The Origins of the Category of prichastodetie (Gerundivum) in the Slavonic Grammar of Meletius Smotritsky (1619–1648)

Abstract

This paper aims to determine the status of the category of “prichastodetie” (Gerundivum) proposed by M. Smotritsky in his “Slavonic Grammar” relying on both the data of the history of linguistic theories and the data of the historical grammar of the Russian literary language. For this purpose, the grammars and the elements of their content which served as sources of Smotritsky's Grammar are identified, the real linguistic basis of the description of the Slavonic “gerundives” is determined; the most acceptable hypothesis of the formation of the complex simplified suffix -tel’n- is developed; the formation of verbal derivatives in -tel’n- is shown. Of the three types of meaning of the formations with the suffix -teln, identified by V. V. Vinogradov, in texts the most productive is not the passive, but the active type of meaning, the relative type retains better than the others close links with the verb and prevents the passage of Slavonic “gerundives” to the rank of qualitative adjectives. Lexicography describes lexicalized cases and obscures the primary meaning of the prichastodeties, which coincides with the meaning of the verb from which they are derived. Genetically, the initial morphological form of the prichastodetie is the form in -tel’no, from which the pronominal forms of the prichastodetie are formed, capable of passing into qualitative adjectives in -tel’nyi, and it itself gravitates towards the category of state and the attributive adverb, but does not merge with it as long as it continues to express a secondary verb action. The growth of prichastodeties occurs since the 14th century to our time, first in church texts and translations, then in original secular texts. Best of all the prichastodetie is represented in the “Hellenic-Slavonic” style. Smotritsky can rightfully be called the main figure in the prehistory of the discovery of the category of state in the twentieth century.