Since school, we remember the difference between a proper name and a common noun: the former is written with a capital letter! Masha, Rostov, Leo Tolstoy, Polkan, Danube - compare with a girl, a city, a count, a dog, a river. And only this? Perhaps Rosenthal's help will be needed to figure it out.
Proper name– a noun indicating a specific subject, person, animal, object in order to distinguish them from a number of homogeneous ones
Common noun– a noun that names a class, type, category of an object, action or state, without taking into account their individuality.
These categories of nouns are usually studied in the 5th grade, and schoolchildren remember once and for all that the difference between a proper name and a common noun is in the uppercase or lowercase letter at the beginning. For most people, it is enough to understand that first names, surnames, nicknames, names of topographical and astronomical objects, unique phenomena, as well as objects and objects of culture (including literary works) belong to one’s own. All the rest are household names, and there are much more of the latter.
Comparison
Proper names are always secondary and secondary, and not every object or subject requires their presence. For example, call natural phenomena, with the exception of typhoons and hurricanes of enormous destructive power, is not accepted and is not necessary. You can describe and specify your instructions in different ways. So, speaking about a neighbor, you can say his name, or you can give a description: a teacher, in a red jacket, lives in apartment number 7, an athlete. It becomes clear who we are talking about. However, only proper nouns can unambiguously define individuality (there may be many teachers and athletes nearby, but Arkady Petrovich is alone), and their relationship with the object is closer. Common nouns denote concepts or categories.
Proper names are most often random, in no way connected with the characteristics of the object, and if they are connected (the cat Zlyuka, the river Bystrinka), it is very ambiguous: the cat can turn out to be good-natured, and the river can turn out to be slow-flowing. Common nouns name and describe an object; these nouns necessarily carry lexical information.
Only animate and inanimate objects that have significance for a person and require a personal approach are called by proper names. So, an ordinary person sees the stars at night, and an amateur astronomer, for example, sees the constellation Taurus; for the Minister of Education, school students are just schoolchildren, and for the class teacher 3 “B” - Vasya Petrov, Petya Vasechkin, Masha Startseva.
We have already determined the difference between a proper name and a common noun from a semantic point of view. Grammatically, they can be distinguished using the plural form: the former are not used in the plural (Moscow, Lev Nikolaevich, dog Sharik). An exception is made for geographical names that do not have a singular number (Velikiye Luki), as well as in the case of unification of persons based on kinship or belonging to a homogeneous group (the Karamazov brothers; all Peters are now birthday people; there are many Ivanovkas in Russia).
When processing foreign texts, proper names are not translated; they are written either in practical transcription (preserving phonetics and as close as possible to the original) or in transliteration (the word is transferred character by character in accordance with international rules).
And, of course, lowercase letters for common nouns, uppercase letters for proper nouns. Have we already talked about this?
Common nouns are generalized names of homogeneous objects: sister, pilot, tractor, grass, bream, elephant, primer, barn, run, kindness, uprising, sea and so on.
Proper nouns are the names of individual objects that are unique in their class. Among them thematic groups stand out: 1) names, patronymics and surnames of people: Alexander Nikolaevich Gvozdev, Peter the Great, Nadezhda and so on.; 2) animal names: Kashtanka, Canvas meter and so on.; 3) geographical names: Russia, Tashkent, Black Sea, Volga, Baikal, Ararat, Siberia and so on.; 4) names of historical events, periods, socio-political phenomena: October, Renaissance and so on.; 5) names of works of art, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, etc.: “War and Peace”, “Good!”, “Truth”, “Youth” and etc.; 6) names of shops, cafes, household establishments, etc.: "Svetlana"(deli), "Snowflake"(cafe), etc.; 7) names of theaters, cinemas, clubs, etc.: “Russia”, “Drummer”, “Progress”, “Moskvichka” and etc.; 8) astronomical names: Mars, Saturn, Ursa Major, Pisces and etc.; 9) varieties and brands of various items: car "Moskvich" cologne "Lilac", candies "Bird's milk" and etc.
Common and proper nouns differ in grammatical properties: most common nouns are modified by number; proper ones, as a rule, are used only in the form of a singular (Kyiv, Ural, Asia etc.) or plural (Carpathians, Athens, Sokolniki and etc.).
The use of nouns in the plural form, which usually have only a singular form, is associated with a certain semantic load. Yes, the form Petrovs denotes either a set of namesakes or persons in family relations (Petrov brothers, Petrov clan). Finally, the plural form of proper names is used as the name of various persons having common feature (Oblomovs, Manilovs, Pechorins and so on.).
There is a constant process of replenishing common nouns at the expense of proper ones and, conversely, proper names at the expense of common nouns. From proper names they became common nouns: August, om, X-ray, Borjomi, Bologna, Palekh etc. Proper names go back to common nouns: Pisces, Libra(constellations), East(eastern countries), October(Great October Socialist Revolution), Eagle(city), "Is it true"(newspaper), "Storm"(drama), Bear(last name), etc.
When proper names transform into common nouns, the scope of the lexical semantics of the word expands: it acquires a generalized meaning and denotes not just one object, but a class of homogeneous objects. On the contrary, the transition of common nouns into proper names is associated with a narrowing of lexical semantics: the name of a class of objects becomes the name of only a separate object. The grammatical properties of words also change. Wed: general Breeches(m.r.) and trousers riding breeches(cf. p.); eagle(bird; plural) eagles, five eagles) and the city Eagle(does not form plural forms, cannot be combined with cardinal numbers); wolf (wolf, wolf) And Nadezhda Volk(in all cases there is one form: Nadezhda Volk, Nadezhda Volk and so on.).
Due to the mutual transition of common nouns and proper names, homonyms are formed: bath - “Bath”, bear - Bear, scales- Scales and so on.
§1. general characteristics noun
A noun is an independent significant part of speech.
1. Grammatical meaning- "item".
Nouns include words that answer questions:
Who? , What?
2. Morphological characteristics:
- constants - common/proper nouns, animate/inanimate, gender, type of declension;
- changeable - number, case.
3. Syntactic role in a sentence any, especially frequently: subject and object.
Guys love vacations.
As an address and introductory words, the noun is not a member of the sentence:
- Sergey!- Mom calls me from the yard.
(Sergey- appeal)
Unfortunately, it's time to go do homework.
(Unfortunately- introductory word)
§2. Morphological features of nouns
Nouns have a set of morphological features. Some of them are permanent (or unchangeable). Others, on the contrary, are impermanent (or changeable). Unchangeable features relate to the entire word as a whole, and changeable features refer to the forms of the word. So noun Natalia- animate, own, f.r., 1 text. No matter what form it takes, these signs will remain. Noun Natalia may be in the form of units. and many more numbers, in different cases. Number and case are inconsistent features of nouns. In the illustration, dotted lines lead to such unstable or variable morphological characters. It is necessary to learn to distinguish which signs are constant and which are not constant.
§3. Common nouns - proper nouns
This is the division of nouns according to their meaning. Common nouns denote homogeneous objects, i.e. any object from their series, and proper nouns name a separate specific object.
Compare nouns:
- child, country, river, lake, fairy tale, turnip - common nouns
- Alexey, Russia, Volga, Baikal, “Turnip” - own
Common nouns are varied. Their ranks by value:
- specific: table, computer, document, mouse, notebook, fishing rod
- abstract (abstract): surprise, joy, fear, happiness, miracle
- real: iron, gold, water, oxygen, milk, coffee
- collective: youth, foliage, nobility, spectator
Proper nouns include names of people, names of animals, geographical names, names of works of literature and art, etc.: Alexander, Sashka, Sashenka, Zhuchka, Ob, Ural, “Teenager”, “Kolobok” and so on.
§4. Animation - inanimateness
Animate nouns name “living” objects, while inanimate nouns name non-living objects.
- Animated: mother, father, child, dog, ant, Kolobok (fairy tale hero acting as a living person)
- Inanimate: orange, ocean, war, lilac, program, toy, delight, laughter
For morphology it is important that
- in plural in animate nouns
Near the school I saw familiar girls and boys (vin. fall. = born. fall.), and for inanimate nouns wine form pad. matches the form. pad.: I love books and films (vin. pad. = im. pad.) - singular in animate nouns male
wine form pad. coincides with the form of the genus. pad.:
The fox saw Kolobok (vin. fall. = born. fall.), and for inanimate nouns the masculine gender wine form pad. matches the form. pad.: I baked a bun (vin. pad. = named pad.)
The remaining nouns have the forms im., vin. and family cases differ.
Means, sign of animate-inanimate can be determined not only based on the meaning, but also on the set of word endings.
§5. Genus
Gender of nouns- This is a constant morphological feature. Nouns do not change according to gender.
There are three genders in Russian: male, female And average. The sets of endings for nouns of different genders differ.
In animate nouns, classification as masculine or feminine is motivated by gender, since words denote male or female persons: father - mother, brother - sister, husband - wife, man - woman, boy - girl etc. The grammatical sign of gender is correlated with gender.
For inanimate nouns, the belonging of a word to one of the three genders is not motivated. Words ocean, sea, river, lake, pond- of different kinds, and the gender is not determined by the meaning of the words.
The morphological indicator of the genus is the endings.
If the word ends:
a, y or a, ohm, e in the singular and s, ov, am, s or ow, ami, ah in plural , then it is a masculine noun
a, s, e, y, oh, e singular and s, am or s, ami, ah in the plural, it is a feminine noun
oh, a, y, oh, ohm, e in the singular and a, am, a, ami, ah in the plural, it is a neuter noun.
Do all nouns belong to one of the three genders?
No. There is a small group of amazing nouns. They are interesting because they can refer to both male and female persons. These are the words: smart girl glutton, sleepyhead, greedy, crybaby, ignorant, ignorant, mean, bully, slob, mean, bungler, scoundrel, daredevil and so on. The form of such words coincides with the form of feminine words: they have the same set of endings. But the syntactic compatibility is different.
In Russian you can say:
She's so smart! AND: He's so smart! The meaning of the gender of an animate person can be determined by the form of the pronoun (as in our example) or adjective or verb in the past tense: Sonya woke up. AND: Sonya woke up. Such nouns are called common nouns.
Common nouns do not include words that name professions. You may already know that many of them are masculine nouns: doctor, driver, engineer, economist, geologist, philologist and so on. But they can designate both male and female persons. My mother is a good doctor. My father is a good doctor. Even if the word names a female person, then adjectives and verbs in the past tense can be used in both the masculine and feminine gender: The doctor has arrived. AND: The doctor has arrived.
How to determine the gender of unchangeable words?
There are unchangeable nouns in the language. All of them are borrowed from other languages. In Russian they have a gender. How to determine the genus? It's not difficult if you understand what the word means. Let's look at some examples:
Monsieur - Madame- for words denoting an animate person, gender corresponds to gender.
Kangaroo, chimpanzee- words naming animals, male.
Tbilisi, Sukhumi- words - names of cities - male.
Congo, Zimbabwe- words - names of states - neuter.
Mississippi, Yangtze- words - names of rivers - female.
Coat, muffler- words denoting inanimate objects are more common neuter.
Are there any exceptions? Eat. Therefore, it is recommended to be careful about unchangeable words and remember how they are used. Gender is expressed not by the ending (indeclinable words do not have endings), but by the form of other words that are related to the unchangeable noun in meaning and grammatically. These can be adjectives, pronouns or verbs in the past tense. For example:
Mississippi wide and deep.
Short adjectives in the form of zh.r. indicate that the word Mississippi w.r.
§6. Declension
Declension is a type of word change. Nouns change according to number and case. Number and case are variable morphological features. Depending on what forms a word has in different numbers and cases, based on the totality of all possible forms, nouns belong to one of the declensions.
Nouns have three declensions: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The vast majority of Russian nouns are nouns of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd declension. The type of declension is a constant, unchangeable morphological feature of nouns.
The 1st declension includes feminine and masculine words with endings A, I V initial form.
Examples: mom, dad, grandpa, water, earth, Anna, Anya, lecture - ending [a].
The 2nd declension includes masculine words with zero endings and neuter words with endings O, e
in its initial form.
Examples: father, brother, house, Alexander, sea, lake, building - ending [e] , genius, Alexey.
The 3rd declension includes feminine words ending in zero in its initial form.
Examples: mother, mouse, night, news, rye, lie.
Initial form- this is the form of the word in which it is usually recorded in dictionaries. For nouns, this is the nominative singular form.
Pay attention to the words traditionally called nouns on yeah, yeah, th : lecture, building, genius.
How to correctly mark the endings in such words?
Do you remember that the letters I And e, which are written at the end of such feminine and neuter nouns after vowels, and the letter And - does a vowel represent two sounds? Lecture- [iya’a], building- [iy’e], and the sound [y’] is the last consonant of the base. So, in words like lecture ending [a], in words like building- [e], and in words like genius- zero ending.
Therefore, feminine nouns: lecture, station, demonstration belong to the 1st declension, and masculine: genius and average: building- to the 2nd.
One more group of words requires comment. These are the so-called neuter nouns me , words way and child. These are indeclinable nouns.
Indeclinable nouns- these are words that have endings characteristic of forms of different declensions.
There are few such words. They are all very ancient. Some of them are common in today's speech.
List of nouns on My name: stirrup, tribe, seed, burden, udder, crown, time, name, flame, banner.
For their spelling, see All spelling. Spelling nouns
§7. Number
Number- this is a morphological feature, changeable for some nouns and unchangeable, constant for others.
The overwhelming number of Russian nouns vary in number. For example: house - houses, girl - girls, elephant - elephants, night - nights. Nouns that vary in number have both singular and plural forms and endings corresponding to these forms. For a number of nouns, the singular and plural forms differ not only in endings, but also in the stem. For example: person - people, child - children, kitten - kittens.
The minority of Russian nouns do not change in number, but have the form of only one number: either singular or plural.
Singular nouns:
- collective: nobility, children
- real: gold, milk, curdled milk
- abstract (or abstract): greed, anger, goodness
- some of our own, namely: geographical names: Russia, Suzdal, St. Petersburg
Nouns that have a plural form:
- collective: shoots
- real: cream, cabbage soup
- abstract (or abstract): chores, elections, twilight
- some proper, namely geographical names: Carpathians, Himalayas
- some specific (object) watches, sleds, as well as a group of nouns denoting objects that consist of two parts: skis, skates, glasses, gates
Remember:
Most objects denoted by nouns that have only singular or plural forms cannot be counted.
For such nouns, number is an unchangeable morphological feature.
§8. Case
Case- this is a non-constant, changeable morphological feature of nouns. There are six cases in Russian:
- Nominative
- Genitive
- Dative
- Accusative
- Instrumental
- Prepositional
You need to firmly know the case questions, with the help of which it is determined which case form the noun is in. Since, as you know, nouns can be animate and inanimate, there are two questions for each case:
- I.p. - who what?
- R.p. - who?, what?
- D.p. - to whom; to what?
- V.p. - who?, what?
- etc. - by whom?, what?
- P.p. - (About who about what?
You see that for animate nouns the questions vin.p are the same. and family etc., and for the inanimate - them. p. and wine P.
To avoid mistakes and correctly determine the case, always use both questions.
For example: I see an old park, a shady alley and a girl and a young man walking along it.
I see (who?, what?) a park(vin. p.), alley(vin. p.), girl(vin. p.), person(vin. p.).
Do all nouns change by case?
No, not all. Nouns, which are called unchangeable, do not change.
Cockatoo (1) sits in a cage in a store. I approach the cockatoo (2). This is a big beautiful parrot. I look at the cockatoo (3) with interest and think: -What do I know about the cockatoo (4)? I don't have a cockatoo (5). It's interesting with a cockatoo (6).
Word cockatoo occurred in this context 6 times:
- (1) who?, what? - cockatoo- I.p.
- (2) approaching (to) whom?, what? - (to) cockatoo- D.p.
- (3) looking (at) who?, what? - (on) a cockatoo- V.p.
- (4) know (about) whom?, what? - ( o) cockatoo- P.p.
- (5) no who?, what? - cockatoo- R.p.
- (6) interesting (with) who?, what? - (from cockatoo)- etc.
In different cases, the form of unchangeable nouns is the same. But the case is determined easily. Case questions help with this, as well as other parts of the sentence. If such a noun has a definition expressed by an adjective, pronoun, numeral or participle, i.e. a word that changes according to cases, then it will be in the form of the same case as the unchangeable noun itself.
Example: How long can you talk about this cockatoo?- (about) whom?. how? - P.p.
§9. Syntactic role of nouns in a sentence
Mother sits by the window. She leafs through a magazine, looking at photographs of people and nature. My mother is a geography teacher. “Mom,” I call her.
Mother - subject
Near the window - circumstance
Magazine- addition
Photos- addition
Of people- definition
Nature- definition
Mother- subject
Teacher- predicate
Geographies- definition
Mother- addresses, like introductory words, prepositions, conjunctions, particles are not members of the sentence.
Test of strength
Check your understanding of this chapter.
Final test
What nouns denote individual specific objects, rather than groups of homogeneous objects?
- Proper names
- Common nouns
Which group of nouns has the most variety in meaning?
- Proper names
- Common nouns
Is animate-inanimateness expressed grammatically: by a set of endings?
How can you find out the gender of a noun?
- By value
- By compatibility with other words (adjectives, pronouns, past tense verbs) and by endings
What are the names of nouns that have endings characteristic of different declensions?
- Unbowed
- Divergent
What is the sign of number in nouns? good, evil, envy?
- Permanent (unchangeable)
- Impermanent (changeable)
-
Determine the general gender concept for the listed nouns.
Sample: Baba Yaga, Vasilisa the Wise, Kashchei the Immortal, Sivka-Burka - ... fairy-tale characters
- V.G. Perov, I.N. Kramskoy, A.K. Savrasov, V.M. Vasnetsov, I.E. Repin, I.I. Levitan - ...
- St. Petersburg, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tyumen, Moscow – ...
- I.A. Bunin, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, F.M. Dostoevsky, K.G. Paustovsky - ...
- Neva, Moscow, Volga, Don, Dnieper - ...
- P.I. Tchaikovsky, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, M.I. Glinka, D.D. Shostakovich - ...
- "Volga", "Niva", "Zhiguli", "Lada", "KAMAZ" – ...
- A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, M.I. Tsvetaeva, A.A. Akhmatova, B.L. Pasternak -...
Proper nouns
Proper nouns are written with a capital letter. These include:
- names, surnames, patronymics and nicknames of people (Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov);
- animal names (Sharik, Tuzik, Muska);
- names of heroes of literary works (Ilya Ilyich Oblomov);
- geographical names (Moscow, Frankfurt, Caucasus, Neva);
- astronomical and astrological designations (Moon, constellation Canes Venatici);
- names of magazines, newspapers, literary works, etc. (newspaper " Is it true " , magazine " Our garden " );
- names of brands of cars, cigarettes, etc. (automobile " Moskvich " , cigarettes " Buddy " ).
Note: titles are written not only capitalized, but also in quotes!
common noun >>> proper noun
By the way, ah Absent-minded Is this a proper noun or a common noun? Let us recall the beginning of S. Marshak’s poem:
Once upon a time there lived an absent-minded man
On Basseynaya Street.
He sat down on his bed in the morning,
I started putting on my shirt,
He put his hands into the sleeves -
It turned out that these were trousers.
That's how absent-minded
From Basseynaya Street!Remember: Common nouns can become proper names and vice versa. In this case, the common noun (absent-minded person) became a proper noun ( R scattered from Basseynaya Street).
This is how common nouns turned into Faith Hope Love in proper names Faith Hope Love. Another example of a dog's name Ball.
Proper name >>> common noun
History knows many examples when proper names became common nouns. Here are some of them:
- So, a large improved harmonic accordion received its name from its own name Bayan (Boyan).
- Brownie and cake napoleon, according to legend, owe their name to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who loved this type of confectionery.
- Colt, Maxim, Mauser, Nagant are famous inventors of weapons.
- The Belgian master Sax gave the name to the popular wind instrument - saxophone u.
- One of the ancient legends tells about a handsome young man Narcissa, who was so in love with himself that he did not notice anyone or anything around him, but all the time looked at his reflection in the water. The gods, angry, turned him into a plant. White flower Narcissa leans to the side and seems to be looking down at her reflection with her yellow eye. ...
- Sometimes objects get their names from the place from which they were taken: coffee(from the name of the country Kaffa, located in Africa), peach(from Persia - modern Iran), orange(The Dutch word appelsien literally translates to "Chinese apple"). Word trousers comes from the name of the Dutch city of Bruges.
About middle names
Previously, patronymic names were worn only by noble people, representatives of the merchant class, nobility and church authorities (Alyosha Popov-son = Alyosha Popovich), and a simple person, a peasant, was named according to his owner or the place where he came from: Ilya from Murom = Ilya Muromets. If you want to learn more about names, take a look at the electronic or paper dictionary of names (http://lib.deport.ru/slovar/nam.html or use the section on names on our website.
Tasks and conclusions:
Which of these words are proper names, and which are common nouns (not proper nouns):
Explain the underlined words: what do you know about the concepts they represent? From which nouns can you form a plural form, and from which not?
Conclusion: Proper names do not have a plural form (with the exception of the surnames of persons belonging to the same family - the Ivanov family, the Petrovs).
Translate the nouns from the previous exercise into another language you know. Which nouns cannot be translated and why?
Conclusion: Proper names are never translated, but only transliterated (written with letters of another language), for example: Irina = Irina
Proper names and quotation marks:
So, which proper names should be written in quotation marks and which should not? Help the Absent-Minded One put the quotation marks:Holiday house Tourist, dog Sharik, Newspaper News, Mr. Ivanov, novel Oblomov, mathematician Ilyin, constellation Virgo, Moscow perfume, Moscow city, Niva car, Alatau mountain, Rybolov magazine.
Conclusion: Car brands are written in quotation marks; brands and names of perfumes, cigarettes; names of newspapers, magazines and literary works. The following are written without quotation marks: proper names of people and literary characters, geographical and astronomical names.
Correct mistakes in your German friend's work. Why do you think he made these mistakes?
Outside my window there is a golden Autumn. I really love this Time of year. There is always the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. Last year I bought a Fairy Tale Book in Russian here.
In German, all nouns are written with a capital letter; in English, the names of the days of the week and months are written. There are no these rules in Russian. However, in these cases, are “October” and “seasons” written with a capital letter? Why?
Factory "Red October", P.I. Tchaikovsky or Antonio Vivaldi "The Seasons".
Do not forget: Names are written with a capital letter and in quotation marks!
Guess the riddles
- The city that “flies” – _________________________
- The longest river in the world is ______________________
- The river named after the girl is _______________________
- The deepest lake in the world is _____________________
- A sea in which there is no water - _________________________
- Seas bearing “colored” names – ___________________
- The largest ocean is _________________________
- The ocean bearing the name of the country is _________________
Nouns are divided into proper and common nouns according to their meaning. The very definitions of this part of speech have Old Slavonic roots.
The term “common noun” comes from “naming”, “criticism”, and is used for the general name of homogeneous, similar objects and phenomena, and “proper” means “feature”, an individual person or a single object. This naming distinguishes it from other objects of the same type.
For example, the common noun “river” defines all rivers, but the Dnieper and Yenisei are proper names. These are constant grammatical features of nouns.
What are proper names in Russian?
A proper name is the exclusive name of an object, phenomenon, person, different from others, standing out from other multiple concepts.
These are names and nicknames of people, names of countries, cities, rivers, seas, astronomical objects, historical events, holidays, books and magazines, names of animals.
Also, ships, enterprises, various institutions, product brands and much more that require a special name can have their own names. May consist of one or more words.
Spelling is determined by the following rule: all proper names are written with a capital letter. For example: Vanya, Morozko, Moscow, Volga, Kremlin, Russia, Rus', Christmas, Battle of Kulikovo.
Names that have a conditional or symbolic meaning are enclosed in quotation marks. These are the names of books and various publications, organizations, companies, events, etc.
Compare: Big theater, But the Sovremennik theater, the Don River and the novel Quiet Don, the play The Thunderstorm, the Pravda newspaper, the ship Admiral Nakhimov, the Lokomotiv stadium, the Bolshevichka factory, the Mikhailovskoye museum-reserve.
Note: the same words, depending on the context, can be common nouns or proper words and are written according to the rules. Compare: bright sun and star Sun, native land and planet Earth.
Proper names, consisting of several words and denoting a single concept, are emphasized as one member of the sentence.
Let's look at an example: Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote a poem that made him famous. This means that in this sentence the subject will be three words (first name, patronymic and last name).
Types and examples of proper nouns
Proper names are studied by the linguistic science of onomastics. This term is derived from an ancient Greek word and means “the art of naming”This area of linguistics studies information about the name of a specific, individual object and identifies several types of names.
Anthroponyms are the proper names and surnames of historical figures, folklore or literary characters, famous and ordinary people, their nicknames or pseudonyms. For example: Abram Petrovich Hannibal, Ivan the Terrible, Lenin, Lefty, Judas, Koschey the Immortal.
Toponyms study the appearance of geographical names, names of cities, streets, which may reflect the specifics of the landscape, historical events, religious motives, lexical features of the indigenous population, economic characteristics. For example: Rostov-on-Don, Kulikovo Field, Sergiev Posad, Magnitogorsk, Strait of Magellan, Yaroslavl, Black Sea, Volkhonka, Red Square, etc.
Astronims and cosmonyms analyze the appearance of the names of celestial bodies, constellations, and galaxies. Examples: Earth, Mars, Venus, Comet Halley, Stozhary, Ursa Major, Milky Way.
There are other sections in onomastics that study the names of deities and mythological heroes, names of nationalities, names of animals, etc., helping to understand their origin.
Common noun - what is it?
These nouns name any concept from many similar ones. They have a lexical meaning, that is, information content, in contrast to proper names, which do not have such a property and only name, but do not express the concept, do not reveal its properties.
The name doesn't tell us anything Sasha, it only identifies a specific person. In the phrase girl Sasha, we find out age and gender.
Examples of common nouns
All the realities of the world around us are called common names. These are words that express specific concepts: people, animals, natural phenomena, objects, etc.Examples: doctor, student, dog, sparrow, thunderstorm, tree, bus, cactus.
Can denote abstract entities, qualities, states or characteristics:courage, understanding, fear, danger, peace, power.
How to determine proper or common noun
A common noun can be distinguished by its meaning, since it names an object or phenomenon related to the homogeneous, and by its grammatical feature, because it can vary in numbers ( year - years, person - people, cat - cats).
But many nouns (collective, abstract, real) do not have a plural form ( childhood, darkness, oil, inspiration) or singular ( frost, weekdays, darkness). Common nouns are written with a small letter.
Proper nouns are the distinctive names of individual objects. They can only be used in singular or plural ( Moscow, Cheryomushki, Baikal, Catherine II).
But if different persons or objects are named, they can be used in the plural ( Ivanov family, both Americas). They are written with a capital letter, if necessary in quotation marks.
It is worth noting: There is a constant exchange between proper and common nouns; they tend to move into the opposite category. Common words Faith Hope Love became proper names in the Russian language.
Many borrowed names were also originally common nouns. For example, Peter – “stone” (Greek), Victor – “winner” (Latin), Sophia – “wisdom” (Greek).
Often in history, proper names become common nouns: hooligan (English Houlihan family of ill repute), Volt (physicist Alessandro Volta), Colt (inventor Samuel Colt). Literary characters can become household names: Donquixote, Judas, Plyushkin.
Toponyms gave names to many objects. For example: cashmere fabric (Kashmir Valley of Hindustan), cognac (province in France). In this case, the animate proper name becomes an inanimate common noun.
And vice versa, it happens that generic concepts become non-common nouns: Lefty, cat Fluffy, Signor Tomato.