The meaning of the Russian expression перемывать косточки (to be washing up the bones) (стр. 4 )

As the numerous archeological findings reveal, until X–XI cent. Slavs practiced simultaneously two forms of burial: cremation and burial in the earth, though “in the forest regions of the Slavic dispersal the only funeral practice up until X century was the burning ritual” (Седов, 1982, c. 54). Cremated bones are found in the numerous burial grounds of this period, placed within the kurgan in a small pile, sometimes at the top of the burial mound or its other part in an earthen or made of birch-bark urn. Some archeologists suppose that the bones may have been put into earth wrapped up in a piece of fabric. V. Sedov, speaking of the burial grounds in the Volyn’ and Pripiatskie Polesie regions, particularly stresses the fact that “the grave pits were filled out with the black carbonaceous earth, and the bones, collected from the burial fire, were cleaned from the remains of it, and in some cases even washed” (Седов, 1990, c. 174). A less recent monograph by the same author repeatedly states that before the burial the bones were cleared from the ashes and washed out (Седов, 1982, c. 54, 62, 97, 144, 168 and so on). We add a modestly suggestion that the bones were committed to earth in the same vessels (made of earth or bark), in which they had been washed.

The consecutive actions connected with the preparation of the remains for the burial, reflected in the idioms we are concerned with are listed below:

– the body was burned and the bones collected from the burial fire, which was made on the side (this way the word костер {fire} came into existence)[4];

– the backbone was dismantled bone by bone (hence: разобрать по косточкам {to dismantle bone by bone}; перебрать все косточки {to sort out all the bones}, перетирать косточки {to wipe dry the bones});

– everything was carefully aired out, separated from the ashes (hence: трясти косточки {shake the bones});

– next the bones were put into a vessel and washed with water (перемыть / мыть / промыть / вымыть косточки {to be washing / to wash / to rinse / to wash out the bones});

– in the same pot, birch-bark box (urn), or perhaps in a canvas bag or wrapped in a scarf, the bones were committed to earth (from this action stems a number of funeral sayings, such as: Прими земля косточки! Не ной его косточки в сырой земле! {Accept, o earth, the bones! Do not grieve his bones in the earth!}).

The sacramental procedure of the сбор, перебирание, промывание и провеивание {preparation, sorting, washing and airing out} of the body cremated in the burial fire could have been conducted while the burning funeral ceremony was most common, being conducted either by the priests or by the close relatives. We have an indirect indication of the relative being the manipulator of the bones in the saying Кого дедушка любит, тому и косточки в руки {the one who is loved by the granddad receives the bones}. The sacral nature of the subject of the rite is manifested in the saying: Не вороши, коли руки нехороши {do not touch if the hands are not clean}, which transformed into a positive statement would become: Вороши, коли руки хороши {you may touch if the hands are clean (holy?)}.

A special term was formed in the Eastern Slavic languages for the description of the ritual acts of this kind *kostiti, *kosteriti (Berneker, 1908–1913 I, p. 583; see also Соболевский, 1913, c. 86 and Фасмер, 1986–1987 II, c. 348) (obviously, not yet pejorative); as well as for the priest performing the ceremony - *кoščunъ[5] (Berneker, 1908–1913 I, p. 583; Фасмер, 1986–1987 II, c. 362). Existence of the words belonging to the same formational nest, semantically close to each other, and obviously motivated by the same ritual, not only in Eastern Slavic tongues, but in other languages of the same group, makes to assume that the expression had a wider (all-Slavic) propagation.

Originally the rite of washing the bones of the deceased was characterized by the demands of ritual purity, which served as one of the conditions for the acceptance of the bones by the Mother Earth, and therefore proper crossing over of the soul of the deceased from one world to the next. An analogous procedure of washing a dead body, having survived up to our days, is included in the Christian burial custom.

5. Development of secondary meanings of the words and expressions connected with funeral rituals of cremation.

It may be assumed that the washing, the sorting out and the placing of the bones into a vessel was accompanied by chants, incantations and funeral weeping, in which the merits of deceased were enumerated and the good works of his life were listed. This was, in all probability, how this expression attained the meaning of ‘to remember, to enumerate something in detail’, which was metonymically transformed into ‘to discuss’.

Texts with ritual pragmatics of paying honors to the dead by listing his good works were known in the ancient Greece and Rom, where “speeches praising the deceased were made for the sake of his good fame. According to Polibius, during such ceremonies in Rome not only the biography of the deceased was narrated, but also of his ancestors” (Протоколы заседаний, c. 65).

At that time, at the beginning of its existence, the funeral lexis did not as yet have the expressly pejorative sense, which developed later, at the time of the forceful opposition of the heathen and Christian rituals, and of the heathen and Christian morals.

The crisis of the funeral ethics probably came when the bones of the dead men began to be used by wizards (not priests) for the mercenary magical purposes – to cause harm to their kinsmen, and that in the days not traditionally designated for the ritual. 20th article of the medieval laws of Stephen Dushan (XIV cent.), in particular, confirms that Slavs did use human remains for the magical purposes: “if any people for the purpose of wizardry would take out (the dead) from the graves and burn them, the village which committed this act shall be fined” (Толстая, 1998, c. 94). Some sources report that the bones were used as a sacral object in oaths (Овъ прiсягы костьми человŠчами творить… {Some made oaths over the human bones} (Аничков, 1914, c. 94); Мертвой костью не шевели! {Do not move the dead bone!} ― ‘do not swear!’), and for necromancy.

At the time of Christian semantic remodeling of the heathen linguistic heritage our expression gained new meanings, including ‘to gossip’ and ‘to laugh’. Internal structure of several words underwent semantic transformation, attaining a definitely pejorative coloring – this concerns the words костить {to spoil} (‘to prepare the bones for the burial’ > ‘to abuse’), кощун {defiler} (‘priest’ > ‘a man defiling the Christian sanctuary’). The magical shadow in the meaning of the word костить {to spoil} survived until today in the saying Немного нагостил, да много накостил {Did not stay long, but spoilt a lot} (Снегирев, 1999, c. 181, 188)).

6. Conclusions

6.1 The expression перемывать косточки {to be washing up the bones} is rooted in the customs of burial in the broad sense, as indicated by the historical semantics of the word кость/-и {bone/-s} and etymology of the related words ― names for the fairy creatures, ritual personages and objects).

6.2 The expression appeared as a reflection of the burial practices of the Slavs, existing on the entire Slavic territory until X–XI cent.

6.3 The ritual began by the cremation of the body and ended in the committal to earth of the calcinated bones, collected from the burial fire, cleared from the ashes and washed, as confirmed by the whole range of the source verbs semantics.

6.4 The appearance of the expression перемывать косточки {to be washing up the bones} should be designated to the X–XI cent., when the custom of cremation was almost completely replaced by that of the burial in earth, and while the memory of the heathen rites was still quite fresh.

6.5 Despite the fact that the idiom survived only in the Eastern Slavia, it should be considered as an all-Slavic possession. Its “longevity” in the Eastern Slavic language area may be explained by the late disappearance of the cremation custom in the region.

6.6 The basic version of the expression has survived to our days in an unchanged shape. Other similarly structured idioms had existed simultaneously with it. Some of those were dropped out of usage during XIX cent., some still exist today, but are removed from the idiomatic vanguard. The meaning of the expression was restructured in the distinctly negative key at the moment when the ideological signposts were changed.

Literatūra

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Miklosich, Fr. (1886). Etymologisches Wörterbuch der slavischen Sprachen. Wien.

Аничков, Е. В. (1914). Язычество и Древняя Русь. Санкт-Петербург.

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