Nouns of religion semantic on -nik in the Russian language of the XVIII century (exemplified by lexicographic works of civil press)

Abstract

The article deals with the history of religious style formation in the Russian language. In the article carried out a comprehensive linguistic analysis of the names of nouns of religious semantics on -nik, recorded in the XVIII century Russian lexicographic works of civil press, which provide detailed representation of confessional vocabulary. The relevance of the study is due to the absence to date of special linguistic studies related to the study of the names of nouns of religious semantics on -nik, as well as functional significance of this class of words for the formation of religious style of the Russian language of the XVIII century. The work used methods of stylistic, morpheme-word-forming, grammatical, thematic, etymological and definition analysis, as well as the method of semantic field and statistical one. In the course of the study, the word-forming and semantic features of religious entities on the -nik were analyzed, their lexical and grammatical categories and thematic groups were described, within these groups neoplasms of the XVIII century were identified. It has been established that substance religionists are characterized by a system of complex word-forming relations, correlating with derogatory or verbal basic foundations, and for the most part are monosemantic specific names denoting male persons. It is shown that derivatives on the -nik having a verbal base as a basic base are mainly designated persons by action or professional functions performed, and derivatives with a basic base are called persons by rank, position or characteristic, and also indicate an object having a certain purpose. It is noted that the nouns of religious semantics in -nik firmly took their place in the lexical system of the religious style of the Russian language of the XVIII century, forming in it a special layer of a specific confessional vocabulary.

Keywords

• religious style
• religious vocabulary
• noun
• suffix -nik
• suffix -ik
• russian lexicography
• orthodoxy
• xviii century