"Inozemtsy" - "their" and "other": terminological classification for social and political status of Siberian natives in the Moscow state (end of the 16th - beginning of the 18th century)

The article is devoted to the study of the semantics of sociopolitonym «inozemtsy» used in relation to indigenous peoples of Siberia in the end of the 16th - beginning of the 18th century. On the basis of a significant number of data sources and historiography its primary and peripheral meanings are identified, and also the limits of use are defined. The authors substantiate the separation of the Siberian natives by the nature of their designations word «inozemtsy» into two main groups: the peoples of Western and Eastern Siberia. These groups of peoples are distinguished by the fact that in relation to them sociopolitonym «inozemtsy» has begun to be used at different times, with different intensity, with different semantic content and nature of lexical valence. Its semantic field includes three basic conceptual views: 1) the degree of subordination / insubordination of aborigines of Russian authorities and their adaptation to it; in relation to Western Siberia the focus was on inconclusive political adaptation, and to the East Siberia on the weak subordination or insubordination and on a willingness to resist; in this sense, word «inozemtsy» means either «other» people who were in the beginning process of turning into «friends» - «real» subjects of the Russian Tsar (general Siberian variant), or «other» who, being «strangers» and even enemies, in the future could start to turn into «their» (East Siberian variant); 2) a special political and legal status of the Siberian indigenous peoples in the structure of Russian society; 3) their ethno-cultural and confessional otherness. This sociopolitonym also performed the function of the word-generalization to refer to already known and still unknown ethno-territorial groups of the indigenous Siberian population. It was also concluded, that with the advancement of the Russian in Eastern Siberia sociopolitonym «inozemtsy» began to be used actively in the Siberian documentation as a component for the formation of complex speech structures. Intensive addition of group of words-markers, uniting with this sociopolitonym occurred by the mid-17th century.