ГЕНЕЗИС КУЛЬТУРНО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ МИФОЛОГИИ: ТРЕДИАКОВСКИЙ (1757), ЛОМОНОСОВ (1758), СУМАРОКОВ (1759) О ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИИ РУССКОЙ НАЦИИ И РУССКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Introduction

V. Proskurina writes: "The imperial mythology always takes the literary field for representative service "(Proskurin 2006, p. 8). In XVIII century Peter I declared a break with the old patriarchal traditions. A tradition way of life was replaced by social etiquette. The western direction was selected as the main. However, such a situation - isolation from the preceding historical development - could not last for a long time. Since the 1730s the problem of the origin of the Russian people, the very name of Russia has being studied in the writings of Bayer, Miller and Tatishchev. In the middle of the XVIII century Trediakovskii, Lomonosov, Sumarokov, the best poets of the time, published the papers on that problem. In this article we want to study the ideological parallels between the researches:  "Three Arguments about the Three Main Russian Antiquities ..." by Trediakovsky [5]; the first volume of the scientific work of Lomonosov "Ancient Russian History" [1]; "About the Root Words of the Russian language" [4] by Sumarokov.

The Origin of Language as a Cosmogony: Trediakovskii

Trediakovskii considers the origin of the Russian language and Russians was ancient. He states: "... the first language of the Scythians and Celts was the same. It was the Scythian language. Scythian language has to be Slavic. In later times due to various places of settlement Slavic language have grown in many related branches from a single root . And there were so many of these branches, that many languages can be heard today in all western, northern and eastern states"[5, p. 332]. Trediakovskii considers Scythian language  as one of the oldest, and the very name of the Scythians comes from the Russian word for SKITANIE (free movement from place to place) [5, pp. 341-342].

The problem of the origin of language was a kind of cosmogony for Trediakovsky. In his cosmogony he appeals to some Chaldean and Persian original books. Trediakovskii supposedly read about it in the unknown book "World History". In this book "a deep ancient Slavic language" was denoted. This is the opinion of the Chaldean birth of the world, suggested in the first volume, on page 24 of the introduction. The book assumes that the first world was OMOROKA. This word was Slavic. It means "the darkness, the darkness", which has been around before the creation of the world. The same opinion is expressed in Persian sages on page 73 in Note " [5, pp. 337-338]. For Trediakovsky definition of "branches" of the tree of language is the establishment of a world order.

According to Trediakovsky, Scythian language was the first. The Scythians were mixed with other European nations. So there were dialects of the Scythian language: Slavic, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Saxon and many others. Trediakovskii sees "strong resemblance" between these languages (Ibid, p. 336). Trediakovskii considers it possible to analyze the root words for the proof of related languages.

Trediakovskii considers Latin was spoiled. The Greek language, in his opinion, has a lot of grammatical coincidences with the Russian language (declension of names and the order of words in a sentence) [5, p. 339]. He hopes that the Russian language will not deteriorate as well as Latin. He believes in the long life of the Russian language, since, in his opinion, it is the defense - "the immortal language of our Church" [5, p. 372].

It is important for Trediakovsky to identify the continuity of the development of languages. It defines the historical path of "our current Russian language" [5, p. 338]. Trediakovskii is sure that the Russian language is derived from the Scythian language. The descendants of Japheth spoke Scythian language. Japheth, the son of Noah, is one of the pioneers of humanity and the progenitor of the Europeans. This ancient language "is very useful to the Russian people" [5, p. 341]. Trediakovskii believes that the history of the Russian language begins from the Old Testament times.

About the Patriotic Task of Russian Science and Literature: Lomonosov

Lomonosov considers a patriotic orientation of the study of Russian history and literature as a major task. Scientist claim the idea of ancient Slavs. He does not believe Scythians are the ancestors of the  Russians. On the contrary, he indicates that the Slavs were very brave and courageous, they defeated the Scythians. In 1758 Lomonosov finished the first volume of "Ancient Russian History from the Beginning of the Russian People to the Death of the Grand Prince Yaroslav the First or until 1054". He says in this book that Ptolemy wrote about the Slavs for the first time . The famous Slavic rulers were known for their exploits in the days of the ancient Greeks [1, p. 182].

Lomonosov consideres the Slavic people were the descendants of the Vikings who lived in the area between the Dnieper and the Don, and spoke a Slavic language. He sees the Russian roots of  prince's names Oskold, Deere, Oleg, who were the Vikings [2, p. 22].

Lomonosov claims that many tribes (Czechs, Pomorians, Slavs, Serbs, Bulgarians, krivichi, drevlyans and so on) spoke Slavonic even before the birth of Christ. Russian people were among these people. Lomonosov is convinced that Greek and Latin are not the ancestors of the Slavic language. Slavic language existed simultaneously with them. According to the scientist a powerful Slavic people existed in the days of the power of the Roman Empire.

"Son of the Language of the Scythians": Sumarokov

As Trediakovskii, Sumarokov believes Scythian language as the ancestor of the Russian language. "Our language, the author writes, ... is the son of the language of the Scythians" [4, p. 95]. Scythians are  ancient courageous people, who conquered China. There are many examples in his article. The writer thinks that he takes the examples of eleven Scythian language, such as "Rooster, in some languages called Scythian Kuras, Kuraz and Koraz congruent with the word Hen" [4, p. 94-95]. In this Sumarokov’s words designating kinship phenomena of nature, plants, birds and animals: a goat, duck, goose, wolf, bear, lamb, mare, sheep, rooster, chicken; household utensils. In some of the Scythian languages, he writes, the child is called Bala, which is derived from the Russian word Balovat. [4, p. 94].

Conclusions

The order and harmony form the basis of the world. The foundation of the order is language. Ancient language strengthens the nation. The authors of the XVIII century  were looking for the roots of the Russian language in antiquity - in ancient times, and the Old Testament. In the XVIII century there was no etymology. Therefore Trediakovskii, Lomonosov, Sumarokov often resort to wrong etymologies. This was not a scientific exercise for  Russian authors . They were trying to create their own cosmogony, the creation of a new myth about the Russian people and the Russian language.

The papers of writers of the XVIII century had ideological, patriotic character. Their task was to justify the claims of the Russian nation and the Russian language in antiquity and greatness of equality is not only a modern nations and languages, but also with the ancient, sacred ones. Russian language, according to our authors, points directly to the antiquity of the Russian people. The strength of the nation was associated with the antiquity of the language  for the writers and scholars of the XVIII century.