Motivational structure of lexical-semantic field ''pride'' in the Old Russian language

In Old Russian the concept of "pride" had a different structure and content than in the modern Russian language, which can be traced already in the semantics of the adjective гордый. In its basic semantics the adjective гордый was a negatively evaluated attribute meaning 'arrogant, haughty, chesty' (Не буи ни гордъ ни величавъ),'rebellious, defiant' (гордаго льстеца), 'violent, destructive' (оубицю гордаго), 'harsh, unrelenting' (соудии гър<г>ыи). The positive connotations of the word гордыи were only in the figurative meaning of 'glorious, outstanding' (гърдаго ихъ хоудожьства). In the modern Russian language the unit гордый has dual evaluation, its main meaning has a positive connotation (cf. гордый - 1) 'dignified'; 2) 'experiencing the satisfaction of knowing success', 3) 'arrogant', 4) fig. 'sublime, majestic'). Thus, the conceptual domain of pride in the Old Russian language was much wider than in modern Russian. Such a semantic structure of the word may indicate the syncretic nature of the concept of pride formed on the basis of the image of the person of a high social status (e.g., king, ruler). As a result, a set of attributes describing the image is treated as one integral quality (high social status, hardness, harshness). Analysis of the internal forms shows that the lexical-semantic field (LSF) "pride" in Old Russian had three main motivational models. The most productive of these was the motivational model of 'pride' as 'the outwardly underlined superiority over someone else', which is realized in different ways: 'pride' as 'emphasised superiority manifested in the overestimation of one's position in the society' (высокыи, величавыи etc.); 'emphasised superiority over others manifested in the behaviour of the subject' (надменыи), and others. Other motivational models within the LSF ''pride'' in Old Russian are 'pride / arrogance' as 'isolation of the subject from the society because of the feeling of superiority over others' (высокосердыи, высокосердие) and 'pride / arrogance' as 'overestimation of the importance of one's opinions, desires' (самохотие). The analysis of the motivational characteristics of the LSF ''pride'' has the following results: traditionally pride was metaphorically conceptualized through the semantics of height and increase in size. From olden times a proud person was the one demonstrating excellence in anything external: appearance, mental activity, behaviour. Also the proud was whoever seeking isolation from the society or highly regarding one's opinions and preferences. Naturally, for the support of the modern language speaker the connection of pride with the social status of the subject is not relevant, pride is not associated with cruelty and harshness. This quality is increasingly seen as the inner feeling of the subject, not necessarily expressed in the external behaviour or appearance.

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