Old Rooster Fish Soup: The Names of Unpalatable and Low-Nutritious Dishes in Perm Dialects

The article examines Perm dialectal names of unpalatable and low-nutritious dishes. In the Russian dialects of Perm Krai (Perm region), there are a large number of words naming such dishes, which indicates that such food attributes as pleasant taste and nutritional value are important for speakers of the dialects. The thematic vocabulary group ‘Names of unpalatable and low-nutritious dishes’ is characterized by syncretism of semantics: in the Russian language it is often difficult to distinguish between the meanings of the words nevkusnyi (unpalatable) and malopitatel’nyi (low-nutritious). The article analyzes this group of vocabulary in the semantic-motivational aspect, looks into its formation, and provides an etymological reconstruction of lexemes with a ‘nontransparent’ inner form. It is concluded that figurative, expressive units predominate in the studied lexical group; phraseological combinations, words with suffixes signifying subjective evaluation, and linguistic units with an unusual sound form are often used to name unpalatable and low-nutritious dishes. The paper reveals motivational models implemented in the analyzed language units. The development of the semantics ‘unpalatable, not pleasant to taste’ is observed in words denoting something that is not intended as human food, for example, waste, garbage. Often, the names of liquid, thin dishes have the additional meaning of ‘low-nutritious, not filling’. On the one hand, such a change in semantics is connected with the internal properties of these linguistic units; on the other hand, the emergence of a new meaning can be motivated by external circumstances: the spread of certain dishes (porridge made from boiled flour, soups with dried bread) during periods of hardship and famine. The linguistic units from the studied thematic group are mainly of Russian origin and have a transparent inner form; they are often noted in other Russian dialects.