On Adjectival Attributives Blood, Direct, Peaceful as Components of Archaic Nominations of Friends

Abstract

The article discusses the changes in collocability of the word friend over time. It notes that the works by A.S. Pushkin contain the forms, unexpected for the perception of the native speakers of the modern Russian language: blood friends, direct friend, peaceful friends. The analysis of the specified attributive combinations is carried out applying definitional, contextual, linguocultural analysis methods. The text material from the National Corpus of the Russian language is used. It is proved that the expression "blood friends" could denote "people connected by strong friendship" and "people of the same class". Physical kinship criterion has been proved to serve as a basis for cognitive understanding of spiritual intimacy and social class identification. However, the connection between primary and secondary semantics is not so direct here; it is mediated by the cultural layer – the custom of twinning, a form of artificial relationship noted among many peoples. Most examples of the usage of the phrase "direct friend" mean 'express your opinion to someone honestly, directly'. The expression "peaceful friends" is interpreted as based on a doubling of the meaning 'in a relationship of agreement'. The research results can be used in compiling dictionaries of the Russian language, and also in teaching linguistic disciplines.