Archaisms and historicisms. Examples and meaning

Everyone who wants to learn and develop, always strives to learn something new and useful for themselves. Especially important is the vocabulary, which not only has long been an indicator of erudition, but it can help in the most unexpected life situation. In this article you can learn about what archaisms and historicisms are. Examples of words and context can also come in handy especially inquisitive for acquaintance.

Historicisms

Archaisms and historicisms are a specific category of vocabulary. To her are long- obsolete words. Examples: historicisms - axes; Archaisms - this is evil. Historicism includes the names of objects that were used by our ancestors, and for the moment they are found only in museums. For example, the word "pischal", which denotes the ancient type of weapons used in Russia several centuries ago. Historicism includes the word "ax", denoting one of the types of combat equipment. It was something like a modern ax, but with two blades.

How did the historicisms

The main reason for the emergence of historicisms in the course of time was the change in the habitual life of our ancestors, customs, the development of science and culture. So, for example, the disappeared types of clothes - Armenian, caftan, camisole - ceased to use, and this led to the disappearance of their names from the language. Now such concepts can only be found in historical descriptions. There are many words that have ceased to be used, and now they are classified as "historicisms". An example of this is the concepts that in one way or another concerned serfdom in Russia. Among them - obrok, corvee, submit.

Archaisms

This category includes words that denote things and concepts that still exist, but with changed names. For example, our ancestors instead of the modern "this" said "this", and "very" sounded like "zelo." Historisms and archaisms, examples of which are found in many literary works, are not always completely replaced by other words, they can only partially change. For example, phonetically or morphologically.

How archaisms appeared

This kind of obsolete words appeared due to the fact that over time any vocabulary undergoes changes, evolves and assimilates with other languages. Thus, some words are replaced by others, but with the same meaning. This is the part of the vocabulary that has outlived its own, but does not disappear completely from the language. These words are preserved in the literature, documents and so on. To create historical novels, they are absolutely necessary, so that you can recreate the color of the epoch described.

Phonetic Archaisms

This type includes modern words and concepts, which differ from the outdated by only a few sounds, sometimes only one. For example, phonetic archaisms include the word "piita", which eventually evolved into a "poet", and "fire" turned into a "fire".

Morphological Archaisms

To this category belong words that are obsolete in their structure. These include the noun "ferocity", which turned into "ferocity", the adjective "nervous", evolved into "nervous", the verb "collapse", which now sounds like "collapse" and many others.

Semantic Archaisms

Archaisms and historicisms, examples of words that occur everywhere, often lose their true meaning over time. For example, modern "shame" used to mean nothing more than a "spectacle", and the old "everyday" meant something that was done in one day (for example, the "everyday road"), and not "ordinary".

Modern use

Sometimes these words, which have gone out of use, change so much that they start to be used in a new meaning. This can be said about both archaisms and historism. An example of this is the word "dynasty". Some time ago, they stopped using it, but now it is back on track. If earlier it could be combined only with such words as "royal" and "monarchical," now the scope of its use has significantly expanded. Now you can hear about the dynasty of lumberjacks or miners, which imply that this profession is inherited from father to son. Sometimes obsolete words can be found in an ironic context.

Stable expressions

Obsolete words continue to function fully in the language as part of stable expressions. Thus, some historicisms are preserved. Example: the word "buckwheat" is still used in the language within the phrase "to beat the buckets", which means "idling". The same can be said about the stable expression "sharpen the lyas", that is, "chatting without stopping."

Degeneration VS Revival

It also happens that words that linguists already boldly attributed to historicism, again began to be used due to the fact that the concepts that they denoted, again began to be used. This can also happen if something new has been created, which in some way is like an outdated concept or associated with it. Now these words hardly resemble historicisms. Example: charity evening, midshipman.

Conclusion

It should be noted that although all the above-mentioned obsolete words are, rather, a passive layer of vocabulary, they do not cease to play an important role in it. Reading the works of such eminent writers as Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky or Mayakovsky, you can very often meet historicisms and archaisms, and to accurately understand the idea that the author wanted to convey, you must be aware of their meaning. Therefore, in case you meet an unfamiliar word, it is best to turn to an authoritative dictionary.