BEZPEKA: ETYMOLOGY OF THE CONCEPT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2663-6530.2025.48.10Keywords:
security, safety, secure, safe, etymology, Ukrainian language, Slavic languages, Indo-European languagesAbstract
The article examines the etymology of the concept of bezpeka (“security/safety”) in Ukrainian linguoculture, focusing on the reconstruction of the morphological form and semantics of the primary lexemes used for its verbalization. The author demonstrates that the lexeme bezpeka has Proto-Slavic roots, while its morphemes are of Proto-Indo-European origin. The earliest lexico-grammatical construction denoting the concept in the Slavic languages should be regarded as the combination of the noun *pex/*pek with the preposition bez. Such a construction could have originated in the Proto-Indo-European period, since corresponding concepts in many European languages are based on a similar conceptual scheme.
The lexeme *pex/*pek originally had syncretic semantics, denoting both threatening factors symbolized by the effect of fire on the human body and the negative physical and emotional experiences caused by these factors. The study revealed that the prepositional-nominal construction could also serve as a conceptual metaphor, in which the nominal component referred to the name of a deity personifying danger. The lexemes безпека, bezpeka, bezpek, bezpech should be considered archaic variants of the name of the concept. The semantics of this concept reflects the practical and symbolic significance of fire in the early Indo-European community.
The author hypothesizes that the primary root *pex- (later *pek-) derived from the interjection *pex, which imitated the sound of a fire flare and functioned as a warning of danger, appealing to the prior human experience of physical and emotional pain.
The results of the study serve as a starting point for analyzing the security-related derivatives of the root *pex-/*pek- in various Indo-European languages, with the intention to test the proposed hypothesis.
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