Гуманитарные и юридические исследования (Sep 2021)
THE LEXEME "GENIUS" IN RUSSIAN DICTIONARIES, FICTION AND PUBLICISTIC TEXTS: FIRST CASES OF USE AND WORD USAGE
Abstract
The article discusses the origins of interpretations of the concept "genius" by Russian cultural consciousness. The first cases of use of the lexeme "genius" are analyzed, its interpretations are systematized оп the extensive material of dictionaries of the Russian language of XVIII-XX centuries. It is observed that the ancient Greek "demon" /'6alpwv' and 'devil' /'byuroLod', adopted by Russian Orthodoxy in the meaning of "unclean spirit", "fallen angel", "evil spirit", "evil spirit", received the Old Russian and the Old Slavonic analogues and were perceived exclusively through the prism of the New Testament struggle and the victory of Jesus Christ, and then of Christians over the devil, while in the Roman pagan analogue - genius - there was no urgent need. It is indicated that at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries in the Russian language picture of the world, these concepts were perceived as synonymous, which appeared in the Russian language in the XVIII century (and not directly through Latin) the concept of genius already had the value of the immanent property of human nature and began its separate existence, often taking on the function of a nominal word and acquiring its own verbalizers and associative semantic fields. The examples of fiction texts of the XIX century examine the variants of the use of the lexeme "genius", the formation of the concept of genius is proved, the emergence of new semantic fields as evidence of its acceptance by Russian cultural consciousness. By analyzing the phrases "genius" and "spirit" in the XVIII-XIX centuries proves that the values of "creative gift in man" and "man possessing creative gift" have superseded the original inner semantics of the lexeme "genius". It is noted that the emergence of new semantic fields of this concept is the evidence of significant transformations of the national, scientific and artistic picture of the world in the domestic cultural space.
