Terminological Meanings of Emotion Vocabulary in “The Charter of Prince Vladimir on Tithes, Courts and Church People”

Abstract

The articles considers the processes of terminology formation on the basis of commonly used words by the material of one of the oldest monuments of ancient Russian legislative code "The Charter of Prince Vladimir on Tithes, Courts and Church People". The object of the study is the vocabulary of emotions. By means of component and contextual analysis the author comes to the conclusion that it is causal semantics that provide basis for formation of terminological meaning in the semantic structure of emotives, since the cause or consequence of emotional experience is always something objective – an object, a sign, a process. A semantic shift occurs in the meaning of a language unit when the characteristics of the subject (strashnyj sud, prokljast' / the last judgment, to curse) or the object (obiděti, poobiděti, preobiděti / to offend) change. The ratio of emotive and terminological meanings made it possible to divide the vocabulary of emotions in the "Charter of Prince Vladimir on Tithes, Courts and Church People" into three groups: words used in an emotive meaning; words with a syncretism of emotive and terminological meanings; homonymous terms. The involvement of lexicographic data revealed instability of terminological meanings of emotives in the legal language and their preservation in the church sphere.