Udacha vs Udal’ in the Linguistic Objectification of the Russian Cultural Concept of Luck

Abstract

This article discusses the results of an intralinguistic comparative analysis of the lexemes udacha (‘luck’) and udal’ (‘courage’) as a part of the complex linguoculturological description of the concept “udacha” (‘luck’) in the Russian national conceptual sphere according to the language data. The paper aimed to analyse the conceptual convergence and divergence of the lexemes udacha and udal’ that form the historical-etymological area of this concept’s entire range of meanings. For materials, the author turned to Russian etymological and explanatory dictionaries as well as to the Russian National Corpus. The conceptual analysis methodology applied in this paper is based on methods adopted by the Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod schools of thought. The scientific value of this article consists in introducing such a new research subject as the conceptual pair udacha – udal’ in the Russian linguistic worldview. It is demonstrated that in the historical-etymological area of the meanings of the concept of luck, an important place is occupied by the age-old link between udacha and udal’ that is confirmed by their common genesis and a significant convergence of meanings. The author comes to the conclusion that the Russian words udacha and udal’ comprise an interdependent unity: udacha reflects the objective aspect of all the good things that can happen in one’s life, while udal’ expresses the subjective aspect, i.e. personal traits facilitating successful self-fulfilment. This paper makes a certain contribution to the theory and practice of the comprehensive linguoculturological synchronic-diachronic analysis of cultural concepts based on cognitive linguistics. In terms of practical value, the results of the research can be used for teaching linguoculturological disciplines at universities and for compiling conceptual dictionaries and linguoculturological thesauri.