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How to understand the Augean stables. Phraseologism Augean stables meaning

The meaning of the AUGEAN STABLES in the Modern Explanatory Dictionary, TSB

AUGEAN STABLES

in Greek mythology, the huge and heavily polluted stables of the king of Elis Avgii, cleansed of sewage in one day by Hercules, who directed the waters of the river into them (one of his 12 labors). IN figuratively- extreme disorder, neglect.

TSB. Modern explanatory dictionary, TSB. 2003

Augean stables - the meaning of phraseology

Surely you already guess what the expression "Augean stables" means. From the previous text, this follows quite logically. But we will explain. Three values should be highlighted.

Now you know what the Augean Stables are, as well as the meaning of this phraseological unit.

Consider the well-known idiom "Augean stables" .

This phraseologism refers us to the ancient Greek myths about Hercules.

Are given meaning, origin and sources of phraseology, as well as examples from the works of writers.

The meaning of phraseology

Augean stables - a polluted room; disorder in business

Synonyms: mess, unplowed field

IN foreign languages there are direct analogues of the phraseological unit "Augean stables":

Augean stables (English)
Augiasstall (German)
écuries d "Augias (French)

Augean stables: the origin of phraseology

It is believed that ancient greek hero Hercules (among the Romans - Hercules) undertook to clear the stables of Avgius, king of the Greek region of Elis, in one day. According to some reports, the huge Augean stables had not been cleaned for 30 years and were overflowing with manure. And there were 3,000 bulls and many goats in them.

Hercules broke the wall that surrounded the barnyard from two opposite sides, and diverted the water of two rivers, Alpheus and Peneus, into the gaps formed. The turbulent waters of the rivers quickly carried away all the accumulated sewage.

On this, the sixth feat could have been solemnly completed, but there was a discrepancy. From the very beginning, Augeas agreed to give Hercules a tenth of his herds if he could manage in a day. Of course, he was sure that Hercules would fail. And when it happened, Avgiy showed greed and refused the word given to Hercules.

And in vain. Hercules is not to be trifled with. In the course of two campaigns, he killed Avgii, his sons (except for the honest Philaeus, who recognized the justice of the requirements of Hercules) and some warlike relatives.

Source

For the first time this myth was expounded by the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), and the expression “Augean stables” became winged in ancient times: it was used by Seneca (“Satire on the death of Emperor Claudius”), Lucian (“Alexander ") and others.

Examples from the works of writers

The favorite hero of the Greeks was Hercules, who became famous for cleaning the Augean stables and thus giving the Greeks an unforgettable example of cleanliness. In addition, this neat man killed his wife and children. (N.A. Taffy, "Ancient History")

The last, already completely encouraging, news: the re-registration of party tickets has been announced, that is, the cleaning of the Augean stables. (A. N. Tolstoy, "Walking through the torments")

Alice hid in a low laboratory building to leave her bag there and change clothes, and when she came out, she angrily declared: - This is not a laboratory, but the Augean stables!
Hercules, who was waiting for her at the entrance, did not answer, because he never read Greek myths and besides, he knew only edible words. (K. Bulychev, "A Million Adventures")

What is the useful conclusion from this whole story? Probably like this: you really need to be talented person to a one-day room cleaning evolved into a famous feat that has come down to us through many centuries in the myth and phraseology "Augean stables".

Well, to be more specific, the conclusion is that even if you are strong like Hercules, then all the same better to think first rather than grab the shovel right away.

Have you had such a case in your life when some person, entering the room, exclaimed: “Yes, these are some kind of Augean stables!”. And this expression from that moment does not give you rest. What is its meaning, what did you want to say by using it? You did not ask this question to the speaker of this phraseological unit? No? And it is not necessary that you are not considered an idiot - how, like an adult, but does not know such elementary things. But different sources interpret it each in their own way. And in this article I will describe the correct and generally accepted meaning of this phraseological unit.

Syntactic parsing of a phrase

First, we will consider it, as always, from the linguistic side - we will do a syntactic analysis of the phrase "Augean stables". A boring and rather boring part, of course, but you can’t do without it. Thanks to it, you can parse the meaning of each word in this expression in order to further understand the meaning of the latter. But I digress. So, consider each word in this phraseological unit as a part of speech. Let's start with the stables. "Stables" is a noun plural, answers the question "what". In the singular, the word "stable" is feminine and in the 1st declension. Go ahead. "Augean" is a plural adjective that answers the question "whose". Derived from the noun "Augius". Those who read ancient Greek mythology, having heard the word, or rather, the name "Augius", they will slap themselves on the forehead and run to pull out for a long time forgotten book from the farthest shelf. And for those who do not know, in order to understand the meaning of the phraseological unit "Augean stables", you need to read the following paragraph.

The origin of phraseology

Surely everyone has heard of Hercules, who, serving King Eurystheus, performed twelve labors. One of them directly concerned Avgii. That was the name of the son of the sun god Helios. His father gave him power over the tribe of Epeev and a beautiful herd, in which there were several thousand red and white bulls and one golden one, shining like the sun. The king placed them in a huge corral. Many years have passed since then, and it has never been cleaned. Over the years, a lot of manure has accumulated there, which they would not have been able to clean out in a day. This is what Eurystheus entrusted to Hercules. He came to Avgiy and offered his help. But the king only laughed at him. Indignant, Hercules argued with Avgiy: if he removes all the stables of the latter in one day, the king will give him a tenth of his herds. They shook hands, and Hercules immediately went to work. The stables were a long corridor. The rivers Alpheus and Peney flowed past him in a stormy stream, from which Hercules dug a canal to the pre-cut opposite wall of the corral and blocked it with a dam. As soon as the flow of water changed, he destroyed the partition. The stream rushed into the stables, carrying all the manure with it. When the water subsided, the pens shone with cleanliness. Seeing that the hero fulfilled his part of the agreement, Avgiy refuses to fulfill his, citing Heracles' disenfranchised position as a slave of Eurystheus. Hercules becomes furious and vows revenge on him. Later, already being free, he will fulfill his oath. But Eurystheus did not count the cleaning of the Augean stables, answering that the waters of Alpheus and Peneus did the work for him. However, the inhabitants of the possessions of Avgii remained forever grateful to him for the fact that the hero saved them from the stench that had come from the corrals for years.

Augean stables: meaning

So, we analyze the meaning of the discussed phraseological unit. In myth, these are the huge and terribly dirty pens of King Avgii. And in linguistics, "Augean stables" is a phraseological unit denoting extreme neglect and slovenliness, not only indoors, but also in practice.

The language of any people, despite all the connections between them and origin from the same root, is unique. By wealth vocabulary can be judged cultural development of a particular society or state, by the speech of each person one can judge how fully he uses cultural traditions of his people.

In order to more fully and figuratively express their thoughts, they are actively used in the language. They are already established (stable) phrases with which a person can display the whole complex range of his experiences - irony, mockery, love, sarcasm.

Many phraseological units have already become so firmly established in everyday life people that they don’t even think about their origin, and after all, many of them have very curious facts and stories behind them. An example is the idiom "Augean stables", the origin of which is associated with one of the famous

As one of the ancient Greek myths tells us, the famous ruler of the country - King Avgiy - was famous for his passion for horses, the number of which reached three thousand. However, his love for these noble animals was very badly combined with his unwillingness to clean their stalls, which for thirty years were overgrown to the very roof with selected manure. Thus, on the one hand, the "Augean stables" are a symbol of neglect, pollution, neglect of rough, but no less important works.

Cope with the problem of King Avgiy was able famous hero Hercules, whom the ruler instructed to clean the stables, since, in his opinion, such a volume of work was beyond the power of any mere mortal. The meaning of the phraseological unit “Augean stables” is largely due to the method that the famous strongman decided to use: realizing that it was almost impossible to cover the entire front of work in the traditional way, Hercules changed the riverbed. AND torrential stream In just a few hours, he brilliantly coped with the task.

Based on this, the meaning of the phraseological unit “Augean stables” implies an absolute mess in business, which can only be dealt with if some non-trivial solution is applied. Moreover, most often this expression is used not in relation to any individual person, but about the state of affairs of the whole society as a whole.

However, in Lately Another meaning of the phraseologism "Augean stables" appeared. Under it began to understand contamination inner world a person when he lost almost all moral guidelines in life and turned into an ordinary consumer who lives solely for the sake of eating delicious food and sleeping sweetly. “To clear the Augean stables” means to understand oneself, to return those basic guidelines that illuminated the lives of many generations of people.

The fact that the meaning of the phraseological unit "Augean stables" has several meanings emphasizes the richness of the Russian language, its flexibility, continuous improvement and development along with the development of society and the state itself.

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