The meaning and origin of the phraseology "Homeric laughter". Laughter of the gods

The meaning and origin of the phraseology "Homeric laughter" is not such a secret, especially for those who once read "Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece". For the rest, we will tell you where the word phrase came from.

ON. Kun

Here it is necessary to tell about the origin of the ancient Greek myths. The book "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece" is considered canonical in our country, Nikolai Albertovich Kuhn wrote it. A remarkable edition was published for the first time in 1922. The book survived a huge number of reissues.

ON. Kun in his book faithfully informs the reader that the myths about the life and origin of the gods are set forth in three sources:

1. Hesiod, Theogony.

2. Homer's poems: "Iliad" and "Odyssey."

3. Creativity Ovid. Specifically, the material was taken from his "Metamorphosis".

With the naked eye, you can see that the name of the poet Homer and the Russian adjective "Homeric" are related, but not yet the time to open all the maps. The meaning and origin of the phraseology "Homeric laughter" will be elucidated shortly. And now from the sources of NA. Kuna we pass to the anthropomorphic (human-like gods) of the Ancient Hellas.

Ancient Greek gods

Anyone who is even a little interested in the history of beliefs knows that our ancestor imagined the world around him in a slightly different way than a modern man. The world for the first was animate. Each element was in charge of its god. Poseidon was responsible for the water surface, Hades - for the underworld, the world of the dead, etc. We will not list them all here, there are too many of them.

The bottom line is that the ancient man, having no knowledge of the physics of external reality, judged it by analogy with himself.

That is why the gods, as they say in one famous series of the 90s of the 20th century, are "vindictive and cruel", that is, quite like people. Do not think that this has nothing to do with the topic "The meaning and origin of the phraseology" Homeric laughter "", just need to get a little more patience.

Olympus

In the Middle Ages, the saints dreamed that after death they would sit at the right hand of Christ. The ancient Greek had dreams of a different kind: he dreamed of ascending to Olympus and having a feast with the gods, especially Zeus was sweet.

Olympus is the highest mountain range in Greece. In those days, about which we are talking, it was believed that it is here that the gods live.

According to myths, Olympus is good. The gods, enjoying their existence, eat ragweed - the food of the gods. On the Olympus there is always wonderful weather. Sorrows also do not often overshadow the existence of the gods. We, incidentally, came very close to finding out the meaning and origin of the phraseology "Homeric laughter".

Feast of the Gods

Despite the fact that every god controls his own patrimony, everyone gathers at the feast, and even those who control the darkest areas of human existence, that is, the world of the dead. It's about Hades, of course. Gods though harmful, but they can always appreciate a good joke, and then Olympus is filled with Homeric laughter. Now the meaning of the phraseological "Homeric laughter" is simply revealed to us. This unrestrained laughter over something, it usually accompanies irrepressible fun. The adjective "homeric" here, preserving some historical content and reference to the works of Homer, means "profuse," "huge," "boundless," "very loud and very sincere."

What can you laugh about homerically?

Difficult question. Everything depends on the level of development of a person, age, age, culture and situation. For example, someone likes Jim Carrey, and someone like Charlie Chaplin. True, Chaplin is laughed at not only because he has funny films, but also because it's a classic. Chaplin gives the viewer not only the relief he needs, but also the sense of how clever he is. Still would! He laughs homerically over Chaplin.

It is gratifying that it is no longer necessary to explain, but what is the meaning of phraseology "Homeric laughter", for everything is already clear.

I remember that in 1999 the movie "American Pie" was released. Teenagers did not laugh homerically over him, during the viewing fun turned (if it was in the company) into mass hysteria.

Someone, on the contrary, does not like films very much and prefers books. Some tear to laughter at Jerome, others above Woodhouse, others above Twain or Vonnegut.

Happens and here's how. For example, a person on the ice slipped and fell, and someone saw this and laughed so hard that he could not stand it and also fell into the snow. As it is not difficult to understand, then a whole chain of those who laughed and fell down, before all this was hilarious.

As in D.I. Kharms - old women, who because of excessive curiosity dropped out of the windows all day. The moral of this story is that it is impossible to laugh at people stretching out on the ice, even though it is homeric, and although it is not, but if you really want it, then you can.

Modern life of phraseology

Now very few people remember Homer. Not to a small degree because his writings are very difficult to read. But it would not be so bad. The real problem is that even the wonderful myths of Ancient Greece are discovered by few people. While they are wonderful, especially in the processing of NA. Kuhn.

For all these reasons, the origin of the phraseology "Homeric laughter" is of such interest, for Homer is forgotten, myths are forgotten, only the adjective "Homeric" remains of all this. We hope that we not only explained the word combination, but also showed its origin. A small piece of the history of religion will also benefit the reader. Maybe he will even want to understand this fascinating question.

Laughter prolongs life

We would like to end on a positive note and say that the phraseology "Homeric laughter" was examined by us, and it was not possible to detect any contra-indications against unrestrained fun.

If suddenly the dear reader will allow himself to laugh homerically, ie. Loudly, cheerfully and sincerely, then let him first make sure that no one is around him and his laughter does not hurt anyone, and then he will give vent to his feelings.