Scholarly record

THE IDEA OF POWER IN THE LINGUISTIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE OLD RUSSIAN SOCIETY

I. Erofeeva, G. Nurullina, L. Usmanova

Abstract

The article explores functional and semantic peculiarities of the lexico-semantic field “power” in the Old Russian language of the XI-XIV century. The most commonly used and succinct in the above mentioned field are the lexemes vlast' / volost' (“power”) which were originally synonyms but later they acquired specialized meanings. Gradually, the originally undivided meaning of the lexeme “power” including the following senses: possession, tenancy, land and territory was divided into separate meanings acquired by specialized social terms. The conceptual sphere connected with realization of the concept of power was constantly enriched with new language units: both derived and underived. This group included both terms meaning exercising of power and the names of territories under some power, social status of people and abstract notions. The main research methods include the following: method of conceptual analysis allowing to reveal the main characteristics of the cultural content inherent to the corresponding terms, method of vocabulary contextual and semantic cognitive analysis. Method of etymological analysis allows to reconstruct the most ancient Slavic ways of understanding the term “power”. The authors conclude that the Old Russian developed a well structured terminological system allowing to name different aspects of power, it is this system which still exists in the language. The semantics of the language units of the lexico-semantic field “power” is closely connected with social, political and economic changes. The research materials are important for understanding the social evolution in Russia.

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