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Old Russian greeting and religious sign of respect

Posted: Aug 30th, 18, 17:56
by Matthew96br
Hello all,

I am doing some research into styles of greeting and would like to know what Russian greeting is being spoken in a video on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqYJDgJx6Zs&t=2511s

The clip comes at 41:51-41:53.

A Russian friend of mine suggests that it is a very old greeting used to express great respect. And means that you bow your head to the ground with respect. Unfortunately, I do not know how to spell it and have seen it as 'schallom beim', 'scholleben', and also 'schollem bein', although none of these seem to be correct spellings of any Russian word. I cannot find this in any dictionary that I look in.

My apologies for such a very strange request, and for not being able to provide any more information. Thank you in advance for any suggestions or assistance.

Re: Old Russian greeting and religious sign of respect

Posted: Sep 25th, 18, 05:07
by Jeremy Katz
Nothing to apologise for, people have different interests in a field :D
The phrase is "Челом бьём" (plural). Old Russian indeed, means "(we are) hitting (the floor) with our foreheads (as we address you)".
Not quite a sign of respect, rather a humble request to look into the complaint the speaker is about to present. Indeed, historical.

The first word is "Чело", as in "человек", but, as "o" is in the end, it's outspoken. Translation - a forehead.
The second is "бить", which is to hit.
For the sake of convenience I've given both of these words in singular nominative and infinitive, wherever applyable.

As for what the guy says before, he says "Ой, ты, гой еси, добрый молодец", which is an old greeting. Means the same as "Здравствуйте" in a literal translation ("Good health to you"). "Ой, ты" is an introduction and adressal.

My apologies for the late reply.

Re: Old Russian greeting and religious sign of respect

Posted: Sep 25th, 18, 10:58
by Matthew96br
Dear Jeremy,

Thank you very much for your response. This is wonderful! You've helped me enormously because I had been stuck for such a long time trying to figure this out.

Kind regards,
Matthew.

Re: Old Russian greeting and religious sign of respect

Posted: Sep 25th, 18, 16:38
by Jeremy Katz
Any time!