Dmitrieva E.G., Safonova I.A. Lexical Means of Describing Miracles in Hagiographies of Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2026.2.10
Evgeniya G. Dmitrieva
Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Russian Philology and Journalism, Volgograd State University, Volgograd, Russia
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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5117-5677
Irina A. Safonova
Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Associate Professor, Department of Russian Philology and Journalism, Volgograd State University, Volgograd, Russia
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1103-7434
Abstract. The article features linguistic means used for describing the miracles of saints in hagiographic texts. The study focuses on lexical units with the semantics of perception and emotion, exemplified by hagiographic texts depicting the lives of Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki. It is revealed, that the accounts of miracles employ the verbs of visual and auditory perception: the verbs of visual perception are necessary for confirming the occurrence of a miracle by describing its observation, while the verbs of auditory perception are required for proving the instance of a miracle through eyewitnesses' accounts or the perception of scent. Emotive vocabulary is noted to serve as a constitutive element of a hagiographic narrative, fulfilling didactic, plot-forming, and text-structuring functions: by means of emotive vocabulary the normative models of godliness are transmitted, crisis situations and their miraculous resolutions are marked, the ethical and semantic structures of the narrative are produced. The study identifies some patterns of interaction between perceptual and emotive vocabulary in the descriptions of miracles. Particular attention is paid to the way these lexical units legitimate the miracle, lend it credibility, and integrate it into a system of religious senses. The analysis of the lexical units with semantics of perception and emotions has enabled the authors to describe the dominant mechanism in the poetics of hagiographic miracle narratives. It reveals the ways in which the sacred was linguistically conceptualized in medieval culture.
Key words: perceptional vocabulary, emotive vocabulary, lexical semantics, functioning, hagiographic text, genre, miracles of saints.
Citation. Dmitrieva E.G., Safonova I.A. Lexical Means of Describing Miracles in Hagiographies of Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2. Yazykoznanie [Science journal of Volgograd State University. Linguistics], 2026, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 118-136. (in Russian). DOI: https:// doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2026.2.10
Lexical Means of Describing Miracles in Hagiographies of Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki © 2026 by Dmitrieva E.G., Safonova I.A. is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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