Offense: the history of the word

Isazade V. D., Efendiev I. I.

The article is concerned with the semantic analysis of the word ‘offense’ which is widely used in legal texts of the Old Russian period and which afterwards has come into the modern Russian language. The study of the semantic history of the term word ‘offense (grievance)’ has revealed significant changes in the structure of its semantics and content. It was pointed out that the analysis of the language of legislative acts revealed a large number of common language words which were used for giving definitions to legal concepts. Herewith, the terminological specialization of many ancient words reflected the ideas and perceptions connected with both creation of legal provisions and violation thereof.

Keywords:offense, legislative language of legislature, term, crime, emotive meaning, determinologization.