Semantic microsystems in the nickname anthroponymy of the Russian north

The article analyzes semantic microsystems in the nickname anthroponymy of the Russian North, which are understood as two or more nicknames formed from semantically related (synonymous, antonymous, belonging to the same thematic group, etc.) appellative lexemes and functioning in one microcommunity. The material for analysis was extracted from the files of the Toponymic Expedition of the Ural Federal University, most of it is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The first part of the article lists the noted semantic microsystems and defines the types of systemic relations of the appellative vocabulary that are actualized in the nickname anthroponymy; the second part of the article focuses on social relations between people that increase the likelihood of giving them semantically related nicknames. A village micro community is a rather closed system, within which all participants know each other well, while first and last names are highly repeatable, and therefore nicknames primarily perform characterizing and distinctive functions. In a semantic microsystem, an onym realizes its associative potential and at the same time marks a person’s place in society (belonging to a family, social and work-related ties, etc.), thus strengthening the functions of a particular nickname. Semantic microsystems are most productively formed by words from the same thematic group (Kopeck and Polushka, which is a quarter-Kopeck coin, Gruzd and Volnushka, which are names of mushrooms), antonyms and oppositions (Vaska the White and Vaska the Black; Vanka Nagorny and Vanka Podgorny), and it is typical for husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, as well as friends and girlfriends, respectively, to be given semantically related nicknames.