ADJECTIVES THAT ARE USED IN ANCIENT GREEK NOVELS TO DESCRIBE CHARACTER TRAITS

Abstract

The article examines adjectives that are used in the novels Aethiopica by Heliodorus and Leucippe and Clitophon by Achilles Tatius to describe character traits. With the help of lexicographic sources and contextual analysis, the lexical-semantic group of these adjectives has been determined, and they have been divided into four lexical-semantic classes: adjectives that contain the seme «intelligence», adjectives that contain the seme «emotion», adjectives that contain the seme «will», and adjectives that contain the seme «morality» and express compliance/non-compliance with the standard. The analyzed lexemes are combined with different thematic groups of nouns and are used to denote beings and objects. All lexemes from the lexical-semantic group are characterized by different breadth and intensity of connectivity. The group of adjectives which denote moral traits is the most numerous and productive. There are 27 of them, and they are combined with 42 nouns. Among them, the highest coeffi cient of connectivity has the adjective αγαθός, which is combined with 28 nouns, and in the analyzed novels it also has seven shades of meaning, which are united by a common notion of positive appraisal. Adjectives with the seme «will» are used less frequently – 16 lexemes. Groups of adjectives denoting emotional and intellectual character traits are the least used, seven and four respectively. By examining the language used by Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius, we were able to identify active use of adjectives that describe character traits as a means of expressing specifi city of the mental world.