The Concept of " Muzh" (Husband): Motivating Signs

Abstract

This article presents a historical and etymological analysis of the motivating signs of the concept of "muzh" (husband) in the Russian language. Primary signs of the concept make up the internal form of a word and serves as the basis for new cognitive signs. Actual motivating signs appear first as conceptual ones and later as functional, evaluative, symbolic, and figurative. The primary motivating sign is "man": it is the oldest one and goes back to the pre-Indo-European language. The analysis of etymological dictionaries revealed 42 motivating signs. The article provides examples of the representation of this concept in the literature, including the modern one. Etymological and historical-etymological dictionaries revealed the following motivating signs of the concept of "muzh" (husband): a man; a male spouse; an adult man; a man that understands; a scientist; an ancestor; an Amazon female warrior; an age; people; community member; a serious man; a citizen; a brave man; a strong man; a fighter, a warrior; an ordinary man; a hero; a male celebrity; a respected, venerable man; a public figure; a witness; a free man; a peasant, a farmer; a feudal-dependent peasant; a peasant (low status in legal relations); to man oneself; a person with unnaturally large manhood; a male specimen; an attendant of a tsar, king, or prince, a noble man; a servant of a prince, a warrior in the prince’s squad; a divine husband; a man of desire; a blood man, a murderer; big men (a privileged part of the free population in Ancient Russia); young men (a less privileged part of the free population in Ancient Russia); nobleman (a great man); a member of household; a servant; a hand (worker); a slave; someone who is ready. Such a long list of motivating signs confirms the ancient history of the concept and its socio-cultural significance in the Russian linguistic worldview.