Pryschepchuk I. O. The realisation of the semantic model “physical and emotional states – light” in Germanic and Slavonic languages

Abstract

The determination of the semantic laws in the development of the lexis of modern languages at different stages
of their development is one of the main issues of historical linguistics.
The article deals with the elaboration of the semantic models of the words denoting light in the Germanic and
Slavonic languages in which the meaning of shining stems from the meaning of physical or emotional state. The
motivational basis of the evolution of the light semantics is elucidated. The semantic chains which describe the
development of the lexeme unde con ide ation a e hown along the axi “p oto- language – old languages –
mode n language ”. By mean of the cont a tive method the common and distinctive features in the
aforementioned groups of languages are established.