Specific features of the use of architecture and construction terms in Russia at the beginning of the XVIII century (case study of the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral construction records)

The article examines the representation of common and scientific knowledge, as well as various types of semantic relations in the architectural and construction terms used in the records on the construction and repair of the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The study focuses on analyzing the reports, orders, notes, descriptions, plans, drawings, royal and office correspondence and other documents of the Chancellery of City Affairs of St. Petersburg, established in 1706. In the Russian language, architectural and construction vocabulary forms an independent segment in the naive and scientific worldview of the native speakers; it forms an extensive term system of architecture, combining literary words and special terms naming the concepts of architecture and architectural activity. The research methodology includes continuous sampling method, definition and etymological analyses. The conducted research leads to the following conclusions: one of the most important features of the architectural and construction vocabulary under study is its proximity to common language, since terminological information is created on the basis of the knowledge about objects that are encoded in conventional lexical meanings of common words; the international core of the architectural term system in Russian are borrowings from Greek and Latin; the units with religious semantics, most of which are loaned from the Greek language, are used to designate church buildings and architectural parts of temples; the analysis of the fideistic terms revealed the presence of various types of semantic relations, namely, monosemy, ambisemy, polysemy and eurysemy, as well as the presence of synonyms, homonyms and paronyms. The novelty of the approach lies in the choice of the matter under study, which might be apposite for lexicographic practice.