Filka's letter Razg. Disapproved Usually units An empty, meaningless piece of paper; a document of no real value. To be, become, turn out to be... what? Filka's diploma.

Stop two factories!.. And you want all this to be done on the basis of this... filthy letter? (G. Nikolaeva.)

Everything that was written in the document was not of great importance, but... it was probably not worth signing this stupid document. (S. Golubov.)

(?) Filka (Filya) – derivative from Philemon. When used as a common noun, Filka it meant “stupid, narrow-minded person, fool” (cf. simpleton). Filka's certificate literally meant: a stupidly composed, poorly written document.

Educational phraseological dictionary. - M.: AST. E. A. Bystrova, A. P. Okuneva, N. M. Shansky. 1997 .

Synonyms:

See what “filkina’s letter” is in other dictionaries:

Filkina's diploma- piece of paper, writing Dictionary of Russian synonyms. filkina literacy noun, number of synonyms: 8 ... Dictionary of synonyms

Filka's certificate- The expression belongs to the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584), who so, in a pointedly derogatory manner, called the messages of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Moscow (1566-1569) Philip II. In them is a disgraced church hierarch... ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

Filka's certificate- Filka's letter is a stable expression in the Russian language, meaning “an ignorant, illiterately drawn up or non-legal document.” Initially, this is what Ivan the Terrible contemptuously called the revealing and... ... Wikipedia

Filkina's diploma- contempt about empty, worthless paper, a document that has no force. There are several versions of the origin of the phraseological unit: 1. Initially, it was a letter written by an illiterate person of the “vile class”, a simpleton. Dupe - ... Phraseology Guide

Filka's certificate- 1. Unlock Contempt. An empty, meaningless piece of paper that has no document power. FSRYaa, 111; BMS 1998, 135; BTS, 225; Mokienko 1989, 167. 2. Arrest. Internal regulations of ITU. Baldaev 2, 109. 3. Zharg. school Joking. Foreign language... ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Filka's certificate- Razg. Express A document that has no force; empty piece of paper. The Tsar’s manifesto, which you are talking about, turned out to be a piece of paper, no offense intended (A. Stepanov. The Zvonarev family) ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Filkina's diploma- Filkina’s letter, Filkina’s letter... Russian spelling dictionary

Filkina's diploma- internal regulations at the ITU... Thieves' jargon

Filkina's diploma- iron. About a document that has no legal force; about which l. illiterately drawn up official paper... Dictionary of many expressions

Filka's letter (contempt) - about an empty, worthless paper, a document that has no force. There are several versions of the origin of phraseological units:
1. Initially, this is a letter written by an illiterate person of the “vile class”, a simpleton. Dupe - from Greek. Philip, Russian Filka, Filka. Bars often called their servants by this name.
2. The expression is formed according to the model of phrases spiritual charter, bill of sale, etc. from the figurative meaning of the name Filka -...

Filka's letter. The meaning of the expression.

Since ancient times in Rus', the name Phil or Filka was used to call people who were not noble, from the people.
In the common sense, it was applied to simple-minded, trusting, naive people. Calling a noble person by this name was considered an insult. The very expression filkina gramota appeared during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in the 16th century.

From the history of the origin of the phraseological unit “filkin’s letter”

In those days, Ivan the Terrible was fighting for access to the Baltic Sea. By this, he sought to strengthen the military power of Rus' and facilitate trade relations with neighboring countries. The tsar's plans were complicated by the fact that he had to wage endless wars with the Poles in the west, the Swedes in the north and the Tatars in the south. In addition, the boyars actively opposed Grozny. They were against continuing the war. Outright betrayal and defection of the boyars to the side of the enemy were frequent.

Faced with opposition from the boyars, the tsar left for Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda (current...

What does the expression “Filka’s letter” mean? Previously in Rus', the names Phil, Filka, Filimon were given to non-noble people, that is, to ordinary citizens who did not have golden toilets.
The word “Filka” was also used to describe simple-minded, naive and gullible people. A noble person could be greatly offended by such a nickname.
Historians attribute the emergence of the phraseological unit “Filka’s letter” to the reign of Tsar Ivan 4, popularly nicknamed “The Terrible.” He ruled Russia in the 16th century.

Read also: the meaning of the expression Merleson ballet

Where did the expression “filkin’s letter” come from?

In those distant and harsh years, Ivan the Terrible set out to strengthen the power of Rus' and create access to the Baltic Sea for it. This would simplify trade relations with other countries, which would give a huge influx of funds into the state treasury.
However, the times were turbulent, on the one hand, the lords and gentlemen attacked Rus', on the other hand, the Swedes, and the Tatars, who were in full force...

Phraseologism "Filka's letter" meaning

This is what we call an empty piece of paper that has no meaning, but a document that has any real value.
In this phraseological unit, the word filka is used in the meaning of “stupid, narrow-minded person” (remember the word simpleton) and is formed from the name Phil, Filimon. Probably, there once lived a certain Philemon, who was distinguished by such illiteracy that his name became a household name.
Thus, Filkina's letter literally means: a stupidly composed, poorly written document.

The expression Filkin's letter goes back to the times of Ivan the Terrible. Metropolitan Philip, in his numerous letters to the Tsar, sought to convince Grozny to abandon his policy of terror and dissolve the oprichnina. Grozny contemptuously called the obstinate Metropolitan Filka, and his letters - Filka letters.

Example: “The Tsar’s manifesto that you are talking about...

There is such a thing as “filkin’s letter”. We are considering the meaning of phraseological units today. Also, as always, we are very interested in the origin of the expression and examples. All this is certainly waiting for us ahead.

Ivan the Terrible and phraseology (origin)

Everyone knows how harsh Ivan the Terrible was. Of all the methods of influencing people, he preferred first of all violence and terror. Oddly enough, the expression “Filka’s letter” is a “hello” to us, modern people, from those times.

There was one person who was not afraid of Ivan the Fourth - Metropolitan Philip of Moscow. Probably, the clergyman, deep down in his soul, understood the futility of his efforts, but still he wrote messages (letters) to the autocrat again and again. Ivan the Fourth contemptuously called them Filka's letters, putting a not very pleasant meaning into the phrase. Such things. Since then, “Filka’s letter” (the meaning of the phraseological unit follows) is a document that has no, but primarily legal,...

Where did the expression Filka's letter come from?

There are several versions of the origin of this expression. Decide for yourself which of them is correct.

The first is directly related to the interpretation of this name itself. In the Russian language dictionaries of V. Dahl and Ushakov, Filya means simpletonness, stupidity. In Rus', this name was considered simple and most often belonged to people of the “vile class”.

Dude is a nickname derived from this name. This is how illiterate people of low class were called in Rus'.

And the expression was preserved in the language, most likely due to the absurd and funny contrast between the high level of the official document, which was the charter, and the simpleton position of its compiler.

Filka, who did not even have a last name, of course, had no right to have a hand in an important document. This means that this paper is a fake and has no legal force.

The Russian language has preserved proverbs relating to this common noun character:...

Ivan IV, intending to weaken the boyar and princely power and the influence of the clergy, introduced the oprichnina. Faithful servants, under the pretext of protecting the interests of the royal person, committed outrages and terrified the entire population of Rus'. Many influential people, including the Metropolitan of Moscow, were dissatisfied with this course of events. Therefore, when Ivan the Terrible asked the clergyman for a blessing, he refused the autocrat. Moreover, during the next service, where the tsar and his retinue were present, Philip allowed himself to make a remark to the guardsman, who was in the temple wearing a headdress prohibited by the church. Ivan IV considered this a personal insult. After this, persecution began against the metropolitan, who was forced to settle in a monastery. At the order of the tsar, a special commission organized the collection of information about Philip’s allegedly “vicious life,” but the information received was not supported by reliable facts.

The indignant metropolitan, appealing to reason, sent letters to Ivan the Terrible demanding...

Filka's letter, or How Ivan the Terrible dealt with Metropolitan Philip?

The future Metropolitan Philip came from a noble family of boyars, the Kolychevs. His father Stepan Ivanovich was the favorite governor of Vasily III; Mother Varvara inherited the rich Novgorod lands and was distinguished by her piety and compassion for the poor. Their son Fedor, born in 1507, received a good education. Grand Duke Vasily took Fyodor into the palace, and young Ivan fell in love with him. The Kolychevs suffered during the reign of Princess Elena for participating in a conspiracy on the side of Prince Andrei Staritsky, Ivan’s uncle. In the 30th year of his life, Fyodor was tonsured with the name Philip in the Solovetsky Monastery. Nine years later, the brethren elected Philip as abbot. He turned out to be an excellent organizer and managed to transform the harsh Solovetsky region. The monastery became one of the richest and most famous in Russia, where thousands of pilgrims flocked. Philip had a stern character, inflexibility, and an independent view of current events. He was supported...

Many words, like people in fact, have their own history, their own destiny. We will remember where such popular expressions as “Filka’s letter”, “Throwing pearls before swine”, “How to drink” and many others came from.

Slap

Nonsense
The seminarians who studied Latin grammar had serious scores to settle with it. Take, for example, the gerund - this venerable member of the grammatical community, which simply does not exist in the Russian language. A gerund is something between a noun and a verb, and the use of this form in Latin requires knowledge of so many...

“Filka’s letter” is a phraseological turn of phrase, which means a document that has no force, in other words - a dummy. There are two popular versions of the origin of this expression.

Filka or Philya in the 17th-18th centuries. was a popular name for a commoner or servant, who, as a rule, was an illiterate person who could neither read nor write. In the 19th century in literary language, a proper name acquires a common noun meaning, filya (simp) was associated with a stupid person, a simpleton and a simpleton (see Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary). What can you take from a person of limited intelligence and, moreover, illiterate?! According to another version, the appearance of this expression is attributed to the reign of Ivan the Terrible. During the period of the oprichnina, the Russian metropolitan was Kolychev Philip, a people's favorite and intercessor, who through letters (letters) called on the tsar to come to his senses and abandon his policy (to spare people). But the king was on his own and simply ignored such requests, considering them...

In Rus' it was considered simple and most often belonged to people of the “vile class”. Modern dictionaries indicate the meaning of the word “filka” as a type of card game and a humorous name for a spy (detective).

But Russian language experts V. Dal and D. Ushakov call Filya the personification of simplemindedness, stupidity, etc. The people of Tver and Pskov actually meant by this word... a fig. In addition to the nickname “simp”, derived from this name, this common noun character is captured in proverbs:

Filya was strong - all his friends flocked to him, but trouble came - everyone left the yard.
They put Filya in damn bast shoes.
They were at Fili’s, they drank at Fili’s, and they beat Fili.

The last statement, sad as it may be, has some semantic relation to the history during which the phrase “filkin’s letter” arose. It was not anyone who gave it to the Russian language, but the Tsar of All Rus' Ivan Vasilyevich himself, that is, Ivan the Terrible.

S. M. Solovyov in his “Anthology on the History of Russia” reports:...

11.02.2017

The Russian language boasts a large number of popular words and expressions that have a long history. As a rule, these phrases are very loved by the people, however, the new generation does not always understand the meaning of this or that phraseological unit. In addition, people do not always have the slightest idea of ​​how the expression appeared in the language. Among such winged phrases one can safely include “Filka’s letter.” This article will discuss the origin of the phraseological unit “filkin’s letter” and its meaning.

In order to find out about the origin of the expression “filkina’s letter”, it is necessary to turn to history. Surely, each of us has heard about the harsh Ivan the Terrible. This ruler became famous for the fact that of all the methods of influencing his subjects, he invariably chose violence and terror. It was during the reign of Ivan the Terrible that the well-known “filka’s letter” appeared.

The fact is that Metropolitan Philip of Moscow was not afraid of the Tsar. At the same time, realizing the futility...

Filka's certificate

This expression is, so to speak, of royal origin. Its author was Tsar Ivan IV, popularly nicknamed the Terrible for his mass executions and murders. To strengthen his autocratic power, which was impossible without weakening the princes, boyars and clergy, Ivan the Terrible introduced oprichnina, which terrified the entire Russian state.

Metropolitan Philip of Moscow could not come to terms with the revelry of the guardsmen.

In his numerous messages to the tsar - letters - he sought to convince Grozny to abandon his policy of terror and dissolve the oprichnina. Grozny contemptuously called the obstinate Metropolitan Filka, and his letters - Filka letters.

For his bold denunciations of Ivan the Terrible and his guardsmen, Metropolitan Philip was imprisoned in the Tverskoy Monastery, where he was strangled by Malyuta Skuratov.

The expression “filkina’s letter” has taken root among the people. At first they simply talked about documents that had no legal force. And now it also means “ignorant,...

Many words, like people in fact, have their own history, their own destiny. From this article you will learn the origin of such popular expressions as “Filka’s letter”, “Throwing pearls before swine”, “How to drink” and many others.

Slap

This word, as well as the expression “Hey you, hat!”, has nothing to do with hats, soft-bodied intellectuals and other standard images that arise in our heads. This word came into slang straight from Yiddish and is a distorted form of the German verb “schlafen” - “sleep”. And “hat” means “Sonya, gape”. While you are here, your suitcase is draped.

The seminarians who studied Latin grammar had serious scores to settle with it. Take, for example, the gerund - this venerable member of the grammatical community, which simply does not exist in the Russian language. A gerund is something between a noun and a verb, and the use of this form in Latin requires...

The Russian language is one of the most figurative, precise and expressive languages ​​in the world. It has a large vocabulary, which is constantly changing due to the development of science and technology, culture and art..

“The Russian language is inexhaustibly rich and everything is enriched with amazing speed,” wrote Maxim Gorky.

A special group in the vocabulary of the Russian language consists of stable combinations of words - phraseological images that are taken from the language in finished form. The number of such expressions in the Russian language reaches several tens of thousands. Phraseology, a special branch of linguistic science, studies them. The word “phraseology” comes from two Greek words “phrasis” - expression, “logos” - teaching.

Acquaintance with Russian phraseology allows us to better understand the history and character of the people. Russian phraseology reflected historical events and expressed the people's attitude towards them. In the 17th century, the expression “put in a long box” was born. It is connected with the reign of Alexei...

Misha Firsov (Balashikha)

status: received consultation

In the saying “Filka’s letter”, who is Filka? Where did it come from?

We are all very smart here using a search engine!!!) On March 22, 1568, Ivan the Terrible and his guardsmen arrived in Moscow. First of all, the Emperor went to the Assumption Cathedral for a divine service. At the end of the service, the Tsar approached the Metropolitan...

Vyacheslav Romanov (Zheleznodorozhny)

status: received reply

Where did the expression “Filka’s letter” come from?

Moscow legend connects this expression with the name of Philip Kolychev (1507-1569) - Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. He was metropolitan for only three years - from 1566 to 1569, but during a terrible time for Russia, the rampant oprichnina of Ivan...

Natalia Dobreva (Dolgoprudny)

status: received a response

What is “Filkina Certificate”, where does the name come from?

Not like Grozny. This expression came from Metropolitan Philaret after Alexander’s decree2 on the abolition of serfdom in...

What is the meaning and origin of the expression?

The authorship of this expression is associated with the name of Ivan the Terrible. In those days when he launched terror, oprichnina, and executions in the country. With all this, he pursued the goal of weakening the influence of the boyars, who in those days had great power and the church.

Metropolitan Philip of Moscow could not agree with this state of affairs. So the king contemptuously nicknamed him Filka. Since he still could not calm down and bombarded Grozny with letters, in which he tried to convince the tsar to abolish the oprichnina and abandon terror.
Grozny called these letters Filkin.

The Metropolitan paid for the courage of his views and statements. The Tsar imprisoned him in the Tver Monastery. Remember Malyuta Skuratov? So he strangled him there.

There is another version - everything comes from the word “simp”.

Initially, this is a letter written by an illiterate person of the “vile class”, a simpleton. Dupe - from Greek. Philip, Russian Filya...

Filka's certificate

Filka's certificate
The expression belongs to the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584), who so, in a pointedly derogatory manner, called the messages of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Moscow (1566-1569) Philip II. In them, the disgraced church hierarch exposed the atrocities of Ivan the Terrible and exhorted him to stop the bloodshed. Subsequently, the Metropolitan was imprisoned by order of the Tsar in a monastery and killed there.
Later, this expression began to be used outside of its historical context - as a synonym for a false or legally invalid document (disdainful).

Encyclopedic dictionary of popular words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.

Synonyms:

See what “Filka’s letter” is in other dictionaries:

Piece of paper, scribbling Dictionary of Russian synonyms. filkina literacy noun, number of synonyms: 8 ... Dictionary of synonyms

Filka's letter is a stable turn of phrase in the Russian language, meaning “an ignorant, illiterately drawn up or non-legal document.” Initially, this is what Ivan the Terrible contemptuously called the revealing and... ... Wikipedia

Filkina's diploma- Razg. Disapproved Usually units An empty, meaningless piece of paper; a document of no real value. To be, become, turn out to be... what? Filka's diploma. Stop two factories!.. And you want all this to be done on the basis of this...... ... Educational phraseological dictionary

Filkina's diploma- contempt about empty, worthless paper, a document that has no force. There are several versions of the origin of the phraseological unit: 1. Initially, it was a letter written by an illiterate person of the “vile class”, a simpleton. Dupe - ... Phraseology Guide

1. Unlock Contempt. An empty, meaningless piece of paper that has no document power. FSRYaa, 111; BMS 1998, 135; BTS, 225; Mokienko 1989, 167. 2. Arrest. Internal regulations of ITU. Baldaev 2, 109. 3. Zharg. school Joking. Foreign language... ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Filka's certificate- Razg. Express A document that has no force; empty piece of paper. The Tsar’s manifesto, which you are talking about, turned out to be a piece of paper, no offense intended (A. Stepanov. The Zvonarev family) ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Filkina's diploma- Filkina’s letter, Filkina’s letter... Russian spelling dictionary

Filkina's diploma- internal regulations at the ITU... Thieves' jargon

Filkina's diploma- iron. About a document that has no legal force; about which l. illiterately drawn up official paper... Dictionary of many expressions

Ability to read and write. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. LITERATURE OR GRAMATA Greek. grammata, from graphein, to write. a) Ability to read and write. b) Open sheet, patent, diploma, document, official... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

There is such a thing as “filkin’s letter”. We are considering the meaning of phraseological units today. Also, as always, we are very interested in the origin of the expression and examples. Everything awaits us ahead.

Ivan the Terrible and phraseology (origin)

Everyone knows how harsh Ivan the Terrible was. Of all the methods of influencing people, he preferred first of all violence and terror. Oddly enough, the expression “Filka’s letter” is a “hello” to us, modern people, from those times.

There was one person who was not afraid of Ivan the Fourth - Metropolitan Philip of Moscow. Probably, the clergyman, deep down in his soul, understood the futility of his efforts, but still he wrote messages (letters) to the autocrat again and again. Ivan the Fourth contemptuously called them Filka's letters, putting a not very pleasant meaning into the phrase. Such things. Since then, “Filka’s letter” (the meaning of the phraseological unit follows) is a document that has no, but primarily legal, force.

School certificates and incentives for participation in student conferences

Those who were very active during their wonderful school years and in subsequent student life know that the leadership of educational institutions at all levels likes to encourage students.

As an example, a person participates in a student conference and talks about various concepts of the development of history and/or civilization. Nothing special, a presentation at a conference is akin to presenting an abstract.

True, the student conference has a different status and, as a rule, more listeners. After, let’s not be afraid of this word, all the reports have died down, the winner and prize-winners of the action are given honorary certificates - this is what the phrase “filkin’s letter” means (the meaning of the phraseological unit was given a little earlier). Because such documents have no real legal force, which is self-evident.

Unfortunately, the problem of “filka literacy” exists not only in the process of learning in institutes and schools. Sometimes the very result of mastering new knowledge, recorded in a document on higher education, is a fiction.

Diploma of higher education as a “filkina diploma”

Once upon a time, quite a long time ago, some not very decent people made a living by selling diplomas of higher education for every taste right in the subway. Despite the fact that such documents do not have any legal force, i.e. They fully fit the definition of “filkin’s letter” (the meaning of the phraseological unit is already absolutely clear to the reader), they performed their function quite successfully. Since when such “letters” were in use, few people double-checked the information.

Needless to say, people who buy a diploma without completing training are taking a big risk? After all, if a person has studied and his education is completely legitimate, then he has nothing to fear. When he only has a diploma in his hands, he will definitely have problems.

By the way, not least of all, the fashion for diplomas originating from the metro passed away because people who received an education in this way began to be fired from their jobs.

True, resourceful businessmen began to produce fake documents on higher education in a slightly different way. Now it is possible, for a certain amount (let’s face it, quite a lot), to arrange for the client to be searched through all databases, and the check will no longer reveal any violations. Naturally, if someone is checked biasedly, it will turn out that in front of them is a person who has in his hands a “filkin’s letter” (the meaning of a phraseological unit is briefly designated as “a document that does not have legal force”), and not real proof of his knowledge.

A moral lesson inside a phraseological unit

Of course, the figure of Philip has already been forgotten by many, but our despotic king remains in the memory of the people. As old lady Shapoklyak sang: “You cannot become famous for good deeds.” And yet, the hero of Ivan the Terrible makes us, modern people, understand: sometimes you need to do something, even if at first glance the activity is meaningless and can have fatal consequences for a person.

Let's not forget this lesson.

As for the subject of our analysis, namely the speech pattern “filkina gramata”, the meaning of the phraseological unit, examples illustrating it, we selected not only close and understandable to everyone, but also topical ones.

Phraseologism “filkina gramota” is familiar to many and has a very definite meaning.

But there was no clear opinion about who this Filka was. And that's great!

Let's look at the meaning and 4 versions of origin, synonyms, as well as sentences with phraseological units from the works of writers.

The meaning of phraseology

– an ignorant, illiterate document; meaningless piece of paper

Phraseologisms-synonyms: bullshit (partially), Chinese literacy (partially)

In foreign languages ​​there are expressions with similar meanings. Among them:

• "Mickey Mouse" document, useless scrap of paper (English)
• chiffon de papier (French)
• Geschreibsel (German)

Origin of phraseology

Unexpectedly, it turned out that there are at least four versions of the origin of the phraseological unit “filkin’s letter”. Of course, not all of them are equally convincing, but they are all interesting:

• The most famous version tells about the complex relationship between the darkly famous Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' Philip II. After their serious deterioration in 1568, Metropolitan Philip was exiled to the Otroch Assumption Monastery in Tver, from where he sent letters to Ivan the Terrible, in which he called on the Tsar to come to his senses and dissolve the oprichnina. Ivan the Terrible contemptuously called Philip Filka, and his letters - “Filka's letters” - empty, meaningless pieces of paper. At the end of 1569, the most famous guardsman, Malyuta Skuratov, strangled the 62-year-old adamant old man. The Church reveres Philip as a saint and martyr. The argument against this version is that it is unlikely that an expression that was clearly unfair and ungodly towards the disgraced metropolitan would have spread among the people. It would seem more natural that Ivan the Terrible would use an expression already in use among the people for his own special, let’s say propaganda, purposes. At the same time, the strength of this version is the presence of written sources confirming it.
• Surprisingly, another version of the origin of the phraseological unit is also associated with the name of the church hierarch. Moscow Metropolitan Filaret Drozdov - "Filka", as he was popularly called - compiled the Tsar's Manifesto on the liberation of the peasants, promulgated on February 19, 1861. This is supposedly where the expression “filkin’s letter” came from, as a designation for a stupid document. The Manifesto was written in a language difficult to understand, which was noted by two classics of Russian literature: “The men will not understand a word, and we will not believe a word,” Leo Tolstoy categorically expressed himself, and Ivan Turgenev added that it was as if “written in French and translated into clumsy Russian by some German.” Thus, despite all the restrictions and abuses, 23 million landowner peasants received personal freedom, but a residue remained.
• According to the famous scientist N.M. Shansky, this phraseological unit arose by analogy with the expressions spiritual diploma, chartered letter, and had the meaning of “stupidly composed, poorly written document.” Since Filka is simply a “stupid, narrow-minded person, a fool,” where the word “simp” came from (I recall Pushkin’s “You fool, you simpleton!” from “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”). In the Russian language dictionaries of Dahl and Ushakov, Filya means simpletonness, stupidity. Academician V. Vinogradov in his “History of Words” states that Filya, Filka (diminutive of Filimon) in the 17th-18th centuries was a characteristic name for a serf peasant, servant, and was considered common, with an obvious disdainful connotation. And in the 19th century, writers often used this name in fiction to describe stupid people.
• Finally, there is a version that in Russia at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. the word filka served as a colloquial humorous designation for a spy (by the name of a police agent in France) conducting secret surveillance of suspects. The reports such agents submitted to police superiors about the results of surveillance were often illiterately written and often supplemented with fictitious exploits of their authors. According to this version, such illiterate and biased reports began to be called filkin letters.

As you can see, different versions cover a significant period of Russian history. For me personally, this is an argument for the third, “folk” version of the emergence of phraseological units. You can look at this in such a way that in the case of all other versions, tied to specific historical events, this expression was, as it were, taken out of popular usage and given it the additional meaning of “on occasion.”

Examples from the works of writers

My friend read the contract and, to my great surprise, became angry with me. - What kind of filthy letter is this? What, you idiot, are you signing? he asked. (M.A. Bulgakov, “Theatrical Novel”)

The Tsar’s manifesto that you are talking about turned out to be a piece of paper, no offense intended (A.N. Stepanov, “The Zvonarev Family”)

Filonov took a quick look at the drying posters and grinned.
- Filka’s letter. Quantity at the expense of quality. Not a single word is correct. Instead of yet - icho; instead of fire - agon; instead of down - with lodoy... what kind of lodoy is this? (V.P. Kataev, “Time, forward!”)