“To serve faithfully”: Stable verbal complexes of the Russian language of the 16–17 centuries

UDC 811.161.1`3"15/16"(02)
DOI 10.20339/PhS.2-26.167

Nikitin Oleg V., 

Doctor of Philology,

Professor of the Russian Language Department

Petrozavodsk State University

e-mail: olnikitin@yandex.ru

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2815-6691

The article presents a book review: Generalova E.V., Zinovieva E.I. The origins of Russian phraseology: Stable combinations of the language of business and everyday communication in Moscovite Rus’ of the 16–17 centuries: monograph (St. Petersburg: Publishing and printing association of higher educational institutions, 2024. 462 p.). The review article examines the problem of studying the phraseological fund of the initial period of the formation of the national Russian language (16–17 centuries). Attention is drawn to the need to develop the principles of lexicographic description of this material and to attract new sources of business speech and everyday communication to recreate the linguistic worldview of that time. To this end, the achievements of modern linguists E.V. Generalova and E.I. Zinovieva, created a project for a differentiated phraseological dictionary of the Russian language of the 16–17 centuries, are analyzed. The emphasis is placed on the fact that stable expressions in the texts of this period have not been studied well enough. In many cases, the dates of the idioms’ appearance have not been clarified, and there is no competent analysis of semasiology and stylistics, the structure of the formation of such formulas, their historical and cultural connotations and usage characteristics. The authors undertook a classification of stable verbal complexes and gave a typological description of the phraseological fond of the Old Russian language. Their concept, based on a rich tradition of phraseological description of vocabulary and including innovative ideas, deserves attention: clearer principles of systematization of idioms, a differentiated approach to the analysis of stable combinations, extensive historical and cultural commentary of lexical material. Trial dictionary entries are offered, including idioms, stereotypical formulas, terminological and prepositional-case combinations. A general assessment of the historical and phraseological dictionary of a new type is given. It is stated that the presented material is an important source for studying the linguistic processes of the formation of the folk literary tradition and determining the role of phraseology as an integral element of the mental and linguistic system of the Russian language. It is argued that the ideas outlined have great theoretical and practical significance and can be applied in description of the system of medieval idioms and compiling of historical linguistic dictionaries

Keywords: Muscovite Rus’, phraseology, Old Russian language, juridical writing, folk literary language, classification of stable verbal complexes, historical phraseography

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