The Usage of the Words natsiya and religiya in the Monuments of the Russian Language of the Late 17th and Early 18th Centuries
Abstract
Our current article is dedicated to the words natsiya and religiya as represented in the monuments of the Russian language of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It analyzes examples of their usage in the first Russian translation of Job Ludolf’s “History of Ethiopia”, dating from about 1685. The comparison is made with the lexis of other monuments of the Russian language dating from the last decade of the 17th century and the first two decades of the 18th century. The article emphasizes that the usage of the words natsiya and religiya in the translation of “History of Ethiopia” was their earliest fixation in the Russian language. The relationship of these lexemes, going back to the Latin words natio and religio, to their Russian synonyms narod and vera is also considered. The conclusion drawn from the data demonstrates that the adoption of the words natsiya and religiya in the Russian language began in the second last decade of the 17th century.
References
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