Conceptual History, Cultural History, Social History

Viktor Zhivov (†)

doi:10.21900/j.vivliofika.v2.746

Abstract

V. M. Zhivov’s introduction to Studies in Historical Semantics of the Russian Language in the Early Modern Period (2009), translated here for the first time, offers a critical survey of the historiography on Begriffsgeschichte, the German school of conceptual history associated with the work of Reinhart Koselleck, as well as of its application to the study of Russian culture. By situating Begriffsgeschichte in the context of late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century European philosophy, particularly hermeneutics and phenomenology, the author points out the important, and as yet unacknowledged, role that Russian linguists have played in the development of a native school of conceptual history. In the process of outlining this alternative history of the discipline, Zhivov provides some specific examples of the way in which the study of “historical semantics” can be used to analyze the development of Russian modernity.

Highlights

Zhivov’s introduction to Studies in Historical Semantics of the Russian Language in the Early Modern Period (2009), translated here for the first time, offers a critical survey of the historiography on Begriffsgeschichte, the German school of conceptual history associated with the work of Reinhart Koselleck, as well as of its application to the study of Russian culture
By situating Begriffsgeschichte in the context of late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century European philosophy, hermeneutics and phenomenology, the author points out the important, and as yet unacknowledged, role that Russian linguists have played in the development of a native school of conceptual history
In the process of outlining this alternative history of the discipline, Zhivov provides some specific examples of the way in which the study of “historical semantics” can be used to analyze the development of Russian modernity

Summary

Introduction

Studies of Petrine borrowings are numerous.[36] As Fred Otten has shown, many of these borrowings appear already in the last decade of the seventeenth century and antedate the main reforms.[37] Some scholars regard the domestication of loan words as a direct result of the cultural revolution that brought with it new objects and new concepts;[38] such a straightforward interpretation, cannot be accepted in this form as it demands important qualifications, which would, among other things, take into account the fact that new words could represent instances of re-labeling, that is, new signifiers for old phenomena.[39]

Results

Conclusion