Not too cultured, but such an accurate and understandable expression about the bald devil has existed for more than one hundred years. Have you ever wondered where it came from? And why exactly the bald devil means the complete absence of something or categorical denial?
Why do devils go bald
Actually, the bald devil is quite a traditional thing for any imagination. Previously, devils were depicted with elongated heads, humanoid bodies and goat legs. And even if abundant vegetation was observed on the legs, arms and torso of this gloomy character, few of them could boast of thick hair. Devils are almost always depicted as bald, naked and very unkempt: with matted hair, in rags and dirt. So it is not surprising that the devil has a smooth skull - this is his characteristic historical feature.
What the heck
Now let's turn to the meaning of the expression "bald devil" itself. Literary historians do not have an unambiguous opinion about the origin of this phrase. They agree on one thing - the devil, already in itself, is for a person an indicator of something negative. If you say “get the devil,” whether he will be bald or not, is not too important anymore. It is clear to your interlocutor that the answer is no.
According to historians, the devil became bald in the process of some literary processing. “If you imagine a devil, abundantly overgrown with mane, and next to him exactly the same, but bald and shabby, bald, of course, it will be much more offensive to get, - says the literary critic Anatoly Ivanovich Berg. - Thus, even giving the interlocutor something already completely useless - a devil - you once again emphasize the worthlessness of the "gift", making this devil also bald."
Bald, lame, or hunchback
According to another theory, the devil did not lose his hair so accidentally. Look at the classic characters of Russian folk tales: the one-eyed dashing, the deaf, the lame devil, the anchutka. Most of the representatives of the other world were marked by some kind of flaw, which allows them to scare away and scare away ordinary people from them. So a bald head for a devil is a kind of attribute, a mark that makes it possible to recognize evil spirits in everyday life. By the way, it was the hair, according to numerous beliefs, that was the concentration of the strength and magical abilities of fairy-tale characters. So, if your feature of hair is deprived - draw a conclusion. There will be no sense from him.
