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 to 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. Today we'll talk about one more catch phrase, this is Versta Kolomenskaya, you will learn the meaning of the phraseological unit a little below.
However, before continuing, I would like to recommend you a couple more sensible publications on the subject of sayings and proverbs. For example, what is meant by the saying Who wants, is looking for ways, who does not want a reason; the meaning of Fighting and seeking, finding and not giving up; what does it mean If I knew where to fall, I would spread straws; the meaning of the phraseological unit shirt guy, etc.
So, let's continue, the meaning of the phraseological unit?

Versta Kolomenskaya- this is how they talk about a very tall person in a joking tone

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 pursue the ennoblement of the endless Russian expanses. Rather than putting asphalt or concrete on the broken ground, he limited himself to an order, which instructed the installation of poles on the roads. These poles were supposed to be in verst apart.
The fact is that in winter, so much snow was poured on the ground that the road literally disappeared under it, and it was impossible to find a 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 pamper himself, too. By his order, the road leading from the Kremlin to the village of Kolomenskoye was given to professional contractors who built bridges, filled up swampy sections of the route, and of course did not forget about a fashionable novelty - milestones... By the way, these pillars turned out to be higher than on a simple road, and had a height of about two fathoms (4 meters), decorated from above not with straw, but with royal eagles carved on wood.

In general, the idea turned out to be quite popular, and these pillars used in our time, although the distance between them is not a mile, but a kilometer.

After the "cutter" of windows to Europe entered the kingdom, he continued the work of his father on the arrangement of roads. Milestones were placed along all significant highways, especially where post carriages ply. True, the distance between them was already only 500 sazhens, and the people of Kolomna versts have since been associated with something tall and lanky. No joke, their height, I repeat, was about 4 meters, which was a lot at that time.

After reading this article, you learned what does Versta Kolomenskaya mean, meaning

Kolomenskaya verst

Verst- Russian measure of length that existed in Russia before the introduction of the metric system. (The metric system has been adopted in Russia since 1899 as a recommendation system, and as mandatory it was approved 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 fathom, in turn, consisted of three arshins, 72 cm each (or 16 vershoks). The length of the fathom was equal to 2 meters 16 centimeters. Thus, a verst in modern terms was equal to 1 kilometer 80 meters, that is, almost one kilometer.

A milestone in Russia was called not only this segment of length, but also special poles that were installed on big roads and denoted versts. The roads on which such "versts" were set up were called pole roads. "Milestones" or milestones were usually painted in an inclined strip, so that it was better seen, the number of miles from or to a certain point was written on the pillar.

No fire, no black hut ...

Wilderness and snow ... towards me

Only versts striped

Come across one.

A.S. Pushkin "Winter road"

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

The fact is that the installation of milestones in Russia began under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676), and on the way to his country residence in the village of Kolomenskoye, these milestones were especially high. This is where the expression came from Kolomenskaya verst which in figuratively characterizes very tall and thin people.

By the way, if you are wondering how a nautical mile differs from a land mile, an oblique fathom differs 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 concepts that are close in meaning differ from each other.

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"Uncle Styopa was leaving work,
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Who does not remember these verses from childhood? And why are people of very tall stature called "Kolomna verst", as was Uncle Styopa, a man of very tall stature?

"Kolomenskaya verst" - this is how tall, thin people are called. This expression came into use in the 18th century, when Alexei Mikhailovich, the father of Peter the Great, was tsar. The tsar set about arranging the road to the summer royal residence in the village of Kolomenskoye and ordered to re-measure the distance from Moscow to Kolomenskoye.

All along the road they installed milestones extraordinarily great height... That is why such roads began to be called pillar roads, and the phraseologism "Kolomna verst" began to be used to denote something very large, beyond the bounds, including very tall people.

Milestones began to be installed later in St. Petersburg and its environs.

During the time of Catherine II, the southern border of St. Petersburg passed along the Fontanka River, so the first milestones were installed on the embankment of the Fontanka River on the banks of the river: along the Tsarskoye Selo road at the Obukhovsky bridge, and along the Peterhof road at the Kalinkin bridge. The last milestones were installed - in Tsarskoe Selo near the Oryol Gate and in Peterhof near the Upper Garden.

It is believed that the author of the "marble verst pyramids" project is the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi (1709-1794), the author of numerous architectural projects St. Petersburg and its suburbs, both implemented and remaining unfulfilled. A. Rinaldi worked in St. Petersburg from 1754 to 1779. There is another version of the creation of the pillars: the author is J. Vallin-Delamot, and the construction was carried out by A. Rinaldi. Be that as it may, milestones are an interesting attraction of our city.

The milestone on the Fontanka (Moskovsky prospect). Sundial. (My picture)

In St. Petersburg, several marble milestones have survived, which were installed during the reign of Catherine II on the road leading to Tsarskoe Selo, starting from the city border, which then passed along the Fontanka. All of them were equipped with sundials, the simplest chronometer in the world: the shadow from a special stick falls on the dial and moves with the sun.

The milestone on the Fontanka, Moskovsky prospect. Indicates the distance.

It's far from Moscow! On the side to the left is a sundial on a pillar. (My picture)

The milestone in Peterhof near the Upper Park. (Photo from the Internet)

A milestone on Stachek Avenue, at the intersection with Trefolev Street

The village of Kolomenskoye is located not far from Moscow and has always historically belonged to the ruling dynasty - at the beginning the Rurikovichs, and then the Romanovs. Ivan the Terrible liked to arrange feasts there for those close to him, for False Dmitry II the village served as a military headquarters, and in later and calm times, as they would say now, a dacha.

Alexey Mikhailovich Romanov loved to spend time there with his family. Therefore, the warmest childhood memories of Peter I are associated with this particular place.

So, we figured out the meaning of the first word of our phraseological unit. As for the "verst", everyone already knows that this is a measure of length that is slightly more than 1 km. It was applied until the end of the 19th century, until the reform of measures was carried out.

So, the distance was determined by versts, and above all from one settlement to another. Please pay attention to the following points:

• In those days, the roads between settlements were not lit.
• People rode horses (rarely), often in carriages and on foot.
• The distance between settlements was not small.

In such a situation, one could easily get lost, and this even threatened with death. Imagine what it is like to go astray in winter, in severe frost and blizzard. This is certain death.

That is why a decision was made at the state level - to mark the road with poles. The distance between them was exactly 1 verst. They were painted with an oblique stripe and had signs. Thanks to such pillars, a person did not lose sight of the road and understood what distance was left behind.

A special road was on the route "Moscow - Kolomenskoye". During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, pillars were installed higher than the usual ones along the route of the royal family. Each of them had a double-headed eagle attached. The distance between such posts was standard - 1 verst.

But, due to the fact that these pillars were strikingly different from the usual ones, the people did not really like them - too tall, very large, they are inconvenient for ordinary people, etc.

Expression value

So the expression "Kolomna verst" has become customary, which means - a tall man.

In ordinary, colloquial modern speech, this phrase is no longer used. It can be found in the works of, well, at most, authors until the middle of the last century.

The antonym "verst Kolomenskaya" is a playful form of designating a tall (long) person. According to legend, this phrase was first pronounced by the father of Peter I, Alexei Mikhailovich, who was popularly called "Quiet". He signed a decree that special poles should be placed along all the main Russian expensive, which would indicate the distance in versts. Later they were called " milestones", or simply miles.
And the whole point is that just at that time the so-called " little ice age"As a result, the weather was very cold, and the winters were very harsh and snowy. Therefore, so that the traveler does not get lost on the road in winter, wise villagers installed special bundles of straw or thick rods between their settlements.

Therefore, the fact that milestones began to be erected cannot be called a special innovation, it was just that this business was raised to the state level. However, it was still a very sensible decision and saved a lot of lives in the endless Russian steppes.
The autocrat did not forget about himself, it was decided to significantly modernize the road from the Kremlin to Kolomenskoye, which was subsequently done. On the swampy areas, gates were laid, where the road was leveled, wooden bridges were erected along the entire length, so that His Highness would not get over the ford in a carriage, and the milestones were set much higher (two sazhens) than on simple roads, and all of them were decorated with the coat of arms of Russia - 2-headed eagle.

It is worth noting that in those troubled times, one fathom was equal to 2 meters or a little more, which means that the royal Kolomna pillar was a little more than 2 meters high.

Kolomenskoye village

This locality belonged to different princes from Moscow. Historians believe that the very first mention of this village dates back to the time of the great Moscow prince Ivan Kalita.

By the way, he received the nickname "Kalita" due to the fact that he constantly carried with him a small belt bag for money, which at that time was called "Kalita"

Much later, the Tsar of All Russia, John, nicknamed the Terrible, gave the order to build a funny palace in Kolomenskoye, that is, a place for the entertainment of the nobility. The second Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty decided to make this building his summer residence or, as they say now, a summer residence.
Young Peter 1 did not forget about this place, in which he spent all his childhood lifting up skirts for the maids.
Nowadays, this palace is part historical heritage which houses the natural-landscape and historical-architectural museum-reserve.

Read more: what does it mean Arshin swallowed

In Russia, the metric system of measurement was relatively recently established, namely from June 4, 1899. However, this innovation was not binding. After the revolution on September 14, 1918, the metric system was made official, as evidenced by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, and until that moment we used the Russian system of measures

Vershok- equal to 4.44 cm, or 1/4 quarter or 1/16 arshin

Arshin- equal to 0.7112 m or 16 vershoks. Arshin at that time was considered the length of the average human step, about 70 cm, if you walk from average speed... Was the standard from which the rest of the measures of large quantities were repelled (verst, fathom)

Elbow- equal to the length of the arm from the elbow to the fingers, that is, 46-47 cm or 10.25-10.5 vershoks

Fathom- this word comes from the verb "reach", "sagat", that is, how much you can reach with your hand. It used to be a large number of fathoms, more than ten:

oblique- equal to 2.48 meters

mossy- equal to 1.76 meters. This length is between the middle fingers of the outstretched arms

no name- equal to 134.5 centimeters

small- equal to 142.4 centimeters

simple- equal to 150.8 centimeters

boat- equal to 159.7 centimeters

folk- equal to 176.0 centimeters

ecclesiastical- equal to 186.4 centimeters

royal- equal to 197.4 centimeters

state- equal to 217.6 centimeters

greek- equal to 230.4 centimeters

great- equal to 244.0 centimeters

no name- equal to 258.4 centimeters

police- equal to 284.8 centimeters

Boundary verst- equal to 2.16 kilometers. It was used for a boundary measure, for example, to measure pastures near large cities, and in Siberia it was used to measure between villages.

Verst- over time, its size changed, for example, the number of fathoms included in it and the length of fathoms itself changed. By a decree of 1649, the size of a verst was set at 1000 fathoms. Already Peter the Great invented one more verst, which was called "traveling". It was equal to 500 fathoms.

Span with somersault- was equal to 27-31 centimeters and was the designation of the distance between the little finger and the thumb

Small span- equal to 17.78 cm and denoted the distance between the middle (or index) and thumb

Span is an old Russian measure of length. After the 17th century, the length, which was equal to one span, was called "a quarter" or "a quarter of an arshin"

Step- was equal to 71 cm, and was the designation of the average length of a human stride

The use of the expression verst Kolomenskaya in literature

"At school they did not immediately love her, but later realizing that she is a sunny and soft person, she treats her very well. However, her nickname was" Kolomenskaya versta "for her great growth.
("Versta Kolomenskaya" by O. Kuzmin)

"He is already almost sixteen years old. He grew up and became like the Kolomna verst."
("Peter the First" by A. N. Tolstoy)

"If you want, I'll go with you for your safety," Boreiko asked.
In no case, Olga Semyonovna said. - Understand, at such a verst of Kolomna, everyone in the district will begin to pay attention, the more there will be no one to nurse the children "
("Port Arthur" A. Stepanov)

Why do we say so, Kolomenskaya verst, etc.