The older generation, brought up on the works of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, is well acquainted with the meaning of the phraseological unit “fig leaf”. Its meaning is a feigned, sanctimonious disguise of true circumstances and intentions. The leader of the world proletariat has repeatedly characterized the hostile position of liberals and the bourgeoisie using this scathing expression.
The meaning of the phraseological unit “fig leaf” is suitable not only for political rhetoric. The expression will come to the aid of everyone who wants to make their speech brighter and more figurative, especially since there are nuances in the semantics of this phrase. It can be used in cases where someone is trying to hide dishonest intentions under the guise of truthfulness, as well as if we are talking about the desire to cover up indecent, shameful behavior or lifestyle behind a screen of decency.
Let's understand the terminology
A phraseological unit is a stable linguistic expression, with the participation of which speech acquires special expressiveness. The phrase is called stable because the lexemes themselves do not reflect the meaning of the phraseological unit. Fig leaf is no exception. However, in order to understand how the expression turned into a capacious speech pattern, it is still necessary to find out how botany served linguistics.
What is a fig leaf, and how did it get into the figure of speech?
From a scientific point of view, this is the name of the organ of the fig plant (other names are fig, fig). The large carved leaves of this southern tree reach 25 cm in length. They became famous for the fact that in Eden they became the first clothing of the ancestors of the human race - Eve and Adam.According to the biblical legend, the first people made themselves “aprons” from fig leaves after they succumbed to the temptation to obey the devil, who turned into a serpent. The Fall made Adam and Eve ashamed of their own nakedness and quickly cover it. As you can see, the meaning of the phraseological unit “fig leaf” is closely related to this story. The expression reinterprets the event, elevating it to a metaphor.
Were there no others?
Why did the couple from Eden use leaves from a fig tree and not from some other tree? There are reasons for this. Eve, taught by the serpent, plucked fruit for herself and Adam from the fig tree, so it was logical to use its leaves. They were perhaps the largest and most beautiful in Paradise and best suited for clothing. There is another version of why these particular leaves appear in the Bible.Artist Amy Marsh proposes a theory that the organic tissues of figs contain a specific enzyme that causes severe irritation on the skin. It turns out that putting a fig leaf on yourself is like being subjected to punishment, which will not allow you to forget for a moment about the sin you have committed.
In art
Since the 16th century, under the influence of the Church, the image of the fig leaf has piously replaced the depiction of genitals on a naked body in art. Greco-Roman statues, inherited by the Middle Ages from relaxed Antiquity, were subjected to massive “castration.” After painstaking work with a hammer and chisel, the executors of the papal will carefully covered the empty space with a stone fig leaf. This once again confirms the meaning of the phraseological unit.
Theologians, writers, and artists still argue about which fruit thanks to which Adam and Eve lost their innocence. What was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: an apple, a pomegranate, an orange?..
No one has any disagreement about how they subsequently covered up their shame, as well as their disgrace. For the Bible clearly says:
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made aprons for themselves” (Genesis 3:7)
Figs, also known as figs, are one of the most ancient cultivated plants. Already ten thousand years ago it was grown in Arabia, in the oases around the Dead Sea, in Mesopotamia and Phenicia. Ripe figs are very sweet. Until sugar was invented, they were used instead of honey (or together with honey). In the 9th century BC. this fruit came to Ancient Greece, and a little later - to Ancient Rome. In Rome, the fig tree was valued not only for its sweet fruits. She was revered as a sacred tree. After all, according to legend, the she-wolf nursed the founders of the city, Romulus and Remus.under the fig tree that grew on Capitol Hill.
This fruit was good for everyone except one. Ripe figs cannot be stored. It was difficult to even deliver it to the nearest market in marketable form. Therefore, slightly unripe fruits ended up on the market. They were called by the Semitic word "pigg". From this word in modern Hebrew the word “pag” - “unripe fruit” (as well as “premature child”) was formed, and in Arabic - the word “fidj”. From the same word the Latin name for the fig tree and its fruit, Ficus carica, was formed. the botanical name of the entire mulberry family, Ficus. House ficus trees belong to the same mulberry family. When they grow outdoors in the jungle, they produce fruits that are shaped like figs.
The expression “fig leaf” is used in European languages to denote the (often awkward) desire to cover up some shameful act. This expression took root in the 16th century, when the Catholic Church decided to prohibit the depiction of naked genitals. On existing paintings and frescoes, drapery was added to cover private places. This was done, for example, in the Sistine Chapel, which the great Michelangelo painted without any shame. And in Masaccio’s famous fresco “Expulsion from Paradise” (1428), one of the first paintings of the Renaissance, Adam and Eve were dressed in leaves, as if from a nearby bush. The illustration on the left shows the fresco before restoration, and on the right - after restoration in 1980, when it was returned to its previous appearance and the painted leaves were removed. It must be said that northern artists were far more modest than the Italians. For example, Dutch Jan van Eyck (1390 - 1441) on the famous altar from Ghent (1432) he depicted Adam and Eve hiding behind the leaves of a fig tree, as written in the Bible.
With statues it was more difficult. The mighty genitals of ancient gods and heroes cannot be sketched. Therefore, secular or spiritual rulers gave orders to one of their contemporary sculptors to slightly correct the classics. Sculptors carved a luxurious fig leaf from marble and glued it to the ancient sculpture to hide the protruding signs of male strength. Some people forgot to tint the marble to match the color of the “corrected” antiquity. As a result, the new bright white leaf stood out against the background of the old marble, drawing everyone's attention to what it should have covered. 
The glorious fruit of the fig tree was a little unlucky with European philology. The Latin ficus sounds very dissonant in many European languages. "Fig" in Italian is "fico". Whether you like it or not, this word is reminiscent of the rather rude verb “ficcare” (“to stick, to stick”). And in German there is trouble: “ficken” is the same as “fuck” in English. So the name of the sweet and healthy fruit often made coarse males laugh, reminding them of the reproductive organ - a distinctive feature and subject of inexplicable pride of human males. And since a fig was often used to depict the same organ, the words “fig” and “fig” became synonymous in many languages. Including in Russian.
By the way, figs in Venice are called “figàro”. Isn’t this where the surname of the Seville barber, the hero of P.-O’s plays, comes from? de Beaumarchais? May be. Or maybe from the aforementioned not very decent Italian “ficcare”. Figaro, too, tirelessly poked his nose into all the holes. "Figaro is here, Figaro is there"
- Scientists' guesses confirm the Bible. Why fig leaves could have become the first clothing.
- An interesting quote from Yelto Drenth’s book “Vagina. History of Delusions"
Federico Fellini, creating his film about the life of Giacomo Casanova, asked the poet Tonino Guerra, who wrote the script for the film “Amarcord,” to compose a poem for him. This text, unfortunately, was not included in the film, but Guerra planned to put the following eulogy into the mouth of Casanova for the “fig tree” (or “fig”, as the fig fruit is called in Italy). You just need to remember that the Italians have always perceived the fig tree as a fruit of exceptional juiciness, even juicier than the plum. (After all, it is only in the north of Europe that figs are almost always found in dried form... Therefore, anyone who sees dried figs lying in stores in an elongated package will subconsciously rather imagine the scrotum of an old man than the erotic organ of an attractive young woman.)
Oh, you fig tree - like a spider's web,
like silky grain.
The gate to the mysterious garden, where everyone
The core of the flowers in the world is ripening.
Like a fortress impatiently waiting to be stormed.
Fig trees are as diverse as the world:
wide and narrow; at all
crazy; for just two centimes;
cheerful; talkative; stutterers;
yawning sweetly; never
not talking to you, even
you erase them from the face of the earth in passion.
...Then they will turn into a sugar head,
then they will turn into a forest singing like a wolf howl,
then they will burn with a furious fire,
then, harnessed by beautiful horses,
the carriage will fly out from around the corner.
And then under the sky, like a hot air balloon
swollen with black gas, they will ascend,
carried by the glow of fireflies.
But suddenly - silentium! - for a moment the sweetest
The fig tree is the face of God, God’s mouth.
Love forever the light you created.
Love the trees, clouds and sea,
And people and peoples at once,
And all the fig trees, O Fig Tree, love!
Banknote of 100 rubles
For two years now, you and I, dear Russian readers, have been receiving salaries in money that has no relation to reality. Our hundred-ruble notes are witnesses of the past, but not of the present. The depraved, it must be clarified, past: now in reality, fortunately, everything is in order, solid morality and ethics.
In 2011, after the restoration of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the sculpture of Apollo on the quadriga, crowning the pediment (it is the one depicted on the hundred-ruble banknote), appeared in a new form: the restorers covered Apollo’s private part with a fig leaf. Only Apollo with a bare pussy remained on the banknote; on the pediment - now with a leaf. Fortunately, the horses were not touched.
Ah, pussies, pussies. You are the main victims of all time, you are the front line in the war of freedom of expression of the artist and the demands of decency. Fate has treated you cruelly, little pussies: other parts of the human body are his own children, and all your life you have been like stepsons and stepdaughters. Does anyone think about the ear or, say, the elbow of Apollo in isolation from the whole of Apollo? Who, looking at Aphrodite, born from foam, will pay special attention to her big toe? All human members are only parts of the whole, sharing the same perfection of God’s creation among all, so that even if one of the members falls, the rest will take on the burden of beauty: Venus de Milo and Venus without arms, Nike of Samothrace is victorious even without a head. And only you, pussies, are like step-natives: now they try to cover you up, now they try to open you up, now they cover you up, now they want to depict you separately, now they want to do something else with you - as if you are some kind of dubious addition to the body, the great work of the Creator or an earthly imitator him, the artist. Your involuntary companion, the fig leaf, always looms somewhere near you.
We will not be able to find the very first fig leaf. He periodically appears in medieval painting, sculpture and book miniatures, but mainly for the purpose: in the plot of the Fall and expulsion from paradise. But the chronology of the mass planting of leaves in Europe is precisely known and documented. In 1557, a papal bull recommended fig leaves for widespread use. The Pope at that time was Paul IV. Catholicism faced a young competitor - the Reformation; it was necessary to prove its piety. There were many Greco-Roman statues at hand, even more Renaissance frescoes, and it was not possible to provide all the Hercules and Adams with fig leaves overnight; the campaign dragged on for centuries. In the 17th century, the cover operation was personally led by Pope Innocent X. Men, for the sake of your peace of mind, step away from the monitors now! Under Innocent X, the genitals of Roman statues in the Vatican were simply beaten off. Hammer and chisel. And only then a fig leaf is placed in the vacant space. So that nothing puffs up from under the leaf. So that everything goes smoothly.
The largest fig leaf is also perhaps the most famous. Attached to a copy of Michelangelo's statue of David in London's Victoria and Albert Museum. The David was given to Queen Victoria in 1857, and the Queen immediately donated the gift to the museum. Evil tongues hinted that the queen got rid of “David” so quickly because of his too frank nudity - yes, there was something to see there: at a height of six meters, “David” had personal belongings (sorry, but those were the rumors at that time) capable even the queen would be embarrassed. In fact, the statue was an unexpected and unwanted gift: it was sent to England as a consolation prize after the Grand Duke of Tuscany vetoed the decision to export from Italy a painting by Ghirlandaio, which the London National Gallery wanted to receive; the queen did not expect such an outcome and was annoyed by it. But one way or another, they say that even when “David” became a museum exhibit, noble ladies fainted when they saw it in all its obscene glory. Therefore, D. Brucciani & Co. A fig leaf was urgently ordered, which was attached to David as soon as it became known about the imminent visit of any noble persons. The height of the sheet is half a meter. It was held on by two steel hooks. Lasted until about the 1950s. Today it is exhibited separately from the statue, behind it. By the way, a similar plaster copy of “David” is in the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin in Moscow dispenses with any fig leaves and confidently demonstrates that the genitals of a handsome shepherdess today can amaze anyone except by the compactness and delicacy of the sculptor’s work.
The strangest fig leaf is strange because it does not resemble any leaf. He's the opposite, in so many ways. “The Female Fig Leaf” by Marcel Duchamp from the Tate Gallery collection cannot cover anything. This small erotic object from 1950 is an imprint of a woman’s crotch cast in bronze: it’s as if a woman sat with her bare bottom on an uncured plaster, and a relief remained. The model was most likely Duchamp's then-girlfriend, the Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins.
The female pubis, by the way, in the history of classical art was covered with leaves somewhat less often than the male one; it was more permissible to leave it in plain sight: after all, it in itself is a kind of cover, and the female genitals themselves, unlike the male ones, are hidden in the secluded depths of the body, and in order to depict them, the artist needs to stretch his model in a rather absurd pose, as Courbet did in “The Origin of the World” - and Duchamp. To understand what exactly the “Female Fig Leaf” depicts, that it is a “negative” of the vulva, is not so easy at first glance; this is the strangeness and unmanifestation that Duchamp strove for - in contrast to the “positive” of the same cast that adorns the cover of Le magazine Surréalisme, même of 1956 and which, while retaining the implicit sinisterness beloved by the surrealists, refers to nature much more transparently.
By the way, why is it a fig leaf? After eating the unfortunate fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve “saw that they were naked, and sewed together fig leaves and made aprons for themselves.” Fig tree, aka fig, aka fig. The leaf of the fig tree has a beautifully carved shape, but if you approach it practically, then it is especially suitable for “covering something”: a three- or five-fingered leaf with deep slits between the “fingers” will inevitably not cover everything. Were there really no more suitable leaves in the Garden of Eden? Amy Marsh offers the "horticulturalist" (from the word "sadism", not "horticulture") version: fig leaves contain the enzyme ficin, which can cause acute skin irritation. That is, the fig leaves that the ancestors tied around themselves were a punishment for them, so that everything there would hurt, itch, and not allow them to forget for a minute about the sin they had committed (otherwise simply being expelled from paradise was not enough for them, one might think). And this botanical sadism continued until about the middle of the twentieth century, when the fig leaves began to wither. Attitudes towards nudity were changing, bare details no longer surprised anyone, and museums, one after another, began to raise the question of whether it was time to return exhibits, especially ancient and Renaissance ones, to their original form.
In the Florentine fresco “Expulsion from Paradise” by Masaccio, the broken Adam and Eve left paradise into the world naked, sobbing, and were driven away from the gates of paradise by an angel (note, a clothed angel). Two centuries after the creation of the fresco, in 1680, under Cardinal Cosimo Medici III, it was decided to cover up the forefather and foremother: the restorer added green branches, as if by chance, stretching from the bushes (hypothetical bushes, there are no bushes in sight) right on top of the causal ones places The original appearance of the fresco was returned during a large-scale restoration in 1980.
New art also did not escape censorship. When Henri Matisse commissioned Sergei Shchukin to paint the diptych “Music” and “Dance,” Shchukin was pleased with everything except the genitals of the young flutist on the “Music” panel. In "Dance" the characters are relatively asexual, but in "Music" the boy's sexual characteristics are delicately but clearly indicated. Shchukin intended to decorate the main staircase of his mansion with Matisse’s canvases, and he had young daughters growing up... In general, the collector told the artist: “No need.” Matisse obediently covered up the inappropriate part, but not with oil, but with easily washable paint, and, as they say, left a note for Shchukin: they say, Monsieur Chtchoukine, your wish has been fulfilled, but if you ever decide to restore the painting to its original form, just wipe the necessary places with strong cognac , everything will be washed away, and you will see what you were afraid to show to your daughters. Years passed, after the revolution it was nationalized in Moscow, then “Music” went to the Hermitage and hung there in censored form for several more decades. It seems that already somewhere in the 1970s, the Hermitage assembled an academic council to decide: should the painting be returned to its “original appearance” or has the “patch” in the flutist’s groin already become part of its history? They decided to return it anyway. According to the old restorers of the Hermitage, they even did without cognac: the “patch” was easily washed off with a damp sponge and laundry soap.
Fig leaf
Fig leaf
From the Bible. The Old Testament tells how, after the Fall, Adam and Eve experienced shame and girded themselves with fig leaves: “And their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made aprons for themselves” (Genesis, Chapter 3, Article 7).
The spread of this expression was facilitated mainly by the fact that, starting from the 16th century. and until the end of the 18th century. European sculptors, when sculpting the naked human body, were forced to partially “cover” it with a fig leaf. This convention was a concession to the Christian Church, which considered the natural appearance of the human body “sinful” and “indecent.”
Allegorically: a plausible cover for unseemly deeds, an unenviable state of affairs, etc. (ironic, disapproving).
Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.
Fig leaf
The expression is used to mean: a hypocritical cover-up of something shameful, obscene, as well as a hypocritical disguise of true intentions or the true state of affairs. The expression goes back to the Biblical myth about Adam and Eve, who after the Fall experienced shame and girded themselves with the leaves of the fig tree (Genesis, 3, 7). The spread of the expression was facilitated by the fact that from the 16th century. sculptors used the fig leaf to depict the naked body. This convention, which lasted until the end of the 18th century, arose as a concession to the church, which recognized the realistic depiction of nudity in art as sinful.
Dictionary of catch words. Plutex. 2004.
Synonyms:
See what “Fig leaf” is in other dictionaries:
Fig leaf 1) botan. external organ of the fig plant (other names: fig, fig); 2) In the Bible in the book of Genesis, fig tree leaves (figs) were used by Adam and Eve to sew their first clothes after they realized they were naked after... ... Wikipedia
Cover, screen, camouflage Dictionary of Russian synonyms. fig leaf noun, number of synonyms: 3 disguise (20) ... Synonym dictionary
Fig leaf- Book Iron. Hypocritical, poorly hidden disguise of true intentions, dishonest, reprehensible. You would delve into the souls of these modest women, listen to their conversations among themselves. Actresses and pretenders, that's all! Covered with fig leaves... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language
Fig leaf- wing. sl. The expression is used to mean: a hypocritical cover for something shameful, obscene, as well as a hypocritical disguise of true intentions or the true state of affairs. The expression goes back to the Biblical myth of Adam and Eve,... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky
fig leaf- 1) An image of a leaf (usually a fig leaf) in place of the male genital organs of naked figures in a painting or sculpture. 2) About what covers, masks something. shameless, dishonest, shameful... Dictionary of many expressions
Fig leaf- hypocritical cover... Popular Political Dictionary
Book Iron. A hypocritical cover for something. shameful, masking unseemly actions and intentions. FSRY, 227; BTS, 499, 1421; ZS 1996, 367; BMS 1998, 341. /i> Goes back to the biblical myth of Adam and Eve... Large dictionary of Russian sayings
fig- oh, oh. figure f. 1. Rel. to the fig (tree). BAS 1. Plant all kinds of trees... such as: oilseeds, figs... various kinds of citron, bergamot and others. Contract between Potemkin and gardener I. Blank. // UFO 1998 31 135. Fig trees,... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
fig- and fig. In meaning “pertaining to “fig” (fig tree)” fig. Fig leaf. In meaning “very bad, bad” fig (colloquially used). Our business is crappy... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language
FIG, fig, fig. adj. k fig in 1 value Fig leaves. Fig fruits. ❖ Fig tree (bot.) a tree from the family. mulberry, the fruits of which grow together into spherical or pear-shaped formations and used. for food in dry or fresh form under... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
Books
- D. H. Chase. Collected Works in 3 volumes (set of 3 books), D. H. Chase. James Hadley Chase is a famous English writer, an outstanding master and a passionate follower of the detective genre. This publication will be received with great interest by everyone who loves...
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