Resignation: Expressive Semantic Evolution of a Borrowing and a Precedent Name
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-10-125-146
Abstract
This article explores the narrowly used borrowing from French, résignation (with Russian graphic variants rezinyatsiya and rezignatsiya), which paradoxically combines features of exoticism, neologism, and archaism in contemporary Russian. The evolution of this lexeme, denoting a particular psychological state, is traced on Russian soil — from its introduction into the Russian in the late 18th century via German transit, spurred by the popularity of Schiller’s eponymous elegy among the progressive Russian intelligentsia, to its attainment of the status of a precedent name and its additional semantic nuances and connotations in the works of I. S. Turgenev and other domestic writers. The article analyzes possible reasons for the decline of this lexeme, which failed to enter active usage and instead receded into passive vocabulary: the lack of a uniform Cyrillic spelling variant, the absence of a productive word formation family, an aura of elitism, and associative links to roots in Russian words such as rezat’ (to cut) and rezkiy (sharp), resulting in a phonetic disadvantage compared to Russian synonyms like pokornost’ (submission) and smireniye (humility).
About the Authors
A. V. Sharavin
Bryansk State Academician I. G. Petrovski University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Andrey V. Sharavin, Doctor of Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Russian, Foreign Literature and Mass Communications
Bryansk
O. E. Voronichev
Bryansk State Academician I. G. Petrovski University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Oleg E. Voronichev, Doctor of Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Elementary Education Methodology and Educational Management
Bryansk
I. L. Startseva
Bryansk State Academician I. G. Petrovski University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Irina L. Startseva, PhD of Pedagogy, Associate Professor, Department of Russian, Foreign Literature and Mass Communications
Bryansk
References
1. Arslanov, V. G. (2007). Postmodernism and the Russian “third way”. Moscow: Kulturnaya Respublika. 656 p. ISBN 5-250-06004-8. (In Russ.).
2. Bakhtin, M. M. (2008). Collected works. “Francois Rabelais in the history of the Republic” (1940). Materials for the book about Rabelais (1930s—1950s). Memoirs and appendices, 4 (1). Moscow: Languages of Slavic Culture. 1120 p. ISBN 5-89216-010-6. (In Russ.).
3. Baranova, K. I., Fomin, A. A. (2010). Kys in “Kisi”: The semantic potential of a literary onym and the mechanisms of its implementation. Questions of onomastics, 2 (9): 5—40. (In Russ.).
4. Barth, R. (1989). From the work to the text. In: Selected works: Semiotics. Poetics. Moscow: Progress. 616 p. (In Russ.).
5. Danilevsky, R. Y. (2010). Ivan Turgenev and Friedrich Schiller (To the 250th anniversary of the birth of the German poet). Spassky Vestnik, 18: 91—103. (In Russ.).
6. Dergacheva, I. V. (2021). The transition period in science “The Great investor”. Problems of historical science, 19 (2): 125—140. DOI: 10.15393/j9.art.2021.9622. (In Russ.).
7. Epishkin, N. I. (2010). Historical dictionary of gallicisms of the Russian language. Moscow: ETS. 5140 p. (In Russ.).
8. Gudkov, D. B. (2003). Theory and practice of intercultural communication. Moscow: Gnosis. 288 p. ISBN 5-94244-007-7. (In Russ.).
9. Karaulov, Yu. N. (2019). Russian language and linguistic personality. Ed. Stratip. Moscow: BIBLIOTEKA. 264 p. ISBN 978-5-397-06618-1. (In Russ.).
10. Krasnykh, V. V. (2002). Sociology and linguoculturology: a course of lectures. Moscow: Gnosis. 284 p. ISBN 5-94244-009-3. (In Russ.).
11. Krasnykh, V. V. (2003). Who is among you: us or the republic? Moscow: Gnosis. 375 p. ISBN 5-94244-004-2. (In Russ.).
12. Kuzmina, N. A. (2018). Intertext: a theme with variations: phenomena of language and culture in intertextual interpretation. Ed. 2nd, ispr. and add. Moscow: BIBLIOGRAF. 271 p. ISBN 978-5-397-06338-8. (In Russ.).
13. Mikhnovets, N. G. (2007). Precedent works and precedent themes, their place and role in the work of F. M. Dostoevsky. Author’s abstract of Doct. Diss. St. Petersburg. 45 p. (In Russ.).
14. Nakhimova, E. A. (2007). Precedent names in mass communication. Yekaterinburg: Ural State Pedagogical University. 207 p. ISBN 5-7186-0238-X. (In Russ.).
15. Protsenko, E. A. (2006). On the problem of classification of vocabulary of foreign language origin. Bulletin of the VSU. The series “Linguistics and intercultural communication”, 2: 92—99. (In Russ.).
16. Tirgen, P. (2015). Images of the Arcade in Russian literature of the XVIII—XIX centuries. Imagology and comparative studies, 2 (4): 69—110. DOI: 10.17223/24099554/4/4. (In Russ.).
17. Zakharov, A. G. (2019). Intersystemic vocabulary in the Russian language of the second half of the XIX century. (based on the material of I. S. Turgenev’s letters). Bulletin of the VSU. The series “Philology. Journalism”, 3: 22—24. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Sharavin A.V., Voronichev O.E., Startseva I.L. Resignation: Expressive Semantic Evolution of a Borrowing and a Precedent Name. Nauchnyi dialog. 2024;13(10):125-146. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-10-125-146
Views:
893
Email this article 