Aphorism is what? The lexical meaning of the word "aphorism"

Aphorism is an aphorism that happened long ago. Science, which deals with its study, is called aphoristic. She poses an important question: "When did he appear in the literature? Is this concept known for a long time or appeared recently? "In order to give a concrete answer to this question, it is necessary to study history. However, you need to be careful and consider two aspects: aphorism as a genre and as a word.

Appearance of the aphorism as words

This concept is known for a long time. Back in the 5th century BC. E. Hippocrates, an ancient Greek scientist, called the treatise on medicine aphorisms. He notified about the diagnoses and symptoms of certain diseases, as well as how to prevent them and heal them. Today many people know such aphorisms: "Life is a short space, and art is eternal", "Do not do evil - you will not be in eternal fear", etc. Antiquity literature can also tell about the use of this concept. German scientists P. Rekvadt, F. Schalk proved that this word had not only medical significance, but also was used as a wise saying, gnome, maxim, and also as a concise and short style.

Introduction of the concept in various sciences

In the 8th century, Dante argued that "aphorism" is a medical term. Over time, it began to spread to other industries. He began to appear in the natural sciences, politics, philosophy, and jurisprudence. Tacitus predetermined the transition of the aphorism from medicine to the political branch. Here he likened the human body to the state, which required treatment with moral means and medicines. Antonio Perez believed that the aphorism is his political statements about morality. Many researchers believe that they have a literary and artistic form.

Introduction to Russian literature

Only in the 18th century in Russia there was such a concept. The meaning of the word "aphorism" was interpreted from the point of view of medicine and literature. The beginning of the 19th century was marked by the appearance of books that became known as aphorisms. Thus, K. Smitten published a collection called "Aphorisms, or Selected Thoughts of Different Writers ...". Then began to appear books with such statements, and later this term became especially popular. There were a lot of collections that contained expressions of various authors. After interest a little subsided, and at the end of the 20th century there were books that were called "aphorisms". Today, this term is considered only in the literary sense.

History of the aphorism as a genre

The history of the aphorism as a genre is considered much more contradictory and complicated, but at the same time and more important than the previous topic. On the question of what the word aphorism means as a genre, no one can answer unequivocally. In Germany, it is believed that it arose only in modern literature and has nothing to do with the genre. However, other scholars argue that the aphorism is a statement. That is why it is necessary to consider its history from the point of view of the utterance. Modern literature believes that the saying and aphorism are one and the same. Today these concepts are firmly associated with the names of ancient thinkers. Antique and modern sayings are called aphorisms. They do not differ from each other and have identical features in terms of genre: brevity, imagery, wisdom, a certain author and semantic completeness. All this testifies to their belonging to one genre. In other words, aphorisms are modern sayings, and sayings are their past. They, of course, have their own peculiarities, but they are not advisable to speak of their synonymy, since they have some differences.

History of the aphorism-saying

This process began much earlier than the very word "aphorism" arose. There is evidence that in the third millennium BC. E. In Egypt there were sayings. They are also found in many civilizations of the East. They were quite popular in Greece. To this day, the sayings of Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Epicurus and other thinkers have come to pass. In the Renaissance, they spread to Europe. In the work of Erasmus Rotterdam's "Adagia" was collected a huge number of winged phrases and proverbs. In England, Wald, Shaw, Smiles, and others created aphorisms. At the end of the 19th century, they began to study the theoretical essence and lexical meaning of the word "aphorism". It should be noted a significant expansion of the subject and the introduction of wit. That is why the aphorisms spread in literary criticism, politics and history. Stylistics changed, aphorisms of humorous, paradoxical and satirical nature arose, which was not observed in medieval sayings.

Aphorisms. What it is? Examples of use

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia describes the aphorism as a type of utterance, which allows convincing, with the help of a sophisticated surprise, using statements. He is able to convince not in a logical way, but with the help of an unexpected correlation of words. The author of the statement is fully convinced of his correctness and applies witty and original cohesion of words. For clarity, examples of classical aphorisms should be considered. M. Gorky said: "They do not give rights, they take the right." V. Mayakovsky: "The Word is the commander of human strength." Descartes: "I think, then I exist." K. Marx: "Religion is opium for the people" and others.

The main characteristics of aphorisms

All of them are unexpected, original. It is this that affects our consciousness. They have a deep truth and comprehensive comprehension of the phenomenon that they describe. They do not contain direct proofs and are quite predictable. A distinctive feature of them is logic. If you think well, you can find the necessary arguments and evidence. They are able to influence our memory with the originality of their wording. And the semantic value affects our consciousness. There are also such sayings that have rather unexpected conclusions and do not coincide with the opinion of most people. However, these signs are the exception to the rules. It can not be unequivocally asserted that aphorisms are illogical and contradictory. They are children of science. Today they are close to it by their logicality, accuracy and systematic.

Features of the subject

As a rule, aphorisms are aimed at "eternal" questions. They raise those truths that have long been forgotten, but are important enough. They acquire a new, rather original shell. And this attracts enough attention and fixes it in memory. Aphorisms do not have a church plaque, as opposed to sayings. We always know their authors. The subject of sayings has a moral and ethical direction, and in aphorisms this range is much broader. There are many aphorisms-slogans. One of them was voiced by Victor Hugo: "War to the pillory." Some of them are ironic in nature. D. Jeremic said: "Violent people are even those who want to make others happy by force." It is important to note the presence of their romantic elation and emotionality. They have a so-called "high style". Today, still differentiate the concepts of "aphorism" and "saying", despite the fact that they have many similar features. They have a similar history of origin and belong to the same genre. It is worth noting that the wrong views on the aphorism today already made themselves felt ...