What is Maidan: history, origin and modern use of the word

The events that took place in Ukraine several years ago provoked interest not only in the political situation in this country, but also in the realities of local life, traditions and geographical names. In particular, many began to wonder what is the Maidan. The history of this lexeme, its meanings and etymology are discussed below.

Origin of the word

In the lexical composition of the Russian language there are both words of primordially Slavic origin, and a large layer of borrowed units. In particular, many lexemes of foreign etymology have entered our language for a very long time and are no longer perceived as alien. For example, words such as "watermelon", "arba", "pencil", "apricot" are known to each of us from early childhood and are very familiar to Russian rumors, despite the fact that all these lexemes, in fact, are borrowings.

To understand what a Maidan is, you can turn to the help of linguists. In the etymological dictionary of the Russian language, compiled by the German linguist Max Fasmer, it is noted that by origin the word maidan goes back to the Turkic languages, that is to the Kazakh, Tatar, Turkmen, Turkish, etc.

Lexma "Maydan" became known to the Russian people many centuries ago, perhaps even during the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The Turks called the Maydan any spacious flat terrain.

It's no secret that the trade in Russia was often dealt with by visitors who chose the central places of the city for the market and called these places their usual words. Merchants from the Near and Middle Asia, arriving in Russian cities, laid out their goods in the squares where they bought it, bought by local residents who heard someone else's speech. So to us, for example, came the dialect word "zherdeli", meaning apricot.

At the same time, Slavic merchants, who went to far countries for food, adopted and imported foreign vocabulary. The origin of the word "Maidan" is undoubtedly connected with the history of trade relations between Russia and the countries of Asia.

The meaning of the word in the nineteenth century Russian

Becoming a full member of our language, having settled in a new environment, a foreign word seldom exactly preserves its original meaning. To understand how the semantics of the lexeme changed in Russian, one can refer to the meaning of the word "Maydan" according to Dal.

In the work of the well-known folklorist, more than ten variants of using the analyzed lexeme have been noted!

In the dictionary of Dal, it is said in detail what is the Maidan (the meaning of the word and its dialectal uses). Two hundred years ago, in any area of our homeland, the Maydan was called any square, any elevation, a forest plant, tar, a hut in the forest, a place for city gatherings, a bazaar and part of the bazaar, where cards and bones were played, a hut in which the villagers Gathered to discuss important issues. And in the southern regions of the Russian Empire, the "Maydan" was synonymous with the "barrow" - the ancient Scythian burial.

Thus, it is not so easy to determine exactly what a "Maidan" is. After all, with the passage of time this word not only lost its original semantics, but also acquired a number of new meanings, some of which, by the end of the 20th century, completely disappeared.

Interpretation of the word in modern Russian

In our time the word "Maidan" almost lost its ambiguity. If several centuries ago this lexeme could be found almost everywhere in the territory of the Russian Empire, now it is found only in the south of our country and in Ukraine.

In the Kuban and along the shores of the Black Sea, the Maidan is still called the bazaar or the market square. Probably, this is due to the fact that Tatars and people from Central Asia lived in these regions from time immemorial, and they retained the word in its original meaning. Let us recall how the word "Maidan" - "flat unoccupied terrain" is translated - is not it, the best territory for trade?

What does "Maydan" mean in Ukrainian?

In the Ukrainian language there are several words that in Russian mean the area: "plazas", "plats", "dvir", "maidan". In the semantics of these lexemes there are certain differences.

So, the last lexeme is most often used to refer to a large village or town square. In other words, in the Ukrainian language, the Maidan is precisely the place where trades are being held, meetings are being held, questions are being resolved, etc. It seems that the origin of the word "Maidan" is fully consistent with this interpretation.

The remaining synonyms of the lexeme are used primarily as a term for geometry or for naming any flat territory. For example, Russian. "Sowing area" - Ukr. "Plaza zasivna", Russian. "Square of the square" - Ukr. "Area square."

How did the toponym "Maydan Nezalezhnosti"

The main square of Kiev in Russian is called the Independence Square. But so the place in the city center began to be called relatively recently, namely after the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Ukraine as an independent state.

Until 1991, the main square of Kiev at different times bore the names of the Goat Marsh, Sovetskaya Square, Kalinin, Khreshchatitskaya and some other names. After gaining independence, the authorities thought about awarding the area of some primordial name, that's why the word "Maidan" was chosen, although never before the locality in the center of Kiev carried such a designation.

What does "Maydan" in Ukrainian mean?

The coup d'etat that took place not so long ago in Taras Shevchenko's homeland, brought a new trend in the history of the word. From now on, in order to understand what the Maidan is (the meaning of the word and its history), it is not enough to turn to explanatory dictionaries. Language develops continuously, and lexicography can not react to these changes instantly, as a result of which new words are not noted for a long time in dictionaries.

Everyone who remembers the year 2014 understands what "Maydan" is in Ukraine. For many local residents this word has become synonymous with rebellious spirit, revolution, courage and fearlessness. At the same time, for most Russians (and some Ukrainians), this lexeme began to denote meaningless cruelty, stupidity, extremism, racism and abandonment of one's own history.

Which of these values to choose is up to you. But let us hope that in the new explanatory dictionaries the meaning of the word "Maidan" will be presented objectively.