It is difficult to overestimate the role of a personal name in every person's life. This is a kind of "business card" that appears at birth and is presented millions of times. As another famous collector of personal names of the XIX century M. Ya. Moroshkin noted, "personal names are important and significant not only as a material of language, but also as a monument of popular views, concepts and ideas, and they often reflect the character and spirit of the people better than all other historical monuments" (Slavyansky imenoslov, or Collection of Slavic personal names). names in alphabetical order. St. Petersburg, 1867).

When applied to a person, the name means " the personal name of a person given to him at birth "(Dictionary of the Russian language. In 4 volumes, Moscow, 1981. Vol. I). This first and main meaning underlies the conceptual content of the composite anthroponymic term personal name, which defines the main anthroponymic category: "personal names are words that are assigned to people at birth and by which they are known in society" (Chichagov V. K. History of Russian names, patronymics and surnames. Moscow, 1959).

page 89

The word name is already known to the first written monuments, in which it is represented with several meanings 1. The name of a person: "Just be and other brother named Eremia" (Novgorod 4 Chronicle. A tale of bygone years. 1074); "His name was called Vsevolod" (Lavrentievskaya chronicle. A Tale of Bygone Years, 1024) and others. 2.Name (geographical, ethnic, etc.): "And come to a German place named Sertse" (Ipatiev chronicle. 1246); "On retsa imyanem Marava" (Lavrentievskaya chronicle. A Tale of Bygone Years, 1048) and others. 3. Naming of a person as a whole: "Voivode named Sbyslav Yakunovich Novgorodets "(Suzdal chronicle, 1263), etc. 4. A loud name, glory: "And someone who did not come to emotion when he saw his family go to the grave, and his name faded away" (Izbornik Svyatoslav. 1076) and others.

The first three meanings were realized in texts of all genres, and the last - "a big name, glory" - was peculiar only to book-Slavic sources.

For the name of a person, the word name was often used as part of complex formations that can already be considered a prototype of modern terms-baptismal, baptised, cross name: "Narekosha name in the holy baptism of Alexey, and Princess Sbyslav" (Ipatiev chronicle. A tale of Bygone years, 1179); "Be bo his name is mirskoe Rabble" (Ibid., 1074); "...and his princely name is Volodimir (Ibid., 1192), etc.

It is precisely the different designations in the written monuments of names that existed in Russia before the adoption of Christianity (lay, Russian, etc.), and names that came to Russia after the adoption of Christianity (in baptism), that caused the disorder of modern terminology. Currently, there are different designations in research: for old names, the terms non-Christian, non-canonical, non-baptismal name, worldly, household, Russian name and some others are used, for new names-Christian, canonical, baptismal, godly name and others.

In our opinion, the terms baptismal and non-baptismal names most correspond to the conceptual content.

Until the 16th century, synonyms for the word name in the sense of "name of a person" are few and rare: this is the word naming in book Slavonic texts, for example, "Do not teach an oath to your mouth and do not get used to naming with(vya)that" (Pandects of Antioch of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery. XI century) - and the word nickname in the annals, for example: "The great Princess has passed away... her nickname was Lithuanian Augusta, and in Holy Epiphany Anastasia" (Nikon chronicle. 1345).

page 90

So, in the Old Russian language, in the meaning of "name of a person", the word name (common Slavic of Indo-European character) was mainly used, which also occurred in other Slavic languages: Ukrainian im'ya, Belarusian imya, Bulgarian ime, Serbo-Croatian ime, Macedonian ime, Slovak tepo, Slovenian ime, Polish imie, Czech jmeno, Proto-Slavic *jme, Latin warming (M. Fasmer). Etymological Dictionary of the Russian language, Moscow, 1964-1973, vol. II). We can speak about the emergence of a fairly wide range of synonyms and changes in the semantic structure of the word, referring only to the period of the XVI-XVIII centuries, that is, the time of the formation of lexical norms of the national Russian literary language.

Judging by the materials of the Russian Dictionary File of the XI - XVII centuries, in the XVI-XVII centuries, the word name in the meaning of "name of a person" somewhat decreases its activity. Perhaps this is due to the fact that baptismal names that came to Russia have already adapted to the Russian anthroponymic system, and the use of a kind of clarifying concretizer has become superfluous. By the end of the 17th century, non-baptismal names were practically out of use, and therefore the word name in combination with such names is very rare in written monuments. But more often the word name began to be used in business texts with the meaning "the full name of a person, including all the components of the structural formula": "And he, the sovereign, told us that there was no order with him in any way, and his name was said to be Semyon Olekseev Rusin" (Polish Affairs, 1562).K. Chichagov wrote that in the XVI - XVII centuries the word name in Southwestern writing was more often used not in the meaning of "name", but in the meaning of "name, naming in general". The researcher considered this value to be regional.

The word name also has new meanings: "rank, rank" (1663); "noun" (grammatical. 1619).

Based on the materials of quite diverse and numerous sources of the XVI-XVII centuries, it is safe to say that it was during this period that the word name in the meaning of "personal name" acquired a wide range of synonyms. In the book Slavonic texts, there is a naming convention: "If you ask for something, say: what is patriarchal naming, answer" (From the literary monuments of the XVI century, collected by V. G. Druzhinin, St. Petersburg, 1909). To denote names that were kept secret, various sources used a reclo (usually in the form of poreklomu ): "The Monk of the Holy poreklomu Alexey" (The Life of Sergius of Obnor. XVI century); " Alexa Mikhailovich on the same Vecheslav river "( Book stepennaya. Ch. I. 1560-ies), etc.

In business writing, in the meaning of "personal name", the name is attested: "Vassily is called to him, but I can't remember the nickname"

page 91

(Smolensk Historical Museum, record of the Smolensk reitar Skobeyev about taking money. 1674). Occasionally in business writing as a synonym for the word name "name of a person" there is a nickname: "Chernets, nicknamed Yakov, nightingale, slave cheat "(Petitions of the Solovetsky monastery. Vol. III. 1666). Much more often the nickname is marked with the values "last name "or"additional naming of a person".

As a regional synonym for the considered meaning of the word name in the Smolensk monuments of writing of the XVII century, there is an estate: "And Evo's wife... with three children, the Saramatny peasant from the village of Biberov, the Smolensk nobleman Alexander Selishkov, persuaded and brought to him that village, but the estate is not known and gave him in marriage " (Smolensk Historical Museum, petition of the Smolensk nobleman Gerasim Petukh. The word imenye "name" in the Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages is presented as a Belarusian dialect, and it is known that Smolensk dialects are close to Belarusian (Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages. Proto-Slavic Lexical Fund, Moscow, 1986, issue 8).

The word name is noted by all lexicons and dictionaries of the XVII-XVIII centuries. In the Lexicon of P. Berynda, it is represented with the meanings "personal name", "title", "glory, dignity" (Slavenorossky Lexicon and its interpretation. Kiev, 1627). In the Lexicon of E. Weisman, the lexeme name is presented in synonymous rows with the words name, name, censure, naming and has a Latin parallel potep (German-Latin and Russian lexicon kupno with the first beginnings of the Russian language. SPb., 1731). This confirms to some extent the broad synonymy of the word name, and its not always differentiated semantics, which we have already discussed. The words name, title, appellation, and naming are attested as synonyms in F. Gelterhof's Lexicon (Russian Lexicon in alphabetical order, with German and Latin translation, Moscow, 1778).

In the first edition of the Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the words name "the name of any person, thing", name "the name, the name of whom by name", "the name that someone has, bears", naming "the name, the common name" are presented separately (Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1791, Vol. III).

As you can see, in the first explanatory dictionary, the concepts of "name of a person" and "name of a thing"are mixed. In the second edition, the dictionary entry with the word name is somewhat ordered: the first and main meaning is determined by " the name of the person (generic name, proper name, baptismal name, change the name, give a name, call by name) "(Dictionary of the Russian Academy, according to the alphabet order). SPb., 1809. T. II).

page 92

The word name is considered in detail in the Dictionary of V. I. Dahl. Its interpretation is given through synonyms, but it is clearly defined that the main meaning is that indicating a person: "the name, the name, the word that is called, denote a person. The name of the object, the name; the name of the animal, the nickname; the name of the person, the actual name, according to the saint, the angelic, the godfather and the reclo, which was not announced in the old days, (...) the nickname given in the family or by the people in addition to the generic ( ... ). The reclo was given according to the saints, and the name according to custom, often pagan (...) to name, to give a name; to call, to call by name; to mean people or things by name, by name (...) Imenovanie cf. imenye, ( ... ) i.e. name" (Explanatory Dictionary of the living Great Russian language, Moscow, 1956, Vol. II).

Currently, the main meaning of a name in anthroponymy is "the personal name of a person given to him at birth". But there are other meanings, for example, "designation of the entire name as a whole": "His name was Akaky Akakievich" (Gogol. Overcoat); "The old lady was named after Princess Drubetskaya" (Leo Tolstoy. War and peace); "His name is known all over the world - Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin", etc., "name": "He gave a name to this river - and considered it legitimate" (Rabochy put. Smolensk. 1998. Saint.); "fame, popularity, glory": "Blessed is he who was a poet in silence / And, not covered with thorns of glory, / Forgotten by the despicable rabble, / Left the world without a name! (Pushkin. A bookseller's conversation with a poet); "Grammatical category of words": noun, etc.

In order to indicate more precisely that we are talking about naming a person, the compound term personal name is usually used. After all, the word name, as we see, can denote the names of objects, phenomena, concepts.

The word naming, which was always used in books, is now obsolete: it is with this mark that it is presented in the Large Explanatory Academic Dictionary in the meaning "the action of the verb to name, that is, to give a name, a name" (Dictionary of Modern Russian Literary Language, Moscow, 1956, Vol. 5). Although it should be said that naming is quite common in anthroponymic works in the phrases naming a person, the structure of naming a person, etc.

The word name has the main meaning of "verbal designation of an object, phenomenon, concept, etc.". As a shade, the meaning of "name, nickname, nickname" is noted, which, in our opinion, has already become obsolete, since dictionaries are confirmed only by quotations from works of the first half of the XIX century: "She was called Varyusha. But I would like to give it a different name. Lermontov. Sashka " (Dictionary of the Russian Language, vol. II).

The word name in the same explanatory dictionary is given as a synonym for the word name. In anthroponymic works, the word appellation is used to describe the meaning of a given word.

page 93

vanie occurs as a synonym for the word naming and in the same word combinations.

In general, it left the Reklo language, and the word namesake became a dialect. In Dahl, it is represented with the values "name, name" as northern, southern (Voronezh, Kursk), and "nickname, prodraznishche" as common in central Russia (Dahl. Vol. II). Currently, its range is even more narrowed - it also leaves the language, as well as reclo (Dictionary of Russian folk dialects, L., 1983, Issue 19). The word nickname in the sense of "name, naming" has become obsolete and colloquial (Dictionary of the Russian Language, Vol. III). The word nickname is currently unambiguous - it is "a name given to a person in jest, mockery, etc." (Ibid.).

So, during the ten-century history of its existence in written monuments, the name has undergone many changes: first it acquired, and then noticeably narrowed the circle of synonyms, developed new meanings, lost some of the old ones attested in the Old Russian language, ordered its semantic structure by differentiating some previously contaminated meanings, and became part of some complex terms. However, the main "acquisition" is a clear consolidation of the meaning of "personal name of a person", which has become the main one.

Tell me the name of your father, mother, and others

In your city and dear fatherland you are called.

Among living people, no one is nameless

Not at all; at the moment of birth, everyone is both low and noble

He receives his name from his parents as a sweet gift.

The Odyssey. Canto VIII. Translated by V. Zhukovsky.

Smolensk

Permanent link to this publication: