls. But when he calmed down, they asked the man:

Where are these from? Have we shaken it all off?

You won't get rid of them that easily. The path you choose shows you what you have and what you are. These stones are a reflection of the state of your inner world. Get rid of grievances, and only then will you be able to get rid of these stones, said the man.

One traveler, looking closely, saw some grains among the pebbles and asked the man:

What is it? What are these seeds and where did they come from?

These are the seeds of your spirit that have been hidden within you and which you will sooner or later have to nurture. The law of the mountain world says: “Everything is in you.” This means that everything that helps or hinders you is not outside of you, but inside. And the way to overcome obstacles is also in you, said the man. - You need to get rid of these stones, and for this, you will have to return to the people with whom you have taken on such a burden, but how to get rid of them is up to you. I am not telling you what to do, only because you are already at the stage when you need to learn, by listening to your soul, to distinguish: how, when and what to say or do. Don't forget that everything you need is within you. And remember, listen to your heart, it knows what to do. And now farewell, and may God help you on your difficult path,” with these words the man hugged the travelers in a friendly manner, saying goodbye to them, and left.

The first traveler decided to take the stones to his offenders in the form in which they were. He thought that the main thing was to quickly pay off his debts, fairly repay his offenders in the same coin, and start climbing again. He believed that a quick ascent was more pleasing to God than procrastination and delay. The goal he set for himself was important to him, but, as often happens, the desire for it hid his intuitive feeling the right way actions and the true path.

The second traveler did not want to burden the people who had offended him with the burden that prevented him from moving forward along the way. He remembered the words of the person he met that everything we need is within us, and realized that no one except himself could get rid of them. But how to do this? He tried to comprehend all the grievances that had accumulated in him, the existence of which he had already forgotten, and listen to his heart. And suddenly the attitude of Eternity towards all these petty insults was revealed to him, and his heart was filled with such love for all beings that he wanted to do something good for these people. And this is what he came up with.

He decided to grind the stones into dust and plant seeds in this dust, and, having grown them, return them to the people against whom he harbored a grudge. So that when they look at these flowers, they remember him, and their heart and mind become beautiful, like these flowers, and so that this beauty encourages them to become better and more beautiful.

So he did. For a long time he smashed the stones against each other until he crushed them into dust. There was no need to moisturize it, because that was done by the sweat that flowed abundantly from him. He found several vessels, filled them with crushed stones and planted seeds that grew by leaps and bounds. And when they grew up, he came to the people who had once offended him, smiled, hugged them and gave them these beautiful flowers. And at that same moment he saw himself standing higher than the place on the mountain from which he had to descend.

What about the first traveler? He still stands in the same place, because when he began to give people the “stones” from his heart, no one, naturally, wanted to take them, and since he wanted to quickly get rid of them, out of impatience he he was detained, began to throw them at his offenders. And so they exchanged until he realized that sometimes the path that seems shorter is much longer than what seems long.

So let's continue What does Stone in the bosom mean??

Keep a stone in your bosom- means to harbor a grudge against someone; to plot something evil; feel the urge to harm someone

Origin of the expression Stone in the bosom

It is worth noting, however, that not all historians support this version.

Second version. Paving the streets in Moscow required a lot of stones, and for this, the Tsar issues a decree that all visitors bring with them several cobblestones.

Third version. In Ancient Rome there was a custom to vote with stones for or against the death penalty, that is, one “lapillus” (stone) - one vote.