Contemporaries of A.S. Pushkin, reading his works, perceived all the details of the text. And we, readers of the 21st century, are already missing out on a lot, not understanding, but guessing approximately. Indeed, what is a frock coat, a tavern, a tavern, a dressing gown? Who are the coachman, the yard boy, and your excellency? In each story of Pushkin's cycle there are words that are incomprehensible and unclear in their meaning. But they all designate some objects, phenomena, concepts, positions, titles of a past life. These words have fallen out of modern use. Therefore, their specific meaning remains unclear and incomprehensible to the modern reader. This explains the choice of the topic of my research, dedicated to outdated words that have passed from the modern language in Belkin’s Tales.
The life of a language is clearly manifested in constant changes in the composition of words and their meanings. And the very history of the people and the state is imprinted in the fate of individual words. The vocabulary of the Russian language contains many words that are rarely used in real speech, but are known to us from classical literary works, history textbooks and stories about the past.
Obsolete words can be divided into two groups: 1) historicisms; 2) archaisms.
Historicisms (from the Greek historia - a story about past events) are words denoting the names of such objects and phenomena that ceased to exist as a result of the development of society. Many words that name objects of a bygone way of life, old culture, things and phenomena associated with the economy of the past, old socio-political relations have become historicisms. Thus, there are many historicisms among words related to military themes: chain mail, arquebus, visor, redoubt. Many words denoting ranks, classes, positions, and professions of old Russia are historicisms: tsar, boyar, equestrian, footman, steward, zemstvo, serf, landowner, constable, ofenya, farrier, tinker, sawyer, lamplighter, barge hauler; phenomena of patriarchal life: corvée, quitrent, cuts, procurement; types of production activities: manufactory, horse-drawn carriage; types of disappeared technologies: tinning, mead making.
Archaisms (from the Greek archaios - ancient) are words that have fallen out of use due to their replacement with new ones, for example: cheeks - cheeks, loins - lower back, right hand - right hand, tuga - sadness, verses - poems, ramen - shoulders. All of them have synonyms in modern Russian.
Archaisms may differ from the modern synonymous word in different ways: a different lexical meaning (guest - merchant, belly - life), a different grammatical design (perform - perform, at the ball - at the ball), a different morphemic composition (friendship - friendship, fisherman - fisherman ), other phonetic features (Gishpansky - Spanish, mirror - mirror). Some words are completely outdated, but have modern synonyms: so that - so that, destruction - destruction, harm, hope - hope and firmly believe. Archaisms and historicisms are used in fiction to recreate the historical situation in the country and convey the national and cultural traditions of the Russian people.
DICTIONARY OF OBSOLETE WORDS
From the publisher
Corvee is free forced labor of a dependent peasant, “Ivan Petrovich was forced to abolish corvee and establish a master who works with his own equipment on the farm. moderate quitrent"
Quirk is an annual collection of money and food from serfs by landowners.
The housekeeper is a servant in the landowner's house, who was entrusted with the keys to the “he entrusted the management of the village to his old housekeeper, who acquired his storage of food supplies. trust in the art of storytelling. »
Second major - military rank of the 8th class in 1741-1797. “His late father, Second Major Pyotr Ivanovich Belkin, was married to the girl Pelageya Gavrilovna from the Trafilin family. »
"Shot"
A banker is a player holding a bank in card games. “The officer went out, saying that he was ready to answer for the offense, as Mr. Banker pleases.”
“The game continued for several more minutes; but feeling that the owner was
Vacancy - an unfilled position; job title. There was no time for the game, we fell behind one by one and scattered to our apartments, talking about the imminent vacancy. »
Galun is a gold braid or silver (ribbon) that was sewn on “Silvio stood up and took out of the cardboard a red cap with a gold tassel, like a uniform. galloon"
“Throw the bank” (special). - reception of a card game. “He refused for a long time, because he almost never played; Finally he ordered the cards to be brought, poured fifty chervonets onto the table and sat down to throw. »
Hussar - a military man from light cavalry units who wore a Hungarian uniform. “He once served in the hussars, and even happily.”
A footman is a servant for masters, as well as in a restaurant, hotel, etc. “The footman led me into the count’s office, and he himself went to report on me. »
A riding arena is a platform or special building for training horses and the life of an army officer is known. In the morning training, playpen; lunch at horse riding lessons. a regimental commander or in a Jewish tavern; in the evening punch and cards.
Punter - in gambling card games: playing against the bank, i.e. “If the punter happened to be shortchanged, then he immediately paid them extra by making large bets; one who bets in a gambling card game. enough, or wrote down too much. »
Lieutenant - an officer rank higher than a second lieutenant and lower than a non-commissioned officer - an officer - a junior command rank in the tsarist army - staff captain. Russia, in some modern foreign armies; person holding this title.
This (this, this) place. - this, this, this. “With these words he hurriedly left”
Excellency - titles of princes and counts (from places: yours, his, hers, theirs) “Oh,” I noted, “in that case, I bet that your excellency will not hit the map even at twenty paces: the pistol requires daily exercise .
Frock coat and frock coat - long men's double-breasted clothing at the waist with a turn-down "he walked forever, in a worn black frock coat"
or a stand-up collar.
Chervonets is the general name for foreign gold coins in pre-Petrine era “For a long time he refused, because he almost never played; finally ordered
Rus'. to hand over the cards, poured fifty chervonets onto the table and sat down to throw. »
Chandal - candlestick “The officer, inflamed by the wine, the game and the laughter of his comrades, considered himself severely offended and, in a rage, grabbed a copper chandelier from the table and threw it at Silvio, who barely managed to dodge the blow. »
Eterist - in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries: a member of the secret Greek “It is said that Silvius, during the indignation of Alexander Ypsilant, a revolutionary organization that fought for the liberation of the country from led a detachment of Eterists and was killed in battle under Turkish oppression. Skulyanami. »
"Blizzard"
Boston is a card game. “neighbors constantly went to him to eat, drink, and play Boston for five kopecks with his wife”
Versta - an ancient Russian measure “The coachman decided to travel along the river, which was supposed to shorten our route to a length of 1.06 km. " three miles. »
Red tape is delaying a case or resolving an issue. “What was holding him back? Shyness, inseparable from true love, pride or the coquetry of cunning red tape?
Maid - servant to the mistress. “Three men and a maid supported the bride and were only busy
The police captain is the chief of police in the district. “After lunch, land surveyor Shmit appeared in a mustache and spurs and the police captain’s son appeared. »
Kibitka is a covered road carriage. “I turned around, left the church without any obstacles, rushed into the wagon and shouted: “Get off!”
Cornet is the lowest officer rank. “The first person he came to, the retired forty-year-old cornet Dravin, agreed willingly.”
The porch is a covered area in front of the entrance to the church. “The church was open, several sleighs stood outside the fence; people were walking around the porch. »
Signet - homemade seal on a ring or keychain. “Having sealed both letters with a Tula signet, on which were depicted
Signet - a small seal on a ring, a keychain with initials, or two flaming hearts with a decent inscription, she (Marya Gavrilovna)
some other sign. Used to seal letters, threw herself on the bed just before dawn and dozed off. »
sealing wax or wax and served as an indication of the sender.
Ensign is the most junior officer rank. “The subject she chose was a poor army ensign who was on leave in his village.”
Ulan - in the armies of some countries, a soldier, a light cavalry officer, “a boy of about sixteen who recently joined the lancers. »
wielding a spear or saber.
Shlafor - housecoat. “The old people woke up and went into the living room. , Praskovya Petrovna in a dressing gown with cotton wool. »
Grand Patience is laying out a deck of cards according to certain rules. “The old lady was sitting alone in the living room one day, playing grand solitaire.”
A cap is a pointed-shaped headdress, which in the old days was worn by men “Gavrila Gavrilovich in a cap and flannel jacket”
worn at home and often worn at night. ; sleeping cap.
"Undertaker"
Cupid is the god of love in ancient mythology, depicted as a winged “Above the gate there was a sign depicting a portly boy with a bow and arrows. Cupid with an overturned torch in his hand. »
Announce - to notify by ringing a church service. “No one noticed, the guests continued the thread, and were already announcing Vespers when they got up from the table.
Over the knee boots - boots with a wide top. ". the leg bones beat in the big boots, like pestles in mortars. »
Brigadier - in the Russian army of the 18th century. : military rank 5th class (according to the Table of “Tryukhina, brigadier and sergeant Kurilkin vaguely introduced themselves by rank); person who had this rank. his imagination."
The guard is a policeman who carried out guard duty in the booth. “Of the Russian officials there was one watchman”
Vespers is a Christian church service held in the afternoon. ". the guests continued to drink and were already announcing Vespers.”
Gaer is a common jester in folk games, clowning around and making faces in “Is the undertaker a gaer at Christmas time?”
Christmas time;
A ten-kopeck coin is a ten-kopeck coin. “The undertaker gave him a ten-kopeck piece for vodka, got dressed quickly, took a cab and went to Razgulay. »
Drogi - a cart for transporting the dead. “The last belongings of the undertaker Adrian Prokhorov were thrown into the funeral cart”
Kaftan - an old men's long-brimmed outerwear “I will not describe the Russian caftan of Adrian Prokhorov”
Icon, icon case, icon case (from Greek - box, ark) - a special decorated cabinet “Soon order was established; ark with images, cabinet with
(often folded) or glazed shelf for icons. dishes, a table, a sofa and a bed occupied certain corners in the back room.”
A mantle is a wide, long garment in the form of a cloak." "The kitchen and living room housed the owner's wares: coffins of all colors and all sizes, as well as wardrobes with mourning ribbons, mantles and torches. »
To preach the gospel - to end, to stop preaching the gospel. “You feasted with the German all day, came back drunk, fell into bed, and slept until this hour, when they announced mass.”
Contractor is a person who is obligated under a contract to perform certain work. “But Tryukhina was dying on Razgulay, and Prokhorov was afraid that her heir, despite his promise, would not be too lazy to send for him so far away and would not make a deal with the nearest contractor. »
To rest - 1. To sleep, to fall asleep; “You deigned to sleep, and we didn’t want to wake you.”
2. Transfer. Rest.
Svetlitsa - a bright living room; front room in the house; small “The girls went to their little room. "
bright room at the top of the house.
The ax is an ancient bladed weapon - a large ax with a semicircular blade, and “Yurko again began to walk around her with an ax and in armor with a long homespun handle. »
Sermyaga is a coarse homespun undyed cloth: a caftan is made from this cloth. “Yurko began to walk around her again with an ax and in homespun armor. »
Chukhonets was the name given to Finns and Estonians until 1917. “Of the Russian officials there was one watchman, the Chukhonian Yurko, who knew how
To acquire the special favor of the owner."
"The Station Agent"
The altar is the main elevated eastern part of the church, fenced off “He hastily entered the church: the priest was leaving the altar. »
iconostasis.
Altar - in ancient times among many peoples: a place on which sacrifices were burned and in front of which rituals associated with sacrifice were performed. Used figuratively and in comparison.
An assignation is a paper banknote issued in Russia from 1769 to “. he took them out and unwrapped several five and ten ruble
1849 , in the official language - before the introduction of credit cards; one ruble of crumpled banknotes"
in silver was equal to 3 1/3 rubles in banknotes.
The Prodigal Son is a gospel parable about the rebellious prodigal son who “They depicted the story of the prodigal son. »
he left home, squandered his share of the inheritance, after wanderings he returned with repentance to his father’s house and was forgiven.
High Nobility - according to the Table of Ranks, the title of civil ranks with “Early in the morning he came to his anteroom and asked to report to his eighth to sixth grade, as well as officers from captain to colonel, and to High Nobility”
“Taking off his wet, shaggy hat, letting go of his shawl and pulling off his overcoat,
The visiting hussar, a soldier of the highest cavalry, appeared as a young, slender hussar with a black mustache.”
Drozhki - a light, two-seater, four-wheeled open carriage with short "Suddenly a smart droshky raced in front of him"
drogues instead of springs.
Deacon - a clergyman in the Orthodox Church; the church reader, the sexton extinguished the candles. »
acolyte; He also taught literacy.
An assessor is an elected representative in court to work in some “Yes, but there are few travelers: unless the assessor turns around, he has no time for another institution. dead. »
A tavern is a drinking establishment of one of the lowest categories for sale and “It used to be that he comes from the tavern, and we follow him. »
drinking alcoholic beverages.
A cap is a pointed or oval-shaped headdress. “An old man in a cap and dressing gown lets a young man go”
Lackey is a servant in a house, restaurant, hotel.
The front end of a cart, sleigh, cart; the coachman's seat in the front "the servant jumped onto the beam. »
The porch is a covered area in front of the entrance to the church. “Approaching the church, he saw that the people were already leaving, but Dunya was not there
Neither in the fence, nor on the porch. »
Passengers are a carriage with horses that change at post stations. "traveled on crossroads"
Podorozhnaya - a document giving the right to use post horses; “In five minutes - the bell! and the courier throws him a travel certificate. your travel table. »
To rest - 1. To sleep, to fall asleep; “The military footman, cleaning his boot on the last, announced that the master
2. Transfer. Rest. rests and that he doesn’t receive anyone before eleven o’clock. »
Postmaster - manager of a post office. “the caretaker asked the S*** postmaster to leave for two months”
Passes are the cost of travel on post horses. ". paid runs for two horses. »
Captain - senior chief officer rank in the cavalry “He soon learned that Captain Minsky was in St. Petersburg and lived in
Demutov tavern. »
Skufya, skufiya - 1. A youthful, monochromatic (black, purple, Minsky came out to you in a robe, in a red skufiya. “What do you need purple, etc.) hat for Orthodox priests, monks. 2. Do you need a round?” he asked.
cap, skullcap, skull cap, headdress.
A caretaker is the head of an institution. “The weather is unbearable, the road is bad, the driver is stubborn and the horses are not moving - and the caretaker is to blame. »
Frock coat (frock coat) - a long men's double-breasted garment with a standing "and his long green frock coat with three medals"
collar
Taurus – a young bull “the cook kills a well-fed calf”
A tavern is a hotel with a restaurant. “He soon learned that Captain Minsky was in St. Petersburg and lived in
Demutov tavern. »
Non-commissioned officer is a junior command rank in the Tsarist Army of Russia. “I stayed in the Izmailovsky regiment, in the house of a retired non-commissioned officer. »
Courier - in the old army: a military or government courier for “In five minutes - the bell!” and the courier rushes him to deliver important, mostly secret documents. your travel table. »
The kingdom of heaven is a rhetorical wish for the deceased to have a happy fate in “It happened (the kingdom of heaven to him!) comes from a tavern, and we are beyond the afterlife. him: “Grandfather, grandfather! nuts!” - and he gives us nuts. »
Rank - a rank assigned to civil servants and military personnel according to the Table “I was in a minor rank, rode on carriages and paid rank passes associated with the provision of certain class rights and for two horses. »
benefits.
Dressing gown and shlafo - dressing gown. “An old man in a cap and dressing gown lets a young man go”
SLAFROK or dressing gown m. German. robe, sleeping clothes. Most often it serves as home clothing for nobles.
COAT - originally a “sleeping robe” (from German), and then the same as a robe. Although they didn’t go out and visit in dressing gowns, they could look very elegant, sewn for show
Coachman - coachman, driver of postal and pit horses. “The weather is unbearable, the road is bad, + the stubborn horses won’t carry -
and the caretaker is to blame. »
"Peasant Young Lady"
Blancmange - jelly made from milk with almonds and sugar. “Well, we left the table. and we sat for three hours, and the dinner was delicious: the blancmange cake was blue and striped. »
Burners is a Russian folk game in which the person standing in front catches others. “So we left the table and went into the garden to play burners, and the participants ran away from him one by one in pairs. the young master appeared here. »
House servants - servants at a manor's house, courtyard; courtyard people (in contrast to “Ivan Petrovich Berestov went out for a ride on horseback, for all the peasants who lived in the village and were engaged in farming). case, taking with him a pair of three greyhounds, a stirrup and several
Dvorovoy - related to the yard, belonging to the yard. yard boys with rattles. »
Drozhki - a light, two-seater, four-wheeled open carriage with short "Muromsky asked Berestov for a droshky, because he admitted that the drozhki had springs instead of springs. Because of the injury, he was able to get home in the evening. »
Jockey - a horse race rider; servant on horseback rides. “His grooms were dressed as jockeys.”
Zoil is a picky, unkind, unfair critic; evil “He was furious and called his zoil a bear and a provincial. »
detractor
Valet - the master's household servant, footman. “That’s right,” Alex answered,
I am the young master's valet. »
Chinese - thick fabric, originally silk, made in China, “(Lisa) sent to buy at the market a thick cloth, blue then cotton, produced in Russia for sundresses and men's Chinese and copper buttons"
shirts , usually blue, less often red. Used in peasant life
Kniksen and Kniks - accepted in the bourgeois-noble environment for girls and “Unfortunately, instead of Lisa, old Miss Jackson came out, whitewashed, the girls bowed with a curtsey as a sign of gratitude, greeting; drawn out, with downcast eyes and a small curtsey. »
curtsy.
Livery - uniform for footmen, doormen, coachmen, decorated with “Old Berestov walked onto the porch with the help of two livery braids and sewing. lackeys of Muromsky. »
Livery – 1. Adj. to livery, which was livery. 2. Dressed in livery.
Madame - the name of a married woman attached to the surname; “Her agility and minute-by-minute pranks delighted her father and brought him into his mistress. Usually used in relation to a French woman, and in reference to the despair of her Madame Miss Jackson. »
– and to a Russian woman from privileged strata.
Miss is an unmarried woman in England. Her agility and minute orders delighted her father and drove her Madame Miss Jackson into despair.”
Confidant - about a woman who was especially trusted and “There she changed her clothes, absentmindedly answering questions with the eager favor of someone; darling, lover. confidante, and appeared in the living room.”
To make up - to make up, to draw with antimony, that is, popular since ancient times “Liza, his dark-skinned Lisa, was whitened up to her ears, made up more than ever with a cosmetic product made on the basis of antimony, by Miss Jackson herself. »
giving it a special shine.
Okolotok - 1. Surrounding area, surrounding villages. 2. Resident of the district, “He built a house according to his own plan, established a legal neighborhood, the surrounding area. factory, established income and began to consider himself the smartest person
3. The area of the city under the jurisdiction of the local police officer. all over the area"
4. Medical center (usually attached to a military unit).
The Guardianship Council is an institution in Russia in charge of guardianship affairs, “. the first of the landowners of his province thought of mortgaging the educational institutions and some credit transactions related to the estate in the Board of Trustees.”
pledges of estates, etc.
Plis – cotton velvet. Among the nobility it was used for “On weekdays he wears a corduroy jacket, on holidays he puts on a home suit, merchants and rich peasants sew from it an elegant frock coat from homemade cloth.”
Poltina is a silver coin equal to 50 kopecks, half a ruble. Minted with “Trofim, passing in front of Nastya, gave her small colorful bast shoes
1707 and received half a ruble from her as a reward. »
Polushka - since the 15th century, a silver coin worth half money (i.e. ¼ “I’ll sell it and squander it, and I won’t leave you a half-ruble.”
kopecks); the last silver polushkas were released into circulation in
Frock coat - long men's double-breasted clothing with a stand-up collar “On weekdays he wears a corduroy jacket, on holidays he puts on a frock coat made of homemade cloth”
The head of the table is the official who manages the table. “The neighbors agreed that he would never make the right chief executive. »
Stremyanny is a groom, a servant who takes care of his riding horse “Ivan Petrovich Berestov went out for a ride on horseback, for every master, and also a servant who accompanies the master during the hunt. case, taking with him three pairs of greyhounds, a stirrup and several yard boys with rattles. »
Tartines - a thin slice of bread spread with butter; small sandwich. “The table was set, breakfast was ready, and Miss Jackson. I cut thin tartines. »
The faucets are a wide frame made of whalebone, willow twigs or wire, “the sleeves stuck out like Madame de Pompadour’s faucets.”
worn under a skirt to add fullness; skirt on such a frame.
A courtier is a nobleman at the royal court, a courtier. “The dawn shone in the east, and the golden rows of clouds seemed to be waiting for the sun, like courtiers waiting for a sovereign. »
Chekmen - men's clothing of the Caucasian type - a cloth caftan at the waist with ruching at the back. ". he saw his neighbor, proudly sitting on horseback, wearing a checkman lined with fox fur, "
IV. Conclusion
“Dictionary of Obsolete Words” contains 108 dictionary entries, both historicisms and archaisms. It contains those words that are not currently used or are used extremely rarely in the living literary language, as well as words that are used today, but have a different meaning, unlike the one we put into it.
The dictionary entry reveals the meaning of obsolete words, using examples from the stories of Pushkin’s cycle to show how they functioned in speech. The created dictionary, which includes both historicisms and archaisms, will help to overcome the barrier between the reader and the text, sometimes erected by outdated words that are incomprehensible or misunderstood by the reader, and to thoughtfully and meaningfully perceive the text of “Belkin’s Tales”. Some dictionary entries are accompanied by drawings that make it possible to realistically imagine the objects called by this or that word.
The remarkable poet, outstanding translator V. A. Zhukovsky wrote: “The word is not our arbitrary invention: every word that receives a place in the lexicon of a language is an event in the field of thought.”
This work will become an assistant in reading, studying, and understanding Pushkin’s cycle “Belkin’s Tales”, will broaden the reader’s horizons, help arouse interest in the history of words, and can be used in literature lessons.
Vocabulary is the totality of all the words we use. Ancient words can be considered a separate group in the vocabulary. There are many of them in the Russian language, and they belong to different historical eras.
What are old words
Since language is an integral part of the history of a people, the words that are used in this language are of historical value. Ancient words and their meaning can tell a lot about what events took place in the life of the people in a particular era and which of them were of great importance. Ancient, or outdated, words are not actively used in our time, but are present in the vocabulary of the people, recorded in dictionaries and reference books. They can often be found in works of art.
For example, in the poem by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin we read the following passage:
"In the crowd of mighty sons,
With friends, in the high grid
Vladimir the sun feasted,
He gave away his youngest daughter
For the brave prince Ruslan."
There is the word “gridnitsa” here. Nowadays it is not used, but in the era of Prince Vladimir it meant a large room in which the prince, together with his warriors, held celebrations and feasts.
Historicisms
There are different types of ancient words and their designations. According to scientists, they are divided into two large groups.
Historicisms are words that are now not actively used for the reason that the concepts they denote have fallen out of use. For example, “caftan”, “chain mail”, armor”, etc. Archaisms are words that denote concepts familiar to us in other words. For example, mouth - lips, cheeks - cheeks, neck - neck.
In modern speech, as a rule, they are not used. which are incomprehensible to many and are not typical for our everyday speech. But they do not disappear completely from use. Writers use historicisms and archaisms to truthfully tell about the past of the people; with the help of these words they convey the flavor of the era. Historicisms can truthfully tell us about what once happened in other eras in our homeland.
Archaisms
Unlike historicisms, archaisms denote those phenomena that we encounter in modern life. These are smart words, and their meanings do not differ from the meanings of words familiar to us, they just sound differently. There are different archaisms. There are those that differ from ordinary words only in some features in spelling and pronunciation. For example, hail and city, gold and gold, young - young. These are phonetic archaisms. In the 19th century there were many such words. This is klob (club), stora (curtain).
There is a group of archaisms with obsolete suffixes, for example, muzeum (museum), assistance (assistance), rybar (fisherman). Most often we come across lexical archaisms, for example, oko - eye, right hand - right hand, shuitsa - left hand.
Like historicisms, archaisms are used to create a special world in fiction. Thus, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin often used archaic vocabulary to add pathos to his works. This is clearly evident in the example of the poem “The Prophet”.
Words from Ancient Rus'
Ancient Rus' gave a lot to modern culture. But then there was a special lexical environment, some words from which were preserved and some are no longer used at all in A. Old obsolete Russian words from that era give us an idea of the origin
For example, old curse words. Some of them very accurately reflect the negative qualities of a person. Pustobrekh is a chatterbox, Ryuma is a crybaby, the thick-haired forehead is a fool, and shabby is a disheveled person.
The meaning of ancient Russian words sometimes differed from the meanings of the same roots in the modern language. We all know the words “jump” and “jump”; they mean rapid movement in space. The Old Russian word “sig” meant the smallest unit of time. One moment contained 160 whitefish. The largest measurement value was considered “far distance”, which was equal to 1.4
Ancient words and their meanings are discussed by scientists. The names of coins that were used in Ancient Rus' are considered ancient. For coins that appeared in the eighth and ninth centuries in Rus' and were brought from Russia, the names “kuna”, “nogata” and “rezana” were used. Then the first Russian coins appeared - zlatniks and silver coins.
Outdated words from the 12th and 13th centuries
The pre-Mongol period in Rus', 12-13 centuries, is characterized by the development of architecture, which was then called architecture. Accordingly, a layer of vocabulary related to the construction and construction of buildings appeared then. Some of the words that appeared then remained in the modern language, but the meaning of ancient Russian words has changed over all this time.
The basis of life in Rus' in the 12th century was the fortress, which then had the name “Detinets”. A little later, in the 14th century, the term “Kremlin” appeared, which then also meant the city. The word "kremlin" can be an example of how old, outdated Russian words change. If now there is only one Kremlin, the residence of the head of state, then there were many Kremlins.
In the 11th and 12th centuries in Rus', cities and fortresses were built from wood. But they could not resist the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars. The Mongols, when they came to conquer the lands, simply swept away the wooden fortresses. Novgorod and Pskov survived. The word “Kremlin” appears for the first time in the Tver chronicle of 1317. Its synonym is the ancient word “kremnik”. Then kremlins were built in Moscow, Tula and Kolomna.
The social and aesthetic role of archaisms in classical fiction
Ancient words, the discussion of which is often found in scientific articles, were often used by Russian writers in order to make the speech of their works of art more expressive. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in his article described the process of creating “Boris Godunov”: “I tried to guess the language of that time.”
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov also used ancient words in his works, and their meaning exactly corresponded to the realities of the time from which they were taken. Most of the ancient words appear in his work “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich.” This is, for example, “you know”, “oh you goy are you”, Ali.” Also, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky writes works in which there are many ancient words. These are “Dmitry the Pretender”, “Voevoda”, “Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk”.
The role of words from past eras in modern literature
Archaisms remained popular in the literature of the 20th century. Let us remember the famous work of Ilf and Petrov “The Twelve Chairs”. Here, ancient words and their meaning have a special, humorous connotation.
For example, in the description of Ostap Bender’s visit to the village of Vasyuki, the phrase “The one-eyed man did not take his only eye off the grandmaster’s shoes” appears. Archaisms with Church Slavonic overtones are also used in another episode: “Father Fedor became hungry. He wanted wealth."
when using historicisms and archaisms
Historicisms and archaisms can greatly embellish fiction, but their inept use causes laughter. Ancient words, the discussion of which often becomes very lively, as a rule, cannot be used in everyday speech. If you start asking a passerby: “Why is your neck open in winter?”, then he will not understand you (meaning your neck).
In newspaper speech, there is also inappropriate use of historicisms and archaisms. For example: “The school director welcomed young teachers who came to practice.” The word "welcomed" is synonymous with the word "welcomed". Sometimes schoolchildren insert archaisms into their essays and thereby make the sentences not very clear and even absurd. For example: “Olya came running in tears and told Tatyana Ivanovna about her offense.” Therefore, if you want to use ancient words, their meaning, interpretation, meaning must be absolutely clear to you.
Outdated words in fantasy and science fiction
Everyone knows that genres such as fantasy and science fiction have gained enormous popularity in our time. It turns out that ancient words are widely used in works of the fantasy genre, and their meaning is not always clear to the modern reader.
The reader can understand such concepts as “banner” and “finger”. But sometimes there are more complex words, such as “komon” and “nasad”. It must be said that publishing houses do not always approve of the excessive use of archaisms. But there are works in which the authors successfully use historicisms and archaisms. These are works from the “Slavic fantasy” series. For example, the novels by Maria Stepanova “Valkyrie”, Tatyana Korostyshevskaya “Mother of the Four Winds”, Maria Semenova “Wolfhound”, Denis Novozhilov “The Far Away Kingdom. War for the throne."
Every person who wants to learn and develop always strives to learn something new and useful for themselves. Vocabulary is considered especially important, which has not only long ago become an indicator of erudition, but can also help in the most unexpected life situations. In this article you can learn about that and historicisms. and the context may also be useful for those who are especially curious to familiarize themselves with.
Historicisms
Historicisms include the names of objects that were used by our ancestors, and today are found only in museums. For example, the word “pishchal”, which denotes an ancient type of weapon used in Rus' several centuries ago. The word “axe,” which denoted one of the types of military equipment, also belongs to historicism. It was something similar to a modern ax, but with two blades.
How did historicisms appear?
The main reason that historicisms appeared in the language over time was the change in the habitual life of our ancestors, customs, and the development of science and culture. So, for example, disappeared types of clothing - armyak, caftan, camisole - were no longer used, and this led to the disappearance of their names from the language. Now such concepts can only be found in historical descriptions. There are many words that have fallen out of use and are now categorized as “historicisms.” An example of this is the concepts that in one way or another related to serfdom in Russia. Among them are quitrent, corvee, and taxes.
Archaisms
This category includes words that denote things and concepts that still exist, but with changed names. For example, our ancestors said “this” instead of the modern “this”, and “very” sounded like “zelo”. Historicisms, which are found in many literary works, are not always completely replaced by other words; they can only be partially changed. For example, phonetically or morphologically.
How did archaisms appear?
This type of obsolete words appeared due to the fact that over time, any vocabulary undergoes changes, evolves and assimilates with other languages. Thus, some words are replaced by others, but with the same meaning. This is that part of the vocabulary that has outlived its usefulness, but does not completely disappear from the language. These words are preserved in literature, documents, and so on. To create them, they are absolutely necessary so that you can recreate the flavor of the era being described.
Phonetic archaisms
This type includes modern words and concepts that differ from outdated ones by just a few sounds, sometimes just one. For example, phonetic archaisms include a word such as “piit”, which over time evolved into “poet”, and “fire” turned into “fire”.
Morphological archaisms
This category includes words that are outdated in their structure. These include the noun "ferocity" which evolved into "fierceness", the adjective "nervous" which evolved into "nervous", the verb "collapse" which now sounds like "collapse", and many others.
Semantic archaisms
Archaisms and historicisms, examples of words found everywhere, often lose their true meaning over time. For example, the modern "disgrace" used to mean nothing more than "spectacle", and the ancient "common" meant something that was done in one day (for example, "the ordinary way"), and not at all "ordinary".
Modern usage
Sometimes these words, which have fallen out of use, change so much that they begin to be used in a new meaning. This can be said about both archaisms and historicisms. An example of this is the word "dynasty". They stopped using it some time ago, but now it is back in use. If previously it could only be combined with words such as “royal” and “monarchical,” now the scope of its use has expanded significantly. Nowadays you can also hear about a dynasty of lumberjacks or miners, which imply that this profession is inherited from father to son. Sometimes outdated words can be found in an ironic context.
Set expressions
Obsolete words continue to fully function in the language as a part of Thus, some historicisms have been preserved. Example: the word “baklushi” is still used in the language as part of the phrase “beat baklushi,” which means “to mess around.” The same can be said about the stable expression “to sharpen your lasses,” that is, “to chat incessantly.”
Degeneration VS Renaissance
It also happens that words that linguists had already boldly classified as historicisms began to be used again due to the fact that the concepts that they denoted began to be used again. This can also happen if something new has been created that is in some way similar to or related to an outdated concept. Now such words hardly resemble historicisms. Example: charity evening, midshipman.
Conclusion
It should be noted that although all the above-mentioned obsolete words are, rather, a passive layer of vocabulary, they do not cease to play an important role in it. When reading the works of such eminent writers as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky or Mayakovsky, you can very often come across historicisms and archaisms, and in order to accurately understand the idea that the author wanted to convey, you must be aware of their meaning. Therefore, if you come across an unfamiliar word, it is best to consult a reputable dictionary.
U old words, as well as dialectal, can be divided into two different groups: archaisms And historicisms .
Archaisms- these are words that, due to the emergence of new words, have fallen out of use. But their synonyms exist in modern Russian.
Eg:
right hand- right hand, cheeks- cheeks, ramen- shoulders, loins- lower back and so on.
But it is worth noting that archaisms may still differ from modern synonymous words. These differences may be in the morphemic composition ( fisherman- fisherman, friendship - friendship), in their lexical meaning ( stomach- life, guest- merchant,), in grammatical form ( at the ball- at the ball, fulfill- perform) and phonetic features ( mirror- mirror, Spanish- Spanish). Many words are completely outdated, but they still have modern synonyms. For example: destruction- death or harm, hope- hope and firmly believe, so that- to. And in order to avoid possible mistakes in the interpretation of these words, when working with works of art, it is strongly recommended to use a dictionary of outdated words and dialect phrases, or an explanatory dictionary.
Historicisms- these are words that denote such phenomena or objects that have completely disappeared or ceased to exist as a result of the further development of society.
Many words that denoted various household items of our ancestors, phenomena and things that were in one way or another connected with the economy of the past, the old culture, and the socio-political system that once existed became historicisms. Many historicisms are found among words that are one way or another connected with military themes.
Eg:
Redoubt, chain mail, visor, arquebus and so on.
Most obsolete words refer to items of clothing and household items: prosak, svetets, endova, camisole, armyak.
Also, historicisms include words that denote titles, professions, positions, classes that once existed in Rus': tsar, footman, boyar, steward, stable boy, barge hauler,tinker and so on. Types of production activities such as horse tram and manufactory. Phenomena of patriarchal life: purchase, quitrent, corvée and others. Disappeared technologies such as mead making and tinning.
Words that arose during the Soviet era also became historicisms. These include words such as: food detachment, NEP, Makhnovist, educational program, Budenovo and many others.
Sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish between archaisms and historicisms. This is due both to the revival of the cultural traditions of Rus', and to the frequent use of these words in proverbs and sayings, as well as other works of folk art. Such words include words denoting measures of length or measurements of weight, naming Christian and religious holidays, and so on and so forth.
Dictionary of obsolete words by letter of the alphabet:
Depending on the reasons why a particular word is classified as obsolete, historicisms and archaisms are distinguished.
Historicisms
- these are words that have fallen out of use because the objects and phenomena that they denoted have disappeared from life.Historicisms do not have synonyms, since this is the only designation of a disappeared concept and the object or phenomenon behind it.
Historicisms represent quite diverse thematic groups of words:
1) Names of ancient clothing: zipun, camisole, caftan, kokoshnik, zhupan, shushun, etc.;
2) Names of monetary units: altyn, penny, polushka, hryvnia, etc.;
3) Titles: boyar, nobleman, tsar, count, prince, duke, etc.;
4) Names of officials: policeman, governor, clerk, constable, etc.;
5) Names of weapons: arquebus, sixfin, unicorn (cannon), etc.;
6) Administrative names: volost, district, district, etc.
For polysemantic words, one of the meanings can become historic. For example, the word people has the following meanings:
1) Plural of the noun person;
2) Other persons who are strangers to anyone;
3) Persons used in any business, personnel;
4) Servant, worker in a manor house.
The word people in the first three meanings is included in the active dictionary. The fourth meaning of this word is outdated, so we have semantic historicism, forming the lexeme human in the meaning of “the room in which the servants live.”
Archaisms
- these are words denoting concepts, objects, phenomena that currently exist; for various (primarily extra-linguistic) reasons, archaisms were forced out of active use by other words.Consequently, archaisms have synonyms in modern Russian, for example: sail (n.) - sail, Psyche (n.) - soul; Overseas (adj.) - foreign; Koi (pronoun) - which; This (pronoun) - this; Poeliku (union) - because, etc.
Depending on whether the entire word, the meaning of the word, the phonetic design of the word, or a separate word-forming morpheme becomes obsolete, archaisms are divided into several groups:
1) Actually lexical archaisms are words that have completely fallen out of use and have passed into the passive vocabulary: lzya - it is possible; thief - thief; aki—how; piit - poet; young woman - teenager, etc.
2) Lexico-semantic archaisms are words for which one or more meanings are outdated:
Belly - “life” (not to fight on the stomach, but to fight to death); Idol - “statue”;
Scoundrels - “unfit for military service”; Haven - “port, pier”, etc.
3) Lexico-phonetic archaisms are words whose sound design (sound shell) has changed as a result of historical development, but the meaning of the word has been fully preserved:
Mirror - mirror;
Iroism - heroism;
Eighteen - eighteen;
Passport - passport;
Calm - style (poetic), etc.
A special group consists of accentological archaisms - that is, words whose emphasis has changed (from the Latin Accentum - emphasis, emphasis):
The muses of the "ka-mu" language;
Suffi "ks - su" affix; Philoso "f ~ philo "sof, etc.
4) Lexico-word-formative archaisms are words in which individual morphemes or word-formation patterns are outdated:
Dol - valley; Friendship - friendship; Shepherd - shepherd; Fisherman - fisherman; Phantasm - fantasy, etc.
The archaization of words is not related to their origin. The following types of fishing may become obsolete:
1) Original Russian words: laby, izgoy, lzya, endova, etc.;
2) Old Slavonicisms: glad, edin, zelo, cold, child, etc.
3) Borrowed words: satisfaction - satisfaction (about a duel); Sikurs - help; Fortecia (fortress), etc.
The role of obsolete words in the Russian language is varied. Historicisms in special scientific literature are used to most accurately describe the era. In works of fiction on historical themes, historicisms and archaisms help to recreate the flavor of the era, and are also a means of speech characterization of characters.
Examples of such use of outdated vocabulary are the novels “Razin Stepan” by A.P. Chapygina, “Peter I” A.H. Tolstoy, “Emelyan Pugachev” by V.Ya. Shishkova, “Ivan the Terrible” by V.I. Kostyleva and others.
In the text of any of these works of art you can find various types of archaisms:
I learned this: according to information from Taty Fomka, thieves were caught outside the Nikitsky Gate (Chapygin).
Archaisms can be used to create a solemn style, which is especially characteristic of poetry of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Examples include the works of A.N. Radishcheva, G.R. Derzhavina, V.A. Zhukovsky, A.S. Pushkina and others.
Archaisms can also be used to create comic and satirical effects: Finally, look at your own person - and there, first of all, you will meet the head, and then you will not leave the belly and other parts without a sign (S. Shch.)