TURKISMS IN THE TRAGEDY “TAMIRA AND SELIM” BY M. V. LOMONOSOV:ETYMOLOGY, FUNCTIONS, AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
Keywords:
turkisms, Lomonosov, Tamira and Selim, lexical borrowings, Turkic languages, Russian literary language, eighteenth-century Russian literature, etymology, cultural contactAbstract
The present article explores the lexical layer of Turkic-originated words (turkisms) found in the works of eighteenth-century Russian writers, with a particular focus on the tragedy “Tamira and Selim” (1750) by Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. Written at the command of Empress Elizabeth and set against the backdrop of the Battle of Kulikovo (1380), the play unfolds entirely within the Crimean Khanate, requiring the author to employ an extensive range of Eastern vocabulary to achieve historical and cultural authenticity. The study identifies and classifies the turkisms present in the text according to several thematic categories: titles and social designations (vizier, murza, tsar/khan), geographical and ethnic names (Kafa, Crimea, horde, Tatars), military terminology (regiment, treasury, bogatyr), and the proper names of the characters, which draw upon Arabic, Persian, and Turkic onomastic traditions. The article discusses the etymology of each identified turkism, tracing its path from the source language through Turkic mediation into Russian literary usage. Furthermore, the analysis reveals the stylistic functions these borrowings perform in the text: creating an Eastern cultural milieu, ensuring historical verisimilitude, characterising the dramatis personae through semantically motivated naming, and constructing an ideological opposition between the Russian and Eastern worlds. The paper also situates Lomonosov’s use of turkisms within the broader context of Russo-Turkic linguistic contacts and the development of Eastern-themed literary traditions in Russian letters, demonstrating that the tragedy represents an early and deliberate instance of turkisms being used as a style-forming literary device.
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