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Make value out of molehills. Make an elephant out of a fly. Where did the expression "make an elephant out of a fly" come from?

You can tell a person in different ways that he is mistaken in the scale of the danger or in general of some event. In this sense, we are interested today in the meaning of the phraseological unit “to make an elephant out of a fly”. As always, consider the origin, examples and content.

Origin

The Greeks gave a lot to the world. Here is the cradle of European civilization, and the source of philosophy. If we talk about the language, then the people under consideration should also be grateful to the Hellenes. The author of the saying is unknown, but history has preserved the name of the one who passed on this heritage to his brothers.

Lucian (ancient satirist) created the work "Praise of the fly." Those who are interested in primary sources should look into this creation. We turn to the main question: what is the meaning of the phraseological unit “to make an elephant out of a fly”? Naturally, examples will also be presented.

Meaning

It is clear that a person will not turn a fly into an elephant unnecessarily. There must be a reason. It is - fear or other emotions. And on the wave of the latter, a person draws frightening tragic pictures for himself. For example, someone scratched or even here he sees the words “gangrene” and the phrase “blood poisoning”, but in fact you just need to wash the wound and cover it with a band-aid, and everything will be all right.

Probably, from the example it became clear that the meaning of the phraseological unit “to make an elephant out of a fly” comes down to the desire to exaggerate the importance of an event without objective, visible reasons.

For example, a child brought home for the first time a "goose" - a deuce. And his mother, according to the meaning of the expression that we are considering, inflated a global tragedy from this ordinary, in general, phenomenon. She tells her husband about her dark fantasies. In them, a child with a "goose" works as a janitor all his life and in the end dies in obscurity. The husband of an impressionable parent may say: “Darling, it seems to me that you are well aware of the meaning of the phraseologism “to make an elephant out of a fly.” That's exactly the transformation of an insect into a beast, for the most part, you are now busy. Everything will be wonderful and wonderful for our child. Well, I grabbed a “couple”, just think, with whom it doesn’t happen. ”

Morality

Phraseologisms are such that even in their brevity one can see a certain moral message. The expression teaches: do not surrender to the power of emotions. Experiences will subside, and then a person will look at the world without blinders and take the right step.

We examined the saying "make an elephant out of a fly." The meaning of phraseologism, the history of its occurrence were also presented in our review. Do not be so impressionable - and the world will smile at you!

11.11.2017

Society has always surprised with its variegation and diversity. Some people are admirable, while other characters can scare others away with their behavior. The latter include characters who tend to constantly exaggerate and because of this they are very worried. They say about such people that they like to "make an elephant out of a fly." In this article we will talk in more detail about this phraseological unit and its history.

Where did the expression "make an elephant out of a fly" come from?

First, let's try to figure out how the phraseologism "make an elephant out of a fly" came into the Russian language. Unfortunately, the exact name of the author catchphrase no linguist can. However, experts are sure that phraseologism owes its appearance to the Greeks.

In general, the Hellenes gave a lot to the world, including a rich cultural heritage. But back to our phraseology. The first mention of the expression "to make an elephant out of a fly" can be found in the work of the ancient Greek satirist Lucian called "Praise to the fly." However, call

Lucian cannot be the author of the phraseological unit “to make an elephant out of a fly”, since the satirist in his work makes a clear indication of the folklore origin of the expression. Lucian writes that he, according to the proverb, "makes an elephant out of a fly." This is a confirmation of the fact that in the time of Lucian there was a saying, which included the expression of interest to us.

The meaning of the phraseological unit "make an elephant out of a fly"

But what does idiom mean? Everything is pretty simple here. People "make an elephant out of a fly" in cases where they give too much great importance some minor event. In other words, they exaggerate.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that, due to its meaning, the expression “make a molehill out of a molehill” is most often used to express the irony of someone in relation to the behavior of another person. Also, the expression is often used in a joking manner.

Many people wonder why people tend to exaggerate. Everything is simple. Emotions are the driving forces that push people to what they "make an elephant out of a fly". For example, fear can be a powerful catalyst.

A striking example of when the expression “make an elephant out of a fly” can perfectly describe the current situation is the case when, having slightly cut his finger, a person tries to call an ambulance, thereby winding up those around him. In fact, there are many such examples. This can easily explain the high popularity of this phraseological unit.

The expression to make an elephant out of a fly is completely understandable, does not contain any ambiguities or hidden meanings. To make an elephant out of a fly means to inflate and exaggerate something insignificant to enormous proportions.

Another thing is interesting - why is an elephant used for comparison? After all, elephants are not found in Russia, elephants, so to speak, are "a curiosity with us." Perhaps this expression is a tracing-paper from some foreign phraseological unit? Perhaps, but from what? Most likely, it came into our language from the East, from countries in which elephants were and are still found. Or maybe it became ours, because Russia is the birthplace of elephants J?

The explanation of the expression turned out to be very short, so I bring to your attention the “bow”

(“Bow” in professional TV slang is any funny story given at the end of a news release.)

How to make an elephant out of a fly by replacing one letter in each next word.

For 16 moves:

fly-mura-tura-tara-kara-kare-cafe-kafr-musher-kayuk-hook-upuk-lesson-term-stock-groan-elephant.

They say that you can make an elephant out of a fly even faster, in 12 or even 10 moves. Try it, you might succeed!

..Do not make an elephant out of a fly! Don't feed...)

How to make an elephant out of a fly

To make an elephant out of a fly
you don't need golden hands
and don't need blueprints rolls,
bolts, gears and other things
and bricks and plywood tons.

No need to look for a hammer and a planer
and extra chisel and mallet here,
and a brace, and a grinding machine,
a piece (for the trunk) of an old hose
and even a penknife.

To make an elephant out of a fly,
gotta get the right fly
and check if it buzzes,
if you put a fly to your ear.

And you also take an elephant
it wouldn't hurt too much
show your fly to an elephant,
so that she buzzed him.

The elephant will open its mouth with joy,
immediately fly inside him - shast!
And settle, vile, in it.
And actually become an elephant.

The fly will not be the same, but new
and the elephant will become the mistress,
and she will mock the elephant,
and then the elephant has to go somewhere,
but the poor elephant has nowhere to go
and the elephant's soul will fly to the moon.

And a small fly disguised as an elephant,
trying to fly out the window
stuck forever between the frames
and the roughest words
will start to buzz
and grumble
and swear
and puff and puff,
and tryndet,
and kick
and growl karabas-drums,
but - boo boo
boo Boo Boo
boo boo boo boo - in vain,
because the
now her wings are frail
and not in them
reliable
flying power.

. . . . . . . . . .

Not all
flies
bad
such.
There are good flies or others.
And other good flies
called
all -
clatter.

good fly -
no need to kick with boots,
but you have to feed them pies.
You don't need to inflate it with a pump.
but you can clean it with a vacuum cleaner on Fridays.
And to stick her muzzle out into the street,
open wider,
please,
window leaf.

*************************************************
I do not make an elephant out of a fly

I do not make an elephant out of a fly.
cold with you.
Still careful.
Everything is difficult for you again.
The sea is upside down! Because puddle.
You don't fit into the image of the ideal husband.
You do not justify any predictions.
You try not to yawn, seeing other people's tears.
Or don't try at all, I don't care.
Show off how subtly she is jealous,
How frantically grabs your sleeve,
Tell it depriving me of my rights
Openwork illusions, blind hopes and faiths,
Measure Her pain with the original scale of measures.
To what extent is She broken by you, impersonal?
Show me where is the truth in your words?
I will laugh. In the face. I'll try to break you.
Go to her. She doesn't know how to live without you.
And I will not make an elephant out of a fly.
Paid off all debts. Completely.
Brought back the lie, back the pain
Go to her - Calm down.
Deceive. Kill. Resurrect. Strangle.
And I don't have enough soul for you.

Why do we say so: From a fly to make an elephant

If someone exaggerates, turns a small fact into a whole event, we use the expression

"TO MAKE AN ELEPHANT FROM A FLY"

The birthplace of this catchphrase is Greece. She passed to us from the satirical work of Lucian "Praise of the fly", who lived two millennia ago.
But the author of the expression was still not this ancient Greek satirist. Lucian used a contemporary proverb that is not fully known to us. Here is what he writes at the end of his “Praise to the Fly”: “... But I interrupt my word, although I could say a lot more, so that no one would think that I, according to the proverb, “make an elephant out of a fly” .

A very interesting description of the life of a fly.

PRAISE TO THE FLY

1.
By no means a small place among those flying is occupied by a fly, when compared with mosquitoes, midges and other winged trifles, which are so
larger than the fly, as far as she herself is inferior to the bee.
And the fly is not equipped with wings according to the general measure. One is given to completely overgrow with hair, provided
others use swift wings, like grasshoppers, dragonflies and bees.
From the retina the wings of a fly, but the retina is delicate, like a veil, and, in comparison with it, the wings of others are as coarse as Greek clothes against thin and soft Indian tissues.
In addition, if anyone looks closely, the wings of a fly are colored like those of a peacock, when, stretched out, it waves them under the rays of the sun.

2.
And the flight of a fly is not like the quick strokes of a bat, it is not like the bouncing of grasshoppers or the circling of a wasp - the fly strives with a smooth turn towards a certain goal, intended. in the air.
And besides, it does not fly silently, but with a song, but not with the hostile song of mosquitoes, not with the heavy buzzing of bees or wasps, terrible and menacing - no, the song of a fly is so louder and sweeter than honey flutes against trumpets and cymbals.

3.
As for other parts of the body, the head of the fly is most delicately connected to the neck, easily turning around, and not fused, like a grasshopper; bulging eyes with a lot of cornea; breasts beautifully proportioned, and legs sprouting freely, without undue restraint, like those of a wasp.
The abdomen is strong and looks like a shell with its wide belts and scales. The fly defends itself not with a stinging tail, like bees and wasps, but with lips and a proboscis, the same as that of an elephant; it is to them that she looks for, and grabs food, and holds it, firmly clinging to her proboscis resembling the tentacles of a polyp. It shows a tooth
biting through which, the fly drinks the blood; she drinks milk, but blood is also sweet to her, and the pain of the victim is not great. Six-legged, the fly only walks on four,
using the two front as hands. And you can see a fly standing on four and quite humanly, in our opinion, holding something edible in its weight in its hands.

4.
A fly is born not immediately like this, but first as a worm from dead people or animals. A little later, the fly releases its paws, grows wings, changes from crouching to flying, becomes pregnant and gives birth to a small worm -
future fly. Staying and eating with people the same food, at the same table, she tastes everything except oil, for drinking for her is death. And yet she
short-lived, for the limits of life are very sparingly measured out to her. That is why she loves the world most of all and arranges her social affairs in the world. The night is
the fly passes peacefully, does not fly and does not sing, but lurks and sits motionless.

5.
And I will also talk about great intelligence when a fly avoids a malicious and hostile spider: it spies on an ambushed one and, looking straight at him, suddenly deflects the flight so as not to get caught in
spread nets, do not get entangled in the plexuses of the monster. It is not for us to talk about the courage and courage of a fly; the most eloquent of poets - Homer - compares the courage of the best of heroes, not with a lion, not with a leopard, and not with a boar, wishing to praise him, but with the boldness of a fly, with the fearlessness and stubbornness of its onslaught. After all, that's what he says: she is not bold, but bold
("Iliad", XVII, 569-571.).
For, caught, says the Poet, she does not give up, but strikes. And in general, the poet praises and admires the fly so much that not only once and not infrequently, but very often, he remembers it: so, only mentioned, it adorns the poem. Then the poet tells how crowds of flies flock to milk
("Iliad", II, 469-471, XVI, 641-642.), then speaks of Athena when she turns away the arrow from Menelaus so that they do not inflict a mortal wound on him; comparing her to a caring mother laying down her cub, again
compares the fly with it ("Iliad", IV, 130-131.).
He also adorned the flies with a beautiful epithet, calling them "strong", and calling them a swarm "people"
("Iliad", II, 469.).

6.
And the fly is so strong that, when biting, it pierces not only the skin of a person, but also a bull, and a horse, and even an elephant, it hurts, climbing into its wrinkles and disturbing it with its proportional proboscis.
In love and marriage, they have great freedom. The male, like a rooster, having ascended, does not immediately jump off, but rushes into the distance on his girlfriend, she also carries
beloved. So they fly together, and this connection, enclosed in the air, is not broken by flight.

7.
[A dead fly, sprinkled with ashes, is resurrected and begins life again.]

8.
Free, unbound, the fly reaps the labors of others, and the tables are always full for it. For the goats are milked for her, and the bees work for her no less than for a man, and cooks sweeten seasonings for her.
She tries them before the kings: walking along the tables, the fly treats herself with them and enjoys from all the dishes.

9.
The fly does not sculpt, does not weave a permanent nest for itself, choosing, like the Scythians, wandering flights, and wherever the night finds it, there it finds both food and sleep. For, as I have already said, after dark the fly does nothing, finding it below its dignity to do something secretly - it considers that there is nothing shameful in its deeds and nothing done in the light will bring shame to it.

10.
One legend tells that in ancient times there lived a Fly - a beautiful woman, a singer and with a tongue as chatty as a mill, and they were together with Selena (Selena is the goddess of the moon, in love with the beautiful Endymion. According to the myth, she descends from heaven every night to caress the beloved young man.) are in love with the same Endymion. And so she constantly woke up the sleeping young man, chatting, singing and laughing at him, and once annoyed him so much that Selena in anger turned the woman into this fly. That is why now, remembering Endymion, she seems to envy the sleep of the sleeping, especially the young and
tender. Her bite and thirst for blood is a sign of hatred, but love and affection, for she strives, if possible, to taste from everything and get honey from beauty.

11.
According to the assurances of the ancients, there was also a certain woman called Mukha, a poetess, beautiful and wise, and another well-known getter in Attica, about whom the comic poet said: "Well, the Fly has bitten, so trembling to the heart."
The merry comedy also did not neglect and did not close access to the Mucha's name on the stage. His parents were not ashamed either, Calling their daughters Fly. Yes and
tragedy recalls the fly with great praise in verse:

What a disgrace! Fearlessly fly on people
Strives for a brave flight,
longs for their death,
And the soldiers are shy before the spear of the enemy...

There are also special large flies, which many call "soldiers", while others - "dogs", with the most severe buzzing and the fastest flight.
These are more durable than others and endure all winter without food, mostly hiding under the roof. It's amazing what flies do
laid down for both - both female and male genders, alternately speaking in them, in the footsteps of the son of Hermes and Aphrodite with his mixed nature and dual beauty.
But I interrupt my word - although I could say a lot more - so that no one would think that I, according to the proverb, "make an elephant out of a fly."

The fly's source of praise

Origin phraseologism "to make an elephant out of a fly" lost somewhere in antiquity, but its understanding does not require translations and explanations.

But with a mosquito had to figure it out.

Let's look at the meaning and origin, synonyms-antonyms, as well as sentences with phraseological units from the works of writers.

The meaning of phraseology

To make mountains out of molehills - to exaggerate, to attach great importance to something insignificant

Phraseologisms-synonyms: make a lot of noise about nothing, fan the censer, exaggerate, make a tragedy (partially)

Phraseologisms-antonyms: not important (partially), not worth a damn (partially)

AT foreign languages there are similar expressions. Among them:

make a mountain out of a molehill (English)
faire d "une mouche un éléphant, faire d" un rien une montagne (French)
Aus einer Mücke einen Elefanten machen (German)

The origin of phraseology

Unfortunately, it was not possible to find traces of discussions about the origin of this phraseological unit: all sources available to me agree that its earliest mention was found in the work “Praise of the Fly” by the ancient satirist Lucian (circa 125-192 AD) . This small “speech”, ridiculing the speeches of rhetoricians, ends with the phrase of interest to us: “But I interrupt my word, although I could say a lot more, so that someone would not think that I, according to the proverb, “make an elephant out of a fly” . It follows from it that this expression already existed as a proverb known to readers of Lucian. But where she came from is already unknown.

And yet, traces of a kind of discussion managed to be found. True, it was conducted not between different versions of the origin of the expression, but between its possible characters. If the elephant settled in it securely enough, then the fly had to repel the encroachments of various small insects.

The mosquito was especially dangerous. Thus, the late antique rhetorician Libanius (314 - about 393) used the expression "to compare a mosquito with an elephant" (Κώνοπα έλέφαντι παραβάλλειν), and already in Russia, the famous poet Nekrasov also preferred the mosquito:
Publicity flourishes there
There began science seeds,
There's such clarity in everyone's minds,
That a mosquito won't be mistaken for an elephant. (N.A. Nekrasov, "Friendly correspondence between Moscow and St. Petersburg")

The advantage of the mosquito was that the mosquito was smaller than the fly, and the advantage of the fly was that "fly" was smaller than "mosquito" and also better pronounced in this expression. As a result, our language still chose the fly.

By the way, there is evidence that this expression came to Russian not from Greek, but from French (Faire d "une mouche un éléphant).

Examples from the works of writers

All of them, according to their usual habit, ran ahead too much and made an elephant out of a fly. (F.M. Dostoevsky, "The Idiot")

From a fly, father, you make an elephant - look at everything in a magnifying glass. (N.G. Garin-Mikhailovsky, “The Childhood of Tyoma”)

Fear has big eyes, prince. You always make an elephant out of a fly. A soldier sneezes, and you are already ready to see a shock to the foundations in this, - Gobyatko ironically (A.N. Stepanov, Port Arthur)

It seemed to me that the frightened, hunted "bourgeois" are afraid even of their own shadow and make an elephant out of a fly. (I.V. Odoevtseva, “On the banks of the Neva”)

But diplomats would not be diplomats if they did not consider it their duty of honor to complicate simple things, to make an elephant out of a fly and to drag out the solution of any important issue in all sorts of skillful ways. (S. Zweig, Marie Antoinette)

What a report!
What a report!
Squad - glory
And respect!
The counselor sighed:
- Here are those on!
From a fly
They made an elephant!.. (S.V. Mikhalkov, “How an elephant was made from a fly”)

As you can see, the phraseological unit “make an elephant out of a fly” is completely words can be used “a good thing in the household will come in handy,” he easily and permanently took root in the Russian language. In general, the history of its origin is quite typical for part

Make an elephant out of a fly

Make an elephant out of a fly
From Latin: Elephantem ex muscafacis (elephantem ex musca facis).
Ancient Greek proverb.
It is first found in the ancient Greek satirist Lukiap (II century), who in his work “Praise to the Fly” confirms the folklore origin of this expression: “But I interrupt my word, although I could say a lot more so that someone would not think that I, according to the proverb, make an elephant out of a fly.
Allegorically: it is exorbitant to exaggerate something, to attach great importance to some objectively insignificant event (jokingly ironic).

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: "Lokid-Press". Vadim Serov. 2003 .

Make an elephant out of a fly

The expression used in the sense of "strongly exaggerate something" belongs to the number of ancient. It is cited by the Greek writer Lucian (2nd century AD), who ends his satirical "Praise of the Fly" as follows: "But I interrupt my word - although I could say a lot more - so that someone would not think that I , according to the proverb, I make an elephant out of a fly. (Lucian. Collected works: Translation edited by B.L. Bogaevsky. - M.L., 1935, p.118).

Dictionary of winged words. Plutex. 2004

See what "Make an elephant out of a fly" is in other dictionaries:

Make an elephant out of a fly- wing. sl. The expression used in the sense of "greatly exaggerate something" belongs to the number of ancient. It is cited by the Greek writer Lucian (2nd century AD), who ends his satirical “Praise of the Fly” as follows: “But I interrupt my ... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

to make mountains out of molehills- make / make an elephant out of a fly Col. Unapproved More often than not. Strongly, unreasonably exaggerate the importance of something insignificant. From noun. with meaning faces: brother, reader, patient ... makes an elephant out of a fly. I don't think anything bad happened here... Educational Phraseological Dictionary

Inflate the censer, make a lot of noise about nothing, add, exaggerate, exaggerate, make a tragedy, exaggerate, inflate the Dictionary of Russian Synonyms ... Synonym dictionary

Cm … Synonym dictionary

Add, exaggerate, inflate, exaggerate, inflate the censer, exaggerate, make an elephant out of a fly, make a lot of noise out of nothing Dictionary of Russian Synonyms ... Synonym dictionary

To make mountains out of molehills- Express. To attach great importance to something insignificant, unimportant. Fear has big eyes, prince. You always make an elephant out of a fly. A soldier sneezes, and you are already ready to see a shock to the foundations in this, Gobyatko ironically (A. Stepanov. Port ... ... Phrasebook Russian literary language

do- ay, aye; de/lanny; lan, a, o; nsv. (sv. do / do) see also. to be done, doing what 1) To create, manufacture, produce something. De / Lat machines. De / lay furniture ... Dictionary of many expressions

Ayu, aye; done; lan, a, o; nsv. (St. do). what. 1. Create, manufacture, produce smth. D. machine tools. D. furniture. D. fabrics. D. porcelain. 2. Do something, work, show some kind of l. activity; do, perform, make... encyclopedic Dictionary

Razg. To greatly exaggerate smth., to attach to smth. insignificant great importance. FSRYA, 256; BTS, 565; Mokienko 1989, 113; BMS 1998, 391 ... Big Dictionary Russian sayings

to make mountains out of molehills- to greatly exaggerate something, to attach great importance to something insignificant. Expression - tracing paper with French goes back to an ancient saying... Phraseology Handbook