THE LEXEME "HARMONY" IN ENGLISH: DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS’ ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the semantic structure of the concept of "harmony" in English by analysing dictionary definitions based on 12 monolingual dictionaries, aiming to define the nominative lexeme “harmony”. The research resulted in distinguishing the core seme, median part and periphery of the concept, their dominance or peripherality of the semes being analysed according to the frequency of their appearance in the dictionaries. The etymology of the concept of “harmony” is also outlined in the article starting with the Greek word “harmonia” (where it is believed to be a derivative from an Indo-European verb root -ar-), the first appearance of the concept in the Middle English and to its usage in the modern language. Consequently, the development of this concept as an open dynamic system is demonstrated according to the process of its evolution from the core seme having totally physical meaning to the peripheral ones, the meanings of which are rather metaphorical. Besides, the impact of outside circumstances is considered one of the reasons for the fact that not all the features of this concept are fully verbalised in the language. As follows, the conclusion is made about the permanent development of the concept as a system. This corresponds to the general theory of a concept’s development which extends from the sensory-visual image that constitutes the core of the concept, through the gradual layering of "basic layers, where the features are arranged in progressively more abstract ways.