Parastati, Elda S.
Kavkaz Forum. 2023. Issue 16.

Abstract:
As you know, the lexical composition of any of the world languages, including,
of course, Ossetian, contains words (lexical units) that are actively used at the
modern (synchronic) level of its development – this is active vocabulary. Words,
that have completely or partially fallen out of use and have remained in the past,
for one or another linguistic and historical reason, form passive vocabulary. They
are also called archaisms (or historicisms). The significance of archaisms, or old,
forgotten words, both in national and general linguistic science, and in the cultural-
historical and social paradigm as a whole, is very great. Especially for young
written languages, including Ossetian. The study and analysis of the found archaic
words largely contributes to the reconstruction of the structural, semantic and
grammatical appearance of the ancient language, in our case, the young written
Ossetian. In addition, it provides a key to understanding the morphological and
semantic forms of modern words. In this article, we talk about the old, forgotten
Ossetian word kæfonæg, which we found, thanks to the well-known work of the
respected V.I. Abaev «Scythian-Alanian Etudes». A word that, as it turned out, was
fossilized in the Scythian male personal name Kæfonæg. The analysis of the wordformation
and semantic structure of the word that served as the basis (appellative)
for the personal name, in comparison with similar models or types of words recorded
in modern dictionaries and in the work (fairy tale-fable) of oral folklore (from our
field materials) provided by us, is of a general nature. Nevertheless, it provides the
key to understanding and comprehending both the semantic content of forgotten,
old words and the corresponding modern models, and the motivational basis of the
Scythian personal name. This is the novelty and relevance of the presented topic.
And also in a new, previously unpublished, folklore work.

Keywords: archaism, personal name, Kæfonæg, fairy tale-fable, meaning of the word, chyzgonæg, meaning of a personal name, Scythian name, kærkonæg, fyronæg.

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