Archaisms and historicisms - what is the difference between them? Cultural value of ancient vocabulary.

The average high school student is often confused in terminology, trying to answer the question of how archaisms differ from historicisms. These groups of words are obsolete and belong to the passive vocabulary. However, archaisms and historicisms can still be found in fiction and cinema, so it would be useful to find out the difference between them.

Features and examples of archaisms

Depending on why this or that lexeme has become obsolete, they are divided into archaisms and historicisms. The difference is that the former include words denoting objects, phenomena, processes and concepts, existing and currently. For some reason, most often not related to the language itself, they are replaced by more modern counterparts. The process of emergence of archaisms is called archaization. In art, imitation of the style of antiquity is called archaism.

Consequently, any archaism has a synonym in modern Russian. For example: instead of the old Russian “sail”, “sail” is currently used, instead of “memory” - “memory”, instead of the union “kol” - the union “if”.

Depending on what exactly is outdated in what makes up the word: the whole word, a separate word-forming morpheme, meaning or sound - archaisms are divided into several groups:

Characteristics and originality of historicisms

Historicisms are called speech units denoting phenomena that have completely disappeared from our lives. Usually, they are an attribute of a certain era and die with her. No phenomenon - no concept. This is how historicism can be characterized.

In the study of historicisms, it is no coincidence that one speaks of concepts and not of words. After all, they are preserved in historical sources, archives, letters. Some of them can mimic. So, "elbow", which was a measure of length, began to denote a part of the body. The state institution “order” died along with the institution, however, the lexeme “order” exists in modern Russian in the meaning of “instruction, assignment”. The word "throw away" has lost the meaning of "to put up for sale a product that is in short supply."

Historicisms are preserved in the language as a tribute to the era. In historicism and archaism, the difference lies precisely in the presence or absence of synonyms. Thus, historicisms do not and cannot have synonyms, because the phenomena, concepts, processes and objects that they denoted cannot be brought back to life. This is the main difference between archaisms and historicisms.

Historisms can also be divided into several groups:

In polysemic words, one or more meanings can become historicism. For example, "people" in the sense of "servant" are morally obsolete and are not used, while it is quite suitable for denoting the plural for the lexeme "person".

The role of obsolete words in modern language

Obsolete words are present in the passive vocabulary of any language, no matter Russian, English or Portuguese. Archaisms are often used in works of art, poetry and prose. Such words fill text in color, convey the characteristic features of the era, serve as a means of enhancing artistry. Give solemnity.

Historicisms are also used in works of fiction. They are used to realistically recreate the era in which the action of the work unfolds, they are introduced both into the description of the surrounding phenomena and into the dialogues of the characters.

A broader interpretation of the very word "historicism" is also acceptable. It can denote the principle of accurately reflecting the reality of a certain historical era without the subjectivity of descendants and contemporaries in order to objectively convey reality. There is also such a thing as "historicism of the word."

From obsolete words, you can make a separate dictionary. Even though they belong to the inactive vocabulary of ours, and indeed of any language, archaisms and historicisms still make up its flavor, giving the language unique features.

The term HISTORICISM is understood as the words of a passive vocabulary, which serve as the only expression of the corresponding concepts. If necessary, to name some already disappeared phenomenon, object, thing, etc., we willy-nilly resort to historicism, because in the modern Russian literary language they have no synonyms. Historicisms in the novel by A.N. Tolstoy "Peter I", for example, are the words boyar, coachman, steward, falconer, altyn, epancha, feryaz (men's long-skirted dress), chain mail, homemade gun, squeaker, unicorn (kind of cannon), etc.

historicisms- the names of obsolete things, phenomena, concepts that are not found in modern reality. These may be the names of old household items: armyak, camisole, letnik, epancha(types of vintage clothes), brother, endova(types of dishes), sbiten(kind of hot drink) svetets(stand for a torch that illuminates housing); names of socio-political phenomena of the past, ranks, positions, etc.: zemstvo, kravchy, serfdom, mozhordomo, clerk, steward, titular councilor etc.: the name of the types of ancient weapons, items of military equipment: boots, unicorn(kind of gun) cuirass, chain mail, squeaker, shestoper etc.

A special place among obsolete social and political terms is occupied by words that arose in the Soviet era and have already become historicisms: Budyonovets, Kombed, educational program, NEP, food detachment, food appropriation, dispossession, revolutionary committee and others. Many words of this type in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language, ed. D.N. Ushakov have a double litter: new, ( new), history(historical).

Historicisms are used in various styles of the literary language to denote concepts of a particular era, for example: Performancearchers was accompanied by a broad popular movement ...Orders empty.Boyars anddyaki fled(tutorial): and On the day of the Battle of Borodino, the famous cavalry of Marshal Murat in vain covered their bodies in ironcuirasses (metal armor on the chest and back) Russiansflushes andredoubts … (A.N.T.); At this time, several people ranhorns ... The bear, alarmed by the noise, hid in the forest, they ran after himyard (Cost.).

§ 3. Archaisms

Name archaisms comes from the Greek word archaios- "ancient" - these are outdated names of modern things, phenomena, etc. In the vocabulary of the modern Russian literary language, next to them must necessarily exist, and there are synonyms that are words of active use ( fishing- hunting, voyage- travel, koi,- which, Baltic- Baltic complacency- complacency side- curtain, piit- poet, etc.)

Archaisms include, for example, words in A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter": "Where is passport?(Chapter 1); “I had a dream that I could never forget and in which I still see something prophetic when I think(= compare) with him the strange circumstances of my life” (Chapter 2); “I was in that state of feeling and soul when materiality(= reality), yielding to dreams, merges with them in obscure visions of the first dream” (Chapter 2); " counselor(= conductor) mine blinked significantly…” (chapter 2);

If the reasons for the departure of words from active use to the composition of historicisms are always completely clear and do not require any special explanations, then establishing the reasons for the transformation of words from the fact of an active vocabulary into archaisms, the reasons for the displacement, replacement of one word with another is, as a rule, a very difficult matter.

It is quite clear to us why, for example, the words caftan, policeman, petition and others have turned into historicisms (objects, phenomena, things, etc., corresponding to them, have disappeared); on the contrary, special linguistic research is required in order to answer the question why words finger, this, forehead, hitherto, will were forced out of active use by the words finger, this, forehead, until now, if they have thus turned into archaisms.

Depending on whether the whole word is obsolete as a certain sound complex that has a certain meaning, or only its semantic meaning turned out to be obsolete, archaisms can be divided into several types, depending on how they differ from the corresponding modern words.

Lexico-phonetic in which the sound image of the word is obsolete. The word, however, is easily recognizable, since the changes usually concern one or two sounds or stress, for example: room- modern room, eighteen- modern eighteen, Chechuncha and chesuncha- modern itchy, epigraph- modern epigraph and others: Levin could no longer listen to the second number of the concert(L.T.); The gentleman was dressed in a freshly ironed chunchuncho pair(Ch.); He's wearing a new chesunchi shirt(M.G.); There is nothing more tempting in the world than a walk through a familiar city at the age of eighteen.(Leon); He knew enough Latin to parse epigraphs(P.)

Some lexico-phonetic archaisms are obsolete only as separate words, but are found in modern words as roots. These are the words belt and room, preserved in words to explain, to enumerate which are not archaisms. The same, of course, should be said about many Old Church Slavonicisms: chill(cf. coolness), shore(cf. coastal), hail(cf. urban planning), etc.

Archaisms lexical and derivational - these are words that are obsolete only in some morphological part (most often in the suffix: nervous- modern nervous, pencil- modern pencil, rubber- modern rubber, compete- modern compete, etc.): Everything bounces off him like a rubber ball bounces off a wall.(G), What are you, brother, a nervous person(T), Critics, responding to the interests of the public, trying, competing with each other, wrote more and more articles about Shakespeare(L.T.), Pencil portraits of Lyuba(Lesk.).

Archaisms proper lexical - these are words that are obsolete in their entirety, and not in some part ( apples- pupils, eyes; cheeks- cheeks; host- a collection, a large number; finger- finger, etc.): Black eyes faded(T.), I see pale cheeks and catch swan steps(Bl.), But still I'm happy: in the host of storms, I made unique impressions(Es.), Make sure that this hellish finger of official preference never stops on you again.(L.L.).

Semantic archaisms are words used in an obsolete sense. Word presence, for example, does not seem obsolete to us: Your presence is required. But when we read in Leo Tolstoy: The next day, a letter from my wife was brought to my presence., - we understand that the author used a noun here presence in meaning "public institution". In this sense, the word presence and is semantic archaism. Other examples of semantic archaisms: Nothing that he is tired and unwell yet, that it is as if he is climbing the sixth dwelling(Tyn.); housing- floor; And gloomy old age lay like dust on the cheeks of the road(Bl.): dust- the smallest particles of something, dust; There is a pure young man, in expensive cloth, clear buttons(A.T.): clear- brilliant.

Phraseological archaisms - these are outdated stable combinations of words, idioms, sayings ( lamb in paper- a bribe coca with juice- wealth, fortune; with all honors- with everything that is required): This city is good, profitable, just the future hubby of coca with juice is making money(S.-SH.); If I buy myself a farm, then I will arrange a real library for myself there, with all the honors(Ch.); I think that there was a lamb in a piece of paper here: they must have put it in someone who should(Kupr.).

In the texts we read, there are also grammatical archaisms. Word piano, for example, was once feminine: And on the obedient piano hands lay domineeringly, plucking sounds like flowers(Bl.). Word swan was used as a feminine noun not only by Pushkin: Look - a white swan swims over flowing waters, but also by the Soviet poet I. Zabolotsky: Beauty, maiden, savage - a high swan swims. Genitive plural of the word cloud F. Tyutchev - cloud(modern clouds): There are many clouds in the sky.

Active and passive composition of vocabulary.

Changes in the life of society (political, social, economic, cultural) are reflected in the language, primarily in its vocabulary

In the process of historical development, the language undergoes semantic transformations of words: the appearance of new meanings in the word and the loss of old ones (change of meanings).

Thus, there are two layers of words in the language:

1.Active vocabulary. This includes popular and commonly used words that do not have (regardless of the time of their appearance) a shade of obsolescence or novelty.

The vocabulary of the active composition includes the words:

a) neutral, common : table, chair, new, good, me, he, five, ten, write, work, tomorrow, in, on;

b) book words : coming, predominance, inexhaustible, approbate, extremely;

in ) terms : subject, predicate, molecule, proportion, hypotenuse;

G) emotionally expressive words : friend, cute, little house, little boy;

e) words expressing reciprocal concepts : research, movement, honesty, Oblomovism, brotherhood;

e) professionalism : scalpel, veneer, bar, lattice (in the speech of lumberjacks).

2. Passive vocabulary. This includes rarely used words that either recently entered the vocabulary and have not yet become the property of the general literary language, or denote objects that have passed away or are dying out of life, phenomena of reality.

Words fall out of the active stock for a variety of reasons. The main ones are:

1. The disappearance of objects and phenomena that these words denoted before. So in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the advent of the tram, there was a city railway with horse traction. She was called horse. With the advent of the tram, this road disappeared, and the word “konka” was forgotten.

Military historicisms have long gone out of use: chain mail, squeaker; social: smerd, boyar, guardsman.

2. Replacing some words with others (synonyms).

semo - “here”, ovamo - “there”, others - “which”, so that.

Depending on the reasons why a particular word belongs to the category of obsolete, historicisms, archaisms are distinguished.

historicisms - these are words that have gone out of active use in our speech due to the disappearance of objects and phenomena that they previously designated.

The process of obsolescence of certain words can be very fast. For example, many words that arose in the Soviet era have become historicisms: kombed (committee of the poor), tax in kind, NEP, this is evidenced by the book of N.M. Shansky "Words born in October".

V.V. Mayakovsky perfectly notes the transition of words from active, lively vocabulary to the category of historicisms due to changes in social conditions:

Grandchildren will ask: - What is a capitalist?

How are the children now: - What is this policeman?

Historicisms are quite diverse thematic groups:

1. names of ancient clothes: zipun, camisole, caftan, kokoshnik;

2.names of monetary units: altyn, grosh;

3.names of titles: boyar, count, prince;

4. names of officials: policeman, landowner, clerk;

5.names of the gun: pishchal, pistoler;

6.administrative names: volost, province, county.

The second group of obsolete words are archaisms.

archaisms call words that have gone out of active use due to the fact that they have been replaced by synonymous words: in other words archaisms - these are obsolete words and phrases (from the Greek archaios - ancient).

Unlike historicisms, archaisms denote objects and phenomena that exist in modern life, have not left it, but have a modern name (mouth, ax, etc.).

Archaisms always have synonymous correspondences in modern language.

Here are examples of archaisms from different categories of significant and functional words:

a) nouns: shepherd - shepherd, finger - finger, forehead - forehead;

b) adjectives: prophetic - foreseeing, pitch - external;

in) pronouns: this - this, this - that;

G) numerals: twelve - 20, far away - 27;

d ) Verbs: to advocate - to achieve;

e ) adverbs: day, night

conjunctions: for, in order; prepositions: after - through.

Depending on whether the whole word, the meaning of the word, the phonetic design of the word or a separate word-formation morpheme becomes obsolete, archaisms are divided into several groups:

1. Actually lexical archaisms - these are words that have completely fallen out of use and passed into the passive vocabulary:

aki - like piit - a poet

eye - eye thief - thief

swindler - accuser swindler - dreamer

2. Lexico-semantic archaisms are words that have one or more meanings outdated:

belly - life scoundrel - unfit for military service

idol - statue shelter - port, pier

verb - word

3. Lexico-phonetic archaisms - these are words in which, as a result of historical development, the sound design has changed, but the meaning of the word has been completely preserved:

climber - seducer creator - creator

mirror - mirror iroism - heroism

eighteen - eighteen passport - passport

4. Lexical and derivational archaisms - these are words in which individual morphemes or a word-formation model are outdated:

dol - valley friendship - friendship

fisherman - fisherman fantasy - fantasy

belotok - protein rottenness - rottenness

special group constitute accentological archaisms - words that have changed stress: music, suffix, philosopher.

The archaization of words is not related to their origin. May become obsolete:

1) native Russian words: so that, lie, outcast;

2) old Slavonicisms: smooth, one, green, child;

3) borrowed: nature - nature, satisfaction - satisfaction, sikurs - help.

Depending on the reasons why a particular word belongs to the category of obsolete, historicisms and archaisms are distinguished.

historicisms

- these are words that have fallen into disuse because the objects and phenomena that they denoted have disappeared from life.
Historicisms do not have synonyms, since this is the only designation of the disappeared concept and the object or phenomenon behind it.
Historicisms are quite diverse thematic groups of words:
1) Names of ancient clothes: zipun, camisole, caftan, kokoshnik, zhupan, shushun, etc.;
2) Names of monetary units: altyn, grosh, polushka, hryvnia, etc.;
3) Names of titles: boyar, nobleman, king, count, prince, duke, etc.;
4) Names of officials: city governor, clerk, constable, etc.;
5) Names of weapons: pishchal, shestoper, unicorn (cannon), etc.;
6) Administrative names: volost, county, district, etc.
For polysemantic words, one of the meanings can become historicism. For example, the word people has the following meanings:
1) Plural of the noun man;
2) Other, strangers to someone;
3) Persons used in any case, personnel;
4) Servant, worker in a manor house.
The word people in the first three meanings is included in the active dictionary. The fourth meaning of this word is outdated, so we have semantic historicism, which forms the lexeme human in the meaning of "the room in which the servant lives."

Archaisms

- these are words denoting concepts, objects, phenomena that exist at the present time; for various (primarily extralinguistic) reasons, archaisms were forced out of active use by other words.
Consequently, archaisms have synonyms in modern Russian, for example: sail (n.) - sail., Psyche (n.) - soul; Overseas (adj.) - foreign; Koi (pronoun) - which; This (pronoun) - this one; Poelku (union) - because, etc.
Depending on whether the whole word, the meaning of the word, the phonetic design of the word or a separate word-forming morpheme becomes obsolete, archaisms are divided into several groups:
1) Proper lexical archaisms are words that have completely fallen out of use and have passed into a passive vocabulary: lzya - you can; thief - thief; aki—how; piit - a poet; maiden - teenager, etc.
2) Lexico-semantic archaisms are words that have one or more meanings obsolete:
Belly - “life” (not on the stomach, but to beat to death); Itukan - "statue";
Scoundrels - "unfit for military service"; Shelter - "port, pier", etc.
3) Lexico-phonetic archaisms are words in which, as a result of historical development, the sound design (sound shell) has changed, but the meaning of the word has been preserved in full:
Mirror - mirror;
Iroism - heroism;
Eighteen - eighteen;
Passport - passport;
Calm - style (poetic), etc.
A special group is made up of accentological archaisms - that is, words whose stress has changed (from Latin Accentum - emphasis, emphasis):
Muses "ka-mu" language;
Suffi "ks - su" ffix; Philoso "f ~ filo" sof and others.
4) Lexical and derivational archaisms are words in which individual morphemes or a word-formation model are obsolete:
Dol - valley; Friendship - friendship; Shepherd - shepherd; Fisherman - fisherman; Phantasm - fantasy, etc.
The archaization of words is not related to their origin. The following types of catches can become obsolete:
1) Originally Russian words: labs, outcast, lie, endova, etc.;
2) Old Slavonicisms: smooth, one, green, cold, child, etc.
3) Borrowed words: satisfaction - satisfaction (about a duel); Sikurs - help; Fortecia (fortress), etc.

The role of obsolete words in the Russian language is varied. Historicisms in the special scientific literature are used for the most accurate description of the era. In works of fiction on historical themes, historicisms and archaisms help to recreate the color of the era, and are also a means of speech characterization of characters.
Examples of such use of obsolete vocabulary are the novels “Razin Stepan” by A.P. Chapygin, "Peter I" A.H. Tolstoy, "Emelyan Pugachev" V.Ya. Shishkov, "Ivan the Terrible" by V.I. Kostyleva and others.
In the text of any of these works of art, you can find various types of archaisms:
This is what I found out: according to Tatya Fomka, thieves were caught outside the Nikitsky Gate (Chapygin).
Archaisms can be used to create a solemnity of style, which is especially characteristic of the poetry of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Examples are the works of A.N. Radishcheva, G.R. Derzhavin, V.A. Zhukovsky, A.S. Pushkin and others.
Archaisms can also be used to create comic and satirical effects: Finally, look at your own person - and there you will first of all meet the chapter, and then you will not leave the belly and other parts unmarked (S. Shch.)

There are many special categories of words in Russian. They help people to describe certain things and phenomena in more detail. One of these special categories of words are historicisms. In this article we will talk about this group, as well as the difference between historicisms and archaisms. Moreover, consider examples of historic words and their meanings.

What is historicism?

The Russian language, like any other language, is a constantly changing living organism, which often takes on new forms. The modern Russian language is very different from the one used by the first princes. It went through several stages in its development. There are three stages of historical development:

1. Old Russian language.
2. Old Russian language.
3. period of the national language.

It sounded different in different historical epochs. Due to constant development, the lexical composition has changed a lot. As an example, let's take the documents of Ancient Russia. A simple layman is unlikely to be able to understand what is written in the text. There are too many incomprehensible words, and familiar words have a completely different meaning. Thanks to scientific and technological progress, a large number of new concepts have appeared in the vocabulary that enrich the vocabulary of the language. You can also increase active vocabulary if you borrow foreign words to add variety to your vocabulary. This rule also works vice versa. Some words are no longer used, because many items have disappeared from everyday life. So the words that described these objects go out of use. These words are called historicisms. The picture below is an example of historicism.

What is archaism?

Archaism means something a little different. They have one thing in common with historicisms, because of which they are often confused. Historicisms with archaisms are often used in old works. But there is a rather big difference between them: if historicisms describe objects that have disappeared from our lives, then archaisms are an outdated form of naming an object that exists. As an example, let's take the word that we know from children's books - gold. This is archaism, because this word has a modern form - gold.

What is the difference between them?

The difference is big enough. One small detail will help determine what is in front of you, historicism or archaism. The second has commonly used synonyms. Of course, these two concepts are rather conditional. Words fall out of use for various reasons. In some cases, they return to active vocabulary after a long time period. Here is an example of historicism words that returned to circulation after a while: lieutenant, minister, officer, etc. Linguists create special dictionaries in which such words are entered.

Another important difference between archaisms and historicisms is that archaisms have 3 degrees of obsolescence. They are specially distinguished by linguists to track the old age of the vocabulary of the language.

What can be the conclusion? Many words fall out of frequent use and pass into a passive state or disappear. For words that have passed into a passive state, there are two options: if they were replaced by others, the word became archaic; if the object itself has disappeared, then it is historicism. They differ in meaning, this must not be forgotten. Below in the picture you can see an example of historicism and archaism. So you can more clearly understand the difference between them.

Examples of words-historicisms and archaisms in the Russian language and their meanings

Historicisms can be divided into several categories, depending on which historical period the vocabulary belongs to. Examples of historicisms in Russian:

1. Tiun is a princely steward.
2. Smerd is a peasant who is directly dependent on the prince.
3. Bratina - composition for serving alcoholic beverages.
4. Nepman is an entrepreneur in the USSR during the NEP period.
5. Boyar - the highest stratum of society in ancient Russia.
6. Likbez is a program for the eradication of illiteracy.
7. Tax in kind - food tax levied on farms, introduced instead of food appropriations.
8. Altyn - a coin equal to three kopecks.
9. The landowner is a landowner belonging to the privileged class.
10. Prince - the title of a person close to the throne.
11. Count is the title of a nobleman.
12. Onuchi - windings for legs under boots.
13. A clerk is a clerk and clerk in the clerk's office.
14. Short fur coat - a short sheepskin coat.

Let's look at examples of archaic words:

1. Eyes - eyes.
2. Eight - eight.
3. Finger - finger.
4. An adversary is a villain, an enemy, a scoundrel.
5. The belly is life.
6. Lanites - cheeks.
7. Mouth - lips, mouth.
8. Shelom - a helmet.
9. Night is night.
10. Speak - speak.
11. Right hand - right hand.
12. Voice is a voice.
13. Just now - a long time ago.
14. Evening - last night.

Here are also examples of words that became historicisms, but then returned to active vocabulary:

1. Hryvnia. Initially - a neck decoration in the form of a hoop, later - the monetary unit of Ukraine
2. The officer. After the revolution, officer ranks were removed from the army, but in 1943 it was returned.
3. Shoulder straps. Also, after the revolution, they were removed from the military uniform, but in 1943 they were returned.
4. Ministry. They were liquidated after the revolution, in the 1950s they were created anew instead of the people's commissariats.

Again, the difference between these categories of words is clearly visible. Historicism can only be expressed by a term, archaism by a synonym. There is another rather interesting feature. Historicisms are more common in history textbooks and are used there as scientific terms. Archaisms are closer to the language, just one word has been replaced by another. So we have seen examples and meanings of historicisms, so now the reader will have a clearer idea on this topic.

The role of historicisms and archaisms in literary works

Special vocabulary helps to recreate the historical flavor in the works, so that the reader can fully immerse himself in the atmosphere of the time being described. Also, poets do not disdain special vocabulary. It helps to create a solemn atmosphere in the poem. Usually poets use archaisms to give speech a higher poetic sound. Another important detail that special vocabulary helps to emphasize is the display of comic and satirical moments. Especially often this property was used by Saltykov-Shchedrin to create ironic situations and ridicule human vices.

What cultural role does obsolete vocabulary play?

The use of such vocabulary by writers expands the reader's understanding of the historical period and Russian culture. Thanks to this, a person gains additional knowledge. This knowledge will help form a full-fledged personality who knows how to get to know the world with the help of languages. A person learns to think broadly, to be spiritually and morally strong, aesthetically educated, to love and respect the history of our country.

Conclusion

Special vocabulary plays a big role in the Russian language. With its help, we can recreate the atmosphere of the past, which writers often use in their works. Its role is difficult to overestimate. After all, these words describe historical objects that we will never see. That is why it is considered "passive vocabulary", because it is quite difficult to hear historicisms and archaisms. They can be considered the historical heritage of our language, so they need to be protected. Even though this vocabulary has fallen out of active use, most people know it and, meeting it in literary works, understand it. And without the use of archaisms and historicisms in literature, works lose their solemnity and originality. In this article, we looked at examples of historicism and archaism, which helped us figure out what it is and what is the difference between them.