Features of the nomination of persons in descriptions of Moscow at the beginning of the 19th century (based on the articles of N. M. Karamzin in the magazine “Vestnik Evropy” [“Messenger of Europe”])

The work determines the features of the nomination of persons in articles about Moscow by N.M. Karamzin, published in the magazine “Vestnik Evropy” [“Messenger of Europe”] in 1802–1803. It is established that the choice of lexemes is influenced by the topic of the articles, the temporal attribution of the object of description and its characteristics associated with the implementation of the concept “one’s own” vs. “stranger”. The articles regularly use agentive nouns of various semantic types, while the use of some of them from a functional point of view differs from the modern one. For texts by N.M. Karamzin is characterized by the regular use of agreed upon definitions, detailing the expressed meanings and in some cases used as substantives, as well as collective nouns naming class social groups. It is established that the main differences from modern word usage concern the use of archaisms, historicisms, as well as the use of lexemes in meanings that are not characteristic of them from the point of view of a modern native speaker. The principles of distribution of lowercase and capital letters used by N.M. Karamzin when naming persons are determined: capital letters are used when words belong to certain lexical-semantic groups (lexemes indicating nationality, citizenship, religion, etc.), as well as when expressing specific lexical meanings.