Semantics of obshchestvennyy and sotsial'nyy: Representation in Russian explanatory dictionaries
Authors:   Ural State Medical University, Morgunova Olga V. ,   Ural Federal University
Published: February 2023

The article examines semantics of obshchestvennyy and sotsial'nyy based on the data of etymological, historical, explanatory Russian dictionaries (from the 11th to the 21st centuries). The aim of the work is to identify semantic similarities and differences of the lexemes in different historical periods. The research material is definitions and illustrative materials included in dictionary entries. Research methods are comparative and semantic. During the study the development of meanings for the lexemes was established. Sotsial'nyy at the Indo-European level is “allied”. The lexeme came to Russian from French as “relating to society” (1850s). Obshchestvennyy is of Slavic origin, from Russian obshchestvo, goes back to *obtjb “widespread around”, then Old Russian-Church Slavonic obshchiy “referring to all or a group of people”, “common”, then Old Church Slavonic ob'sht'stvo “community, kinship” and Russian-Church Slavonic “a set of people united by a common life way”, “a class of people; a gathering of people with a common intention or subject”. In the sources from the 11th to the 21st centuries obshchestvennyy almost never occurs. In the 18th century under the semantic influence of obshchestvo, meanings of obshchestvennyy are formed: “relating to the people”; “state, political, civil”; “belonging to a group, an association of people”; “associated with a group of friends”; “typical of the high society”; “relevant to the public”; “owned by all”; “general”. In the 19th century the basic meanings of obshchestvennyy and sotsial 'nyy contain the seme “society”, but the words also have differences. The first word implies an attitude towards society as a people, a state, and the second to its advanced part and to citizenship. Obshchestvennyy is also “appropriated to society”, “general”, “secular” (about a peasant community), and sotsial'nyy is “related to socialism”. In the 20th and 21st centuries the basic meanings of obshchestvennyy and sotsial'nyy are the same. However, obshchestvennyy is more often used in everyday speech, and sotsial'nyy in scientific. Obshchestvennyy in modern Russian emphasizes belonging to society, joint ownership of property in a collective, focus on meeting social needs. It also indicates the relationship and position of people in society, the expression of a position by society. Sotsial'nyy describes the structure of a class society and relations in it, as well as the participation of the state in its life. Sotsial'nyy has the semantic component “aimed at changing the social order”, which is recorded in dictionaries of the 20th century and is absent in the sources of the 21st century. Thus, the semantics of obshchestvennyy was formed in the 18th century. Its polysemy is explained by the fact that the root obshch- is original for Russian. The semantics of sotsial'nyy is based on French social,-e “relating to society”, is associated with sociality and socialism. Nowadays, the words are often synonymous with different stylistic connotations.