Linguistic Halo of Beauty That Will Save the World

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine the linguistic status of the expression Beauty will save the world and the degree of its attribution to F. Dostoyevsky in Russian. The object of the analysis is the prototypes of the winged expression Beauty will save the world and the way the expression functions in fiction and journalistic texts. The subject matter of the study is structural and semantic peculiarities of the expression and their evolution in the process of its eptonymization. The paper employs the methods of source studies and contextual analysis, historical and descriptive methods, the method of questionnaire and double applique. The results of the research prove that the expression Beauty will save the world shows signs of eptonymization. The study gives a wide linguistic and historical background to the constituents and structure of the expression Beauty will save the world and its fate in the language. Conclusions. There is only semantic similarity between the aphoristic expression originating from the novel The Idiot and its prototypes, which proves the authorship of the expression attributed to Dostoyevsky. The stereotypical idea of the text of the novel The Idiot, which has become part of the Russian linguaculture, underlies the semantics of the expression functioning in contemporary contexts as an eptonym. The aphoristic expression has developed two meanings: one linked to the interpretation of beauty as a spiritual matter, the other related to its outer manifestations. The linguistic status of the expression is proven by its multiple modifications in speech and its phrase-formation capacity. Another expression has originated from it; an expression modified by the artist N. Roerich. Practical value of the findings is their application in strengthening the suggestive potential of speech; compiling general and special dictionaries of eptonyms, quotations, aphoristic expressions; for educational purposes, as well as for fundamental research of the evolution of phraseological language system.