Since people began to regularly cultivate fields and eat cereal crops, the need arose to build reliable storage facilities in which to keep the crop. Everywhere, bread was stored in special buildings where optimal conditions were maintained. Barns were an obligatory addition to peasant life; the life and work of farmers were inextricably linked with them. In folklore, the ancient name of the wooden box for storing grain, installed in warehouse buildings, is often mentioned. We will talk about him further.
The importance of crops for humans
A possible reason for the high popularity of cereals among ancient people is a sufficient content of carbohydrates, and, consequently, good saturation. It was this factor that could serve as a good reason for the widespread cultivation of grain crops.
In former times, the main culture that was cultivated by peasant farmers was live. This common name for whole grain bread could mean wheat, barley, or rye. Therefore, buildings designed to preserve stocks of grain crops were called the breadbasket. In these buildings there were special bins (the old name for a wooden box) for storing supplies.
Magical rituals and wedding ceremonies were often held in barns. Probably, the choice of a place for carrying out these actions was not accidental - in the farmer, he was closely associated with the image of fertility.
Grain storage facilities
The grain was everywhere kept in high barns, which were built from various materials, depending on the geography of location - natural stone, wood, clay, adobe. From the inside, the structures were divided into compartments.
At first, barn grain was stored in a variety of utensils - wooden vats, tubs, hollows hollowed out of logs, as well as in woven baskets from rods and coated with clay. Later in the granaries they began to put a separate box for storing grain, the ancient name of which is still found in Russian folk tales or floorboards.
Cereal Suseki
The main concern of the peasant, after the harvest is harvested, is its preservation. It was necessary to protect it from moisture, frost, heat and rodents, which could destroy all reserves. In order to provide the necessary conditions, the peasants poured grain crops into the chest (this is the old name for a wooden box for storing grain).
Later, the most reliable and convenient part of the storage was recognized as a specially designated place in the barn: suseki (barrels, bins). Particular attention in the design of a place for grain was given to fire safety. That is why it was not customary to pour the entire crop into one storehouse. Bread barns stood a little further from the main estate. The worst thing was the destruction of seed stocks in case of fire. Having kept the grain for planting, one could hope for a harvest.
Where was the grain stored?
Which word - "chest", "bunker" or "barn" - is the defining ancient name of a wooden box for storing grain? Let's try to figure it out.
- A chest is a wooden box of a special shape where different things can be stored, as well as grain.
- Susek - a fenced-in chest from tightly fitted boards, serves for pouring cereals or flour. Related word "compartment".
- Bins - a synonym for susek, originates from "edge", "edge".
It turns out that all these definitions are the ancient name of a wooden box for grain.
During the construction of these places of storage, uniform principles of construction were also applied. An important condition was their manufacture from boards tightly adjacent to each other, in order to avoid spillage of supplies. The bottom, for the convenience of moving bulk products, could be tilted. Ventilation elements could also be present to allow air circulation.
Gingerbread man
The ancient name of the wooden box for storing grain , as we have already said, is often found in folk tales, proverbs, sayings. Most often I recall Kolobok, whom the old woman baked from dough, implicated in the fact that she "scratched over the gophers." Scraping in a large chest for storing bulk products can only be leftover flour or grain. The narrator illustrates with a good example that these peasants lead a very poor lifestyle.
In Russian folklore, there are many proverbs and sayings related to the definition of a box for storage:
- The beginning of summer - there is no bread in the bins.
- The rich man is full of bastards.
- If the snow is rainy in winter, then the barn will be smooth.
- Not the bread in the field, but the bread in the barn .
Over time, in any language, old words are replaced by new ones or completely out of use. This is a natural process, and it can occur for various reasons. In this case, these words are gradually being squeezed out of speech because in the modern world boxes where grain is stored are not used everywhere. Although archaisms do not completely disappear from colloquial speech, obsolete expressions can be found in historical materials and works.