''Mat'' (, ''matershchina'' / ''materny yazyk'') is the term for vulgar, obscene, or profane language in Russian and some other Slavic language communities.

Four pillars of mat

In 2013, Roskomnadzor compiled a list of four lexical roots, with any words derived from these roots – nouns, adjectives, verbs, participles etc. – of the Russian language which it deemed "absolutely unacceptable in the

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

": ''khuy'' ("cock"); ''pizda'' ("cunt"); ''yebat ("to fuck"); and ''blyad'' ("whore"). Roskomnadzor defined the banned terms as follows: "Obscene designation of the male genital organ, obscene designation of the female genital organ, obscene designation of the process of copulation and obscene designation of a woman of dissolute behavior, as well as all linguistic units derived from these words".Роскомнадзор накажет СМИ только за четыре матерных слова
'' Izvestiya'', December 25, 2013 David Remnick writes that ''mat'' has thousands of variations but ultimately centers on those four words. Mat-words were included by Polish publisher Jan Baudouin de Courtenay in the 3rd and 4th editions of the '' Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language'', which was printed four times in 1903–1909 (twice) and in 1911–1912, 1912–1914. The inclusion of rude and abusive words became an obstacle to the reprinting of this version of the dictionary in the Soviet Union for censorship reasons.

Khuy

''Khuy'' (), often also written in Latin as "hui" or even "hooy" by Russian schoolchildren/beginners in their English studies, means "cock", "

penis A penis (; : penises or penes) is a sex organ through which male and hermaphrodite animals expel semen during copulation (zoology), copulation, and through which male placental mammals and marsupials also Urination, urinate. The term ''pen ...

", or for an equivalent colloquial register: " dick". The etymology of the term is unclear. Mainstream theories include from Proto-Indo European (PIE) *''ks-u-'', related to ''хвоя'' (''khvoya'', "pine needles"), attributed to Pederson, 1908. From PIE *hau-, related to ''хвост'' (''khvost'', "tail"), attributed to Merlingen, 1955; from Mongolian хуй (''khui'', meaning "sheath" or "scabbard"). This was the etymology endorsed by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

government and attributed to Maxim Gorky, who claimed it was a loan word, imposed during the Mongol yoke. The first volume of the ''Great Dictionary of Mat'' by the Russian linguist and folklorist treats only expressions with the stem ''хуй'' (''khuy''), numbering over 500 entries; 12 volumes are planned. The word ''khuy'' also appears in various other Slavic languages with the same meaning and pronunciation but not always the same spelling, such as the Polish ''chuj''. A minor

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

swept the Russian segment of the internet with a clip from the Chinese play '' Li Huiniang'', where the heroine's name was repeated several times, which for a Russian ear sounds like "khuynya" (), an obscene term for something unknown or unimportant or strange.

Pizda

''Pizdá'' () means "

cunt "Cunt" () is a vulgar word for the vulva in its primary sense, and it is used in a variety of ways, including as a term of disparagement. "Cunt" is often used as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman in the United States, an unpleas ...

". A derivative of this word is the interjection and noun ''pizdets''. This word, depending on the situation, can express a vivid form of almost any emotion, ranging from sadness and annoyance ("Pizdets, my girlfriend cheated on me", or "Pizdets, I missed my flight"), to an expression of joy ("Pizdets, my son has just been born!") As a noun, it generally denotes an extremely unfortunate event ("This is pizdets, my car has broken down").

Yebát'

''Yebát'' () means "to fuck (somebody)". This verb usually expresses a unilateral action and requires (or implies) a direct object.The mutual action expressed in English with verbs "to copulate", "to have intercourse" is rendered in mat by the reciprocal form of the verb, ''yebátsya'' (): "to fuck each other". Historically, women have been perceived as sexually submissive, so the verb mostly refers to an action of a man. In modern times it may refer to a woman's action, in contexts when she initiates (or plans to initiate) the intercourse or plays an active role. See the wiktionary entry for some figurative uses of the word. It can also be used as an objectless interjection (, meaning "Fuck, what a luck!"), or can be used as an intransitive verb meaning "to know", "to care" ( is translated "Like I know?" or "I don't care", means "I don't know" or "I don't care".). In that latter meaning the word can only be used with implicit or explicit negation - one cannot say "я ебу" to convey the meaning of "I know" or "I care".

Blyád'

''Blyád () means " whore". In the

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

the word блѧдь (блядь in modern orthography) – ''blyad'', meaning: "deception, nonsense, insane, adulteress", is preserved in the Church Slavonic in three meanings: "deception, delusion", "idle talk, trivia" and "debauchery, adultery". To enhance the expressivity, the word may be combined with the non-''mat'' insult "suka" (, bitch) to form "suka, blyád" (сука, блядь) especially among Internet users and memes, an approximate analogue for the expression "fucking shit". The term is popular in the '' Counter-Strike'' video game community in the stylized form of "rush B, cyka blyat".

History and use

Some claim that the term ''mat'' derives from the Russian word for mother, a component of the key phrase "Ёб твою мать", "yob tvoyu mat (fuck your mother). However there is a Russian expression "благим матом" (''blagim matom'') which has no relation to obscenities, and whose etymology is unsure as well. Obscenities are among the earliest recorded attestations of the Russian language (the first written ''mat'' words date to the early Middle Ages). Mikhail Lermontov's 1834 ''"A Holiday in Peterhof"'' (''"Петергофский праздник"'') is one example of the usage of ''mat''. The prologue to ''Luka Mudishchev'', probably written at some time in the mid 19th century, was often ascribed to Ivan Barkov, an obscene poet who lived in the 18th century: ''Mat'' is also used in humor or puns by juxtaposing innocent words so that the result will sound as if an obscene word was used. An example is a Don Cossack song cited in '' And Quiet Flows the Don'' by Mikhail Sholokhov:

:Щуку я, щуку я, щуку я поймала. :Девица красная, уху я варила. :Уху я, уху я, уху я варила.

Here "Уху я варила" ("I cooked the fish stew") may be reinterpreted as "У хуя варила" ("Cooked near the dick") or even "Ух, хуй я варила" ("Ooh, I cooked a dick"). The contemporaneous use of ''mat'' is widespread, especially in the army, police, blue-collar workers, the criminal world, and many other all-male milieus, with particular fervor in the male-dominated military and the structurally similar social strata. An article by Victor Erofeyev (translated by Andrew Bromfeld) analyzing the

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, overtones, and

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

of mat appeared in the 15 September 2003 issue of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''. In the context of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, two mat phrases were popularized internationally: " Putin khuylo!" and " Русский военный корабль, иди нахуй" ("Russian warship, go fuck yourself"), as expressions of the Ukrainian defiance.

Legal issues

In the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

obscenity was censored in print and in the media, and could be prosecuted as petty hooliganism when used in public places. With the collapse of the Soviet Union censorship of mat stopped, and a number of writers, singers, and actors started using taboo-shattering ''mat'' in their works. For example, the singer Sergey "Shnur" Shnurov is notorious of using mat in his songs. In 2013 ''mat'' has been banned in Russia in all

, printed and electronic. Since July 1, 2014, ''mat'' has been banned in Russia from all movies, theatrical productions, and concerts. In modern Russia, since the times of the

, the use of obscenities in public aggravates a disorderly conduct and may lead to its qualification as petty hooliganism, punishable under article 20.1.1 of the Offences Code of Russia, although there was no clear legal definition what exactly constitutes an obscenity.

Notes

References

External links

*
Русский мат с Алексеем Плуцером-Сарно
– online version of the ''Dictionary of Russian Mat'' by Alexei Plutser-Sarno
Russian slang explained in English, French and GermanCited portions of a ''The New Yorker'' article.
''The New Yorker'' via russki-mat.net
'Dead Man's Bluff' by Mikhail Volokhov. Director Andrei Zhitinkin
First play in Russia to be written entirely in profanities. Productions of this play have always been surrounded by controversy: in Russia by Andrei Zhitinkin, with actors Oleg Fomin and Sergei Chonishvili; in France by Bernard Sobel with actors Denis Lavant and Hugues Quester; in Germany and Switzerland the parts were played in French and German by Armin Rohde and Roberto Guerra. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mat (Russian Profanity) Russian profanity Russian slang Sexual slang Russian words and phrases