Lexical Representations of “Christian” and “Human” in the Vepsian and Karelian Languages

Introduction. The relevance of this research stems from the need to examine the underlying processes of transformation in the cultural identity of the Vepsians and Karelians under the influence of centuries of Christianization, as reflected in their languages. So far, no detailed comparison has been made of the words for “Christian” and “human” in the Vepsian and Karelian languages. In addition, researchers have not yet studied how a religious word can take on a broader, everyday meaning over time. The aim of this research is to establish the relationship between these terms and to identify the nature of the semantic transformation that resulted in a religious designation becoming the standard term for a human being. Materials and Methods. This study draws on data from translation, dialectal, and etymological dictionaries, incorporating examples from journalistic, literary, and spiritual texts. The research employs descriptive, lexicographic, and comparative methods, along with procedures of semantic, derivational, and etymological analysis. The descriptive method made it possible to characterize the collected linguistic material; the lexicographic method enabled the systematization of lexemes and the identification of their meanings and variants; and the comparative method facilitated the comparison of the identified nominations across related languages, vernaculars, and dialects. Semantic analysis contributed to revealing the semantic expansion of the words under study, derivational analysis helped determine the morphological structure of the lexemes and their modes of derivation, and etymological analysis established the origin of the nominations. Results and Discussion. In the Vepsian language, the central lexeme denoting both a Christian and a human being in general is ristit (with the dialectal variant kristit). At the synchronic level, a semantic broadening can be observed, moving from the core meaning of ‘Christian’ towards the generalized sense of ‘human being’. In the Karelian language, the concepts of Christian and human are represented by several linguistic forms. These include the polysemantic lexeme henki / hengi / heng (encompassing the meanings ‘breath’, ‘spirit, soul, heart’, ‘Christian, human’, and ‘life’), the substantivized passive participle rissitetty / ris’t’ittü / rissitty, and the compounds rissittyhenki / rissittyhengi / ris’s’it’t’yhengi (lit. ‘baptized person’) and ristikansa / ristikanza / ristikanza / ristikanzu / ristikanzo / ristikanz / ristikanze (lit. ‘baptized person, baptized people’; at the synchronic level, simply ‘human being’). An analysis of 19th-century texts reveals that the words ristikanzu / ristikanža initially carried a distinctly religious connotation. However, in contemporary usage, their meaning is undergoing a process of semantic shift towards the generalized notions of ‘human being’ or ‘people’. Conclusions. The results of the analysis indicate a semantic bleaching of religious connotations and an expansion of the core meaning of several lexemes denoting a Christian: in addition to referring specifically to a Christian (a baptized person), they have come to denote a human being in general. The partial de-etymologization of these lexemes and their transition into common vocabulary likely attest to the profound integration of Christian ideas into the everyday life of the Vepsians and Karelians, as well as to a transformation of their linguistic worldview under the influence of the Russian religious milieu and historical factors. This study contributes to the understanding of the historical transformation and functioning of certain elements within the Karelian and Vepsian linguistic worldview. The findings may be utilized in further research on the spiritual culture of these peoples and incorporated into courses on lexicology and dialectology.