Formation of administrative lexicon in the eighteenth century Russian language: председатель, президент, презес

The article keeps track of the history of words предсѣдатель, президент and презес in the Russian language of the 18^th century, which were actively used over this period. Although these words have a common component in the meaning — ‘the one who takes the first, dominant place in any meeting or society’— their semantic history during the 18^th century is a complex process of gradual differentiation of usage and functional delineation. The study showed that the history of these words, their entry into active use and the related stages of their interaction with each other are directly linked to the largest state transformations carried out by Peter I and Catherine II. It is the codification of these words in Russian legislative acts that becomes starting point for further entry into the language and the development of wider and figurative meanings. This factor turns out to be crucial for the relative chronology of the words activation in the Russian language: the foreign words президент and презес, regulated by the documents of Peter’s era, become the first to be widely used, and then the word председатель begins to compete with them after its appearance in the legislation of Catherine II.