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34
Under the rose – not to be mentioned; strictly between ourselves. It was the
custom of the Germans at feast to suspend a rose from a ceiling as a reminder that
whatever might be said about people at the feast should not be repeated. The
legend, giving rise from the custom, is that the rose was the flower of Venus,
whose amorous and stolen sports might never be revealed. (E.Radford. Unusual
Words and How They Came About. N.-Y., 1964)
To go West – to die. Since the sun sinks in the West, there is little doubt that the
sinking and disappearing of the sun in the West has had some influence on this
phrase; but of the actual origin, there are various suggestions. Among the ancient
Egyptians, the West was spoken of as the home of departed spirits. Mourners on
the banks of the Nile uttered the cry ” to the West” . From America, it is stated that
the term arose from the Red Indians’ phrase that a dying man had gone to meet the
setting sun. A further suggestion is that it belongs to the days of the Pale-faces and
Indians, when prospectors did not return from dangerous country West of the
Mississippi. They were said to have “gone West” . (Эльянова Н .М. Popular
Phrases – their origin and meaning, 1971)
34 Under the rose – not to be mentioned; strictly between ourselves. It was the custom of the Germans at feast to suspend a rose from a ceiling as a reminder that whatever might be said about people at the feast should not be repeated. The legend, giving rise from the custom, is that the rose was the flower of Venus, whose amorous and stolen sports might never be revealed. (E.Radford. Unusual Words and How They Came About. N.-Y., 1964) To go West – to die. Since the sun sinks in the West, there is little doubt that the sinking and disappearing of the sun in the West has had some influence on this phrase; but of the actual origin, there are various suggestions. Among the ancient Egyptians, the West was spoken of as the home of departed spirits. Mourners on the banks of the Nile uttered the cry ” to the West” . From America, it is stated that the term arose from the Red Indians’ phrase that a dying man had gone to meet the setting sun. A further suggestion is that it belongs to the days of the Pale-faces and Indians, when prospectors did not return from dangerous country West of the Mississippi. They were said to have “gone West” . (Эл ь ян ов а Н .М . Popular Phrases – their origin and meaning, 1971)
