Phraseologisms are expressions fixed in the language. They fill the speech, make it more diverse.
The meaning of phraseology "upside down"
So, more details. Phraseologism "upside down" has several interpretations. Which ones?
The first means that some thing or person is in an upside down position. Upside down. You can stay, fly, fall or roll upside down. The meaning of phraseology can also be interpreted as the “collapse” of something.
And that's not it. Changing the course of events - this is another meaning of phraseological unit “upside down”. That is, when you were planning something, and it suddenly broke. This idiom also means disorder and chaos.
Origin
Different researchers have a different view of the origin of this idiom. Since "upside down" is a phraseological union, that is, a fixed combination that cannot be understood and imagined without knowledge of its history, it is necessary to turn to etymology.
In Russia, "upside down" is a vernacular word. It could be heard in the dialects of the inhabitants of modern Ryazan and the Don.
In those days, this word was called legs. In Ryazan dialect, for the designation of legs, the word "torma" existed, and in the Don dialect people called them "brakes".
According to another version, idiom denotes inverted sleds, whose brakes were called "brakes". This option is consonant with the word "upside down."
The first version of the origin is the most popular. “Tormas” and “brakes” are closer to “upside down” than “tormas”.
Moreover, at that time, the picture of the world of people still shared the “top” and “bottom”. "Top" symbolized the sun, air, sky. And in man - the head. The "bottom" was both water, and earth, and human feet. The man himself felt himself in the middle: he was above water and earth, but below the sky.
The top was associated with something good, great, heavenly. The bottom, on the contrary, showed darkness, poverty. The meaning of phraseology “upside down” is the sowing of chaos, disorder.