In the Russian language there are many words that can have different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. One such word is the noun milestone.
The word "milestone" can be used both literally and figuratively. In the first case, it denotes a completely concrete, really existing material object, in the second, it is an abstract allegory.
The meaning of "milestone" in the literal sense
Etymologically, the word "milestone" is associated with the word "branch". Originally, branches were used to mark the boundaries of the property or set signs indicating the way. The direct meaning of the word "milestone" is connected with this.
Milestones were called milestones in Russia. Currently, small posts are called poles (i.e. small milestones) that are used in fencing dangerous sections of the road. Vertical poles, which during topographic surveys indicate points on the ground, are also milestones.
There are also floating rods - these are poles mounted vertically on special floats - sprit-bakans, to which a chain with an anchor is attached. Such milestones are erected on rivers and seas as warning signs. Depending on the coloring, they can indicate dangerous places, indicate fairways, places where diving operations are going on, and anchorage of quarantined vessels. To make floating markers more visible, light-optical equipment or radar reflectors are placed on them.
"Milestone" in a figurative sense
The word "milestone" can also have an allegorical meaning. But even then this concept is associated with movement towards some goal.
Milestones are called decisive moments, significant events on the way to achieving a goal, in the process of developing something. For example, you can say: "The work of J. Haydn became a decisive milestone in the formation of the genre of the symphony." You can talk about the main milestones in the biography of a famous person, in the development of scientific theory, political parties and other phenomena, considering their history.
It is in this sense that the word "milestone" is used (usually in the plural) when it comes to summing up historical results. For example, this is the name of the collection of articles by N. A. Berdyaeva, B. A. Kistyakovsky, S. N. Bulgakov and other Russian philosophers, dedicated to the Russian intelligentsia and the role it played in Russian history. The term "milestones" is associated with the title of the collection - the name of the socio-political direction associated with the ideas that were expressed by philosophers in "Milestones".