Words familiar from childhood can have several meanings. Moreover, using such words in their conversations, people do not think about their meaning at all, because the interlocutors understand them correctly. However, this only happens if the interlocutor and the speaker were brought up in the same social environment. Grown in one country and have common cultural values.
But in the event that people belong to different social strata, there is no longer a single understanding between them of any word without taking into account the general context of what has been said. And if the conversation takes place with a foreigner, then you have to think about the meaning and avoid terms that can be understood in different ways. “Carousel” is one such word.
How did the word appear?
It came into Russian immediately from two languages: French and Italian. A carousel is both a French carrousel and an Italian carosello. In Russian speech, it was established in the 18th century, coming along with many customs borrowed from Western Europe.
The word at that time referred to the masculine gender and had a completely different meaning, different from what we put in it today. In Europe, this term came into use in the XV-XVI centuries, that is, in those days when the knightly tournaments ceased.
First value
It was not the same as today, although close to modern. Carousel is the name of the holiday that replaced the knightly tournament. At such festivities, various performances were given, fireworks and other fun were arranged. Often there were equestrian numbers where riders demonstrated miracles of dressage of horses, practically forcing them to show real ballet.
Such holidays were arranged in Russia too. For example, a description of one of them was published in an appendix to the print edition of St. Petersburg Vedomosti in 1766. The equestrian ballet was described, consisting of several quadrille and presented on the grand Carousel (that’s exactly because the word was masculine in those years) in front of the Winter Palace.
But not every holiday was called a "carousel." The meaning of the word was as follows: a magnificent pompous celebration, with costly amusements and various performances by artists and trained animals.
Thus, any festivities could not be called by this word. Nevertheless, the word went to the people. They began to call them any bright or incidental event, fun, walking.
