Since childhood, each of us must have heard the popular expression "Sisyphean labor." What does it mean? Who is Sisyphus and what was he forced to do? Let's figure it out, and at the same time remember other phraseological units that have come to us from ancient times.

In the myths of ancient Greece, there is such a character as Sisyphus, who was the king of Corinth. Sisyphus lived cheerfully and happily in his luxurious palace, cunning, deceiving and dodging. His victims were earthly people who had no power over him. Once he decided that even the gods could be outwitted, for which he subsequently paid dearly. Its history is as follows. When he realized that the god of death Tanat had come to him, Sisyphus distracted him with deceit and put him in chains. From that moment on, people stopped dying, and the gods of the kingdom of shadows were deprived of the gifts that living people gave them for their dead relatives.

Zeus found out about this disgrace, who became angry and sent the god of war Ares for Tanat, demanding that he be released immediately. After his release, he immediately plunged the wicked Sisyphus into his kingdom of shadows. Hades and his wife Persephone waited a long time for sacred gifts from the wife of Sisyphus, but all in vain, since he warned her in advance that no one would bring any gifts for him. Here again, Sisyphus decided to be cunning, declaring to the gods about the obstinacy of his wife, who allegedly does not want to part with wealth. He promised Hades to deal with his wife, for which he needed to visit the earth for a short time, but he immediately promised to return back.

Terrible Hades, just like Tanat before, believed the liar and brought him back to earth. Once at home, Sisyphus called the guests and threw a noble feast. Once again, he dared to laugh at the gods. The gods do not forgive this, but the deceiver did not even want to think about it. Sisyphus was cast into the realm of shadows and received a terrible punishment as punishment. Every day, from the foot of a high mountain, he was forced to roll up a huge heavy stone, but, having almost reached the top, the stone fell down. This goes on forever. Sisyphean labor is hard and useless, but such is the will of the gods. This myth can teach us a lot if we read it carefully and think about it. Before you laugh at someone or deceive, remember the Sisyphus labor - so meaningless and hard.

Not one Sisyphus received punishment from the gods. Tantalus himself in the same place in Hades is forced to stand up to his neck in clean clear water and see branches with luxurious fruits in front of him. He is terribly thirsty and hungry, but bending down to take a sip of water, he sees how it goes through the earth, and stretching out his hands to the fruits, he realizes that he cannot reach them. These torments were given to Tantalus for ridicule and pride in relation to the gods. We must firmly remember that before committing any act, we must think everything over. So it is at work. Having taken up the task, everything should be planned so that it is not Sisyphean labor (in vain and not needed by anyone), but a really necessary and useful thing. By the way, the creators either performed Sisyphean labor, the meaning of which is meaningless, useless work. They were not familiar with physical laws and spent years inventing things that could not exist at all.

The phraseological unit Tantalum flour has a completely different meaning. It means the proximity of something very desirable, necessary and, at the same time, the impossibility of possessing it. We experience real Tantalus torment when we want the impossible. This often occurs because we do not measure our goals and our real capabilities, subsequently experiencing mental anguish. Soberly assessing the situation, success in business can always be achieved. The main thing is that what you are doing should be useful, otherwise such work will turn into Sisyphean labor, the meaning of which you already know.

What is our native Russian language? It cannot be seen, it cannot be touched. As if he doesn't exist. Fortunately, he was, is and will be. He is the thread that unites contemporaries and connects hundreds of generations. He is that thread, invisible but strong, which can stretch or tangle, but never break. This is our common tool, designed to give form to our experiences, emotions, thoughts and feelings. Among the many of his techniques, it is impossible not to note the phraseological units. What is this? Let's figure it out...

The meaning of the phraseological unit "Sisyphean labor"

In any language, and Russian is no exception, there are so-called phraseological units. "What is it and what do they eat with?" - you ask. The name is tricky, but nothing complicated, on the contrary - interesting and exciting. Phraseological units, or phraseological units, are ready-made combinations of words, set expressions, such as “beat the buckets” or “throw beads in front of pigs”, which not only help the speaker to accurately and vividly express their thoughts, emotions and attitude to what is happening, but are also true language decoration. Their distinguishing feature is ambiguity, that is, their direct meaning is miraculously transformed into an allegorical one, often the opposite of a literal reading.

From this point of view, the meaning of such a stable combination as "Sisyphean labor" is interesting. Literally - a mention of the cunning and dodgy ruler of Corinth, Sisyphus, who, after death, according to ancient Greek myths, was sentenced by the gods to forever roll a heavy stone on a high mountain. However, the figurative meaning of the phraseologism "Sisyphean labor" sounds different - exhausting and useless work, fruitless efforts, a waste of time and effort.

Origins of verbal formulas

Everything in the world has its origins, its beginning and its history. Every sound, every letter, every word. We can know about it, guess, or, conversely, not have the slightest idea. However, you will agree, it is better to know than not to know. And not only because it is necessary, and this will do you good, broaden your horizons, and everyone around you will consider you an intellectual. No, not for that at all. But because any knowledge and search for truth, the search for what is worth, what is hidden behind each uttered sound, gives a deeper knowledge, understanding of the structure of the world and, ultimately, oneself. In linguistics, the science of language, there is a special direction - phraseology, one of the tasks of which is precisely the study of the sources of origin of certain figurative expressions. Based on this, all phraseological units of the Russian language are divided into native Russian and borrowed ones.

Borrowed phraseological units

In the Russian language, a large group of turns is made up of the so-called borrowed phraseological units, that is, those that have come to us from other languages ​​and cultures. These include phraseological tracing papers or semi-tracing papers, otherwise - expressions that received a literal translation during the transition from one language to another and at the same time did not lose their figurative meaning: "blue stocking" - bluestocking (English), "a good (fun) mine with a bad game" - faire bonne mine au mauvais jeu (French), "hand washes hand" - Manus manum lavat (lat.), etc. A special class is made up of aphorisms from biblical evangelical texts, vivid quotations from foreign literature, as well as winged expressions from Roman and ancient Greek mythology. It is to the latter that the considered phraseological unit belongs.

"Sisyphean labor": meaning and origin

Sisyphus - in ancient Greek mythology, the ruler of Corinth, the son of the god - the ruler of all the winds of Eol. The legend says that Sisyphus was, on the one hand, a wise and prudent person, and on the other, cunning, dexterous, resourceful and crafty, for which he was subsequently punished. The gods endured for a long time and forgave him his atrocities, treasures obtained by deceit, robbery. However, everything has an end, and one day the god of death Tanat came to Sisyphus to escort the king to the gloomy underground kingdom of Hades, where the souls of all the dead reside. Sisyphus could not come to terms with the order established by Zeus and violated it, shackling Tanat in chains.

Time stopped on earth, people stopped dying, no offerings were made to the gods of the kingdom of shadows, the original harmony was broken. Then Zeus the Thunderer sent the fearless god of war Ares, who freed Tanat and sent the soul of Sisyphus underground to the kingdom of Hades. But here, too, Sisyphus did not renounce himself, from his earthly passions, did not submit to the will of the gods. He asked his wife not to perform funeral rites after his death and not to present gifts and sacrifices to the gods. The wife of her husband obeyed and fulfilled his request. Hades was indignant and sent Sisyphus to earth so that he could reason with his wife. The ruler of Corinth happily returned to his homeland and remained in his luxurious palace, arranging endless feasts and showing off his tricks.

And again Tanat went for the soul of Sisyphus. This time he tore out the soul of a recalcitrant person and sent him underground forever. For self-will and obstinacy, the gods appointed Sisyphus a severe punishment - from eternity to roll an unbearable stone onto a high steep mountain. But it was not the desperate efforts that were terrible, but their futility. As soon as the most cunning of all mortals reached the very top, the stone inevitably fell out of his hands and rolled down with a noise. And again Sisyphus is taken to work. Millennia later, the name of King Sisyphus and his hard work, lifting a stone to the top of a mountain, lose their direct meaning and in the aggregate acquire a different, figurative one, which, in fact, is made up of the attitude to the events described in the myth and from the feelings and emotions experienced when reading the legend. . It turns out that in the Russian language “Sisyphean labor” is a phraseological unit, the secondary meaning of which is vain efforts, meaningless labor, eternal torment.

Other languages

As a rule, ancient winged expressions are international expressions. "Sisyphean labor" - fruitless labor - is no exception. This phraseological unit has its analogues in English - Sisyphean labors, in French - le rocher de Sisyphe, in Greek - Σισύφειο έργο, and in many others. It is interesting to note that in the listed languages, it retains the image of the recalcitrant king Sisyphus, on the basis of which the figurative expression arose, which means that its meaning and lexical and grammatical structure are completely preserved. Sisyphean labor in all languages ​​and cultures denotes a hopeless enterprise, a waste of time, a futile occupation.

What does the expression "Sisyphean labor" mean? The meaning of phraseologism Sisyphean labor?

Phraseologism Sisyphean labor is also called monkey labor, from which the very meaning of the expression follows - unnecessary or stupid, stupid work that a person performs. It is noteworthy that Sisyphean labor arises on the initiative of the person himself and he is not forced to do this, but due to pride or stupidity, a person continues to try to prove something to someone, doing meaningless actions, although he can stop at any moment.

The king of Krinth, Sisyphus, became famous for his many robberies of travelers, deceiving the gods, he imprisoned the god of death Thanatos when he came for him. In revenge, the gods punished the king by the fact that in the next world he constantly rolls a heavy stone uphill, but, having barely reached the top, the stone breaks down, and Sisyphus again has to start his work.

The expression denotes the futility of efforts, work that is hard, but as a result does not bring results.

Sisyphean labor is meaningless, useless, but difficult and exhausting work. It deprives a person of time, strength, but does not bear fruit in the form of any noticeable result. The expression owes its appearance to the ancient Greek myth.

Now, by Sisyphean labor, we understand such work, which, in principle, is useless and very tedious to do, but the authorities force it, and, as you know, you can’t argue with him. If there were any benefit in such work, even the most difficult one, then it would be described by the phraseologism to clean the Augean stables. But Sisyphean labor is useless, because according to ancient Greek history, we know that after death the gods punished a certain king of one of the many cities of Greece for disbelief - he was forced to push a round and heavy stone uphill all the time, which, having reached the top, inevitably rolled down to another side and Sisyphus had to start all over again.

Phraseologism Sisyphean labor means endless And stupid(futile, useless) Job.

The expression comes from the great and immortal work of Homer Odysseus. Sisyphus - King of Corinth. He deceived the Gods and challenged them with his unbelief, for which he was punished by them. The eleventh song of the work describes how Odysseus went to the kingdom of Hades and met along the way Sisyphus, punished by the Gods, who must lift a large stone to the top of the mountain. Sisyphus made every effort to roll the stone up the mountain, but as soon as he reached the top, he rolled back. And so it was repeated again and again, the unfortunate king returned down and started all over again.

The expression Sisyphean labor came to us from ancient Greek myth. Poor Sisyphus was punished by the gods for disobedience and as punishment he had to roll a huge stone to the top of the mountain, the stone always rolled down and the unfortunate one did the work again and again. The phrase means - useless work that does not bring results. There is a related expression Carry water in a sieve.

The expression Sisyphus labor came from ancient Greek mythology. The gods, in order to punish Sisyphus, forced him to roll a large stone to the top of the mountain, and when the stone was almost at the top, he again rolled down and Sisyphus had to start all over again. In the end, all his efforts were in vain.

This is where the expression Sisyphean labor came from, as a designation of useless efforts that do not bring any result.

Simply put, Sisyphean labor is unnecessary and useless work, this statement can be applied to many things. It’s good that in real life there is only one difference, a very important one, we can understand at any moment that we are doing something useless and stop, according to the myth, Sisyphus could not do this, it was his eternal punishment. It's a bit too brutal. There are several versions of myths and legends, why the cunning Sisyphus was so severely punished, all these legends have one thing in common - the man tried to deceive and outwit the Gods themselves, for which he received his severe punishment. It is not good to deceive, especially those who are almost impossible to outmaneuver.

Phraseologism Sisyphean labor means useless and hard work. It comes from the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who turned absolutely everything he touched into gold. Having gone to hell for his sins, they chose the most severe punishment for him - to push a huge stone uphill, which now and then rolled down, as soon as Sisyphus almost reached the top.

Don't lose. Subscribe and receive a link to the article in your email.

"Sisyphean labor" - this phrase is familiar to many of us: to someone - by hearsay, and to someone - from our own experience. And, of course, its meaning is known - usually they talk about Sisyphean labor when it comes to long, painful and fruitless work and torment. But why exactly Sisyphus? What kind of image served for such a famous phraseological unit? Not everyone knows about this, and we would like to tell you where the expression “Sisyphean labor” came from.

Sisyphus

Let's start with a brief summary:

Sisyphus , and to put it more correctly, sisif - This is one of the characters in the mythology of ancient Greece. He was the son of Enarete and Eol, the husband of the daughter of Atlas - the Pleiades of Merope, from whom he had sons: Alm, Thersander, Ornythion and Glaucus.

Sisyphus was the builder and king of the ancient Greek polis (city) of Corinth (today it is called Ethera), who, after death, was sentenced by the gods to "hard labor" - rolling up a mountain located in the deepest abyss under the kingdom of Hades called Tartarus, a heavy stone, which, like only reaches the top, constantly slides down. This is where the above expression comes from.

According to the legendary ancient Greek poet-storyteller Homer, Sisyphus was a cunning, greedy and vicious person who, for the first time among the Greeks (Hellenes), took advantage of deceit and cunning.

The myths associated with Sisyphus, there are several options, each of which is quite interesting.

Myths about Sisyphus

All the available myths about Sisyphus give us an explanation of why he was so severely punished by the gods.

According to one version, the reason for the punishment of Sisyphus was the daughter of Asop - Aegina. After she was kidnapped by Zeus, Asop began to look for her, but to no avail. Then Sisyphus told Asop that he knew how to find Aegina, but he would only tell if Asop agreed to give him water to the acropolis of Corinth - Acrocorinth.

Another version says that Sisyphus was in a hostile relationship with his brother Salmoneus, and, as predicted by Apollo, raped his daughter Tyro, who later bore him two sons. Tyro, having learned that her sons want to kill Salmoneus on the instructions of Sisyphus, killed them themselves. For all this, Sisyphus was punished.

The most common version is considered to be this: one day, Sisyphus kidnaps Thanatos (the god of death) by deceit, shackles and keeps him captive (there is also a version where Sisyphus deceives and chains not Thanatos, but Hades). Due to the absence of Thanatos, no more people die on the planet. Because of this, the gods begin to worry, but they cannot do anything. However, a few years later, Ares, the god of war, manages to save Thanatos. To take revenge on Sisyphus, Thanatos rips out his soul, and then takes the dead people to the realm of shadows.

But Sisyphus distinguished himself again: before he died, he forbade his wife to perform the burial rite in the event of his death. Unable to wait for the funeral offerings, Hades and Persephone allow Sisyphus to return to the world of the living for a while, so that he punishes his wife for violating sacred customs, and then arranges a traditional funeral with sacrifices.

Then Sisyphus had to return to the kingdom of Hades. But he did not return, but continued to stay in his palace, rejoicing that he was the only one of all mortals who managed to return to the world of the living from the realm of shadows. Time passed, and the fact that Sisyphus did not return was discovered only a few years later. In order to return the deceiver, Hermes was sent.

The misdeeds that Sisyphus committed during his lifetime (including posthumous ones) caused Sisyphus to be punished: for eternity, he had to roll a huge boulder up the mountain, which rolled down all the time, and repeat this action over and over again.

Over time, the image of Sisyphus has firmly entered the work of various artists. For example, he became one of the characters in the satyr dramas of Aeschylus, such as "Sisyphus the stone-cutter", "Sisyphus the fugitive" and "Theory, or Isthmian contests", as well as in the play of Sophocles "Sisyphus", the satyr drama of Euripides "Sisyphus" and Critias play Sisyphus. But in addition to its reflection in the dramaturgy of Ancient Greece, the image of Sisyphus was also reflected in the work of figures of the new time - writers (Robert Merle and Albert Camus) and artists (Titian).

And it will not be superfluous to consider the image of Sisyphus in the work of one of the most prominent representatives of absurdism - Albert Camus. Further you will understand why.

Sisyphus in an essay by Albert Camus

If you have ever been interested in absurdism, then you know that this philosophical idea of ​​the existence of man is that his existence has no meaning. And it is with Camus that Sisyphus becomes a man who has risen above the meaninglessness of life and found in it his own destiny, as well as pride. We are talking about the philosophical essay by Adbert Camus in 1942 "The Myth of Sisyphus". By the way, The Myth of Sisyphus is a program work in the philosophy of absurdism.

In his work, Camus attempts to answer the question: "Is the life of labor worth living?" is the only question, according to Camus, that matters in philosophy.

Given that the gods who punished Sisyphus believed that hard and useless work was the worst thing that could be, Camus views Sisyphus as an absurd hero who lives a full life, hates death and is doomed to meaningless work.

The writer is most interested in the hero of myths when the first one again and again descends from the mountain to its foot to find a rolled stone. This moment is the most tragic, because. it is at this moment that Sisyphus comes to full awareness of his hopeless situation. Sisyphus has lost hope, but he also has no fate that he could not overcome, feeling contempt for her.

Sisyphus has his stone, which is a whole asset, and even the smallest piece of which is the whole world for him. In the end, Albert Camus comes to the conclusion that in reality "everything is fine", and the only thing Sisyphus needs to do is imagine himself a happy person.

It is unusual and interesting that Camus proposes to look at the endless and meaningless work of Sisyphus as a kind of metaphor for the life of a modern person, which he wastes on offices, offices, factories and other similar places. Camus said: “Today's worker is working on the same task every day of his life, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only in rare moments when it is realized.

The author of this article does not claim to be a writer who creates masterpieces, or a philosopher who can express the essence of the problem in a few phrases, so do not judge him strictly for what will be said below.

And I would like to say that the comparison of Sisyphus's work by Albert Camus with the life of a man of the new world, despite the fact that it was done more than half a century ago, is very relevant even today. Millions of people spend their lives in concrete boxes trying to make ends meet, doing jobs that anyone but them need, earning money for daily and often momentary needs. Is this not Sisyphean work? And is this not absurdism in all its glory? Does it make sense? Many of us roll our “stone” onto our “mountain”, each in our own “Tartar”, and spend our whole lives on it. This is true, because such a life seems to be a heavy burden, constantly requiring attention and action.

But what the author does not agree with is that life is meaningless. Life is given to each of us for a reason - everything in this world has a purpose, from a small insect to the highest and most impregnable mountains, from an insignificant clerk to a big boss - everyone is part of the whole. Let this seem too idealistic, but in life any person can, so as not to be a person of absurdity.

If you like to live, then you need to strive to fill life with bright colors and emotions, or at least make attempts to do so. If life seems like a “waste of time”, then you can devote it to preparing for the “life after”. The only and most important thing is to be able to find yourself, to understand what you like, what your soul is for. And even if this does not help, then you can constantly watch your “stone”, which you are trying to pile on top. Perhaps, after a lapse of time, the whole universe will be enclosed in one millimeter of this stone for you.

But still, do not make your life absurd. Don't turn it into a Sisyphean labor. Live!