Semantic volume of the word Conviction in the Words and Homilies of the Russian saints of the 20th century

Abstract

For the first time the article analyzes the semantics of the word conviction in the words and teachings of Russian saints of the twentieth century. The material is extracted from symphonies in the works of saints and from collections of sayings of Russian elders of the twentieth century. The article analyzes the semantics of the use of this word in religious texts as the implementation of religious discourse in comparison with the codified meaning of modern dictionaries. It is shown that the lexeme conviction is included in the etymological-word formative nest of semantics of different words in the modern Russian language ( court, judge, condemn, reason, judgment, fate, judicial , etc.) of the Indo-European root *dhe- (: *-dh-o: *dh-i-) with the semantics of establishment, action, and in addition with the prefix su- , which means combining or mixing, has negative appraisal and is Church Slavism in the Russian language not only by phonetic and orthographic signs, but primarily by semantic signs. The semantic difference in the religious and non-religious use of this word in the Russian and Church Slavonic language element is in the significative side, since in the Orthodox concept-sphere and the Russian religious discourse, conviction is associated with a number of conceptual ideas about the inner life of a person. Conviction is semantized as a destructive state of a person, violating the integrity of his personality and alienating him from God (the article identifies at least three semantic-cognitive features). Such semantic content clearly differs from lexicographical data in modern language, therefore the meaning of a word in Church Slavonic text space is understood as basic, and modern usage is understood as a narrowing of the original semantics.

Keywords

• conviction/damnation
• semantics
• russian and church slavonic languages
• religious discourse