The “Occupation/Employment” Concept in the Epic Tale Picture of the World

Authors

  • Irina P. Chernousova Lipetsk State Pedagogical P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu30.2023.406

Abstract

The article explores the concept “occupation/employment” embracing occupations that existed in Ancient Rus’ and which are presented in the epic picture of the world in a re-coded form. The epic tale is characterized by social stratification (the prince, the boyars, bogatyrs, merchants, priests, plowmen, moneylenders, servants) and a wide variety of military and economic positions, as well as an abundance of servants. The main characters of the epics are bogatyrs who serve the prince and are part of the epic druzhina (the prince’s military retinue). Among the numerous occupations and positions, there are gatekeepers, doorkeepers, stolniks, cup bearers serving the prince, boyars and bogatyrs, as well as skomorokhs (minstrel-entertainers), gusli players, and singers providing entertainment during feasts. Young bogatyrs at the beginning of their career can serve at the court and fight in a war if need be. In accordance with the laws of the epic tale world, bogatyrs are endowed with superhuman strength and fantastic powers irrespective of their occupation (a warrior-defender of the Motherland like Ilya Muromets, a plowman like Mikula Selyaninovich, or a merchant and gusli player like Sadko). The major means of representing the concept “occupation/employment” in the epic tale picture of the world is folklore formulas — fixed verbal constructions that contain of traditional cultural meanings embodying the nation’s worldview and principles, which testifies to the importance of this information. The names of occupations and positions in folklore formulas have largely become historicisms and archaisms.

Keywords:

concept “occupation/employment”, archaisms, historicisms, epic tale picture of the world, folklore formulas

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References

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Published

2024-08-29

How to Cite

Chernousova, I. P. (2024). The “Occupation/Employment” Concept in the Epic Tale Picture of the World. The World of Russian Word, (4), 49–56. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu30.2023.406

Issue

No. 4 (2023)

Section

Language and literature

License

Articles of "The World of Russian Word" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.