On the naming of the concept ‛dirtʼ and some types and characteristics of soil in the Vepsian language
Abstract
The paper studies Vepsian nouns and adjectives describing some soil characteristics and types: seasonally frozen ground, lumpy soil, sandy desert soils, clay soils, liquid or semi-liquid mixture of water and different types of soil (mud), fertile and unfertile soil. An etymological and morphological analysis of the vocabulary of Baltic-Finnic, Uralic and Russian origins is carried out. It is shown that in Vepsian speakers use both Russian loanwords and words of Baltic-Finnic origin to denote soil characteristics. The vocabulary nominating the soil characteristics in Vepsian is related to seasons and specific features of agricultural land use in Vepsian settlements. Based on the analysis of the vocabulary referring to the concept ‘dirt’ the researcher has concluded that there is one word that may be considered universal for all dialects of the Vepsian language. Most nouns denoting ‛dirtʼ have no productive stem. ‛Dirtʼ in the Vepsian language can be nominated with several names. In terms of meaning, most lexemes denoting ‛dirtʼ are related to the weather conditions, soil characteristics, and the road accessibility. Russian loanwords describing soil characteristics are rare and often function alongside with the words of Baltic-Finnic origin. The etymology of some names referring to ‛dirtʼ can hardly be uncovered.
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