Origin of the concept earth in the Russian lingua culture

The article is devoted to the study of macroconcept earth, one of the fundamental in Russian linguistic culture. The main language representative of the macroconcept is the word earth, which dates back to the ancient Indo-European root. The aim of the study is to determine, by analysing the data of etymological and historical-etymological dictionaries, the motivating, archaic and symbolic signs of the macroconcept earth. The study showed that by the time the concept was formed in Russian linguistic culture, symbolic signs (“dust”, “element” and “grave”) had already been existed in its structure coming from deeper layers of culture determined by ancient mythology. The structure of macroconcept earth includes 18 motivating signs. Most of them are actively recognized by speakers of the modern language and are enshrined in modern lexicographic sources. Archaic signs “people”, “army”, “basic color, background” are not completely lost and can be recreated on language material. The study demonstrated the diversity of ancient representations of earth Russian language, as well as syncretism of these representations within the framework of mythological consciousness.