RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH BERRY NAMES

Russian and English names of berries form a significant part of the phytonymic system. Berry nominations have been studied in the article applying complex comparative analysis. This lexical and thematic group of words is supposed to possess both similar and unique means of nomination using compounding, suffixation and metaphorical transformation of meaning. The empirical material includes 200 names of Russian and English berries, numerous folk names, slang words, proverbs and sayings retrieved by continuous sampling from dictionaries. The English hyperonym "berry" is frequently used in English nominations. Russian names of berries are mainly simple hyponyms. The Russian hyperonym "jagoda" is often found in sayings. Etymology, synonyms, transformation of meaning of the hyperonyms "jagoda" and "berry" have been analyzed. Both the Old Russian noun "jagoda" and the English "berry" of the Common Germanic origin were initially used to denote wine berry. Correspondences are found in all Slavonic and Germanic languages, signifying their ancient origin. There are many derivatives from the Russian hyperonym, while in English there is only a conversive verb "to berry". Both words are polysemantic, turning into homonyms in slang. Suffixoid -berry is used as a part of English compound nouns. English and Russian hyponyms possess motivational characteristics of color and zoonym. Hyponyms with the color component specify the berry meaning, hyponyms with zoonyms can imply hostility meaning in Russian. Synonyms are characteristic of both Russian and English hyponyms. Suffixation prevails in Russian, compounding is typical of the English berry names, while metaphorical transformations are used in both lexical and thematic groups.