Proper-to-common name conversion as an object of lexicography: concepts of specialized lexicographic description
The article is an attempt to critically analyse the existing concepts of describing proper-to-common name conversion processes (deonymisation) within the scope of the Russian lexicography. The key factor of lexicographic interpretation of deonymisation products is the nature of the relationship between the original proper name and its derivative which can be either actual or etymological. In the former case, the derivation process results in figurative nominations (e. g., Емеля ‘Yemelya', Митрофанушка ‘Mitrofanushka', Отелло ‘Othello') based either on a metaphoric model or on the extension of a “disembodied” name reference. The latter case involves formation of neutral words of eponymic origin (e. g., ампер ‘ampere', галифе ‘breeches' (from proper name Gallifet ), хулиган ‘hooligan'), often based on metonymy. Hence, modern lexicography demonstrates two opposite trends: scientific, specialized lexicography focuses on proper name derivatives with unobliterated figurative motivation, while popular-science dictionaries mainly describe neutral derivatives that have already lost their actual ties with the original proper names.The article proposes a review of deonymisation dictionaries published as of the mid-20th century. They demonstrate quite a few achievements to the credit of Russian lexicography including identification of the conceptual fields with particularly active deonymisation processes, elaboration of a specific dictionary entry architecture, a comprehensive description of the Russian corpus of connotative proper names, etc. Regular publication of new deonymisation dictionaries, each invariably based on a specific and refined theoretical footing, clearly proves the importance of the research. The article pays special attention to a review of dictionary concepts with an eye to the modern lexicographic theory, largely in terms of cultural linguistics, figurative and author lexicography. Some weaknesses of the existing deonymisation dictionaries are pointed out to help lexicographers focus on finding new remedies for the problems.