УДК 811.161.1

Pskov regional dictionary: past present future

Васильева Ольга Владимировна – Кандидат филологических наук, Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет.

Annotation. The article gives a comprehensive description of the Pskov Regional Dictionary with Historical Data (PRD). This is the first full-type dialect dictionary and the only complete dialect dictionary for an entire region. Describing not only dialectal, but also all-Russian words and phraseological units, PRD presents them as a system. The historical part of the Dictionary allows us to trace the development of the semantics of individual words in diachrony. Precise geographic markings of the PIC allow readers to reconstruct the area of all described words. Pskov dialects are not only Central Russian, having both northern and southern dialectal features, they are also in contact with Belarusian dialects in the south, with Baltic-Finnish languages in the west, which makes them a unique object for study.

Аннотация. В статье дается исчерпывающее описание Псковского областного словаря с историческими данными (PRD). Это первый полнотекстовый диалектный словарь и единственный полный диалектный словарь для всего региона. Описывая не только диалектные, но и общерусские слова и фразеологизмы, PRD представляет их как систему. Историческая часть словаря позволяет проследить развитие семантики отдельных слов в диахронии. Точные географические обозначения на рисунке позволяют читателям восстановить область распространения всех описанных слов. Псковские диалекты являются не только среднерусскими, имеющими как северные, так и южные диалектные особенности, они также соприкасаются с белорусскими диалектами на юге, с прибалтийско-финскими языками на западе, что делает их уникальным объектом для изучения.

Key words: Pskov regional dictionary with historical data, full-type dialect dictionary, Russian vocabulary in diachrony, Pskov dialects.

Ключевые слова: Псковский областной словарь с историческими данными, полнотекстовый диалектный словарь, русская лексика в диахронии, псковские диалекты.

The Pskov Regional Dictionary with Historical Data [1] (hereinafter referred to as PRD, Dictionary) is a unique lexicographic work in a number of parameters. The first issue was published in 1967, 28 issues were published, which included words starting with letters from A to P (about 70 thousand dictionary entries), the 29th issue was prepared for publication, and the compilation of the next ones continues. The dictionary was conceived by Professor B. A. Larin as the first full-type dialect dictionary, that is, including not only local and regional vocabulary, but also all-Russian vocabulary. All dialect dictionaries published in Russia before him were differential, describing territorially limited words and phraseological units, to which all-Russian lexemes could be added in cases where they were backed by local customs, beliefs, etc. (see, for example, [2]). B. A. Larin rightly believed that it is necessary to describe the vocabulary found in dialects systematically. This means that not only dialectisms, but also all-Russian vocabulary should be lexicographed. After all, absolutely all the words used by the residents of a particular region, together reflect the linguistic picture of the world of the Russian peasantry, represent a rich system of nominations, and enter into all kinds of semantic relationships: thematic, synonymous, antonymic, hypo-hyperonymic, etc. From the very beginning the card index of the Dictionary was formed as an absolutely complete recording of the entire lexical and phraseological wealth of Pskov dialects; during annual expeditions, collectors talk with informants on a variety of topics, after which they draw up vocabulary cards for both dialect and all-Russian lexemes.

Almost any dictionary entry in the PRD for a polysemantic word shows the further development of the semantics of all-Russian words in dialects. Thus, the all-Russian preposition под (PRD, issue 27, pp. 355-364) has 48 meanings in Pskov dialects, which clearly exceeds its tasks in the literary language. If you look at the significant vocabulary, then, for example, the verb падать (PRD, issue 25, pp. 5-7) in addition to the all-Russian meanings “to move from top to bottom under the influence of its own gravity”, “to go, to fall out (about precipitation)” and etc., there are many dialectal meanings: 'to flow in, pour in (about a river)', 'limping, slightly leaning to one side', 'to die', 'to decrease in level, intensity', 'to become worse (about health)', ' bending down to look for someone, something, etc.

The second unique feature of PRD is reflected in its name: it is a regional dictionary with historical data. The first issue contains 108 sources from the 13th to 18th centuries; in the 28th issue there are 118 of them. At the same time, not only the chronicles have local flavor, but also such monuments as the Pskov scribal books, the Pskov court charter, the books of the merchant Pogankin and numerous small documents created on the Pskov land in different centuries – letters, acts, extracts, spiritual wills, petitions, etc. The Phrasebook of Tönnies Fenne, a German merchant, deserves special mention – a text from 1607, which is an extensive selection of phrases heard from the lips of Pskov residents and translated into German. This source, which is already four hundred years old and written by a foreigner, presents absolutely all the features of Pskov dialects studied and described in the twentieth century – phonetic, grammatical, syntactic, interesting vocabulary is reflected. Of course, the combination of modern and historical records in the PRD illustrates the development of the lexical system, the departure of some meanings and the emergence of others, the different relevance of certain meanings in different periods. Thus, the verb пособить, which was developed for the 30th issue of the PRD, in modern Pskov dialects has the main meaning of “to provide help, support,” where all quotes speak about helping one person to another, while rich historical material gives a completely different compatibility: the vast majority of medieval contexts – about the help of higher, divine forces, and most often this is help in a military conflict.

The third feature of the PRD is that it is an atlas dictionary. It provides information not only about the areas of the Pskov region where this or that dialect word was recorded, but also about all the villages where it was heard. The year of recording is also reported. Such detailed information, according to B. A. Larin’s plan, allows readers, if desired, to recreate the areas of existence of certain dialect words in the Pskov region.

The fourth feature of the PRD is due to the material itself – Pskov dialects. As is known, the entire array of Russian dialects of the European part of Russia, already in the first scientific classification [3], was divided into three blocks: the North Russian dialect, the South Russian dialect and the Central Russian transitional dialects, which include the Pskov dialects. The second classification of Russian dialects of primary settlement [4], based on a detailed description of the dialects, confirmed the correctness of this division (north – center – south). Pskov dialects, like other Central Russian dialects, combine North Russian and South Russian features. It is no coincidence that this buffer zone between two dialects received a detailed description in a large collective monograph [5].

At the same time, the Pskov region is not only a Central Russian strip, but also a borderland with Belarusian dialects, as well as a zone of interaction with the Baltic languages. As B. A. Larin wrote in the preface to the PRD, “the folk speech of the Pskov region is of great interest internationally, not to mention its exceptional significance for historians and dialectologists of the Russian language, since it reflects the thousand-year-old connections and cultural exchange of the Russian population with closely adjacent peoples of the Baltic-Finnish group, with Latvians and Lithuanians, as well as Belarusians” (PRD, issue 1, p. 3). That is why B. A. Larin visited the villages of the Pskov region for dialectological purposes already in 1926 and 1927 [6]. And then, starting from 1945, Leningrad State University students began to go to the Pskov region to get materials for the Dialectological Atlas of the Russian Language. In the Interdepartmental Dictionary Cabinet [7], founded by B. A. Larin at the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad State University and bearing his name, there is a journal of field practice, where the first entry is Pskov region, 1945, the leader of the expedition is A. P. Evgenieva. The journal records that expeditions are carried out every year. The PRD card index thus includes materials from expeditions from 1945 to the present, containing more than 3 million cards. It exists in two parts, at St. Petersburg State University and at Pskov State University (in the Scientific and Educational Laboratory of Regional Philological Research) [8].

Several years ago, by agreement between the Scientific Library of St. Petersburg State University [9] and the Presidential Library named after B. N. Yeltsin [10], the entire archive of notebooks of the Pskov expeditions of St. Petersburg State University was digitized and presented on the website of the Presidential Library, so now anyone can get acquainted with and work with it.

In 1996, in Pskov, employees of the philological faculty of the Pskov State Pedagogical Institute published the Cadastre of expeditions of both universities from 1945 to 1995 [11]. The book contains 640 pages, which contain information grouped by districts of the Pskov region and then by each locality: in which years in a given village which informants were recorded and who made the recordings.

The collection of material continues. The lexical level of language is very flexible, quickly responding to all changes that occur in people's lives. On the one hand, new realities and new words appear. On the other hand, words that have been associated with the traditional life of the Russian village for centuries are disappearing. In recent years, no good records have appeared about peasant clothing, about crafts – about everything that was relevant before, but has disappeared from the life of a modern village. Therefore, it is gratifying that the PRD card files contain numerous contexts recorded earlier for such realities as bast shoes, pistons, staves and many others, that there are detailed drawings of various complex tools that have long gone out of use, items of clothing that no one wears now, etc. Without a doubt, the creation of new issues of the PRD and, in the future, the completion of this voluminous work is the most important scientific task of the authors of the Dictionary.

References

1. Pskov regional dictionary with historical data. Vol. 1. L., Leningrad State University, 1967. – Issue. 28. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University, 2020. (Publishing continues.)
2. Podvysotsky A. I. Dictionary of the regional Arkhangelsk dialect in its everyday and ethnographic application. St. Petersburg, 1885.
3. Durnovo N. N., Sokolov N. N., Ushakov D. N. Experience of a dialectological map of the Russian language in Europe. M., 1915.
4. Dialectological map of the Russian language. M., 1965.
5. Formation of the Northern Russian dialect and Central Russian dialects: Based on materials from linguistic geography / Ed. V. G. Orlova. M., 1970.
6. Kornev A. I. B. A. Larin and Russian dialectology // Dialectological practice. A textbook for students of the Russian department of philological faculties. Publishing house of St. Petersburg State University, 2003. Pp. 74-86.
7. Pskov dialects and their speakers (information about the study of Pskov folk speech since 1945). Pskov, 1996.