Abstract: The aim of this paper is to research enantiosemy concerning the Old Church Slavic words študь ‘manners’ and blagъ ‘good’ in Slavic languages. The original meanings of the word študь must have been related to ‘beat’. By the 15th century at the latest, the meaning changed to ‘modesty, chastity (acquired through training, discipline and beatings)’. The semantic change may have been associated with the significant religious movement of flagellants. Since the semantics of Old Church Slavic blagъ are quite rich, its original nature could be revealed by etymology. Proto-Slavic *bolgъ should be linked with Proto-Slavic comparative *boļьjь ‘bigger, better’ from Proto-Indo-European *bol-, *bel- ‘strong’. The church has preserved the positive meanings of the root. The negative connotations fully emerged in secular or non-church environments, at the latest in the 14th – 15th centuries, when the behaviour of yurodivy fanatics in Russia, also called blagy, began to be viewed negatively.

Author: Diweg-Pukanec, Martin

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2026.19.1.3-10

Publication order reference: Prof. Mgr. Martin Diweg-Pukanec, PhD.; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Department of Slavic Philology, Štefánikova 67, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4175-1727, WOS Researcher ID: AAG-6732-2020, SCOPUS Author ID: 55566239700

Source: Konštantínove listy, 2026, vol.: 19, issue: 1, pages: 3-10 (PDF file)

Keywords: ETYMOLOGY, MORAL WORDS, OLD CHURCH SLAVIC, SEMANTIC CHANGE, SEMANTICS, SLAVIC LANGUAGES

Language: ENGLISH

Recommended Citation:
Diweg-Pukanec, Martin. 2026. Notes on the Semantic Development of Old Church Slavic študь and blagъ. In Konštantínove listy [Constantine’s Letters] 19/1, 3-10.