In France, onion soup has long been considered a delicacy. It was this dish that put ...
In Russia, the saying “You don’t need to share the skin of an unkilled bear” appeared after La Fontaine's fable “The Bear and Two Hunters” was translated into Russian. The plot of the fable is as follows. The two hunters set off into the forest, targeting the bear. They walked through the forest, tired and sat down to rest. They hadn't even met the bear yet, but both were confident of success. Young people began to fantasize and discuss what they would do with the animal as soon as they got it.
It is interesting that at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia it was customary to say not to “divide” the skin of an unkilled bear, but to “sell” it, because there is no point in dividing the skin, it is valuable whole.
The bottle of wine they had with them came in handy. The wine fueled imagination, and the hunters began to invent more and more beautiful scenes: they imagined that the bear had already been defeated, and the skin was in their hands. Everyone had big plans. Both young men were overwhelmed, completely forgetting that the fight with a real bear was still ahead, and it was too early to relax.
It was here that the bear appeared. He hid in the bushes and listened to the speech of unlucky hunters. As soon as the young men saw the bear, both of them were terribly frightened. The first had the strength to jump up and throw himself into the bushes. He ran as best he could, and the bear chased him. The hunter managed to escape, because the bear did not pursue him for long. He returned to the clearing, where the second young man was lying unconscious, who lost consciousness as soon as he saw the bear. His legs gave way, his body became wadded, he could not even get up and try to run away, like his friend.
A Russian proverb, similar in meaning: "Don't say" Gop "until you jump over."
The bear did not touch the second hunter. He bent down to him, whispered something in his ear and went into the forest on his business. When the hunters managed to meet again, the runaway plant asked his friend what had happened to him. The latter told him everything and said that the bear bent down to him and whispered the following words in his ear: "First you should kill the bear, and only then you can drink, and think how to sell the fur, and have fun."
The origin of the saying in Russia
Some experts believe that the saying “You don’t need to share the skin of an unkilled bear” did not appear because of Jean La Fontaine's fable, since most people were still not familiar with it: it was not customary for the common people to read French fables. People who study the epic and folk art are sure that the Russians adopted the proverb from other peoples who already existed. For example, they like to talk about the skin of a bear in France and Germany, there are other peoples who are familiar with this expression.
It is believed that Jean La Fontaine himself took a folk saying as the basis of the plot of his fable, which in fact may be older than his work. Lafontaine's years: 1621 - 1695.
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Winged Words and Expressions Serov Vadim Vasilievich
Share the skin of an unkilled bear
Share the skin of an unkilled bear
The primary source is the fable "The Bear and Two Comrades" by the French poet and fabulist Jean Lafontaine(1621 - 1695).
It is noteworthy that back in the 30s. XX century in Russia it was customary to say: “Sell (and not divide. - Comp.)the skin of an unkilled bear. " This version of the expression is much closer to the original source, and more logical, because there is no benefit from the "divided" skin, it is appreciated only when it remains intact.
Allegorically: to anticipate the results of the case. An analogue of the saying "Don't say hop until you jump over."
From the book Newest book facts. Volume 2 [Mythology. Religion] author Kondrashov Anatoly Pavlovich From the Book of 100 Great Special Services Operations author Damaskin Igor Anatolievich"Mosquito" vs. "Bear" For Western intelligence services, the desire to harm the Soviet Union has always been a priority. And let it not be a fatal wound, so at least annoying bites, like those with which mosquitoes annoy a bear.
author From the book Myths of the Finno-Ugric peoples author Petrukhin Vladimir Yakovlevich From the book All about everything. Volume 2 author Likum ArkadyWhat is the size of the largest bear? Due to the fact that bears can stand on their hind legs, and some of them can reach impressive sizes, all sorts of stories about them are quite common, where there are all kinds of exaggerations. There are legends about the great
From the book Encyclopedia of an avid hunter. 500 secrets of male pleasure author Luchkov Gennady BorisovichCovering a bear in the snow Bears do not always have time to hibernate before the snow cover is established. It happens that the first early snow catches the bear by surprise, and then the traces it leaves are clearly distinguishable on forest paths, which points the way to the hunter. It happens that
From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary of Winged Words and Expressions author Serov Vadim VasilievichWith wolves otherwise not to make a world, / How to skin them off from the fable "The wolf in the kennel" (1812) I. A. Krylov (1769 - 1844). According to the testimony of contemporaries, after the battle with Napoleon's troops near Krasnoe (November 6, 1812 g) this fable was read to his staff officers by M.I.Kutuzov. On the
From the book Always Ready! [The course of survival in extreme conditions for modern men] author Green RodHow to run away from a bear The worst thing that threatens you when meeting Winnie the Pooh is an annoying argument about where exactly the honey from the pot has gone. Well, if you come across a real bear in the forest, then you can rest assured that you will definitely have no time for jokes. As in
Philologist, candidate of philological sciences, poet, member of the Writers' Union of Russia.
Date of publication: 21.09.2019
Many have heard about the skin of an unkilled bear, but not everyone knows for sure why it should not be divided.
Where did the mention of the bear come from? Why do they say this about him, and not about a wolf or, for example, a boar? What synonyms can replace this phraseological unit?
Let's look into the secret depths of the language and look for answers together!
The meaning of the proverb
The proverb “ share the skin of an unkilled bear»Are usually remembered when they begin to dispose of the results of unfinished, and sometimes not even begun, business. The goal has not yet been achieved, and the person is already planning one step forward. He's so confident that he doesn't misfire.
Overconfidence is seldom beneficial. At some point, circumstances start to spiral out of control and lead to a completely different result.
There are a lot of examples of using this idiom. “When I graduate from college, I’ll find such a job that I’ll shovel money!” - the tenth grader will dreamily say. To this, the older sister may coldly remark that she has not even entered college yet.
"What are we going to do with mushrooms?" - the son will ask his mother, leaving the house with a basket. “Wait to decide! - will reasonably stop his mother. "First, find at least one mushroom."
We can not always predict the consequences of our actions and accurately predict the outcome. That is why the skin of an unkilled bear is something ephemeral, divine, something that could have happened if the action had already ended in the way we want.
It is clear that it is impossible to dispose of imaginary property, and even dividing it is, all the more, stupid.
The origin of the proverb
This expression owes its origin to the French fabulist La Fontaine. In the 17th century, from under his pen came the fable "Bear and Two Comrades", the plot of which looks something like this:
Two friends went hunting in the forest. They dreamed so much that they would flood the bear that the success of the catch seemed to them a decided affair. Friends almost fought, talking about who will get the bearskin. Suddenly a real bear came out to meet them. From fright, one of the comrades climbed onto a pine tree, the other fell to the ground. The beast sniffed it, touched it and walked away, thinking that it was dead. When the danger was over, a friend who came down from the pine asked his partner what the bear was doing to him. He replied: "He whispered in my ear that I should not divide the skin of an unkilled bear."
The popularity of La Fontaine's fables was colossal. Having flown around Europe, the plot reached Russia, where at first it became a proverb, word for word repeating the remark of a second friend, and then turned into a short phraseological unit “to share the skin of an unkilled bear”.
By the way, even before La Fontaine, Aesop described a similar plot in one of his fables. La Fontaine only transposed it in a poetic language understandable to contemporaries. So these two fabulists rightly divide the glory of the discovery in half, like the skin of a already killed bear.
Synonyms
In Russian, the idiom of French origin has many relatives. For those who start dreaming about the result before they finish their work, we can say this:
- Don't say gop until you jump over;
- Do not boast on the way to the army, but boast on the way from the army;
- Not the bread in the field, but the one in the bins;
The following expressions can be considered foreign analogues of phraseological units:
- Count chicks before they hatch (eng.);
- Do not praise the day before evening. (It's not evening yet) (German).
Yes, there is no need to rush to conclusions, and even more so, actions. Things may not go according to plan, and this should be taken calmly. Only proud people believe that life is completely and completely under their control. After all, man only proposes and God disposes.
- a saying about those who share incomes, benefits that do not yet exist and may not exist at all; (colloquial iron.). (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language (1992), N. Yu. Shvedova, "Skins")
This proverb came to the Russian language from Europe. For example, in France there is a proverb "You should not sell the skin of a bear before it is killed." A similar floorboard is available from Germany.
Serov V.V. in the book "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Winged Words and Expressions", 2003 writes - "back in the 30s of the XX century. in Russia it was customary to say:" Sell (and not share) the skin of an unkilled bear. "
Probably the phrase became popular in Europe thanks to La Fontaine's fable (1621 - 1695):
"The Bear and Two Hunters", La Fontaine (Translated by Krukovskaya)
“Two comrades who needed money sold the skin of a bear to a furrier neighbor.
The bear had not yet been killed by them, but they promised to immediately catch him.
They went to the forest. They met a huge bear. Both comrades were frightened.
One climbed a tree, and the other fell to the ground and pretended to be dead.
The bear approached him, began to sniff at him, turn him from side to side.
The man held his breath. The bear decided that he was dead and left.
When the danger was over, one man climbed down from the tree and asked the other:
- What did the bear do to you?
- He told me in my ear that you should not sell the bear skin until the bear has been killed."
Examples of
Boris Muradov
"Let's not share the skin of an unkilled bear... First, we need to secure funding for this project and start construction, and only then we can talk about some real terms. "
Chakovsky A.
"It's already morning for us":
"- The herring is still walking somewhere in the sea and does not suspect that she has already irrevocably entered the plan of our extraction ...
- There is even a fairy tale about this ...
- What is it?
- How shared the skin of an unkilled bear"
(1896 - 1984)
"Conversations with Ranevskaya" (Gleb Skorokhodov, 2004):
"Became mentally share the skin of an unkilled bear: first of all, I will return the advance payment, debts, and, perhaps, something else will remain. "
(1894 - 1940)
"I consider the figure of forty million tons arbitrary. More than a third is supposed to be taken from unexplored areas, which means share the skin of a bear, not only not killed, but not yet tracked down... "
(1793 - 1868)
"Russians in their proverbs", book. 3, 1832 - words of the Russian Tsar Peter I:
"My rule, the winner of Charles XII used to say, without killing the bear, do not promise skin."
We often hear: "You shouldn't share the skin of an unkilled bear." As a rule, we know the meaning of this phraseological unit. It boils down to the fact that one should not rush things, rush to write something into an asset, give oneself a mental "daw".
What phraseological unit teaches
Like most popular wisdom, this saying teaches sanity. It boils down to doing everything right first, and only then celebrating the victory. If you look for a close analogue to the expression in Russian, then it will be: "Do not say" gop "until you jump over." Thus, everything must be done on time and in the right place. That is why they say: "You should not share the skin of an unkilled bear." The meaning, we think, is clear to both young and old.
But originally this expression was invented as an instruction to young people. After all, it is youth that is most prone to all sorts of projection, but it also believes that in time it still has a carriage and a small cart. On the contrary, mature people prefer to live by pressing tasks and deeds. Maybe because adults have them, and youth, as a rule, is carefree, and you constantly have to pull it up and say: "You don't have to share the skin of an unkilled bear." The meaning of this expression is usually well known to young people, so they calm down, but not for long.
If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans
You can't think of anything, because life is unpredictable. You can not pin excessive hopes on something. We put emotions into expectations, when the first ones do not come true, we get upset. If you do not hope and do not try to share the skin of an unkilled bear (we considered the meaning of the expression a little higher), then there will be no frustration.
The burden of other people's expectations
There is an article on the Internet that describes in detail and even tediously why you cannot tell other people about your plans. The final thesis is this: consciousness is to blame for everything.
Our unhappy consciousness takes speaking as a fait accompli and stops stimulating the body to achieve certain goals. Only two circumstances are confusing here:
- Is our consciousness so stupid that it cannot distinguish between the possible and the real?
- Is it possible that a person as a whole is so stupid that he does not understand: no matter how long you say the word "halva", your mouth will not become sweeter?
Therefore, we believe that the matter is completely different, and the article to which we refer is pure imagination of its authors, and does not have a scientific, psychological basis.
When a person talks to someone about something, he kind of makes a promise to the interlocutor. The burden of these promises is crushing, the person feels uncomfortable, as if in a cage. As a result, what was conceived is not realized. Therefore, one should trust the folk wisdom, which is taught by the proverb (“to share the skin of an unkilled bear”). The meaning of the phraseological unit is saturated with love for the present moment. Not to what was in the past, and not to what will be in the future.
"Talk" by M. Heidegger and plans
Another option for the development of events and an answer to the question of why people do not fulfill most of their promises and ideas in life.
A person's projects are actually not so important to him, and he simply forgets about them. Life is fast, especially today, people usually do not remember 90% of what they say. Now communication has become one of the ways of relaxation. M. Heidegger called it "talk", that is, the process of a conversation is valuable in itself, but not in a good way, when we vigilantly follow its thread, meaning and content, and in a bad way - we need to "beat the air", kill time, we need background noise. In such conversations, a person blurts out a lot. The interlocutor attaches excessive importance to this, and the speaker does not even remember his plans. So, the plans are not being realized: a) the person as a result does not cope with the burden of other people's expectations and b) for him the said plans mean little. As a result, it turns out that it is better not to make plans at all, but such a model of life is available to few, which is a pity. In other words, don't share the skin of an unkilled bear. The meaning of the proverb is unambiguous.
How to learn to live in the present?
Buddhists teach that every day is a small life. Armed with this extremely wise thesis, let's say that it is better not to build far-reaching plans at all at any age. All these thought constructs are very unnerving and do not allow a person to live normally and solve specific tasks. A person constantly oppresses himself either by the past or by the future, not knowing how to enjoy the present.
In this context, the question we put in the title of this section is very important, the answer to it is both simple and complex at the same time. You should live step by step, gradually, not in a hurry. Life is such that it is interrupted suddenly, so there is always a chance of not becoming someone and not being in time for something. But plans and constant striving for the future poison the present. This means that it is not necessary to divide the skin of an unkilled bear ahead of time. The meaning of the proverb sets a person up for an unbreakable union with the present.
