The expression “not all houses” is very ancient and rather atypical in phraseological terms. It, in contrast to most phraseological units, does not soften the negative meaning of the statement, but on the contrary strengthens it. Where did it come from and what does the phrase "not all at home" mean.
It is necessary
- - dictionary of phraseological units
- - literary sources
Instructions
Step 1
This phraseological unit appeared simultaneously in several Slavic languages. Therefore, those who ascribe to him a Russian origin are mistaken. “Not at all at home”, “not at all at home”, “nie wszyscy w domu”, “nemít vsech doma” may appear not only for a Russian, but also for a Belarusian, Ukrainian, Pole, Czech. There is no single author for this catch phrase. It is truly popular, even international. But its etymology can be traced.
Step 2
The expression “not all houses” is constructed on the opposition of archetypes: “complete - incomplete (whole - defective)”. The expression is based on the image of the house, which for many peoples personified the picture of the integrity of the world. Especially if the house is full: a large family, many children, grandmothers, grandfathers, and other relatives. If the house is full (all houses) - order reigns in the world of a single family. In this sense, the "family" metaphor illustrates the integrity of the intellectual space of the individual, which is likened to the integrity of a complete family.
Step 3
The presence of all household members in the house is order, coherence, a rich inner life. The absence of someone (for various reasons, but most often death, death in war, death of a child in infancy and other misfortunes that usually befell large families) entails an “incompleteness” of the house, which is transferred to the “incompleteness” of a person's inner world. As a result of the lack of "completeness", the psyche is disturbed and the intellectual function suffers. Therefore, over time, the expression "not all at home" takes on a harsher meaning - "not everything is in order with the head." This is no longer about family and home, but about the fact that the personality has a disturbed psyche, brain function, and therefore the ability to adequately perceive what is happening, to behave in accordance with accepted norms.
Step 4
Intellectual "incompleteness" is interpreted not as stupidity (innate), but as deprivation of the mind (madness). That is, a person who used to be smart, due to some external or internal events, became "not in full mind", not entirely normal.
