Active and passive composition of vocabulary.
Changes in the life of society (political, social, economic, cultural) are reflected in the language, primarily in its vocabulary
In progress historical development language undergoes semantic transformations of words: the emergence of new meanings for a word and the loss of old ones (changes in meanings).
Thus, there are two layers of words in the language:
1.Active lexicon . This includes popular and commonly used words that do not have (regardless of the time of their appearance) a connotation of obsolescence or novelty.
The vocabulary of the active composition includes the words:
A) neutral, common : table, chair, new, good, I, he, five, ten, write, work, tomorrow, in, on;
b) book words : coming, dominance, inexhaustible, test, extreme;
V ) terms : subject, predicate, molecule, proportion, hypotenuse;
G) words with emotional and expressive connotations : buddy, dear, little house, little boy;
d) words expressing response concepts : research, movement, honesty, Oblomovism, brotherhood;
e) professionalism : scalpel, veneer, block, lattice (in the speech of lumberjacks).
2. Passive vocabulary. This includes words that are rarely used, which have either recently entered into vocabulary and have not yet become a property of the general literary language, or they denote objects that have passed away or are passing away from life, phenomena of reality.
Words fall out active stock By various reasons. The main ones:
1. Disappearance of objects and phenomena that these words previously designated. So at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, before the advent of the tram, there was a city Railway with horse traction. It was called a horse-drawn horse. With the advent of the tram, this road disappeared, and the word horse-drawn was forgotten.
Military historicisms have long gone out of use: chain mail, arquebus; social: smerd, boyar, oprichnik.
2.Replacement of some words with others (synonyms).
semo – “here”, ovamo – “there”, izhe – “which”, in order – so that.
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 active use in our speech due to the disappearance of objects and phenomena that were previously designated by them.
The process of obsolescence of certain words can be very fast. For example, many words that arose in the Soviet era have become historicisms: kombed (committee of the poor), tax in kind, NEP, this is evidenced by the book of N.M. Shansky "Words born in October."
V.V. Mayakovsky perfectly notes the transition of words from active, living vocabulary to the category of historicism due to changing social conditions:
Grandchildren will ask: - What is a capitalist?
Like the children now: - What is this policeman?
Historicisms represent quite diverse thematic groups:
1.names of ancient clothing: zipun, camisole, caftan, kokoshnik;
2. names of monetary units: altyn, penny;
3.names of titles: boyar, count, prince;
4. names of officials: policeman, landowner, clerk;
5.names of the weapon: arquebus, pistol;
6.administrative names: volost, province, district.
The second group of obsolete words is represented by archaisms.
Archaisms name words that have fallen out of active use due to the fact that they have been replaced by synonymous words: in other words archaisms - This outdated words and phrases (from the Greek archaios - ancient).
Unlike historicisms, archaisms denote objects and phenomena that exist in modern life, have not left it, but have modern name(mouth, axe, etc.).
Archaisms always have synonymous correspondences in modern language.
Let us give examples of archaisms from different categories of significant and auxiliary words:
A) nouns: shepherd - shepherd, finger - finger, forehead - forehead;
b) adjectives: prophetic - foreseeing, pitch - external;
V) pronouns: this – this, this – that;
G) numerals: twelve - 20, distant - 27;
d ) Verbs: to advocate - to achieve;
e ) adverbs: day, night
conjunctions: for, in order to; prepositions: after – through.
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 - these are words that have completely fallen out of use and have passed into the passive vocabulary:
aki - like piit - poet
eye - eye thief - thief
scoundrel - accuser, doubter - dreamer
2.Lexico-semantic archaisms – these are words for which one or more meanings have become obsolete:
belly - life scoundrel - unfit for military service
idol - statue shelter - port, pier
verb – word
3.Lexico-phonetic archaisms - these are words whose sound design has changed as a result of historical development, but the meaning of the word has been fully preserved:
seducer - seducer creator - creator
mirror - mirror ironism - heroism
eighteen - eighteen passport - passport
4. Lexico-word-formative archaisms – these are words in which individual morphemes or word-formation patterns are outdated:
dol - valley friendship - friendship
fisherman - fisherman phantasm - fantasy
whitewash - protein rottenness - rottenness
Special group make up accentological archaisms – words whose emphasis has changed: music, suffix, philosopher.
The archaization of words is not related to their origin. The following may become obsolete:
1) original Russian words: in order, lzya, outcast;
2) Old Slavonicisms: hunger, one, zelo, child;
3) borrowed: natura - nature, satisfaction - satisfaction, sicurs - help.
The Russian language is a kind of living organism, constantly changing and acquiring new forms. In different historical eras it sounded differently and the vocabulary that has survived to this day has changed a lot. The texts of Old Russian chronicles, for example, today are common impossible for the average person to understand. words change, although not so noticeably. New concepts constantly penetrate into the language from abroad, thanks to the discoveries of science and technology, thereby enriching it. Some concepts become unnecessary and are lost, others live for a very long time.
Active vocabulary – lexicon, used in Everyday life. Passive vocabulary is words that leave us and are forgotten. Passive vocabulary includes:, historicism. Neologisms are new concepts, terms and concepts related to active vocabulary.
Historicisms and archaisms are important means of artistic expression.
In contact with
Archaisms
Archaisms there are:
- Lexical - the largest group. Examples: lzya - possible, very green, forehead - forehead, finger - finger.
- Derivatives are a separately obsolete word-forming element, usually a suffix. Examples: restaurant, promotion, Asians, coffee.
- Phonetic - slightly modified in sound. Examples: licorice, vorog, gishpansky, tie, cord, number.
- Semantic - those that have lost their original meaning. Examples: shame - this word used to mean “spectacle”; dream is a thought.
- Grammatical - changed gender. The piano and the swan were feminine.
Historicisms
Historicisms are words that stand for disappeared:
- clothes and shoes (zipun, armyak, boots);
- household items (svetets - stand for a torch);
- weapons (arquebus, poleaxe);
- administrative units (county, parish);
- persons and positions (policeman, policeman);
- military ranks (centurion, warrior, cuirassier);
- units of measurement (altyn, penny);
- historical phenomena (rents, corvée).
It is necessary to note the public terminology Soviet era, which very quickly fell out of use (Budenovka, Revkom). In Ushakov’s dictionary they marked with a double mark“new”, “historical”.
What is the difference between the concepts
Archaisms are objects or concepts that exist in our lives, therefore are easily replaced by synonyms. For example: from Pushkin: “Noise, noise, obedient sail (sail).”
Historicisms are words denoting something that no longer exists. That's why they don't have synonyms. For example: policeman - lower rank of police Tsarist Russia. Policemen in Moscow wore black uniforms, in other cities - green.
A metal plaque with a personal number and a coat of arms (provincial or city) were attached to the headdress. From Chekhov we read: “Warder Ochumelov walks across the square, followed by a red-haired policeman with a sieve filled to the top with confiscated gooseberries.”
Important! Archaisms, unlike historicisms, have synonyms in modern language.
Words and their meanings fall out of use for various reasons. It happens that they come back into circulation after a long time, changing its original meaning. After the revolution they returned: a soldier, a lieutenant, etc. In the fifties - a minister, a ministry. To collect information, scientists create dictionaries of obsolete words, in particular, an explanatory dictionary.
Archaisms differ from historicisms in that they can highlight degrees of obsolescence:
- Words that have disappeared from the language and are not found even in derivative words. For example: kotora - quarrel, prosinets - February, cancer - grave.
- They are not used independently, but are present in the root. These are: rug - mockery, beef - cattle, thin - skillful.
- Only preserved in . Kol – small land plot(no stake, no...), falcon - a weapon for destroying walls (goal, like...), zga - path (no zgi is visible).
These concepts fell out of general use and are not used. They tell us about distant times in the development of language, about what has long passed.
So, let's conclude: words fall out of frequent use, become passive, and even disappear altogether. If they were replaced by more convenient sounding ones and retained their meaning, these are archaisms. If expressions have become unnecessary, if the concepts themselves have disappeared, these are historicisms. Archaisms differ from historicisms in meaning.
The role of forgotten concepts in literature
Expressions recreate the flavor of the historical period in military-themed narratives.
Forgotten words tell us about the past, help the reader feel the spirit of the times. In the literature you can come across outdated vocabulary of two layers. Pushkin in " The captain's daughter", in order to create the flavor of antiquity, deliberately introduces forgotten words from the 18th century into the text: corporal, soul-greyka.
While writing the story, at the beginning of the next century, the author uses the usual vocabulary of that historical period: coachman, second. By our time they are already outdated.
They create a solemn style in poetry.
Outdated words (usually archaisms) give speech high poetic sound. In Blok’s poems we read: “youth is crazy,” in Yesenin we note: “with a slight wave of the finger,” “I want to be a youth.”
They successfully implement the author’s ideological plans and create rhythm and good rhyming in poetry. Lermontov loved to poeticize the past. His “Song about the Merchant Kalashnikov” is a one-of-a-kind stylization of folklore of a large epic form. To bring the reader as close as possible, to describe the events of deep antiquity, the author used a large number of historicisms: guardsman, frontal place, glass, fathom.
Emphasize comic and satirical moments
The master of ridicule Saltykov-Shchedrin skillfully used archaisms to create ironic situations and ridicule human vices. By choosing highly solemn terms and including them in a commonly used context, the author achieved a humorous effect (“The History of a City”).
Examples of words and expressions are often found in historical novels and works of fiction.
The cultural value of ancient vocabulary
The use of archaisms and historicisms expands the view about Russian culture and history. Education forms a full-fledged person, a versatile personality who gets to know the world through languages.
A broad-minded person, spiritually and morally strong, aesthetically educated, respects and loves true values presented in the literature. The great, mighty Russian language reflects a truly human attitude towards the world.
Knowledge based on local history topics from native speakers will be useful to foreign students studying the Russian language.
What is the difference between historicism and archaism?
Outdated words - archaisms
There are many in Russian special categories words They help people describe certain things and phenomena in more detail. One of these special categories of words is historicisms. In this article we will talk about this group, as well as the difference between historicisms and archaisms. Moreover, let's look at examples of historicism words and their meanings.
What is historicism?
The Russian language, like any other language, is a constantly changing living organism that often takes on new forms. The modern Russian language is very different from the one used by the first princes. He went through several stages in his development. There are three stages of historical development:
- Old Russian language.
- Old Russian language.
- National language period.
It sounded differently in different historical eras. Due to constant development, the lexical composition has changed greatly. Let's take documents as an example Ancient Rus'. The average person is unlikely to be able to understand what is written in the text. There are too many unknown words, and familiar words have a completely different meaning. Thanks to scientific and technological progress, a large number of new concepts have appeared in the vocabulary that enrich the vocabulary of the language. You can also increase your active vocabulary by borrowing foreign words to add variety to your vocabulary. This rule works vice versa. Some words cease to be used, because many objects have disappeared from everyday life. So the words that described these objects are disappearing from everyday life. These words are called historicisms. The picture below is an example of historicisms.
What is archaism?
Archaism means something slightly different. They have one general detail with historicisms, which is why they are often confused. Historicisms and archaisms are often used in old works. But there is a fairly big difference between them: if historicisms describe objects that have disappeared from our lives, then archaisms are an outdated form of naming an object that exists. As an example, let's take a word that we know from children's books - gold. This is archaic, because this word has modern form- gold.
What is the difference between them?
The difference is quite big. One small detail will help determine what is in front of you, historicism or archaism. The second has commonly used synonyms. Of course, these two concepts are quite arbitrary. Words fall out of use for various reasons. In some cases, they return to active vocabulary after a long period of time. Here is an example of historicism words that returned to circulation after some time: lieutenant, minister, officer, etc. Linguistic scientists create special dictionaries in which such words are entered.
Another important difference between archaisms and historicisms is that archaisms have 3 degrees of obsolescence. They are specially identified by linguists to track the age of the vocabulary of a language.
What can be concluded? Many words fall out of frequent use and become passive or disappear. For words that have passed into a passive state, there are two options: if they were replaced by others, the word became an archaism; if the object itself has disappeared - then by historicism. They differ in meaning, this should not be forgotten. Below in the picture you can see an example of historicism and archaism. This way you can more clearly understand the difference between them.
Examples of historicisms and archaisms in the Russian language and their meanings
Historicisms can be divided into several categories, depending on which historical period the vocabulary belongs to. Examples of historicisms in Russian:
- Tiun - princely steward.
- Smerd is a peasant who is directly dependent on the prince.
- Bratina - composition for serving alcoholic drinks.
- Nepman - entrepreneur in the USSR during the NEP period.
- Boyar is the highest stratum of society in Ancient Rus'.
- Educational program - program to eliminate illiteracy.
- Tax in kind is a food tax levied on farms, introduced to replace food appropriation.
- Altyn is a coin equal to three kopecks.
- A landowner is a landowner who belongs to the privileged class.
- Prince is the title of a person close to the throne.
- Count is the title of a major nobleman.
- Onuchi - wrappings for feet under boots.
- Clerk - a scribe and clerk in the clerk's office.
- A short fur coat is a short sheepskin coat.
Let's look at examples of archaic words:
- Eyes - eyes.
- Eight - eight.
- Finger - finger.
- An adversary is a villain, an enemy, a scoundrel.
- The belly is life.
- Lanita - cheeks.
- Mouth - lips, mouth.
- Shelom - helmet.
- Night - night.
- To speak - to speak.
- Hand - right hand.
- Voice - voice.
- Just now - a long time ago.
- Evening - last night.
Here are also examples of words that became historicisms, but then returned to active vocabulary:
- Hryvnia. Initially - a neck decoration in the form of a hoop, later - a monetary unit of Ukraine
- An officer. After the revolution, officer ranks were removed from the army, but were returned in 1943.
- Shoulder straps. Also after the revolution they were removed from military uniforms, but were returned in 1943.
- Ministry. They were liquidated after the revolution, and in the 1950s they were created anew instead of the People's Commissariats.
Again, the difference between these categories of words is clearly visible. Historicism can only be expressed by a term, archaism by a synonym. There's one more enough interesting feature. Historicisms are more often found in history textbooks and are used there as scientific terms. Archaisms are closer to language, just one word has been replaced by another. So we have seen examples and meanings of historicisms, so now the reader will have a clearer understanding of this topic.
The role of historicisms and archaisms in literary works
Special vocabulary helps to recreate the historical flavor in works so that the reader can completely immerse himself in the atmosphere of the time being described. Also, poets do not disdain special vocabulary. It helps create a solemn atmosphere in the poem. Typically, poets use archaisms to give speech a higher poetic sound. Another one important detail, which special vocabulary helps to emphasize, is a display of comic and satirical moments. Saltykov-Shchedrin especially often used this property to create ironic situations and ridicule human vices.
What cultural role does outdated vocabulary play?
The use of such vocabulary by writers expands the reader’s understanding of the historical period and Russian culture. Thanks to this, a person gains additional knowledge. This knowledge will help to form a full-fledged personality who knows how to get acquainted with the world through languages. A person learns to think broadly, to be spiritually and morally strong, aesthetically educated, to love and respect the history of our country.
Conclusion
Special vocabulary plays a big role in the Russian language. With its help, we can recreate the atmosphere of the past, which writers often use in their works. Her role is difficult to overestimate. After all, these words describe historical objects that we will never see. That is why it is considered “passive vocabulary”, because it is quite difficult to hear historicisms and archaisms. They can be considered the historical heritage of our language, so they need to be protected. Even though this vocabulary has fallen out of active use, most people know it and, when they encounter it in literary works, understand it. And without the use of archaisms and historicisms in literature, works lose their solemnity and originality. In this article we looked at examples of historicisms and archaisms that helped us understand what they are and what the difference is between them.
You can't stop time, no matter how hard you try. All that remains is to once again unwind, like an old film, your own memories and sob every now and then from the overwhelming feelings. Time flies, it runs away. You won't catch up...
Yes, a person cannot catch up with time. But human language is quite competitive in this race. Words and ways of constructing sentences change with the times. Sometimes this happens so quickly that parents do not immediately understand that their own children are telling them this. And having overheard them, the children, talking with their peers, they leave completely puzzled. And they shake their heads: no, we weren’t like that.
Whether they were or not is a reason for a separate conversation. Now let us turn to the changes in language that occur as time passes.
The tongue chases life
Language reflects life, and therefore it changes when reality changes, for which language is needed to describe. Many objects and concepts disappear, and the words that these concepts or objects denoted go out of active use. Similar words that have lost their relevance are called historicisms. They are needed only in historical stories about times long past.
During my childhood, filmstrips were a popular and favorite form of entertainment. I still remember a filmstrip made based on a poem by Yuri Yakovlev, which was called “Old Words.” This is about them, about historicisms, “which have lost their meaning in forty years,” since the concepts described by these old words (for example, “horse tram”, “lamplighter”) were abolished by the October Revolution. It was supposed to be forever.
We have no capitalists
And we say again:
The day will come when the whole world
Will forget this word.
As it turned out, the optimism was premature. A word that seems to have sunk into oblivion and turned into historicism is today alive and well and very much held in high esteem. Same as the word "unemployed"
We meet often now
We are the word "unemployed"
What does it mean: kicked out the door,
And you are now free.
Yes, the historical path is winding! You can’t always guess which word will become historicism. Nowadays, this is the Soviet word “collective farm”. Ask the children what a collective farm is? Who needs a collective farm? Why a collective farm? Mr. Twister’s daughter dreamed of “running to the collective farm through the raspberries” - something like that.
Language itself changes
Historicisms are the result of changes in language in keeping with changing life. And there is more archaisms. If translated from ancient Greek, this is exactly what it means: “old words.” Or rather, outdated.
The laws of language are already at work here. Some words that were previously used often, for some reason, began to fade into the background. They were replaced by other words, synonyms. New words have become more familiar and modern, and the old ones seem to have gone into the chest. For a long and good memory.
When did they appear aircrafts heavier than air (and this happened at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century), they were called scientific a foreign word"airplanes". But in 1914, when the First War began World War, patriotism surged in many Russians. Down with foreignness!
Here it flew like a carpet from the pages of Russian fairy tales Russian word"airplane" . It arrived and quite successfully replaced the “airplane”. Now for us “airplane” is an ordinary word, but “airplane” is necessarily an old flying whatnot, an archaism in one word.
By the way, one of the patriotic renamings of 1914 was the renaming of the capital Russian Empire from St. Petersburg to Petrograd. By the way, the Petersburg side of the city, the one opposite the Winter Palace, became the Petrograd side. And, say, if in 1917 some resident of the city on the Neva said “Petersburg,” you could be sure that he was thereby sadly recalling pre-war times. And in Soviet time many Leningraders quite consciously used this anachronism. I don’t want to live in your “cradle of three revolutions”! Let me into my beloved capital of the empire! Many proudly called themselves native Petersburgers. Although, to be honest, how many of those native St. Petersburg residents remained after the revolution, the “Kirov” plantings and the Leningrad blockade?! But all the same, archaism did not go far into the past; that same taste, that same Petersburg, was too sweet to the Leningrad heart.
In 1991, Leningrad was returned to its former imperial name. And Leningrad, where Mr. Twister’s daughter once wanted to go, has already become an anachronism.
gray waters,
Many columns
Smoke filled factories
The sky is darkening.
However, the fight is on with varied success. Many St. Petersburg residents sometimes call themselves Leningraders, commemorating the tragic and difficult times. But most importantly, the times in which they were young. And in general, remember the famous vocal group “Leningrad”, whose name is now a typical archaism.
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 obsolete 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 meaning over time true meaning. 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 stop playing in it important role. 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.