Email this article The semantic potential of anthroponyms in M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “They Fought for Their Country”
- Authors: Yakovleva O.I.1, Skuridina S.A.2
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Affiliations:
- Tyumen State University
- Voronezh State Technical Conference
- Issue: Vol 11, No 4 (2025)
- Pages: 844-854
- Section: ONOMASTICS
- URL: https://ogarev-online.ru/2587-6953/article/view/358479
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.20310/2587-6953-2025-11-4-844-854
- ID: 358479
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION. The study presents an analysis of the anthroponyms of the characters in M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “They Fought for Their Country”. The authors consider personal names, patronymics and surnames as semantic dominants, allowing M.A. Sholokhov to give any hero of the work a concise but succinct description reflecting the ideological and thematic concept of the novel. The purpose of the study is to identify the semantic content of the anthroponyms of the novel “They Fought for Their Country”.
MATERIAL AND METHODS. The material of this work is the chapters of M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “They Fought for Their Country”. The novel’s anthroponyms are part of the writer’s lexical system. Their research helps to interpret the artistic text more accurately. The work uses both general scientific and special linguistic methods: the method of linguistic observation and description, etymological, word-formation, onomastic, contextual, stylistic and linguocultural types of analysis.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The semantic labeling of Sholokhov’s anthroponyms, involved not only in the creation of artistic images, but also in the disclosure of the ideological content of the novel, is revealed. Male personal names and surnames (Nikolai, Alexander, Nikiforov, etc.) are found, formed from lexemes with the meaning “victory” and “protection”, which allows the author to convey the idea of the victory of the Russian people over the enemy on an anthroponymic level. Female names etymologically go back to lexemes with the semantics of “native”, “Country” (Natalia), which is due to the association of a woman with her family, with home, hearth, and therefore with a peaceful life, for which the characters of the novel are ready to give their lives.
CONCLUSION. The semantic content of the anthroponyms of the novel “They Fought for Their Country” turns them into semantic dominants of the Sholokhov text, conveying the idea of protecting their native land and defeating the enemy.
About the authors
O. I. Yakovleva
Tyumen State University
Email: yakovleva.tmn@yandex.ru
Olga I. Yakovleva - Post-Graduate Student of the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities.6 Volodarskogo St., Tyumen, 625003 Russian Federation
S. A. Skuridina
Voronezh State Technical Conference
Author for correspondence.
Email: saskuridina@yandex.ru
Svetlana A. Skuridina - Dr. Sci. (Philology), Associate Professor, Head of Russian Language and Intercultural Communication Department, RSCI AuthorID: 654307.84 20 let Oktyabrya St., Voronezh, 394006 Russian Federation
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