On the semantics of the word lestvitsa

Research of semantics of concrete lexemes fixed in monuments of Russian and Slavic writing is an importantproblem of modern historical lexicology. The attraction to historical-semantic researches of new hand-written sources helps to revealnew semantics of known lexemes or to specify their already known semantics. The historical-semantic analysis of the word lestvitsa isgiven in the article. The etymological analysis of the word lestvitsa shows that two different word meanings (a construction in theform of a number of steps for ascending and descending and a portable adaptation with steps for ascending and descending) are connectedby origin with different semantic fields. These ancient semantic differences between usual and folding ladders are reflected inmodern Slavic languages if the primordial word lestvitsa is absent. The word lestva became outdated in all Slavic languages, exceptSlovene. In Russian the ancient word lestvitsa was forced out by the new one, lestnitsa which appeared under the influence of nounsending in -nits(a) (such as gridnitsa, kuznitsa, zvonnitsa). According to the historical dictionaries of Russian, the word lestvitsa hasfrom two to four meanings. In words interpretation, the semantics of ladder, including ladder used at sieges, along with the meaningsname of teaching compositions of John Climacus and book from the false ones can be specified. Thus, it is better to replace thename ladder used at sieges with accommodation ladder. The book from the false ones is understood as the apocryphal storyJacobs Ladder. Most often in writing monuments the meaning name of teaching compositions of John Climacus is fixed, as this bookwas extremely popular with the Slavic reader in the Middle Ages. Research of manuscripts and published texts has revealed word meaningsof lestvitsa, which are not fixed in the available historical dictionaries of Russian. These are: ladder, Jacob saw in his dream,Symbol of Mother of God, prototype of Virgin Mary, way of virtues, souls way to heaven, family tree, list and name ofmonasteries. Mystical, symbolical meanings of lestvitsa go back to the Bible image, seen by patriarch Jacob. The Slavic word lestvitsain its direct and figurative meanings reflects both subjects of material culture of ancient Slaves and the rich spiritual experience ofthe Bible and Byzantian teaching literature.

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