Kolomna verst

Verst- Russian measure of length, which existed in Russia before the introduction of the metric system. (The metric system was adopted in Russia since 1899 as a recommendation, and it was approved as mandatory in 1917 by the Provisional Government, and since 1925 it has become mandatory for the USSR as well).

A verst was equal to 500 fathoms. The sazhen, in turn, consisted of three arshins of 72 cm each (or 16 inches). The length of a sazhen was 2 meters 16 centimeters. Thus, a verst in modern terms was equal to 1 kilometer 80 meters, that is, almost one kilometer.

A verst in Russia was called not only this length, but also special poles that were installed on high roads and marked versts. The roads on which such "versts" were set were called pillar roads. "Miles" or milestones were usually painted in a slanted strip to make it easier to see, the number of miles from or to a certain point was written on the pillar.

No fire, no black hut...

Wilderness and snow... Meet me

Only miles striped

come across alone.

A.S. Pushkin "Winter Road"

What stood out from all the versts Kolomna verst? And why a verst Kolomna?

The fact is that they began to install milestones in Russia under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676), and on the way to his country residence in the village of Kolomenskoye, these same milestones were especially high. Hence the expression Versta Kolomna, which in figuratively characterizes very tall and thin people.

By the way, if you are interested in how a nautical mile differs from a land mile, an oblique fathom from a simple fathom, twins from twins, and a pond from a lake - go to the site about the differences, you will find answers to how similar concepts differ from each other.

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0 Since ancient times, there have been nicknames for people who somehow stand out from the crowd. However, not all of them are easy to interpret and understand the meaning and origin of such expressions and jargon. Add our resource site to your bookmarks, and you can find answers to most of your questions. Let's talk about another one today. catchphrase, this is Versta Kolomenskaya, you will learn the meaning of phraseology a little lower.
However, before continuing, I would like to recommend you a couple more sensible publications on the subject of sayings and proverbs. For example, what does the saying mean Who wants, looks for ways, who does not want reasons; meaning To fight and seek, to find and not to give up; what does it mean If I knew where to fall, I would lay straws; the meaning of the phraseological unit Shirt guy, etc.
So, let's continue, the meaning of phraseology?

Versta Kolomenskaya- so in a joking tone they say about a very tall person

Synonym of Versta Kolomenskaya: Uncle Styopa.

The origin of Verst Kolomenskaya has deep historical roots. At one time, the Tsar of All Russia, Alexei Mikhailovich, who was also the father of Peter the Great, decided to start ennobling the vast Russian expanses. Instead of laying asphalt or concrete on broken primers, he limited himself to an order that ordered the installation of poles on the roads. These poles should have been in verst from each other.
The fact is that in winter so much snow fell on the ground that the road literally disappeared under it, and it was impossible to find the way home. There were frequent cases when peasants or coachmen got lost in the snowy expanses and froze to death.

The pillars themselves were poles, with bundles of straw tied on top. Of course, the king could not bypass his person, and having done a good deed for the people, he decided to treat himself to his beloved. By his order, the tract leading from the Kremlin to the village of Kolomenskoye was given to professional contractors who built bridges, covered the swampy sections of the route, and of course did not forget about the fashionable novelty - milestones. By the way, these columns turned out to be higher than on a simple road, and had a height of about two fathoms (4 meters), decorated on top not with straw, but with royal eagles carved on wood.

In general, the idea turned out to be quite in demand, and these columns are used in our time, though the distance between them is not a verst, but a kilometer.

After the "cutter" of windows to Europe entered the kingdom, he continued his father's work of arranging roads. milestones were placed along all significant routes, especially where mail coaches plyed. True, the distance between them was already only 500 fathoms, and the people of Kolomna Versts have since been associated with something tall and lanky. It's no joke, their height, I repeat, was about 4 meters, which at that time was quite a lot.

By reading this article, you have learned What does Versta Kolomenskaya mean?, meaning

In order to correctly understand the meaning of one or another speech turnover present in the Russian language, one often has to look into the distant past, delve into historical annals. This also applies to the mysterious phraseological unit "Kolomenskaya Verst". Fortunately, the history of Russia allows you to get an answer to questions about what it means and where it came from.

"Verst Kolomenskaya": the origin of the phraseological unit

So, how did this expression become part of the Russian language? To begin with, it is worth understanding the meaning of each of the words that are present in the speech construction “Kolomenskaya verst”. The history of the village of Kolomenskoye began many centuries ago, it was first mentioned in chronicles during the reign of Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita, or rather in 1336. AT different time the village was owned by various princes of the capital, then the kings paid attention to it.

The village of Kolomenskoye began to play an important role during the accession to the throne of Ivan the Terrible. It was he who first began to celebrate his name day in which all the capital's nobility began to flock to the feasts. In 1610 the village became the headquarters of the infamous False Dmitry II, but only for a short time. However, it reached its peak during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, who loved to spend the summer months in it with his family and close associates. Peter the Great lived in it at all most of his childhood, indulging fun entertainment. Nowadays, the village plays the role of a museum-reserve, this status was assigned to it in the first half of the last century.

What is a verst

Versta is another word that is an integral part of the expression "Kolomenskaya mile". This is the one used on the territory Russian Empire before the metric system was introduced, which happened only in 1899. For reference, a verst has 1.006680 km.

A verst at that time was customary to call not only the aforementioned length segment, but also the pillars, which played the role of a kind of road signs informing travelers about the versts traveled, so that they could not get lost and die. The roads on which such signs were placed were called pillar roads. Traditionally, milestones were painted in slanted stripes, this was done so that they would attract the attention of travelers. The column indicated exact amount versts left to go to (or from) a certain settlement.

Emperor's Decree

So where did the expression " Kolomna verst"? This happened thanks to the autocrat Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed by his subjects the Quietest. The king issued a decree in which he ordered the construction of special pillars along all important Russian roads. The poles indicated the distance in versts. Subsequently, these structures became known as versts or milestones. History claims that this innovation saved many residents of the Russian Empire from death in the snow.

What does the “Kolomenskaya verst” have to do with it? The fact is that the autocrat, taking care of his subjects, did not forget about his own convenience. By his order, the road, which allowed getting to the village from the Kremlin, was decorated with special pillars. They had a much greater height in comparison with those that were installed on "simple" roads, they looked more impressive. Moreover, each pillar was decorated with a drawing depicting the coat of arms of the country.

The meaning of phraseology

Surprisingly, but local residents The "imperial" pillars, endowed with impressive dimensions, did not like at all. They constantly complained that because of them it became difficult to use the road. The road was immediately renamed "pillar", and then the speech turnover "Kolomenskaya verst" appeared. Its significance turned out to be quite unexpected. After all, they began to call people of very high growth. The new phraseological unit quickly took root in the Russian language.

So, what does "Kolomenskaya verst" mean? Synonyms suitable for this speech turnover will help to better understand this: tall, tower, lanky. In most cases, this stable construction is used in an ironic sense, whether we are talking about written or oral speech.

Usage examples

Phraseologism, the meaning of which is considered in this article, is often found in the literature. For example, one can recall the work “The Zvonarev Family”, written by the author. The heroine points out to the hero who proposes to see her off to the fact that all people will pay attention to such a “Kolomenskaya verst” as he, but she does not want this. It is understood that the man has a very high growth, which allows him to stand out from the crowd, without making any effort for this.

You can refer to the famous historical novel"Peter the Great", which was created by the writer Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy. The hero of the work describes the growth of a teenage boy, says that he has already managed to stretch out "from the Kolomna verst" during the time he did not see him.

What else do you need to know

It is obvious that not only the phraseologism "Kolomenskaya verst" has synonyms. The antonym that is most appropriate is shorty. You can also use other words - undersized, short.

It should also be borne in mind that the order of the placement of words in this case does not play a significant role. “Kolomenskaya verst” or “Kolomenskaya verst” - the meaning remains the same, no matter which option the speaker uses.

October 26, 2016

In order to correctly understand the meaning of one or another speech turnover present in the Russian language, one often has to look into the distant past, delve into historical annals. This also applies to the mysterious phraseological unit "Kolomenskaya Verst". Fortunately, the history of Russia allows you to get an answer to questions about what it means and where it came from.

"Verst Kolomenskaya": the origin of the phraseological unit

So, how did this expression become part of the Russian language? To begin with, it is worth understanding the meaning of each of the words that are present in the speech construction “Kolomenskaya verst”. The history of the village of Kolomenskoye began many centuries ago, it was first mentioned in chronicles during the reign of Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita, or rather in 1336. At different times, the village was owned by various metropolitan princes, then the kings paid attention to it.

The village of Kolomenskoye began to play an important role during the accession to the throne of Ivan the Terrible. It was he who first began to celebrate his name day in the Kolomna Palace, where all the metropolitan nobility began to flock to feasts. In 1610 the village became the headquarters of the infamous False Dmitry II, but only for a short time. However, it reached its peak during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, who loved to spend the summer months in it with his family and close associates. Peter the Great lived in it most of his childhood, indulging in fun entertainment. Nowadays, the village plays the role of a museum-reserve, this status was assigned to it in the first half of the last century.

What is a verst

Versta is another word that is an integral part of the expression "Kolomenskaya mile". This is an old measure of length that was used on the territory of the Russian Empire before the metric system was introduced, which happened only in 1899. For reference, a verst has 1.006680 km.

A verst at that time was customary to call not only the aforementioned length segment, but also the pillars, which played the role of a kind of road signs informing travelers about the versts traveled, so that they could not get lost and die. The roads on which such signs were placed were called pillar roads. Traditionally, milestones were painted in slanted stripes, this was done so that they would attract the attention of travelers. The column indicated the exact number of miles left to go to (or from) a certain settlement.

Related videos

Emperor's Decree

So, where did the expression "Kolomenskaya verst" come from? This happened thanks to the autocrat Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed by his subjects the Quietest. The tsar issued a decree in which he ordered the construction of special pillars along all important Russian roads. The poles indicated the distance in versts. Subsequently, these structures became known as versts or milestones. History claims that this innovation saved many residents of the Russian Empire from death in the snow.

What does the “Kolomenskaya verst” have to do with it? The fact is that the autocrat, taking care of his subjects, did not forget about his own convenience. By his order, the road, which allowed getting to the village from the Kremlin, was decorated with special pillars. They had a much greater height in comparison with those that were installed on "simple" roads, they looked more impressive. Moreover, each pillar was decorated with a drawing depicting the coat of arms of the country.

The meaning of phraseology

Surprisingly, the locals did not like the "imperial" pillars, endowed with impressive sizes, at all. They constantly complained that because of them it became difficult to use the road. The road was immediately renamed "pillar", and then the speech turnover "Kolomenskaya verst" appeared. Its significance turned out to be quite unexpected. After all, they began to call people of very high growth. The new phraseological unit quickly took root in the Russian language.

So, what does "Kolomenskaya verst" mean? Synonyms suitable for this speech turnover will help to better understand this: tall, tower, lanky. In most cases, this stable construction is used in an ironic sense, whether we are talking about written or oral speech.

Usage examples

Phraseologism, the meaning of which is considered in this article, is often found in the literature. For example, we can recall the work "The Zvonarev Family", written by the author Alexander Stepanov. The heroine points out to the hero, who proposes to see her off, the fact that all people will pay attention to such a “Kolomenskaya verst” as he is, but she does not want this. It is understood that the man has a very high growth, which allows him to stand out from the crowd without making any effort for this.

You can also refer to the famous historical novel "Peter the Great", which was created by the writer Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy. The hero of the work describes the growth of a teenage boy, says that he has already managed to stretch out "from the Kolomna verst" during the time he did not see him.

What else do you need to know

It is obvious that not only the phraseologism "Kolomenskaya verst" has synonyms. The antonym that is most appropriate is shorty. You can also use other words - undersized, short.

It should also be borne in mind that the order of the placement of words in this case does not play a significant role. “Kolomenskaya verst” or “Kolomenskaya verst” - the meaning remains the same, no matter which option the speaker uses.

Here it is - Kolomna verst

Versta Kolomna - very tall man(jokingly). The expression owes its origin to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the father of Peter the Great. Aleksey Mikhailovich, nicknamed "The Quietest", ordered the installation of poles along the roads, indicating the distance in versts (these poles were called either "versts", or "miles-posts"), because at that time in Russia it was customary in winter, when snow covered the road , along it put milestones - poles with a bundle of straw, so that the traveler does not go astray. So the decision of the king was an innovation, a kind of revolution in road construction. Well, the tsar took special care of the road leading from the Kremlin to Kolomenskoye: they poured it, laid gati, built bridges and installed higher pillars (two fathoms with eagles on top) than everywhere else.

The sazhen in those days had a little more than two meters, that is, the Kolomna pillar had a height of 4 meters

The village of Kolomenskoye

Belonged to the Moscow princes. The first official mention of it is the will of Ivan Kalita, in which he wrote Kolomenskoye to his youngest son Andrei. Ivan the Terrible built a fun palace in Kolomenskoye, that is, a pleasure palace. Alexei Mikhailovich made Kolomenskoye his summer residence. Peter I spent his childhood in Kolomenskoye. Today Kolomenskoye is a state art historical, architectural and natural landscape museum-reserve.

Russian measures of length

*** Step - the average length of a human step = 71 cm.
*** A span is an ancient Russian measure of length (since the 17th century, a length equal to a span was called “a quarter of an arshin”, “a quarter”)
*** Small span - the distance between the ends of the spaced thumb and index (or middle) fingers = 17.78 cm.
*** Large span - distance between ends thumb and little finger = 22-23 cm.
*** A span with a somersault - a span with the addition of two joints of the index stick = 27-31 cm
*** Verst - its value has repeatedly changed depending on the number of sazhens included in it, and the length of the sazhen. The Code of 1649 established a "boundary verst" of 1,000 sazhens. In the 18th century, through the efforts of Peter the Great, along with it, a “travel verst” of 500 sazhens began to be used.
*** The boundary verst is equal to 2.16 km. It was used as a boundary measure, usually when determining pastures around large cities, and in Siberia - and to measure the distances between settlements
*** Sazhen (derived from the verb to yagat (reach) - as far as it was possible to reach with a hand). There were more than ten different fathoms

• policeman - 284.8 cm,
• untitled - 258.4 cm,
• great - 244.0 cm,
• Greek - 230.4 cm,
• breech - 217.6 cm,
• royal - 197.4 cm,
• church - 186.4 cm,
• folk - 176.0 cm, to
• palm - 159.7 cm,
• simple - 150.8 cm,
• small - 142.4 cm
• untitled - 134.5 cm
• moss (the distance between the ends of the middle fingers of the arms outstretched to the sides_ - 1.76 m.
• oblique - 2.48 m

*** Elbow (equal to the length of the arm from the fingers to the elbow) = 10.25-10.5 inches (approximately 46-47 cm)
*** Palm = 1/6 cubit
*** Arshin \u003d 16 vershoks or 0.7112 m. Arshin denoted the length of a human step (about seventy centimeters, when walking on a plain, at an average pace) and was the base value for other large measures for determining length, distances (sazhen, verst)
*** Top - 1/16 arshin, 1/4 quarter - 4.44 cm

The metric system for measuring length was introduced in Russia on June 4, 1899, but was not mandatory; it was adopted as an official one by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of September 14, 1918

The use of phraseological units Kolomna verst

- “I can escort you the first time for safety,” suggested Boreyko. - No no! Olga Semyonovna resolutely objected. “Firstly, everyone will pay attention to such a Kolomna verst as you, and secondly, there is no one to babysit the children.”(A. Stepanov "Port Arthur").
- “He is already fifteen years old. Stretched out from the Kolomna verst "(A. N. Tolstoy. "Peter the Great")
- “The group fell in love with her: not immediately, but eventually appreciating her soft, sunny character. And they called it anyway for their height - a verst of Kolomna ”(O. Kuzmina "Kolomenskaya Mile")