Composition of the word family with the root * svęt- in historical dictionaries of the Russian language

Iuliia Koreneva

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202021021002

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the word family with the root -свят/свящ- based on historical dictionaries of the Russian language, the purpose of the study is to conduct a preliminary analysis of the presentation of the words of this family in different dictionaries of the Russian language, namely, historical and modern. The statistical approach to lexical data demonstrates that the data obtained from five historical dictionaries contain a large number of words that no longer function in the modern Russian language, compared to certain dictionaries of modern Russian. I.I. Sreznevsky's Dictionary includes 105 words; Dictionary of Old Russian Language (11th–14th centuries) has 73 words; Russian Dictionary XI-XVII Centuries involves 210 words; Dictionary of the Russian Academy includes 61 words; Dictionary of the Church Slavonic language of 1847 has 150 words; Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Vladimir Dahl involves 124 words. When comparing quantitative data in all the historical dictionaries, the largest group comprises lexemes with the secondary root -свящ-. Moreover, all the words of this word family are not only etymologically related, but have the same root, since they maintain unity in their seme content that allows to analyze the semantic density of the root. In addition, a homogeneous stylistic marking of words of the word family also confirms their affinity, as all the words of this word family are genetically related to Church Slavonic and belong to the religious sphere. Graphs of the use of the words святой, святость (saint, sanctity) and свящeнный (holy) based on the Russian National Corpus demonstrate a decrease in the frequency of these words since the middle of the 19th century, and a comparison of the list of words of this word family from each historical dictionary with the modern linguistic consciousness directly indicates a drastic reduction in quantitative content of this word family, that occurred due to extralinguistic (historical and ideological) reasons.

Highlights

The study of words of one etymological family of words in the Russian language is associated with scientific problems of semantic transformation of each word, changes in derivational relations between units of a word family in the course of time, as well as the
The specific researches on the words of this word family as a whole have not been found, the material provided in the article is included in the current paradigm of a scientific study of Russian historical lexicology and is considered to be the first experience – in connection to the words of the word family – of comparing dictionary units in a synchronic-diachronic perspective
This is explained by the extralinguistic factors: in the 20th century, there is a change of ideology in the country, resulting in a reduction in the use of words of this word family and the obsolescence of some units and their disappearance from the standard language, and in emergence of new meanings, mechanisms of semantic transformation of which were started in the middle of the 19th century, for instance, the word святой obtains the sememes such as "благородный, освященный высокой целью"; "такой, который должен быть выполнен в силу своего высокого значения; обязательный, непреложный"; "незыблемый, нерушимый"; "безусловный, полный" [25]. These changes are associated both with the constitutive features of the lexical system as a whole and with the general trend of the Russian lexicon in the period of formation and establishment of the modern norms of the Russian standard language, the result of which is the development of new meanings. The consideration of this word family and the analysis of its changes in dictionaries is determined by the approach that could be called mental-linguocultural in modern Russian linguistics

Summary

Introduction

It should be noted that the words of this family in modern Russian have the same origin, as well as the same root with different types of derivational relations between them This aspect is significant, since, in the course of time, many words that originate from the same ancient root, lose their formal-semantic relations and cease to be perceived as words with the same root, while being etymologically related (for instance, the word family with the root –хит/хищ/хв-: хватать (to seize), похитить (to abduct), восхищение (admiration) or the root -руд/рыж/рд-: руда (ore), рыжеть (to turn reddish), рысь (lynx), рдяный (scarlet), etc.). The reasons for non-discrepancy in the formal-semantic relations of words containing this root may lie in the discursive establishment of their semantics and usage, such word family is semantically dense and stylistically homogeneous

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion