On sacral semantics of Serbo-Slavonic high style compounds

Abstract

The paper analyses the compounds that represent the productive constituent category in sacral Serbo-Slavonic literary works and in the whole period of the Church Slavonic language. In reference to the criterion of the productivity of the compound’s first constituent element, the author embarks on the analysis of their sacral semantics, categorizing them according to their semantic types. The specificity of targeted material calls for a multidisciplinary approach, so that in the discussion of the Christian meaning of the compounds, especially those that hold the status of theological terms, the author is obliged to use theological literature. The analysis will show that just as the “occurrence of Christ means infinitely more than the words can convey”, the sacral meaning says much more than the abstract meaning of words.