Semantics of agionym Nikolay (based on Russian paroemia and orthodox prayers)

The article views proper name as a functional-semantical element of language, speech and culture. The relevance of the article is based on studying a proper name, name of the saint, as a component of the Russian language worldview and as a cultural concept. The subject of the study is agionym Nikolay. The exact subject of the research is means of explications of the name of the Saint Nicholas ( Nikolay ) in the Russian linguistics consciousness: Saint Nicholas, Thaumaturge, Nicholas the Wonder-Worker, Sanctifier Nicholas, etc. Material for the research is semantic paroemia gathered by Vladimir Dal and texts of orthodox prayers to Saint Nicholas. The originality of the research realizes itself in the comparative analysis of nominative, connotative, associative and culture-value components of the agionim Nikolay in different discourses. The research was conducted with a help of a complex research methodology: the method of conceptual analysis of the name, the in-situ measuring method, the method of component analysis. The result of the research is the associative-seman tic field, which reveals semantic value of agionym ‘ Nikolay ’ in a fragment of the Russian language worldview, and the associative-semantic field, which contains the agionym as a stable componen t of its structure. The research shows ability of the agionym to mai ntain complex cross-filed relations, assosiative-semantical links with other Christian concepts like ‘Jesu s Christ’, ‘God’, ‘Russian Saint’, ‘Holiness’, agionyms ‘Yegoriy’ (Saint George), ‘Kasyan’, ‘Saints Mikhail’, ‘Kuzma’, ‘Demyan’. The semantic volume of the agionim Nikolay was fully determined dur ing the research. The results showed that it contains the following ontological and axiological traces: “protection”, “light”, “purity”, “divin ity”, “h olin ess”, “mir acle”, “kin dn ess”, “mercy”, “str en gth ”. The r esults of th e r esear ch th at presupposed studying religious and common texts showed the widening of the semantic volume of the agionim Nikolay. This process is realized by the means of actualization of the associative relations of the agion im with th e represen tatives of the culture concepts of the Orthodox Ch ristian consciousness and contextual synonymy and antonymy. Lingvocultural value of the agionym ‘ Nikolay ’ in the Russian language worldview is revealed. Complex analysis of the name of the Saint in the paremiae, collected by V.I. Dal as well as in the texts of the Orthodox prayers enables to uncover important aspects of holiness for Russian mentality: Protection, Help, Love.