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This paper analyzes the Russian lexeme бабочка, offering to interpret it as an onomatopoeic word, connected by means of reduplication to the dialectal бякать ‘to beat, to hit'. The paper also discusses the word оелобрысыіі ‘tow-haired’, which is problematic from the point of view of etymology. Developing V. Orel’s hypothesis, the author offers to interpret this word as ‘covered with white; sprinkled with white’, connected to the interjection брысь ‘shoo’ and to the verb бросать ‘to throw’. The paper pays particular attention to the semantic and derivational aspects of the etymology of the word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Paper is intented to analyze the lexical and semantic Polonisms identified in "The Translator's Explication” and “The Preface to the Reader”, which precede the text of the Psalter 1683 in the translation of A. Firsov. The publication deals with 29 lexemes with 18 of them being lexical borrowings. In two cases, they are not direct borrowings (cf. глупый and читатель), but, most probably, are the result of the stimulating influence of the Polish language. According to the author, 11 words under analysis can be called semantic Polonisms. The paper also defines the role of the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the process of the borrowing of these lexical elements. On the basis of the results of the analysis of the corpus, the author also touches upon the question of the translator’s personality which has remained debatable up to the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses the Russian lexemes гopлoпaН 'shouter, bawler' and КpЬlca 'rat', which are problematic from the point of view of etymology. The word ƨopлonaН can be explained as a compound, connected by grade haplology to Russian dialectal лonamь 'to shout' and ƨopлo 'throat': ƨopлonaН = ƨopлo-лon-aН > ƨopлonahН (because of expressivity). The Russian word Кpьlca is seen as an expressive doublet to Slavic gryz-. The paper is based on historical and lexicological material, and uses dialectal examples that ensure the reliability of conclusions. The author pays particular attention to the semantic, phonetic, and derivational aspects of the etymology of the word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author aims to present the concept of a glossary of Russian colour names. Its working file-card catalogue totals up to more than 2,500 dictionary units. This paper is intended to contribute to the enrichment of the colour palette and colour vocabulary presented in colour atlases, scales, tables, and catalogues published earlier in Russian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of this paper examines what position the most prominent 12th-century Russian ecclesiastic writer and orator, the author of numerous festal speeches and parables, Cyril of Turov takes up on and what aesthetic value he attributes to ecclesiastic feasts. In the paper, it is also studied why he considers it important and 'soul-saving' to read and to know sacred books while he also speaks of the psychology of reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Tolstoy's ideological and religious turn is often mentioned in the special literature, the turn in his poetics is hardly ever. The present study focuses on the latter phenomenon. After the turn in his ideology and poetics, Tolstoy searched for such new forms to express his moral and philosophical thoughts as the legend, the apologue, the parable, the hagiography and the confession, etc. He elaborated such a comprehensive form of the short story which approaches the novelette in its length but condenses the conflict in a dramatic manner at the same time. The works to be analyzed here are the following: What Men Live By?, How Much Land Does a Man Need?, Father Sergey, Master and Man, Posthumous Papers of the Elder Fedor Kuzmich, The False Coupon. It is possible to understand the deeper meaning of these parables only if one is able to discover the archetypal mythemes in the deep structure of the concrete text, and trace them back to their primal form, which universalizes the mystery of resurrection for the receiver. The conclusion of this paper is that Tolstoy considered self-improvement a universal law, with the help of which man can learn truth and transform it into living practice: aletheia turns into ethos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show how communal apartments were perceived by many authors of Russian songs. The analysis of these texts proves that communal apartments clearly characterize Soviet everyday life. Communal apartments can be called a Soviet microcosm, a non-idealized portrayal of Soviet society in miniature that represents the invasion of individual life. Communal apartments were Stalin’s institute of social control. The forms of communal life left significant imprints on the mentality of Soviet people, causing their moral deformation. The analyzed songs express memories of Soviet citizens. Communal apartments are shown: 1) as a manifestation of negative features of collective mentality; 2) as a model of common life with justice, peace, and social equality; 3) as a place of forced communication with neighbours. The songs of communal apartments became part of collective memory and they affect the representation of listeners, forming their image of Soviet everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a semantic study of Russian verbs relating to computer interface, this paper explores structural metaphors of computer discourse organizing the perception of the computer and the Internet as well as forming its linguistic image. Four metaphors are discussed: 1. Computer is a special world; 2. Computer is a mechanism; 3. Computer is a book (library); 4. Computer is a living being. These metaphors are shown to function both independently and in interplay within the same text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on a single Russian verb вскричать. This verb was the object of statistical analysis of lexical vocabulary changes in 19th-century Russian prose by A. Shaikevich (2013). His paper presents the results of the analysis of small historical corpora. The size of the corpus is about 25 million words. Shaikevich’s statistical data have shown that this verb had almost disappeared by the end of the 19th century. In our study, the analysis of the historical and modern usage of the verb вскричать was done with the help of the large Russian National Corpus (230 million words), and all the examples were taken from 19th- and 20th-century texts. Our analysis has shown that this verb was very frequent in the language of some writers (e.g. F. Dostoyevsky), while L. Tolstoy did not use it at all. In the 20th century, the verb вскричать became quite frequent again for numerous writers. In recent times, poets and journalists have also used it as a marked stylistic device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the issue of using Latin and “Slavensky” (Russian and Church Slavonic) languages in the primary' ecclesiastical education in the 18th century. By the 1740s, seminary education in Latin had established itself in Russia. But primary teaching of reading and writing in Russian and Church Slavonic remained traditional until the end of the 18th century, regardless of where the teaching was taking place: at home or at a Russian school at a seminary. The Russian schools were organised for teaching illiterate or semiliterate child­ren. But by the end of the 18th century, several seminaries attempted to reorganise them into ecclesiastical schools where Russian would be the only language of instruction. Junior classes at seminaries were fully focused on teaching Latin, however, Latin was by no means a complete replacement for Russian. The main method of instruction was translation, and the administra­tions of many seminaries demanded attention to the quality of students’ translations into Rus­sian. Therefore, Russian and Latin were functionally distributed in primary education. Only the Church Slavonic language was practically excluded from teaching after the primary courses of reading and church singing, and it preconditioned its conservation as a language used only for church services and led to the extinction of the hybrid form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]