Is it a shame word or not? Residents of the Pskov province

Surprisingly, the attitude to the word "shovel" is more than ambiguous. In most cases, it is applied to residents of the Pskov region. Some consider him humiliating, while others are proud of this self-designation. The whole hitch in the origin of this word. There are different versions of why Pskovites are scrapers.

The trace of Peter the Great

It's more like a beautiful legend, but they say that this name appeared with the light hand of the sovereign himself.

The fact is that the Pskov province since ancient times was famous for its skilled craftsmen in making hardware. One day Peter the Great wanted to unbend a staple made by local smiths, but did not master it. This was very surprising to him, because, being a strong man, he easily managed even with horseshoes. So he praised the Pskov craftsmen, calling them shoemakers. Therefore, many natives of these lands proudly refer to themselves in memory of their ancestors. Moreover, in 2014 they even set up a monument to scrolls in Pskov. The creators immortalized the forge craftsmen and expressed their gratitude to them. This monument became an unofficial symbol of the city.

Skobar is an uncouth provincial?

Although the previous version, most likely, pure fiction, but smoke without fire does not happen. It is known that Peter the Great issued a decree in 1714, which obliged about two hundred families of Pskov fishermen to move to the vicinity of St. Petersburg. The city was only being built, but there were no good blacksmiths. They were given a settlement for the settlement, which for obvious reasons later became known as the village of Rybatsky. His mission - the production of ironmongery - they performed regularly. The settlers supplied the young city with nails, rods, horseshoes. Therefore, the narrower specialization of blacksmithing began to be crooked.

But the inhabitants of Rybatsky differed provinciality and rough uncouthness, so the name of their profession acquired a negative connotation. So they began to call simple-minded, narrow-minded, ill-bred, greedy people. Perhaps, at first this word was argotism, but over time it migrated into a broad lexicon, where it was fixed. Therefore, according to the majority of modern explanatory dictionaries, shovels are a rustic, rude and mean.

Indirect arguments in favor of this version of the origin of the word are similar in sounding tokens in other languages. First of all, these are the peoples who lived next door to the Pskov people, for example, Latvians. Theoretically, if the word still existed in Russian, but was lost, its traces can be found in other linguistic systems. So, Latvian skops, meaning "greedy", can serve as proof of this. Also in German there is an adjective skeptisch ("incredulous"), as well as a French sceptique with the same meaning. But sometimes, as they say, you do not have to go far, because Russian "stingy" can also be an echo of that long-term nickname of immigrants from the Pskov lands.

Skobar is a skilled warrior?

There is one more version to which the blacksmith's craft is irrelevant. Pskovichi - descendants of the Slavic tribe of Krivichi - were famous for their dexterity and courage in military matters.

Hence their self-name appeared, as the word "staple" meant a military clash, and called its participant's shoelace. True, supporters of this version operate with very scant evidence: the presence of a similar token with such a value already in Serbian and Croatian languages, whose carriers do not live in territorial proximity to the Pskovians. That is, from the scientific point of view, such arguments are sewn with white threads and can be regarded only as an attempt to refine the name under discussion and wash it off from a raft of negativity that has accumulated over a long period of time.

Or they assume that the people who lived in a well-protected area from the enemy were called shoals. And those lands, which later occupied the Pskov province, were famous for their fortresses, which reliably protected residents from attacks.

Again, consonant words from other languages are taken into the help, for example, the English escape ("escape", "escape"), the ancient Greek σκεπαω ("protect", "hide"), Italian scappare ("avoid"), Romanian a scăpa "Save", "save"). The meanings of these words intersect in the notion of a well-protected place.

Lexical ghost

The skeptics are tormented by vague doubts about whether this name existed at all 300 years ago. After all, if so, it would be found in annals or other historical documents. But there is no such evidence. Also Alexander Pushkin, who spent almost 3 years in the Pskov province, never mentioned this word in writing. And the adjective "Pskov" he uses 18 times. Also there is no this word in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Great Russian Language" edited by Dahl, published in the 19th century. It looks, at least strange, that such a connoisseur of Russian vocabulary missed him from the sight, if it was in widespread use at that time, because in this work there are even dialectisms and vulgar words. Everything speaks against the fact that the noun "shovel", whether it be the name of the profession or the katoikonim, existed in the 18th or 19th century.

Phonetic version

Everything can be much simpler. Perhaps the word "Pskov" was transformed into "Skopsky" because of such a phonetic phenomenon as assimilation. And from this adjective, the noun eventually happened. That is, the whole process occurred approximately like this: Pskov - Skopsky - Skobsky - skobar. Many linguists agree with this version. If this was so, then the shovel is just an ethnonym. A negative connotation he acquired because of the film "We are from Kronstadt", filmed in the 1930s. There are depictions of the events of the Civil War. In the picture there is a scene where the faint-hearted sailor, watching the battle between red and white, then puts on whiteguard shoulder straps, then rips them off the shoulders, depending on which side is the advantage. At the same time he pitifully reiterates: "We are Pskov, we are Skopsky."

Conclusion

It all depends on how you perceive this word. If as the original name of the subethnos, then any Pskovite can proudly call himself a skid. But if you take into account the negative connotation of meaning, then with this anthroponym you have to be very careful. After all, you can not offend a man in a joke, calling him a skid.