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IN SLOVAK 167 (231)
Projective lexicon of the Russian language January 14, 2007

I thank all the readers who sent me their thoughts on the names of the 20th and 21st centuries (see previous issue - 166 )! I look forward to your further letters. All of them will be published in Dar in early February. I hope that together we will move closer to a more accurate understanding and designation of these centuries.

good and evil (1)

This issue is devoted to how the basics of “good” and “evil” are presented in the vocabulary of the Russian language and what possibilities of new formations there are.

In the Russian language there are almost twice as many words with the primary principle evil- than with the primary principle good- . The most extensive in terms of the number of words, “Big Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” (St. Petersburg, Norint, 2003, 135 thousand words) lists 37 words with the fundamental principle good and 63 with the fundamental principle evil . However, the lack of “good” in the language is compensated by an excess of “good” - 86 words with such a fundamental principle. (As is known, “good” and “good” in many cases act as synonyms, for example, “benevolent” and “benevolent”).

The ratio of these fundamentals was approximately the same in the Russian language of the mid-19th century - but at a completely different quantitative level. The four-volume Dictionary of Church Slavonic and Russian, published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg in 1847, contains 114,749 words, i.e. less than the largest modern dictionary. But moral vocabulary - and the concepts of good, good and evil form the basis of moral consciousness - are represented in it much more extensively. It contains 146 words with the fundamental principle of good , 254 with the fundamental principle of evil , and 644 with the fundamental principle of good . In other words, over one hundred and fifty years, the moral sensitivity of the language, its ability to distinguish and articulate basic ethical concepts, has decreased by almost six times (more precisely, 5.6), from 1044 to 186 words. If we take into account the different volumes of these dictionaries, then the relative place of these concepts in them will be even more obvious: in the Dictionary of 1847 every 110th word begins with these three stems, in the Dictionary of 2003 - every 726th (6.6 times less).

It is surprising how few new words have been added to the Russian language over the past century and a half, as a result of all the revolutions and reactions, wars and crises, scientific progress and social disasters - only 20 thousand. [1] But what is especially striking is the scale of the reduction of those word-formation nests that have been growing for centuries around the most “worldview” roots of the language. Many of the lost words could return to modern language and discover their obsolescence, and perhaps even greater relevance. Good would be easier to perceive and take root, and evil would be more quickly recognized and eradicated, if we had the following words in stock:

kind hearted
доброплодие, доброплодный
kindness, goodness
kindness, love of kindness, good-loving, good-lover
good-natured
good-willed
good word, good word
goodness, benevolent

malice, malicious, malicious
malice, malicious
evildoer, evildoer, evildoer
unscrupulous
malicious, malicious
slanderous, slander
malignant
malicious

Let us pay attention to how asymmetrically the formations from these two roots have been preserved in the language. There are the words “villain” and “to slander”, but “ do-gooder ” and “ to slander ” have been lost, although it is obvious that “ do-gooder ” (doing good, living virtuously) is no less important a concept than “evildoer”. And if it is possible to “slander” a person, then the ability to speak kindly is no less worthy of a word , i.e. speak well, speak well of someone.

On the other hand, some formations with the fundamental principle “good” have been preserved, but their “evil” correspondences have been lost. For example, there is “conscientious”, “good-hearted”, “voluntary” and “benevolent”, but “malicious”, “malicious”, “malicious” and “malicious” have dropped out of the language, although they reflect the deep reality of the human spirit. Many things in the 20th century were done according to conscience, from the whole heart, but conscience itself and the heart itself, it turns out, can be evil. An entire metaphysics of history can be built on the material of the evolution that the lexical composition of the Russian language has undergone over the past centuries.

The revival of lost words and concepts is a noble task; it is partly carried out by A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s “Russian Dictionary of Language Expansion”. We want to explore the possibilities of new formations based on these old roots of good and evil. New formations with the root -good- ( benevolent, good-sinful, beneficial, etc.) have already been discussed in issues 112 , 113 , 114 ; see also Memo for today's issue).

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good - foreshadowing goodness, happiness, good luck, serving as a good omen, inspiring joy, hope.

News and omens can be not only bad, but also good, so “ good ” is just as legitimate a concept as “sinister.”

Good dreams, plans, omens, signs, symbols, signs, stars, traces, voices, ghosts, visions, letters, words, gestures...

I know of only one case of the use of this word, which is still missing from all dictionaries - by the poetess Evdokia Rostopchina (1812 - 1858):
At night I had a good dream ,
He promised joy for today,
My good angel appeared to me,
A cute ghost visited me...
"Happy day"

The rain passed, but the wanderer set out no sooner than the good-natured sign appeared.
the rainbow

He scratched the back of his head - a good-natured gesture: it means he is in no hurry to refuse, he is thinking, considering the possibilities.

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kind-memorable - mindful of goodness, one who remembers good things.

Dahl gives this word with the meaning “who has a good, sharp memory.” But it seems that the word “memorable” itself already expresses this meaning, and “ memorable ” is one who remembers good things.

Ivan Sergeevich is very kind : as soon as I entered, he reminded me of a small favor that I did him about twenty years ago.

memorable - remembered well, worthy of a good memory, something about which a good memory is preserved.

I owe a lot to my first editor. Our memorable meeting took place in 1973.

Let us note the difference between the words “memorable” (about someone who remembers) and “memorable” (about what they remember). In the same way, one should distinguish between words that are now used as synonyms: vindictive - remembering evil, and vindictive - remembered as evil, remembered as evil. This is the difference between the original adjectives: memorable - one who remembers; memorable - one that is remembered. The corresponding difference between the subject suffix -liv- and the objective suffix -n- has already been explained in issue 96 (cf. thrifty - spare , prudent - calculated ).

One should also distinguish between the words “memorable” - that which is worthy of memory, and “ memorable ” - that which is remembered well. Horrors, atrocities, violence, misfortune can be memorable. And only good things are remembered . The Holocaust is a memorable event, but not a memorable one

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good-speaking - one who speaks well of people, does not denigrate anyone, does not condemn anyone.

good-tongued - a tendency to speak well of everything and everyone, without uttering words of condemnation.

They say: he has an “evil tongue.” But there are also good languages.
Good language is a great, although rare, virtue.

Ignatius Ippolitovich never said a bad word about anyone in his life. I don’t know if he was kind-hearted, but he was kind-tongued .

Good-tonguing and evil-tonguing are not always direct witnesses of good and evil. Molchalin was good-tongued , Chatsky was evil-tongued .

(The ending of "Good and Evil" is in the next issue)

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1. To compare different periods in the dynamics of language development: the academic dictionary of 1794 contained 43,257 words; academic dictionary 1822 - 51,388 words; V. Dahl's dictionary 1880 (2nd ed.) - about 200,000 words.

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About the fate of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
The European Parliament is going to demand that Turkey restore Hagia Sophia as a functioning Greek Orthodox church (now a museum).
To make this a condition for Turkey to join the European Union, one million signatures are required. Anyone can sign their name at:
http://www.hagiasophiablog.com/contact-secure.php
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My publications from 2006 , with reference to the texts.

Books:
Philosophy of the body . St. Petersburg: Aletheya, 2006, 194 pp.

Word and silence. Metaphysics of Russian Literature . M., Higher School, 2006, 559 pp.

Great Owl. Soviet mythology. Samara: Bakhrakh-M, 2006, 268 pp.

Constructive potential of the humanities (in Russian and English). Series Foreign scientists at the Russian State University for the Humanities. M., Russian State University for the Humanities, 2006, 74 pp.

Articles:
Theology of the Book of Job . "Star", 12, 2006

Thoughts in numbers. Russia and the West in Internet mirrors . "Star", 10, 2006.

Types of new words: Experience of classification . "Topos", 5 Dec. 2006; Portal Gramma.ru , Dec. 2006.

Anaphrase: a linguistic phenomenon and literary device . "Literature Issues", September-October, 2006.

Eros of civilization. The irony of desire and the end of the story. "Questions of Philosophy", 10, 2006, 55-68.

Personal code: the experience of self-description. In the book. "Humanities today: materials of the scientific conference 10/30-31/2006," ed. Yu. S. Stepanova. M., Institute of Linguistics, 2006, 16 pp.

About soulfulness . "Star", 8, 2006.

Love names. Introduction to erotonymy. "October", 7, 2006.

Towards the aesthetics of love. Talents. Genres. Styles . "Star", 6, 2006.

On the philosophy of age. The fractality of life and the periodic table of ages . "Star", 4, 2006.

About the properties of the mind . "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" (Ex Libris), March 16, 2006

Zero cycle of the century. Explosion - explosive style of the 2000s "Zvezda", 2, 2006.

The language of existence by Andrei Platonov. "Questions of Literature", 2, 2006.

Four components of love . "Man", 2, 2006

Russian language in the light of creative philology . "Znamya", 1, 2006, 192-207.

Oedipus complex of Soviet civilization . "New World", 1, 2006.

Interview:
Culture is the transmigration of souls. .. Interview with M. Klimova.
Word/Word, 50, April 2006.

Mikhail Epstein: multiplication of entities . Interview with A. Nilogov.
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Aphorism

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Book of Proverbs of Solomon, 18:22.

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Memo

good sinner - one who commits a sin with good intentions.

Our good people did not seek profit or glory for themselves, but shed their own and others’ blood for the good of the people, as they understood it.

Benevolent - one who, thanks to or contrary to his good intentions, causes boredom, induces melancholy.

Benevolence is one of Chekhov’s main themes, reaching its apotheosis in the images of progressives Petya Trofimov (“The Cherry Orchard”) and Lida Volchaninova (“House with a Mezzanine”).

blessed - one who is lazy with good intentions or consequences; to whom laziness benefits, whom it colors and elevates.

The main prototype of our blessed Ivan Ilyich Oblomov was his author. I. A. Goncharov wrote to Yu. D. Efremova (Aug. 20, 1849) about his stay in Simbirsk: “Here I finally comprehended the poetry of laziness, and this is the only poetry to which I will be faithful until the grave...” How do you remember that poetry of labor and struggle, which later came from another Ilyich from the same Volga city, you will inevitably begin to appreciate such unassuming blessings .

(issue 113 )
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“The word controls the brain, the brain controls the hands, hands control the kingdoms” (Velimir Khlebnikov).
network project Mikhail Epstein's "The Gift of Words" has been published since April 2000. Every week, subscribers are sent several new words, with definitions and examples of use. These words are not in any dictionary, and yet they denote significant phenomena and concepts for which there has not yet been a place in the language and public consciousness. "Dar" also conducts discussions about the Russian language, discusses letters and suggestions from readers. “The Gift” can serve as a guide to word creation, an introduction to the world of linguistic fantasies and mental technologies. All previous issues

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PreDictionary - a collection of English neologisms by M. Epstein.

Association of Word and Term Finders ( AIST ) is a linguistic community on LiveJournal.

The future of the humanities is the community in LiveJournal.

Gramma. ru is a Runet language portal dedicated to the culture of written speech.