9

Фразеологический словарь русского литературного языка says, that "стоять над душой" means "мешать, надоедать своим долгим присутствием". I'm not quite sure what "над душой" (above one's soul?) means literally, or what historical meaning it could have had before becoming an idiom. How did this phrase come to be?

Francis Drake
  • 508
  • 2
  • 6
  • http://lolkot.ru/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/nad-dushoy_1344491816.jpg – monstro Mar 26 '15 at 09:13
  • I don't know if there is some kind of a secret meaning behind this, we Russians don't have any idea. basically equivalent in English is..."breathe down someone's neck" – monstro Mar 26 '15 at 09:20
  • I don't believe that's correct. See the accepted answer below for the appropriate, though not idiomatic, translation. Breathe down someone's neck ближе к "идти по пятам", но также или с оттенком угрозы, или в духе идиомы "ноздря в ноздрю", то есть соревновательно, но в этом случае едва-едва позади. – Francis Drake Mar 27 '15 at 10:49
  • it is correct, I am Russian I know what it means :-) no need to overcomplicate trivial simple things ;-) – monstro Mar 27 '15 at 10:54
  • 1
    You just don't know what "breathe down someone's neck" means. No offense. – Francis Drake Mar 28 '15 at 16:27
  • How do you know what I know and what I don't? Don't you think you assume too much? I know exactly what it means I live in English speaking country longer than I lived in USSR. – monstro Mar 28 '15 at 20:23
  • How much time did you live in Russia, и откуда у тебя такие глубокие понятия о том что значит русский сленг? – monstro Mar 28 '15 at 20:25
  • I'm a native Russian speaker и в своём понимании русских идиом вполне уверен. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/breathe-down-someone%27s-neck Здесь значение 1.1 действительно аналогично обсуждаемому; я этого не знал, спасибо. Между тем, есть и другое значение, которого "стоять над душой" не имеет -- см. 1 и примеры к ниму. "Стоять над душой" там не всегда будет корректным переводом, о чём я и пишу. – Francis Drake Mar 29 '15 at 21:25

4 Answers4

10

I think it derived from "Не стой надо мной, какъ чортъ надъ душой", meaning that someone sticks around a person with a persistence that can be compared to a devil longing for a human soul.

Vilmar
  • 1,542
  • 10
  • 17
5

In Russian there are quite a few idioms mentioning "soul". E.g. "Души не чаять", "Душа в пятки ушла" etc. So it doesn't seem strange to mention it one more time ;-)

The origin is probably due to the following more complete form: "Не стой надо мной, как чёрт над душой" (Don't stand above me like the devil about the soul).

Another (old) meaning of the word "душа" is "serf" like in Gogol's novel "Dead Souls" (which also means "Dead Serfs"). But it doesn't seem to have any connection with idiom you are asking about.

Matt
  • 15,277
  • 1
  • 21
  • 40
4

In fact, "soul" is not the only meaning of the word "душа". In classical Russian literature you can often encounter other meanings like:

  • Human (a man, a woman or a child) - "2 души мужеского полу" (and in official documents it is used to describe population of the area), "на улице ни души".
  • Someone's emotional state - "Ах! сударь, вы душу мне возвращаете!"

(For more meanings you can check this article).

So, I think that "стоять над душой" may mean something like "to make a pressure on someones emotional state".

Artemix
  • 11,331
  • 3
  • 40
  • 84
1

No one yet mentioned that душа is also a slang/colloquial name of some body part/place on the stomach (not sure exactly).

https://www.google.co.il/search?q=%22%D1%83%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%BB+%D0%B2+%D0%B4%D1%83%D1%88%D1%83%22

user31264
  • 8,579
  • 1
  • 26
  • 46