Etymological Component of Concepts “Summer” and “Autumn” and Its Influence on National and Cultural Specifics in Perception of Seasons in Slavic and German Linguistic Cultures

The article presents an analysis of etymological component of the concepts summer and autumn in the Russian and English languages with the aim to identify the archaic core of these concepts and their comparison in Russian and English languages, the identification of similar and different components in their structure. Russian and English native speakers have similar concepts that can be grouped according to various criteria. Often similar concepts of different linguistic cultures are not completely the same in terms of their content and that proves their national identity. Such discrepancies can be significant for intercultural communication. The concepts summer and autumn are concepts with perceptual and sensory cores, therefore their multidimensional analysis is important and interesting from the point of view of identifying the general and national-caused elements of these concepts among representatives of the Slavic and Germanic language pictures. Such concepts are archetypal, ambivalent in their content and express the specifics of the world picture of the ethnos. In addition, historical-cultural approach taken in this study is the least developed area in the study of the concept. And etymology – is the source from which develops the conceptual content, reflection of the initial “naïve” ideas about the denotation, that are the “core” from which any concept in any language develops.


Introduction
Language and mentality are interrelated because the language reflects those features of the extra linguistic reality, which appear to be relevant to people who use the language, and mastering the language, the native speaker begins to see the world from the perspective, suggested by his native language and gets used to the conceptualization of the world, common for this culture.In this sense, all the words that verbalize language-specific concepts simultaneously "reflect" and "shape" the mentality and cultural space of native speakers.
In the national cultural environment of each nation, there are many concepts that reflect the bright national characteristics.Often, these concepts are difficult or even impossible to convey in another language and this is a sure evidence of their national specificity, mental uniqueness.Many of these concepts affect the perception of reality, the understanding of the phenomena and events of every-day life and determine national peculiarities of communicative behavior of people.For a proper understanding of mentality and behavior of other people the ways of identification and description of the content of such concepts is extremely important.
In our research we turn to the etymology of Russian and English concepts лето, осень, summer, autumn in order to trace their evolution in the linguistic consciousness and to identify images or "inner form" coding these concepts in the minds of speakers of ancient Russian and English languages.We assume that etymology is the source from which develops the conceptual content, reflection of the initial "naïve" ideas about the denotation, which was the "core", from which evolved the concept.Non-personal, given the content of the concept is inseparable from its "memory", that is, from a dynamic process of the emergence of verbal or non-verbal form that was "packed" original in concept meaning.The concept unfolds around the semantic space between the lower and the upper bounds of sense, genetically given its "inner form".
For the first time the conception of "inner form" was proposed by A. A. Potebnya.In his opinion, we must distinguish between the external form of speech, that is articulate sound, content, objectified through sound and the internal, or inner form of the word, that is its closest etymological meaning, the way the content is expressed.The external form is inseparable from the internal, changing along with it, without it ceases to be itself, but distinct from it."Inner form of the word is the content of thought to consciousness; it shows, as it seems to the man of his own mind.The inner, or internal form is the center of the image, one of its features, prevailing over all others " (1976, pp.146-175).
V. P. Zhukov under the inner form understands verbal way, which is the basis of the name of a particular phraseological units, and believes in motivating the lexical meaning of a sign always occupies a peripheral position in relation to other differential characteristics values.According to V. P. Zhukov, due to the fact that the inner form of a word tends to be forgotten and eventually disappear (1978, p.19).
According to N. F. Alefirenko, the contents of the inner form is determined by the semantic elements of lexical and grammatical semantics, which served as its genetic source, and the domestic form of the word is the etymological center of the image, and the synchronous component of its semantic structure, employees idioethnic the basis of indirectly derivative nomination, i.e. the denotative sign, which was to name the corresponding fragment of reality.In its nucleus this kind of internal form contains both connotative and evaluative, and semantic components (2003, pp.64-70).
O. I. Blinova (1995) believes that the inner form of the word has a cultural function, being one of the main means of expressing linguistic picture of the world, spiritual culture of the people.
In this paper, the concepts summer and autumn are considered primarily in the framework of cultural linguistics.Despite the breadth of linguistic and cultural descriptions of the concept beyond such descriptions remain purely psychological and philosophical characteristics of mental formations.

Methodology
Etymology -is the source from what develops the conceptual content, reflection of the initial "naïve" ideas about the denotation, it is the "core" from which any concept develops.In the process of conducting our research our aim was not only to model the concepts, but what is more important, to compare these concepts in Russian and English languages, to identify similar and different components in their structure.
To identify and describe the names of concepts лето/summer and осень/autumn, we used such a research procedure like the analysis of a number of etymological and historical dictionaries and the method of free and direct psycholinguistic experiment.
Turning to the etymological dictionaries of the Russian and English languages, we attempt to trace the etymology of words лето/summer and осень/autumn, and thus to recover the archaic cores that underlie these concepts and prevailing over all other signs.
To see how different are the images that underlie these concepts in the minds of contemporary speakers, we have carried out the psycholinguistic experiment.The experiment conducted among Russian-speaking respondents involved 100 participants, people of different ages (from 18 to 50 years), social status and occupation.Most of the respondents were students and teachers of the faculty of Economics of the Stavropol State University.46 participants -also people of different age (from 16 to 65 years) -students and teachers of the British College Brooke house College (Market Harborough, Leicestershire) and the American business school Haas School of Business (California) took part in the survey as the Englishspeaking respondents.This method of modeling and research of the concept most fully reflects its structure and allows to identify the national characteristics of this structure.Thus, we turned to the participants with the question: "What image(s) do you associate лето/summer and осень/autumn with?"
According to "Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages" by O. N. Trubachev, Slavic lĕto is a Slavic innovation in the Indo-European system of the names of the seasons.This idea is developed in the work by T. V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov.In their study "Indo-European language and the Indo-Europeans", the authors compare the names of the seasons in different languages, and come to the conclusion that the most archaic Indo-European dialects preserved Indo-European names of the seasons like "winter" and "spring-summer" and such name like "summer" is new one.In the same dictionary there is the hypothesis of G. Jacobson about a possible connection of the Slavic lĕto with the Indo-European root -uel, which means "warm, hot", Armenian -gol -"fire, heat", golanam -"heat", Lithuanian vilditi -"making warm" (Gamkrelidze & Ivanov, 1984, pp.852-854).This hypothesis supports the idea that the archaic core of the concept "лето" has the tactile or perceptive basis.P. Chernykh also indicates the uncertainty of the etymology of the word "лето".In his opinion, related lexemes, undoubtedly, are the only ancient Irish laithe "день" (day), and Indo-European basis *leto, which could mean "time when the sun shines and warms".
M. Fasmer brings the facts into advantage not only an all-Slavic, but also Indo-European basis of the word "лето".Thus, in his dictionary there are forms, similar to a lexeme "лето" in old-Slavic, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian languages that can point to an all-Slavic origin of this lexeme: -ancient Slavic -лiто, Bulgarian -лято, Serbian and Croatian -. љето, Slovenian -lẹ to, Czech -léto, Slovak lеtо, Polish -lаtо, Upper Sorbian language and Lower Sorbian language leto.
A.G. Preobrazhenskiy in "The Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language" also indicates the similarity of word "лето" with the Old Gutnish and the ancient-Irish equivalents.In his opinion, word "лето" has no clear explanation, but may relate "лить" (to pour), and has an initial meaning "время, период дождей" (period of rains).It is also possible to compare the token with the Irish lith -"лето, праздник природы" (summer, holiday of nature).
According to N.M.Shansky, "лето" -the all-Slavic word, which is derivative by means of the suffix -то from лити.In his opinion, initial meaning of word "лето" -"время дождей" (the time of rains), since the summer as the time of rains was contradicted to winter as the time of snow.The meaning "лет" as "год" (year), in the N.M.Shansky's opinion, is the most recent.
All the analyzed materials confirm the opinion of scientists about the fact that лето is the newest concept in the originally two-part Indo-European system of the names of seasons, that was distinguished from the initially syncretic concept "весна-лето".Thus, according to the materials, represented in the dictionary "Slavic Antiquities" by N.I.Tolstoy, folk Slavic calendar divided a year into two halves -cold and warm, according to the climatic special features and predominant type of economic activity.The dictionary notes also the absence of concept "лето" in Old Slavic language, this season was called межень, межонное время (low water period or "mezhonnoe vremya") as the transit time between the two basic and more extensive seasons -spring and autumn.
To sum up, it is necessary to note that in the works of all the etymologists present the perceptive-shaped (tactile) characteristics of the Russian concept летодождь (rain), жара (heat), жаркий/теплый (hot/warm).
The majorities of the etymological dictionaries of the English language give only the stems, to which the names of seasons in the English raise, and point out the Indo-European origin of the lexemes "summer".Thus, according to "The Oxford Etymological Dictionary", word "summer" rises from the form sun (summer -sumor (Old Eng.), or samth, sun (Irish)) -the sun, the Indo-European basis of the lexeme sam also has the meaning half of year, season, time.
According to "The Dictionary of Word Origins" by John Ayto, etymological core of the word "summer" goes back to the basis sumor / sumur (zomer in Danish, Sommer in German), that indicates "half; middle".Douglas Harper's "Online Etymology Dictionary" indicates also on the basis semthat in the ancient Indian means "summer, the summer season".
"New Collegiate Dictionary of English" gives the following information: the word "summer" came into the English language in the 12th century and close in its meaning to ancient German and ancient Norwegian sumer, which indicates "summer season, summer time", and earlier origin of word may be carried back to the ancient Indian of samā, i.e., "year, season"."Merriam Webster Dictionary" gives some interpretations of ancient bases, and it also indicates on the basis of sumor -"year, season".Thus, the perceptive-shaped (tactile) characteristic of the concept summersun is also noted by the English etymologists.
Extremely interesting in conceptual sense is the etymology of the seasons, represented in "Historic -Etymological Dictionary" of M.M. Makovsky, where the primary attention is paid not to the nature and its forces, but for human activities in every season.Such approach makes possible to establish the wider parallels between the ancient roots, which can be disputable from the positions of traditional etymological analysis.For each season in the dictionary, the author finds parallels in the Lithuanian, the Ossetic, the Latin and other languages.
Having analyzed materials of etymological dictionaries, it is possible to restore the archetypical cores which are the cornerstone of the concept лето/summer: for Russian летоday; rain; warm, hot; year, season; for English summer -the sun; half, middle; year, (summer) season.The image designating a time span -a day, a season, a time, a year -is present both in Russian, and in English perception of the concept лето/summer.Non-coincident etymological images: rain, warm/hot (in Russian language) and the sun, half/middle (in English language) -mean that formation of the concept лето/summer in Russian and English lingua cultures is caused by national and cultural specifics of perception of this season, traditions and an originality of national character, and also features the geographical position and the environment.Russian summer begins in June (in Russia it is a season of rains), and English summer begins in May (on the British Isles in this month warm and sunny weather is established).However on the folk Slavic calendar the beginning of the summer season correspond to the different holidays of the post-Easter period, that usually take place in May and June, according to the "Slavic Antiquities Dictionary".
To sum up, it might be said, that such conceptual signs of concept лето as "rain" and "heat" are accentuated in the Russian language; the English concept summer has conceptual signs "sun" and "the middle of season".Difference in the perception of this season is possible to explain by the fact that each ethnos is characterized both by specific natural living conditions and by its special systems of the perception of the surrounding world.Such perception is formed via the process of practical human activity on the basis of own experience and traditions, inherited from the previous generations.For the representatives of the Slavic lingua culture to the larger degree than for the representatives of German lingua-culture, the perception of the seasons in general, and summer in particular is connected with the nature forces and weather conditions since the periods of agricultural work precisely depended on them.
Our psychological experiment has revealed that for the modern Russian-language speakers, the core image, representing the concept лето is жара (heat) (the lexemes "жара" ("heat"), "жаркий, жарко" ("hot") were found in 93% of the responses).For modern English-language speakers, the concept summer is represented by the image of the sun (in the survey 96% of respondents had used the lexemes "sun", "sun rays", "UV rays", "sunny").These images are standardized and since they are already entrenched in national language consciousness of contemporary Russian and English language speakers, we may suggest, that these images are the core for the present-day concept лето/summer.

Осень/autumn in the etymological dictionaries of the Russian and English languages
Concept осень/autumn is the latest formation in the Indo-European system of the names of the seasons, when from the three-part system "winter -spring -summer" arose contemporary four-part system of seasons.With the help of the etymological dictionaries of the Russian and English languages, we will attempt to restore the archaic cores, which make the basis of the concept осень/autumn.The Historiс -Etymological Dictionary" of M. Fasmer indicates the similarity of the lexemes "осень" in all Slavic languages: Ukranian óсiнь, (Gen.осени) Serbian and Slavenian есень φθινοπωρον, Bulgarian есента, Serbo-Croatian jесен, esentá, Sloven jesen, Czech jesen, Slovat jesen, Polish jesień.Furthermore, word "осень", in the opinion of M. Fasmer, is very close to Old Prussian assanis "осень" (autumn), Gothic of asans "жатва" (harvest), ancient High German of aran, arn "урожай" (harvest, yields).Further M. Fasmer indicated similarities to the Greek of ὀπώρΒ, which means "конец лета, жатва" (the end of the summer, harvest), "после жатвы" (after the harvest).
In "Historic -Etymological Dictionary of the Contemporary Russian Language" of P. Chernykh he indicates that the word "осень" in the Old-Russian sources has been used approximately since 945; besides the similarity to the Old Prussian, Gothic and Old High German forms, scientist also indicates the relationship with the ancient Scandinavian onn (*aznu) -"полевая работа", "страда" (harvest-time).
A.G. Preobrazhenskiy besides similarity with the Old Prussian, Gothic and Old High German roots, as well as also the Latin equivalent of annoa, which means "годовой доход" (the annual earning), "зерно" (grain).
In the opinion N.M.Shansky, "осень" -is the all-Slavic word, which has conformities in the Baltic and German languages.
The word "autumn" (autumpne in the old French and autumnus in the Latin languages) has Etruscan origin.Until the 14th century, this season in the English was called "harvest" (Herfst in Danish language, Herbst in German), that goes back to the root haerfest, from the ancient Indian kharbitas or karp -"corp" -"period of harvest"; in the Greek -karpos -"fruit"; in the Lithuanian kerpu -"to cut, to havest".
Other etymological dictionaries of English -Chamber's W. Etymological dictionary of the English language, the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Merriam Webster Dictionary -give similar old forms of the lexeme "autumn": auctumnus -autumn, year, the autumnal harvesting; autumnals -autumnal; auctumnus/augeo/auctum -increased, strengthened; an increase, surplus.
Having analyzed the materials of etymological dictionaries, it is possible to sum up that an internal form of the concept осень\autumn in the Russian and English languages has the same etymological core in Slavic and German pictures of the world: a) "осень" -урожай, жатва (a crop, a harvest), b) "autumn"harvesting, yields.
Thus, both in the Russian and in the English languages are emphasized such a conceptual sign of the concept осень/autumn as "урожай/harvest".Complete coincidence in the perception of this season can be explained by the identical influence of autumnal season on a way of life of the representatives of Russian and English linguistic cultures: autumn -season, connected with summing up of the results of agricultural season, harvesting, since to what extent the results of autumnal works are successful, further way of life of people will depended.
In order to identify contemporary figurative core component of the concept осень/autumn, we asked our respondents to describe the most vivid image that arises from the word "осень" and "autumn".The results of the psycholinguistic experiment showed that for the contemporary Russian-language speakers, the core image, representing the concept осень is дождь, вода (rain/water) (lexemes "rain", "rainy", "wet", "puddles" was found in 93% of the responses).For the contemporary English-language speakers, the core image, representing the concept autumn is the image of falling leaves/foliage (in a survey 96% of respondents had used the lexemes "leaves", "foliage", "fall of leaves").Consequently, the images of rain (дождь) and falling leaf (leaves), foliage are essential to the present-day concept of осень/autumn, respectively.
The difference in the perception of the concept осень/autumnурожай (harvest) -archetypal image, and дождь (rain) -in contemporary perception, for Russian language, and harvest -archetypal image, and foliage -in contemporary English language says about the change of attitude of present-day Russian and English native speakers to this time of year, the transition from the active lifestyle to the more contemplative.

Conclusion
Rapid development of cultural linguistics due to the fact that cognitive studies have become an integral part of modern linguistic science.However, cultural linguistics as a field of knowledge is in the process of becoming, as the interaction of language and culture are not fully studied yet, methods and techniques of linguistic and cognitive analysis are not exactly developed.That is why the research in the framework of cultural linguistics is so important currently.
Language and thinking are interrelated because the language reflects those features of the extra-linguistic reality, which appear to be relevant to the media culture that uses the language, mastering the language, the native speaker begins to see the world from the perspective, suggested by his native language and gets used to the conceptualization of the world, characteristic of the respective culture.In this sense, words that verbalize language-specific concepts simultaneously "reflect" and "shape" mindset and cultural space of native speakers.
In the national cultural environment of each nation, there are many concepts that reflect the bright national characteristics.Often, these concepts are difficult or even impossible to convey in another language and that is a clear evidence of their national specificity, mental uniqueness.Many of these concepts affect the perception of reality, the understanding of the phenomena and events and determine national peculiarities of communicative behavior of people.For a proper understanding of the thoughts and behavior of other nations, the description of the content of such concepts is extremely important.
The analysis of the material presented in etymological dictionaries of Russian and English languages supports the view of scientists that лето is a new concept in the initially two-part system of Indo-European names of the seasons, released from the syncretic concept of весна -лето (spring-summer).For example, according to materials presented in the dictionary "Slavic antiquities" N. Tolstoy, the Slavic folk calendar divides the year into two halves -cold and warm, according to climatic characteristics and prevailing type of economic activity.In this dictionary there is also the lack of a definition for "лето" of the ancient Slavs, this time of year was called межень, межонное время (the low water time) as the transit time between the major and more longer seasons -spring and autumn.The concept осень is the latest lexeme in the system of the Indo-European names of the seasons, when the three-part system of "winter-spring-summer" originated the modern four-part system.
The archetypal images, that underlie the concept лето/summer in the Russian and English languages, overlap.Thus, the period, indicating time -day, season, time, year -present in the Russian and in the English languages.Not coinciding etymological images -дождь (rain) in the Russian language, and the sun in English; теплый, горячий (warm, hot) in Russian and half/middle in English -indicate that the formation of the concept лето/summer in Russian and English linguistic cultures can be explained by the nationalcultural specificity of perception this time of year, traditions and originality of the national character and geographical position and natural conditions: Russian summer begins in June (in Russia it is the rainy season) and British summer starts in May (in the British Isles this month is noted for warm and sunny weather).
The results of the psycholinguistic experiment has shown that for the present-day Russian speakers, the central image, representing the concept лето, is the image of heat; for present-day English speakers, the concept summer is still represented by the image of sun.The discrepancy between archetypal and contemporary images in the perception of the concept лето/summer reflects the changes in perception of the world by the representatives of Russian and English linguistic culture.The difference in the perception of this time of year shows the dynamics due to some socio-cultural factors.In the English linguistic culture the image of sun has been preserved, and it is typical for the perception of the concept summer in all groups of population.Discrepancy in perception of the concept лето in Russian linguistic culture can be explained by difference in perception of this season in different social groups of population in Russia.The archetypal image of the concept летоrain; warm/hot -is common for the perception of the world by people whose life was fully connected with agricultural work and depended on farming, that is primarily peasantry.Contemporary image of the concept летоheat -is socially uncertain.
Archetypal image, underlying Russian concept осень, and English concept autumnharvest -coincides in both languages.Complete coincidence in the perception of this time of year can be attributed to the same influence of the autumnal season on the way of life of representatives of the Russian and English linguistic culture: autumn is the time of year associated with summing up the agricultural season and harvest, since, future life of people depended on successful results of the autumn work.