What does the expression "rest in a Bose" mean?

The common expression "to rest in a Bose" is familiar to all reading people, it is often found both in classical Russian literature and in contemporary topical journalism. The meaning of this verbal turnover is quite understandable in the context in which it is commonly used. And as for the origin of his thinking, as a rule, there is neither time nor desire. And it is not without interest.

From the spiritual realms

This expression in the general circulation came from the Church Slavonic lexicon. In the speech of the clergy "to rest in the Bose" means nothing but to die. In the literal sense it means "to rest in eternity" or "to appear before the Lord." This expression sums up the life of any person who considers himself a Christian. According to the Gospel commandments, if a person "rested in the Bose" (which means he died), then he has the hope of forgiving sins in the Last Judgment. It will happen after the end of this world. But to take care of the salvation of one's soul and think about the committed sins should be before retiring to another world.

Erroneous use of phraseology

It so happened that the expression "to rest in the Bose" largely lost its original meaning. They use it often, and few people think about the meaning of what has been said. The most typical stupidity is when someone is told at a meeting that he "rested in the Bose", which means "he is proud of his previous achievements, does not want to do anything else." This is instead of saying "I rested on my laurels". Agree that the meaning of what was said is slightly different from what I wanted to convey to the public. But listeners in the hall do not even feel all the anecdotality of the said, despite the fact that the one who allegedly "rested in the Bose" is among those present at the meeting.

"Rest in Bose": the meaning of phraseology in the broad sense

Despite the frequent mistakes in the use of this verbal turnover, it is most often pronounced when it comes to passing away. And speech can go as about a concrete person, and about any undertaking or enterprise, which ended in complete collapse. So usually they talk about some kind of failed initiative, which it is unpleasant to recall and best betray it to oblivion. Of course, this expression has quite obvious ironic coloring, pejorative in relation to the object of memories. The expression "to rest in the Bose," whose meaning goes back to the spiritual realms, is very popular now in the scientific and intellectual environment. They usually designate a refuted and defeated theory. No less often it occurs in the vocabulary of businessmen, especially when it comes to a bankrupt commercial undertaking. The synonym of turnover "to rest in the Bose", today is the expression "to fail", which is quite far from its church Slavonic origin.

From Russian classics

At the mention of the expression "to rest in the Bose" it is impossible not to recall the immortal novel of I. Ilf and E. Petrov "Twelve Chairs". In one of the initial chapters of this work, his protagonist has the opportunity to see the lexical richness and synonymic diversity of Russian language turns when the drunken undertaker Bezenchuk lists various expressions denoting the demise of a person. Here are some of them: "introduce yourself", "give the soul to God," "play in the box," "order to live long," "give the oak," "lean back," "spill over," "stretch out your legs," and "get drunk." And all the expressions correspond with each deceased in full accordance with the place that he occupied in the social hierarchy during his lifetime. The death of the higher authorities was awarded the definition of "give an oak". But it is characteristic here that none of the listed lexical revolutions had a semantic contradiction with the Church Slavonic expression "to rest in a Bose", they all served to denote the death of a person.

The images and meanings of Russian literature

In ordinary life, people rarely think about the origin of many words and phrases, which they use in colloquial and written speech. The expression "to rest in the Bose" is by no means the only borrowing in modern lexicon from the Church Slavonic antiquity. Such a lexical layer forms the fundamental basis of Russian, as well as any other, national language culture. Such words and phrases as "do nothing", "spread out through the tree, " "the descent of hell, " "splendor," "feat," "fence," and many others come from the same source as the designation of the outcome of human life " To rest in the Bose. " Gradually, this vocabulary is being ousted from active use by modern synonyms and is becoming obsolete. But, abandoning it, a person inevitably loses a part of his national culture. And she under no circumstances should "rest in the Bose". Therefore, one should think about whether it is always justified to replace the existing words in the language with modern turns. Especially so awkward as "prolong" instead of "extend".