We are used to the fact that the meaning of the word "cunning" causes not too pleasant associations. Usually, when we hear this adjective, we immediately see a kind of guy who wants and can concoct a businessman, to get something that is not entirely legal or completely illegal. Today we look at the meaning of the word and its history. We will understand if it is as bad as they think of it.
Origin
If you look in the etymological dictionary for the meaning of the word "cunning," you will not find it there. You need to search for his synonym - "dyshlyu". Both one word and the other are puzzling to the reader: what kind of strange adjectives are they? Yes, they are strange, but it is vital for us to clarify their meaning. So, the information is as follows.
The genealogy of the word is from the verb "come", that is, "he who came to something, achieved something."
Look, the dictionary does not indicate and does not find any “criminal” trace in the word. On the contrary, the characteristic is more than positive. Is it bad to be smart and smart? However, we are getting ahead of ourselves. So far, we do not know the modern significance.
Dictionary
To clarify the current meaning, let us turn to the one who manages it - to the explanatory dictionary: "The same as dead." Let us clarify, then, the last term: "Able to reach everything, smart, clever." What is interesting in this respect is that “deserted” is a spoken word, and “deserted” is vernacular. Great and powerful Russian language, its secrets are incomprehensible.
As we see, the explanatory dictionary does not indicate any “crime” in the meaning of the word “cunning”. But we know that the “cunning” in language practice is tightly connected with the adjectives “cunning” and “dodgy”. What could be the reason for this interpretation? We’ll try to figure it out.
The cunning is savvy
Whether we like it or not, this word has folk roots, and if so, it is still impossible to speak of the mind in the sense of university education. If we take Russian folk tales as an example, then one is considered smart who, thanks to his ingenuity, can get out of any, even the most difficult situation. And when experience is accumulated in such situations, the cunning person (the meaning of the word in the process of analysis) willingly or not gets used to go around. And this way, as a rule, diverges from the official or even legal. Although formally, probably hard to find fault. We understand that a university is one thing, but life has its own universities.
Of course, we are aware that this is only a hypothesis and, perhaps, somewhere there is a wonderful book in which everything is explained in detail, but we have not come across it. If we ignore the explanatory dictionary, then in other sources you can find the meaning of the object of study - "quirky" and "cunning", but it does not explain why such an interpretation was entrenched. Therefore, we believe that even an attempt to specify the source of such a belief will be valuable.
An outgoing woman, what kind is she?
We have only one phrase left, which we have not yet considered. Yes, just that which is fixed in the section heading. The answer to the question about the meaning of the word "cunning woman" suggests options. She can be imagined as a man who can get everything, like Red in the film "Shawshank Redemption", only, of course, in the female version. You know this type very well. They have almost everywhere connections, they are up to date with all the events and are extremely active. Perhaps the calmer in this respect type is a business woman.
You can offer a different interpretation of the phrase. For example, nannies and mothers of princesses in Russian folk tales. Since they are in years, they have more than enough life experience, which means that the advice hits exactly the target. Choose to taste, but remember: the cunning and savvy are synonyms.