Diachronic Analysis of the Concepts CRIME and PUNISHMENT

Abstract

The paper addresses the issues of reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European roots and original meanings of the words denominating the concepts CRIME and PUNISHMENT in English and Ukrainian as well as their semantic development over several historical periods. The methodology employed includes the comparative-historical method incorporating etymological analysis, the techniques of external and internal reconstruction, componential and contrastive analyses. The major findings refer to the identification of the primordial senses of the verbalised concepts CRIME and PUNISHMENT that constitute the structure of the collective unconscious of the early Germans and the early Slavs. The reconstructed linguistic data make it possible to conclude that the archetypal meanings ''cry of distress'', ''to sift, to separate'' encoded in the inner form of the English noun crime gave rise to the legal meanings ''deceit, fraud, treachery'', ''offence punishable by law''. The etymological analysis of the Ukrainian word злочин makes it clear that the specialized legal meaning 'a socially dangerous act' evolved from the original meaning ''crooked, bent, curved''. The etymological connection of the English word punishment with the Proto-Indo-European root *khoe/oi-'punish, compensate, pay price, avenge' points to the earliest Germanic conceptions of punishment as blood feud, vengeance, compensation for damages or payment for a bride, whereas in Old Slavic tradition, punishment is viewed as a punitive measure intended to cause physical pain or inflict intense humiliation, denigration, or extreme fear to a person.