The meaning of the phraseologism "put your teeth on the shelf" in Russian

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Russian language was not in vain called the classic “great, mighty and truthful”: it is capable of expressively, figuratively, aptly expressing a certain state or situation.

The use of phraseological units, proverbs and sayings, idioms and popular expressions makes speech brighter, more concise and sometimes eliminates unnecessary lengthy explanations. Below we will consider the meaning of the phraseological unit “put your teeth on the shelf.”

Where teeth grow from

The history of language can help you figure out what the phrase "putting your teeth on the shelf" means. In fact, this is a saying, that is, a folklore genre. This means that the expression came from the people's environment, the origins of its meaning can be found in simple everyday life.

The proverb is intended to reflect some phenomenon of life. “To be in dire need, to starve, to limit oneself in everything” - this is the meaning of the phraseological unit “put your teeth on the shelf”. How does folk wisdom advise putting teeth in?

Teeth in folk labor

There are two interpretations of the meaning of the word "teeth" in the proverb. The first is folk. "Teeth" were called tools for spinning. Once they are on the shelf - there is no work, and without work there is no prosperity.

In the Russian language there is another playful proverb, similar in its theme: "Wait for sense, putting your teeth on the shelf." In this case, the advice should be listened to and the opposite should be done. Synonymous in meaning will be a proverb about a fish that cannot be easily pulled out of a pond. Thus, a characteristic feature of such phraseological units in Russian is visible: hunger is characterized by laziness, not work.

Origin of the word

If we also look at the etymology of the word "tooth", it will be clear that this is not only a bone formation in the mouth, but also a surface with sharp edges. This means that the meaning of the phraseological unit “put your teeth on a shelf” can be expanded with other tools: a saw, a rake, a plow have teeth. Any work is suitable in meaning, because from time immemorial it was believed that “the good of people is in life, and life is in work.”

Murder tongue

A well-aimed folk expression can outgrow the environment that gave rise to it and enter the speech of a larger number of carriers of a certain culture. Penetrating into the literary language, the phraseological phrase can be understood intuitively, without a clear understanding of its lexical units. It is unlikely that many will now understand what kind of nose you can stay with, but the meaning of the saying is clear to everyone: this is what they say about failure in an undertaking. However, in the old days, an offering was called a nose - it was offered to an official. It could be both in monetary terms and in the form of a natural product. If the official did not accept the offering, then the petitioner "was left with the nose" - he did not receive what he wanted.

Another situation happened with the saying "put your teeth on the shelf". The meaning of phraseologism has acquired a new internal form in the literary language, without losing understanding of the meaning of lexical units. Teeth have lost their direct connection with labor and have come to be understood in the usual sense: the proverb suggests literally pulling out teeth like false teeth and putting them on the shelf as unnecessary. The saying takes on a shade of black humor, but truthful: why teeth, since there is nothing to chew. Moreover, lying on a shelf, they do not wear off, but live to see better times.

Semantic field of saying

And although the teeth in the proverb changed their meaning, the phraseological unit remained in the semantic field of the concepts of hunger and poverty. The church mouse comes to mind: the rodent was placed in the hungriest of all possible premises, and its main weapon in the fight against hunger was its teeth. Yes, and in the refrigerator, again, a mouse from hunger can hang itself.

The meaning of the phraseologism "put your teeth on the shelf" aptly and figuratively reflects the realities of human reality. The relevance and universality of the phenomenon described by the proverb made it understandable to all carriers of culture, although the original meaning of phraseological units is outdated and almost forgotten.