Names of sacred ranks and ranks of saints in the Khakass language

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the names of sacred ranks and ranks of saints in the Khakass language on the material of the text of the New Testament and the publications of the newspaper «Сын сабланыстығ киртiнiс» («Orthodox Faith»). The topic of the article is relevant due to the insufficient degree of development of the problem of the scientific description of the religious (Orthodox) vocabulary of the Khakass language. The novelty of the work is determined by the fact that it is based on the Orthodox Khakass vocabulary, which has not previously become an object of scientific research. The research material was obtained by the continuous selection methodology from the above sources. The author briefly describes the history of Orthodox texts in the Khakass language, and then considers the names of sacred ranks and ranks of saints, analyzing the differences between them in the texts of the New Testament and in the diocesan newspaper in Khakass. The author has established that Khakass Orthodox terminology is in the process of formation. The evidence of it lies in such facts as the presence of synonyms denoting the concept of holiness and some sacred titles, the variability of the combined and separate writing of some hagiological statuses. The Khakass text of the New Testament notes the desire of translators to avoid Greek borrowings, transferring the names of sacred ranks by means of the Khakass language, while in modern Orthodox discourse, lexical units of Greek origin are usually preserved. The names of the ranks of saints are built in accordance with the productive word-formation models of the Khakass language and, according to the author, may eventually become an active part of its vocabulary. The author concludes that it is necessary to do further research of the religious vocabulary of the Khakass language and its consolidation in dictionaries.