Записки з романо-германської філології (Sep 2020)
PECULIARITIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ADJECTIVE BRAUN ‘BROWN’ SEMANTICS IN GERMAN
Abstract
In numerous linguistic works devoted to the problem of studying color designations, the issues of the origin and development of these lexemes are relatively rarely studied, their deep reconstruction and, accordingly, the initial motivation are absent. This article attempts to study the semantic content of the word “braun” ‘brown’ and to trace its change in the course of the development of the German language, as well as to offer the most ancient reconstruction of this word. The material of literary texts and lexicographic dictionaries testifies a very limited symbolism of brown color and, as a result, the rare use of the adjective “braun” ‘brown’ in folk traditions, rituals, fairy tales and folklore. The adjective “braun” in the Old and Middle High German periods acted only in the meaning of color and had a very low frequency of occurrence. Comparing the origin and development of the lexemes “braun” and “blau”, it is necessary to note many common features in their semantics and implementation of forms. The origins of the latter are seen by us in similar Indo-European roots * bhel- and * bher- which can be traced to one protoform. These root variants covered a wide semantic field of color designation from light to black tones. With the development of languages, a single color content is divided into an opposition of two parts: lighter and darker. The semantic opposition of the two color groups began to be expressed in different forms, in which * bher- gravitated towards darker tones and * bhel- – towards lighter ones. However, both forms * blǽ-waz and * brūn / * burūn for a long time could be realized on the same semantic field, acting as synonyms. The development of these roots in historical time gradually led to a more differentiated expression of semantics and the consolidation of forms in the form of “blau” blue and “braun” brown.
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