ENGLISH REPRESENTATION OF THE CORE OF THE ORTHODOX CONCEPT OF ICON

Abstract

In the course of modern linguistic research, special attention is paid to the interaction of language, culture and religion, and simultaneous study of the concept as a unit of language and culture is the best way to solve a number of relevant issues. The problem of analysis of the Christian concepts and the vocabulary that represents them is becoming more and more relevant in the light of globalizing world processes for the improvement of intercultural, interreligious and interconfessional interaction. That is why the problem of reproduction of the Orthodox concept of icon by means of the English language is relevant and timely. In our study, the relationship between religious and linguistic worldviews was researched, defined as follows: the religious worldview is formed by basic religious and cultural notions and concepts, which are transformed by a person through the prism of his thinking and are reflected at the linguistic level. It is the difference in linguistic and cultural worldviews that becomes a problem when reproducing units of a religious concept in a foreign language. As for religious concepts studies in Ukraine, they were conducted mainly on the material of the Ukrainian language (P. Matskiv, T. Vilchinska) with regard to the comparative aspect of the study, it should be recognized that there is a rather insignificant body of research in this area (L. Chernovatyi, O. Zhykhareva, N. Popovych). The concept of icon is analyzed in the linguistic and cultural aspect. The chosen concept is one of the significant spiritual concepts of the Ukrainian linguistic picture of the world and is practically not explored in the sphere of foreign language representation. The lexicographic description of the core lexeme of the concept of icon based on the interpretation of dictionary definitions allows us to draw conclusions that there is a certain asymmetry of the components in the English and Ukrainian languages. The most difficult in for the presentation of religious concepts in a foreign language are those that, due to cultural and historical reasons, are lacunar in the recipient language. With regard to the Ukrainian and English religious linguistic cultures, this is the concept of icon. Due to differences in religious issues in various Christian denominations, there is a threat of erroneous transfer of the meaning of lexemes representing the concept (semantic transfer) and even errors of a dogmatic nature.