Ecology: Dynamics of semantic changes of a word in the mirror of Russian explanatory dictionaries of the 20th – early 21st centuries

This article aims to trace the dynamics of lexicographic fixation of the semantic development of the word ecology, which is the main nominee of environmental agenda, reflecting one of the most important trends in the development of the global community. The relevance of the task is driven by the fact that the semantic shifts recorded in the most important explanatory dictionaries may turn out to be a mirror of significant processes taking place in the society. Constant changes in lexical semantics, based on common models, are characterized by varying degrees of dynamics and intensity. They are actualized not only along logically predictable, trivial vectors of word development, but also along individual trajectories associated, among other things, with extralinguistic factors. In accordance with the task, the most important explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language of the 20th - early 21st centuries are analyzed. The semantic and lexicographic analysis of the dictionaries’ materials made it possible to single out the following stages of semantic derivation, corresponding to social trends: (1) Society: the emergence of the term. Dictionaries: the initial fixation of the word in the single meaning of a science of the biological cycle; (2) Society: distinction, arrangement, and actualization of the relevant science. Dictionaries: expansion of the semantic volume according to the regular metonymic model (up to two meanings); (3) Society: awareness of the severe adverse consequences of human impact on nature, the “environmental crisis”. Dictionaries: expansion of the semantic volume according to a regular model, appearance of connotatively expressed markers in some zones of dictionary entries, which are preconditions for shifting to another thematic class; (4) Society: awareness of the global nature of the problem of maintaining the harmony of human existence (not only material, but also spiritual). Dictionaries: generalization of the meaning; going beyond the thematic class, transition from the category of physical phenomena to the mental sphere of emotional states and relationships. Thus, the semantic derivation of the word ecology, reflected in the most important explanatory dictionaries of the 20th - early 21st centuries, indicates that the problems in the focus of attention of society contribute to the development of semantics, unique in intensity and significance. As a result, a rapid transition from monosemantic biological term to a word that nominates one of the most important concepts that accumulate value-evaluative and moral meanings relevant to the modern society is observed. Environmental issues, which have become crucial for humanity in the recent decades, contributed to the rapid development of the semantics of its main nominee in Russian explanatory dictionaries of the 20th-21st centuries, which became a mirror of this process. The author declares no conflicts of interests.