Structural Features of the Symbolic Macroconcept of Mother: from the First Sign to the Symbol

Abstract

The research objective was to describe the Russian macroconcept of mother. The author analyzed its motivating and symbolic signs. The study was based on the National Corpus of the Russian language (www.ruscorpora.ru) and featured 15 etymological dictionaries. Nine out of 34 motivating signs could be identified as symbolic: creator, educator, Mother of God, head, earth, queen bee, start, reason, source. Most of the motivating signs indicated the antiquity of the macroconcept. Symbolic signs appeared to make up a quarter of the total volume of motivating signs. They can be combined into three groups: 1) (Divine) motherhood (four signs: creator, educator, Mother of God, earth); 2) foundation (three signs: start, reason, source); 3) superiority / leadership (two signs: head, queen bee). These three groups reflect the peculiarities of the Russian linguistic mentality, which preserved the memory of the cult of the Great Mother, reproduced first as the Mother Earth and later as Theotokos.