Semantic process in the family of words with the root -год- in the Russian language of the 11-17th centuries

The paper deals with the elucidation of the dynamics of lexical meanings in one family of words in the Russian language of the 11-17th centuries. The main directions in the development of lexical semantics in the family of words with the root -god- (а) ‘good, high-quality’, b) ‘time’, c) ‘place, space’) are defined according to their etymological meaning (‘to please, to satisfy’): а) godnyi 1 > godno, godnost’, zgodnyi ; goditi 1 > god’ba ; god > bezgoda (noun) > bezgoda (adverb); b) god > godovoi ; goditi 2 > pogoditi > pogod’ye ; godovat’ 2 > godovshchik, godoval’shchik ; c) goditi 1 > god’ye ; zgoditi ( sgoditi ) > zgod’ye ( sgod’ye ); ugoditi > ugod’ye. The regularity of the formation of new words in each of these directions during that historical period was established: about 15% of words have the meaning ‘high-quality’; 20 % (polysemantic words) of words have the meaning ‘high-quality’ and ‘time’: 59 % of words have the meaning ‘time’; 7 % of words have the meaning ‘space’. We establish that there are logical changes in the lexical semantics in this family of words that are observed due to considering them in terms of the sequence of word formation. On the first level of word formation, the words with the following meanings were recorded: ‘high-quality’ ( godnyi 1, god’ ) and ‘time’ ( godovoi, godovnyi, godichnyi, godok, goditi 2, godo vati 2 ). On the second level of word formation, the words with the following meanings were recorded: ( godno, godnost’, god’ba ), ‘time’ ( godovaya, godovoye, godovik, godoval’shchik ) and ‘space’ ( god’ye, ugod’ye ). On the third level of word formation, the words with meanings ‘high-quality’ ( bezgodno ) and ‘time’ ( pogodno, godoval’shchikov ), were recorded, while no words with meaning ‘space’ were recorded. The changes that occurred during the period from the beginning of the 17th century till the beginning of the 18th century in the syntagmatics and paradygmatics of words with the root -god- that define space were analyzed on the materials of Siberian manuscripts with the ornate cursive writing. The paper explains which value characteristics of Siberian first settlers’ view of the world these changes reflect. Initially Siberian lands were considered only as potential places for fishing and hunting, but in the second half of the 17th century and later they started being viewed as really valuable: as being somebody’s property, being cultivated, being used for various household goals. It is stated that the semantics of the items in this family of words in diachronical aspect can be represented as a system directions of evolution of which are defined by etymological meaning of the root and are explained with the development of the language awareness of native speakers during the entire period of language existence from ancient times till times of forming of national language.