Kolesnikova S.M., Eremenko N.G.

 

Genesis and semantic dynamics in Russian religious lexicon: diachronic and synchronic aspects. Pp. 91–103.

 

UDC 811.161.1´373:2

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2026.90.1.009

 

Abstract. The article examines the genesis and semantic dynamics of Russian religious vocabulary in diachronic and synchronic perspectives. The material embraces the lexemes vera ‘faith,’ grekh ‘sin,’ molitva ‘prayer,’ pokayanie ‘repentance,’ spasenie ‘salvation,’ blagodat’ ‘grace,’ svyatost ‘holiness,’ dusha ‘soul,’ angel ‘angel,’ dyavol ‘devil,’ khram ‘temple,’ krest ‘cross,’ ikona ‘icon,’ prichastie ‘communion,’ and zapoved’ ‘commandment.’ The study traces the main stages of the semantic evolution: from the sacred core inherent in Old Russian and Church Slavonic traditions to modern metaphorical and gradational-evaluative uses. The theoretical framework relies on V. V. Kolesov’s concept of the spiritual imagery of the word and its “rootedness” in cultural memory, as well as on Yu. P. Solodub’s approach to semantic evolution and axiological dynamics. The analysis incorporates lexicographic evidence (the Historical and Etymological Dictionary by P. Ya. Chernykh; G. Dyachenko’s Church Slavonic Dictionary; explanatory dictionaries by V. I. Dal, S. I. Ozhegov, T. F. Efremova, et al.), and linguistic data from the Russian National Corpus (RNC) and contemporary mass media. The research identifies the types of semantic shifts (broadening, narrowing, metaphorization, desacralization) and proposes a classification of religious vocabulary according to the degree of semantic stability. It is shown that the processes of secularization and desacralization do not eliminate the sacred layer but lead to its coexistence with worldly and pragmatic levels of meaning.

 

Keywords: axiological dynamics, desacralization, genesis, historical semantics, media discourse, religious vocabulary, sacred semantics, semantic dynamics.

 

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