On the history of word meanings: From oblivion to rethinking

Abstract

The article aims to identify the ways and possible reasons for changes in the meanings of words that were part of colloquial high-frequency vocabulary 200 years ago. The object of this study is the lexical meanings of words extracted from V. A. Lyovshin’s book "Russian Kitchen" (1816). The subject is the changes in the structure of (polysemous) lexemes which are studied using elements of componential, definitional, and frequency analysis. The theoretical reflection on the ways in which the semantic structure of a word changes leads to several conclusions. Firstly, the activation of previously peripheral meanings of a polysemous lexeme results in a change in the semantic structure of the word due to the reinterpretation of its original dominant connotation. Secondly, for unknown reasons, one of the meanings can become specialised, the scope of its use can narrow, and its semantic connection with the hypernym can be lost. It is also possible for a borrowed word to completely disappear while other cognate lexemes from the same word family are preserved in the language. Additionally, a different phonetic form can be used for a meaning existing in the language. Thirdly, a meaning formed through metaphoric and metonymic transfer may fall out of use and then undergo further specialisation. Another cause is semantic modification of naming models. Finally, a new meaning can emerge due to a change in the word functions.