Rapture in the poetic language of M. V. Lomonosov and in Menology of Dimitri Rostovsky (to the question of the Church Slavonic substrate of the odic rapture)

DOI:10.30842/alp2306573716325

Sharikhina M. G. Vostorg v poeticheskom yazyke M. V. Lomonosova i v Chetikh Mineyakh Dimitriya Rostovskogo (k voprosu o tserkovnoslavyanskom substrate odicheskogo vostorga). Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2020. XVI(3): 816–836.

The article presents a study of the linguistic and stylistic continuity of odic rapture in M. V. Lomonosov’s poetry relative to the Church Slavonic literature of earlier periods (in particular, the Menologion by Dimitry Rostovsky).

The analysis compares the concepts of odic rapture and mystic ecstasy to reveal similarity of their conceptual content and investigate the relationships between the various linguistic ways of expressing these concepts in comparable texts. In particular, the article examined the words vostorg ‘rapture’, voskhitit’ (voskhishchat’) ‘bewilder’, voskhitit’sya (voskhishchat’sya) ‘be bewildered’ and fixed word combinations (for example, voskhishchennyj umom ‘bewildered mind’, um voskhishchayetsya ‘[my] mind is bewildered’, or umnyje, myslennyje ochi ‘mind’s eyes’, umom zrit’ ‘[s/he] sees with [his/her] mind’). In the texts analyzed, these linguistic units have common semantic and stylistic features. They are used to express a special emotional state that is usually accompanied by visions. In this state, the heroes of the Lives and the lyrical hero of odic poetry obtains the ability to see what is hidden from the ordinary eye. Thus, the lexical units analyzed are involved in the expression of oppositions between the sensual and the spiritual, the external and the internal, the visible and the invisible. The Church Slavonic origins of the lexicon of odic delight are emphasized by the fact that M. V. Lomonosov’s non-poetic works use it in meanings characteristic of Church Slavonic together with bright Church slavicisms.

In addition, it was found that a state of mystic ecstasy in the Menologion by Dimitry Rostovsky is generally characteristic of the lives of ascetics. Therefore, the similarity of the linguistic means to express a special emotional state in Lomonosov’s odic poetry and in Dimitri Rostovsky’s Menology raises the question of a connection between the odic style and the ascetic direction in hagiography.

Keywords

Lomonosov, odic poetry, odic rapture, mystic ecstasy, Menologion of Dimitry Rostovsky, furor poeticus, historical lexicology, phraseology

About the author

Sharikhina M. G.

justmilya@yandex.ru

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Keywords

Lomonosov, odic poetry, odic rapture, mystic ecstasy, Menologion of Dimitry Rostovsky, furor poeticus, historical lexicology, phraseology