What connects the huge snake, the dead sorcerer, the progenitor of mankind, the size of the volume, the park in Peru? And also the male name, the Academy of Sciences and the airport in Novosibirsk? They all have similar names - Man, Manu, MAN. We will understand the history and definitions of this unusual word for modern hearing.
What can be the meaning of the word man?
Not many words have as many meanings as the word man. You can find more than a dozen definitions in different dictionaries.
Nowadays, few people use these terms, although the history of the word is very rich. So man is:
- A volume of 850 grams. It measures loose and liquid substances.
- The male name for Muslims denoting benefit or benefit.
- The Slavs were called the evil spirit, which infused the dead sorcerer.
- For the Chinese, this is a big scary snake or dragon.
In addition, modern youth are familiar with the derivative of the word in computer games. They call mana reserves of magical powers.
"Mans" as part of the word
Often man is not a full word, but only its component part. Moreover, it usually occurs at the end: music lover, kleptomaniac, film fan, graphomaniac.
A compound word can have either a more neutral connotation, calling it either a lover of something (balletomane) or negative, showing a painful craving for something (addict).
In this case, it is the Greek root "man", the meaning of which is translated as "passion, attraction or insanity" (from the Greek mania).
In English, there is a similar sounding word - man. It translates as "man." Often also becomes part of a two-part term: businessman, superman.
Mans in Slavic mythology
In fairy tales and epics of different countries and cultures there are characters with that name. For example, in Slavic mythology, mans is an evil spirit. Our ancestors believed that after the death the earth “did not accept” one sorcerer, then evil spirits moved into it. Then the former sorcerer settled in the bell tower and began to scare passers-by. Often he was seen in the night. He rang the bells and kept them out of the bell tower. The former sorcerer wore a white cap. The brave men tried to overcome it and rip off their headgear, but after that everyone died. Mans strangled thieves, not paying attention to who is in front of him: a girl or a young man.
According to another version, Man is the son of the god of Barma, one of the oldest Slavic gods of prayer. His mother Tarusa once tried to kill her son in order to calmly cheat on Barma with an earthly handsome. Tarusa pretended to be sick and asked Man to bring her fruits from the tree of life from the Iry Garden. She thought that the other gods would not let him go to the apple trees and kill him, but a brave young man brought fruit to his mother. Then Tarusa, together with her lover, threw Man into the volcano, but even then the gods saved him. Barma subsequently burned his unfaithful wife. From Mans went the people of Mansi.
Chinese dragon mans
The Chinese believed that Man was no other than a large and formidable serpent. Already in the ancient Chinese explanatory dictionary "Er I", that is, in the III-II centuries BC. e., it was possible to meet this word. There Mano called the king of all snakes. He was described as the largest of his kin. At least the inhabitants of the southern provinces believed in this.
Closer to the Middle Ages, the snake transformed into a dragon. He began to depict with four claws, in rare cases with five. Only the highest dignitaries, including the emperor, were allowed to wear clothes with an embroidered dragon. Then, the prefix “uchuya” was added to the name of the dragon Mans, meaning “five claws”.
Later, another character appeared in Chinese legends - Gou-Man. So the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom called the spirit of the trees, which protects their country from misfortunes, diseases and strangers. Gow Man looked like a bird with a human face. He watched over his possessions, sitting on two dragons.
The first man on earth - Manu, or Another myth
The Indian Vedas also did not bypass this unique word and used it in their legends. Only instead of mans did they have Manu. The meaning can be read in the Vedas. From ancient Indian it is translated as "a man, a thinker."
Hindus believed that this is the progenitor of the human race. He is the son of the god of light Vivasvat and the brother of the ruler of the underworld Yama.
It is stated in the Vedas that Manu was the first person to live on earth, its first king and the first to die on earth. At the same time, judging by the epic, Manu was several, or rather - 14. Seven of them already lived, seven more to appear. Moreover, each Manu is the progenitor of people. We, according to the Vedas, live in the period of Manu, the son of Vivasvat. But there were already six other Manus on earth, and seven more are expected, after the disappearance of modern people.
According to legend, Vishnu sent a terrible flood to mankind. But shortly before that, Manu caught a small fish, which promised to save him from trouble if he takes it to himself and grow it. When the fish grew, she told Manu to build a ship. On this ship, the future king sailed to the mountain. There he sacrificed to the gods, and they awarded him a wife - Ilu. Together they became the progenitors of new people. Manu was a very wise king and left behind a set of laws by which people should live.
The Meaning of Manu Laws
The set of rules that the first king allegedly left behind is a collection of prescriptions. It concerns the behavior of the Indians, the concepts of honor and duty, as well as decrees on how to govern the state. On behalf of Manu, the collection was written for several centuries by the Brahmins (the highest members of Hindu society). The laws were added to the II century already AD. There were many sources and brahmanas that compiled the collection, so some laws contradict others or are repeated.
Manu laws include 12 books. They are written in verse. At the same time, it is quite difficult to understand them. There is no clear structure: next to market prices you can find dogmas about the faith and torments of hell, advice on housekeeping and everyday aphorisms.
The 19th century researcher Bolen studied the laws and came to the conclusion that there is order in the collection. Conditionally, the structure looks like this:
- world creation;
- parenting rules;
- about marriage;
- how to farm;
- posts
- the laws;
- how to trade;
- division into castes;
- about the afterlife.
The Brahmanas failed to make the Manu Laws universally recognized throughout India. The rules in less developed areas of the country were not recognized, which means that people did not follow them.
What other definitions does a word have?
In addition to fabulous and legendary definitions, man is an abbreviation (MAN). Moreover, it is decrypted in at least three ways:
- Novosibirsk International Airport.
- International Academy of Science of Science.
- Small Academy of Sciences.
In addition, the so-called some rivers, islands and other objects. The same story with derivatives from mans.
For example, the meaning of the word mana (in the understanding of a lover to play games) is the volume of magical forces and energy. However, this is the name that the island in New Zealand and the river in the Krasnoyarsk Territory bear.
Manu are also rivers and mountains. But plus everything an amazing park in Peru. More than 15 thousand plants and a tenth of all bird species live in it. This is even more than in Russia. Manu Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.