WORMWOOD COLOR: FROM LEXICOGRAPHIC TRADITION TO MASS LANGUAGE CONSCIOUSNESS

Abstract

The focus of this study is the reconstruction of the Russian floristic space color conceptosphere, in particular its fragment, represented by the wormwood color descriptions, which is significant plant in the traditional Slavic culture, functioning in various discourses (lexicographic, artistic, advertising). In the course of the study, a number of tasks were solved: 1) based on the lexicographic sources, K. Paustovsky’s prose, linguistic associative experiment, the National corpus of the Russian language data, advertising text, the quantitative and qualitative composition of wormwood color descriptions, represented by more than 70 unique nominations, was determined; 2) color dominants that visualize the plant and are the color stereotype of its perception: green – according to the associative experiment data, gray – according to the K. Paustovsky’s color picture of the world, gray-haired and silvery – according to the main and poetic subcorps of the National corpus of the Russian language were revealed; 3) the functional potential of the wormwood color descriptions, which creates the idea of the plant, was described; 4) on the example of the wormwood color descriptions use in texts, some trends in the development of the Russian color system were indicated, in particular, active color terms production based on color plant descriptions. The results obtained make it possible to make a certain contribution to the Russian color conceptosphere description; can be used both in research activities and in educational and methodical work, in lexicography.