The concept of the russian-ukrainian academic dictionary by A. Krymskyy and S. Yefremov

Abstract

Background. In the period from 1920 to 1933, the political situation was very prosperous for the Ukrainian language and lexicography development in particular. The need for new dictionaries was very large because of formation of the one variant of the Ukrainian literary language, formation of the orthography, appearance of many new words. From 1920 to 1933, about 180 dictionaries were published; however, they have been researched only partially. Therefore, there is a need to study the concepts of dictionaries of the above-mentioned period, especially the concept of the Russian-Ukrainian academic dictionary by A. Krymskkyy and S. Yefremov as the first academic dictionary of the Ukrainian language.Purpose. Our goal here is to describe and analyze the concept of the Russian-Ukrainian academic dictionary by A. Krymskkyy and S. Yefremov.Methods. In our study, we mainly use a descriptive method.Results. Results of our study suggest that the Russian-Ukrainian academic dictionary by A. Krymskkyy and S. Yefremov is the dictionary of a mixed type. Being a translation dictionary, it also holds the features of explanatory, synonymic, and phraseological dictionaries. Publication of such a dictionary was determined by the large quantity of the material and the need to create a large dictionary, which could be an authoritative source of information for many users. Thereby, the Russian-Ukrainian academic dictionary by A. Krymskkyy and S. Yefremov was aimed to realize norms of the new orthography of the Ukraininan language, make stylistic differentiation of the words, as well as give explanations and idioms.Discussion. Qualities of different types of dictionaries developed in Russian-Ukrainian academic dictionary unequally because the concept of the dictionary has changed after the beginning of the work. Its volumes were edited by many different editors, and the chief editor had no opportunity to verify all the text before the publishing. Subsequent researches of the concept of the Russian-Ukrainian academic dictionary will allow to determine the influence this dictionary has had on the forthcoming translation, explanatory, synonymic, and phraseological dictionaries, and the way this dictionary was used while working on the forthcoming dictionaries.