1. Rayok Meaning: a theater gallery. Gardeners are likely to see something familiar here, but no, we are talking about the theater. In the 19th century, the raykom referred to the gallery. Nothing beautiful was foreign to either the craftsman or the laundress; the rayok was colorful and appreciative — it applauded and booed louder than anyone. “Lift your head and pay attention to the rayok, packed from top to bottom, where heads stick out like cabbage heads. Good heavens! What a wonderful variety, what a colorful mix! The collar of the watchman, the beard of an illiterate stonemason, the red nose of a yardman, the green eyes of your cook, the unshaven chin of a dismissed clerk who wanders around private homes, the red, greasy, sweat-soaked head of a fat cook, the pretty face of a shop girl whom you often meet on Nevsky Prospect: next to her, the face of a retired soldier...” (poet Nikolai Nekrasov). 2. Kopusha Meaning: a person who digs too much in their ears. To dig in one’s ears means to do nothing, to kill time. Therefore, today it refers to a person who is stalling. It all started from the word kopooshka — that was the name of the stick that, according to most scholars, was used to clean ears. In the Middle Ages, this item was very popular among the peoples of Eurasia. The first kopooshki were found in Syria and date back to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. They were made of wood, bronze, bone, silver, or gold, and often looked quite elegant. It is possible that kopooshki were even worn as jewelry — it is known that in Russia, women wove them into their braids, and men attached them to their belts. There is also a version that kopooshka was used as a talisman. 3. Povet Meaning: attic, hayloft, and sometimes the roof over the yard. The word was in use in the former Vyatka, Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod, and Tver provinces. In the north, near Arkhangelsk, povet also referred to an uninhabited annex to the house, located above the barn and used for storing agricultural tools and animal feed. In summer, when it was hot in the hut, a bed could also be placed here for sleeping. “Cattle is cattle, but povet is povet” — they used to say in old Russia, trying to emphasize the reliability of the log cabin compared to the povet. 4. Lytat' Meaning: to evade work. Lytaya referred to a part of the leg. It was said of a person who runs quickly that “only their calves sparkle,” and from fear, a person’s “calves tremble.” The verb “lytati” was used in the sense of “running away from work, loafing.” Therefore, in the fairy tale about Finist the Clear Falcon, one can encounter the question: “Are you working or are you lytating from work?”. 5. Repishche Meaning: a field sown with turnips. In general, it makes sense. Sometimes the term was applied to the garden in general. By the way, turnips were sown in an unusual way. Since their seeds are very small, they were not scattered but... spat. Seeds were taken into the mouth, moistened with saliva, and spat onto the ground. This required a certain skill, so almost every locality had “professional spitters” — women who were specially invited to sow turnips. This profession was considered respectable. 6. Mymrit' Meaning: to speak indistinctly. According to Dal, “mymrit'” means to mumble, to murmur, to chew, to slurp, in short, to mumble. “The old woman mumbled something and went out the door.” Perhaps that is why a mymra is a gloomy, taciturn woman. However, dictionaries are silent about a direct connection between these terms. 7. Mukhorty Meaning: weak. In general, the primary meaning of the word “mukhorty” defines the color of a horse. A mukhorty horse is a bay with yellow markings on its face. However, in the Tambov region, it referred to weak, frail, thin, and short men. It is curious what the connection was between these two meanings of the word and whether there was any at all. But dictionaries are silent about this.
