Habeo-Picture of the World in Russkaya Pravda

Abstract

The article examines possessive relations reflected in the text of Russkaya Pravda. It gives a brief outline of the prototypical possessive relations including the subject-possessor, the object of possession and the second participant of the situation. The author characterizes the situations of possessive initiation, alienation and inheritance of the object, prevailing in Russkaya Pravda. The author marks a special necessity of using a number of verbs in the analyzed text to transfer relations of ownership. These verbs go back to the same root reflecting the world perception from Habeo viewpoint: izymati, emati, poimeti, poyati, priyati, imati, etc. The author substantiates a close connection between the category of possessiveness and the concepts of locativity and existentiality. This connection has largely determined the availability of various linguistic means for expressing possessive relations in the language: structures with the verbs imet' (to have) and byt' (to be). The author demonstrates the expression of possessive relations by means of these using the etymological data. In particular, the conclusion is drawn on the connection of the verb imet' (to have) with an "initial point" of ownership, possession of something – (to take, to grab) unlike the verb byt' "to be" which primarily expresses the existence, state and establishment of this state, rather than possession and its initiation. It is alleged that the text of Russkaya Pravda in contrast to the modern Russian language, reflects world perception from the Habeo viewpoint – an active, dynamic ownership by animate, inanimate object in the framework of possessive relations.

Keywords

• category of possessiveness
• possessive situation
• Habeo-languages
• Esse-languages
• verb
• locativity
• existentiality