Tropological and Allegorical Semantic Transformations of Anthroponyms in Russian Panegyrical Poetry of the 18th Century

The paper describes various types of semantic transformations of anthroponyms in 18th century Russian panegyric poetry based on the “Dictionary of Anthroponyms of the 18th Century Russian Panegyric Poetry” which is being prepared at the Institute for Linguistic Studies  of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We have found two main types of semantic transformations of anthroponyms – allegorical and tropological. An allegorical transformation of semantics occurs when a proper name becomes a part of allegorical descriptions widespread in 18th century poetry. In the context of allegory an anthroponym retains its direct meaning. Mythological and biblical characters turn out to be heroes of the odic world, simultaneously they express a certain general idea. In case of tropological transformations of semantics antroponyms receive figurative meanings. We distinguish four main types of such transformations: metonymy (Anna meaning ‘Russia’), antonomasia (Hercules meaning ‘fearless warrior’), personification (Minerva as a name for Empress Catherine II) and paraphrase (new Phoebus as a name for G. A. Potemkin). Most of the identified forms of semantic transformations of names in panegyrics are associated with the assimilation of one character to another. Largely due to these assimilations of various forms, panegyric poetry forms an image of an ideal reality.