Kalvariya: “Skull”, “Hill”, “Holy Place”

Considering the western ‘circulation” in the Russian language of the XVI–XVII centuries, the author once again focuses on the Roman Catholic terminology, which he considers in connection with the word ‘calvary’. The article clarifi es the signifi cance of this phenomenon in the traditions of western countries, in contrast to the rather rare use of this concept in Russia. At the same time, some Russian “scribes” used to defi ne the word “Calvary” as a skull, i.e. part of the head, in the context of anatomical characteristics. By contrast, Western European civilization tended to imply a different meaning, i.e. special sanctifi ed territories, where believers recalled the suffering of the Savior on the Golgotha hill. Using a great variety of sources, including the previously unknown, the author seeks to fi nd out the period when the word “calvary” appeared in Russian and also to trace the development of its meaning and peculiarities of its existence in the language.