The noun εἰκών ‘icon’ and its derivatives in Russian

Abstract

This article presents a linguistic analysis of the word icon and related words in the Russian language, with special attention to their etymology, as well as to the semantic development in the source language and in the history of the Russian language. The terms iconographer, iconography, iconodule, iconoclast, iconology, iconomach, iconostasis, as well as half-glasses, are considered. Materials related to the terms epistyle and templon (tableau) are involved, which could also denote what preceded the altar barrier. Such a comprehensive historical and linguistic study of this group of vocabulary for its comprehension in the aggregate in Russian science is being carried out for the first time.