On the values of the peasant world of the first third of the 19th century (based on the definitions of "common" nouns naming persons in the dictionary of church slavonic and russian language of 1847)

Abstract

The article analyzes the values of the peasant world of the first third of the 19th century. The material for the work was the definitions of nouns marked as "common" and naming persons in the Dictionary of Church Slavonic and Russian Language of 1847. The word "common" was defined in dictionaries as "belonging to simple people" (for the specified time, first of all, to the peasantry). The analysis of these definitions showed that they belong to four lexical-thematic groups: "Man", "Life", "Animal World", "Abstract Concepts". The article explores definitions related to the most numerous lexical-thematic group "Man" divided into lexical-semantic subgroups. In the group of lexemes that name a person by internal properties, character traits, hobbies, a negative ethical evaluation of character traits and inclinations unacceptable for Russian peasants prevails. This negative evaluation is often combined with the "intensity" component. Lies and related gossip, deception, bragging, fraud, inability to communicate and establish relationships with other people, stupidity, slowness, lack of intelligence, lack of education are evaluated negatively; laziness, idleness, inactivity, inability or unwillingness to work are condemned. A person's briskness, agility, concern for others, ability to work, and ability to communicate are evaluated positively. In the group of definitions marked "common" and naming persons based on external characteristics, meanings with negative evaluation prevail. Both aesthetic negative evaluation and negative evaluation of the degree of intensity of a certain feature are observed. The scale of the latter reveals the aesthetic preferences of peasants in the first third of the 19th cen-tury. The general aesthetic negative evaluation is associated with untidiness. Negative evaluation of the degree of intensity is varied: peasants pay great attention to the abnormalities of height, some attention to corpulence/leanness (both over- and underweight are evaluated negatively), note the size of lips (large lips, teeth, eyes are perceived as unaesthetic). Definitions naming peasants based on social characteristics characterize members of a peasant's family by age, gender, and occupation. Peasants qualified being a servant as an unworthy occupation (in the Dictionary of 1847, the description of this type of activity is accompanied by the words "contemptuous name"). In the names of family members, there is a significant number of evaluative (both positive and negative) words that differentiate older and younger children due to the large number of children in peasant families