Trees of the Russian Federation

Each of us knows the names of Russian trees since childhood. We do not think about what they mean, why they sound so, and not otherwise. Just like the words sun, sky, earth or birds. All these words are not conceptual for us, for example, such as a locomotive or an airplane. Their meaning is hidden from our mind, but they create the visual and semantic scope of our being. If you ask yourself what the names of trees mean and whether they are similar in different languages, and start your own little research, then the most interesting facts are revealed. Consider the above positions on the example of the three most representative representatives of the Russian flora: birch, oak and willow. These deciduous trees, whose names themselves represent the conceptual components for each Russian speaker: white, strong and weeping, respectively.

Birch

The name of the birch tree in the modern Russian language passed from the Old Russian. And further its roots are traced - in Old Slavonic, obscheslaviansky and Indo-European. Even the English Birch is something alliterationally consonant with the Russian word. At the level of the Old Slavonic language, the birch ("brzyn") has one meaning with the month, which is now called April. At the level of the Indo-European - the root bhereg - is understood as white, pure or light. Thus, it becomes clear that the name of the birch was obtained as a tree having a light, whitening trunk. At first glance, the disclosure of the conceptual series gave us very simple conclusions, even obvious, but now the word "birch" becomes more clear.

Oak

All attempts by linguists to decompose the name of this tree into some components
Ended with rather ambiguous conclusions. For example, pulling the word "oak" to the Greek demo (build) was the translation - "building tree". Quite a doubtful result. But identifying the Slavs as a people who used mystical practices, and in particular their taboo experience, understanding this word becomes more transparent. Oak, like a bear, was for the Russian ancestors something more than rulers or masters. A direct word was used extremely rarely. Instead of "ber" they said "in charge of honey," that is, a bear. Instead of "perk" they said "a tree with a hollow," that is, an oak tree. Thus, it turns out that this tree Perun - one of the main gods of the Slavic pantheon.

Willow

Rakita, willow, willow, willow ... Many people think that these are names of different trees. This is not true. In fact, it is the same plant. But only one name - willow - entered into all the Slavic languages. If you refer to the Indo-European proto-language, it means "reddish wood". But, turning to the mythology of the Slavs, you can find a more romantic, and perhaps more accurate understanding of the name. "Willow" - "Vila" - "Samovila" - these are magical creatures who knew how to sing beautifully. By the way, the same perspective can be traced in English: Willow - the name of the tree and Veelae - fairy-tale girls, who know how to sing with fascination. Certainly, a rather approximate meaning, far from the methods of modern science, but what a romantic ...

Finally

The names of trees, like many other words of the Russian language, is a journey into the history of our ancestors - the Slavs. In their secret of language. Later, many transformations of the Russian language took place. Cyril and Methodius threw out a lot of letters, in their opinion, superfluous. German scientists in the era of Catherine II structured the language in the manner of European. The Bolsheviks removed the last mysterious signs. Modern Americanized Russian makes you forget the last secrets. But to reveal secrets is possible, just listening to the sounds and analyzing the meaning of ordinary Russian words.