The lexical meaning of the word "world" today and in the past. The origin of this noun

The noun "world" is one of the most used in modern speech. This is facilitated by the fact that it has not one but several meanings. Let's learn them, and also consider the etymology of this term.

The origin of the noun

Before considering the meaning of the word "peace", it is worthwhile to learn about the origin of this term. The roots of this name go back to the time of the existence of the Proto-Slavic language. In it was the noun "the world", from which the Old Slavonic word "peace" occurred.

Subsequently, this term was preserved in most Slavic languages, undergoing minimal changes.

So in the Ukrainian today the noun "peace" is actively used, in the Belarusian - "mir", in the Polish - mir, in the Bulgarian - "world", in the Czech and Slovenian - mír, in the Latvian - mieras, etc.

The lexical meaning of the word "peace"

Despite the fact that the term in question is found in most Slavic languages, only in Russian it has such a large number of interpretations.

The main meaning of this word (characteristic not only for Russian, but also for Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak and Slovenian) is a state of rest, absence of hostility or war.

Probably, it was this interpretation that had the term in the Proto-Slavonic language.

Other meanings of the word "world"

This noun in Russian is more often used in another sense. It is used when talking about the universe, about the planet Earth, about humanity, about society and similar concepts.

Also the word "peace" is an outdated, to date, name of a rural community.

In addition to all of the above, this term is used in psychology to name the subjective content of the human psyche. In this sense, the outer and inner worlds are different.

In religion, this concept is also widely used, and also not in one meaning. It is called the abode of the souls of the dead believers. This is the so-called afterlife, or the best, world. Such a phenomenon exists in the predominant majority of world religions.

In addition to this interpretation, the word in question is used to denote the unity of a Christian with the Lord - this is a spiritual peace or peace with God.

With the development of computer technology, another notion arose related to the noun being studied. This is the so-called virtual world - a synthetic programmed universe, with its own laws and rules. Every PC user who has the Internet can join any interactive virtual environment. And this phenomenon is used not only for entertainment, but for business.

In most other Slavic languages, in all the above interpretations, this term is not used. So in Ukrainian, the name "svit" is used instead of it, in Polish - świat, in Belarusian - "light", and in Bulgarian - "holy."

The only exception is the concept of "peace with God". In Ukrainian (world with God), Belarusian (mir gods), Bulgarian (world from God), Czech (mír s Bohem), Slovak (mier s Bohom) and Slovenian (mir z Bogom) it looks similar. But in Polish (pokój z Bogiem) - no.

"War and Peace" or "War and the World"?

Having considered each meaning of the word "world", it is worthwhile to learn an interesting paradox about the pre-revolutionary writing of this noun.

So, in Russian grammar in the old days there were 2 terms "peace" and "world". They sounded the same, but they had different interpretations. The first of them illustrated the meaning of the word "peace", described in the second paragraph. At the same time, the second meant several concepts, described in the third paragraph.

After the Revolution of 1917 (when the spelling was changed), both nouns received an identical spelling "peace." In this way, this term combines several meanings.

In connection with this situation, in the XX century. Philologists began to argue about the meaning of the words "War and Peace", which Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy used in the title of his most voluminous novel. Some of them argued that the title of the book is not "war and its absence", but "war and society / people".

To deal with this issue, in the archives were found pre-revolutionary editions of Tolstoy's novel. Most of them were named "War and Peace". Only in one of the books on the first page was printed "War and the World", although there was a traditional spelling on the cover.

From this we can conclude that the title of the novel "War and Peace" can not be interpreted as "war and people", since the use of the noun "mir" is an annoying misprint of the workers of the printing house.

Toponyms called "peace"

This word is simultaneously not only a nominal noun, but also its own.

In Soviet times, one of the most common slogans was "Peace. Work. May.". In connection with these all 3 terms are very often used in the names of settlements, as well as various subjects.

For this reason, the meaning of the word "peace" is also a number of toponyms. This was the name of several Soviet villages and urban-type settlements. Today, only one of them remained in the Russian Federation - in the Kemerovo region, Novokuznetsk region. The other two are the territory of modern Belarus, and another one is in Kazakhstan.

Moscow metro station "Alekseevskaya" in the 50-60's. Was called "Peace".

Also worth mentioning is the Soviet tradition to call this term cinemas. Some of them still bear this name, although they are in different countries - Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

What objects and objects called such a word

In addition to all of the above, the noun considered is the brand of the Soviet refrigerator, camera and lens. And also a ship, a bathyscaphe and even a space station.

Despite the use of the term in question as its own name, the meaning of the word in the modern world has not lost its relevance and as before it means a lot of positive concepts.