What does the expression «to give in to wonder» mean?
When something amazing, even out of the ordinary, happens, you just want to say, “диву даюсь” (“divu dayus” or "I give in to wonder!").
In Russian fairy tales, the word ‘divo’ (‘wonder’, ‘marvel’) was used to mean ‘miracle’. In a collection of fairy tales compiled by historian and folklorist Alexander Afanasyev, there's a story about a fisherman whose fried pike jumps straight from the frying pan back into the lake. "What a ‘divo’…," he exclaims. In another tale, a wife asks a merchant to bring her "a ‘divo divnoye’, ‘chudo chudnoe’ (a ‘marvelous marvel’, a miraculous miracle’)" – that is, something astonishing. He fulfills her request: he brings a miracle goose that can be eaten endlessly.
In everyday life, the expression “divu davatsya” (or "to give in to wonder") is used to emphasize the unusualness of something.
