THE CONCEPT „EUROPA“ ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE SECOND AND THIRD MILLENNIUM

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of the concept „Europa“ and its interpretation by the speakers of German linguistic culture at the turn of the two millennia. The semantic content of the concept „Europa“ was explored on the basis of Internet sources for identifying dominant and systemic relationships within this concept; the evolutionary process of forming the concept „Europa“ is shown as a fragment of the conceptual picture of the world; the concept „Europa“ of the XX century is discussed on the basis of the book by the ex-Chancellor of Germany G.Schmidt „Die Deutschen und ihre Nachbarn. Menschen und Mächte II“; the functioning of the concept „Europa“ in the modern German-language mass media is analyzed. The analysis of the factual material has revealed that the concept „Europa“ in German-speaking linguistic culture has multiple meanings. The three-dimensional structure of the concept – notional, figurative and evaluative – changes and acquires new meaningful shades over different historical intervals. The evolutionary dynamics of the chosen concept within the defined temporal space are as follows: EUROPA – a spiritual and multinational unity (where Christianity and European languages ​​are decisive), united Europe, common Europe / ein einheitliches Europa, Gesamteuropa, new united Europe / das vereinte neue Europa, split Europe / gespaltetes Europa (notional component); Europe is a kaleidoscope / Europa ist ein Kaleidoskop, Europe is a fortress / Festung Europa, Europe in danger / Europa in Gefahr (figurative component); unity with a democratic state form and a high standard of living with the rule of law (Western Europe) / ein Ganzes mit demokratischer Staatsform und hohem Lebensstandard, in dem Menschenrechte verwirklicht warden (Westeuropa), multinational Europe / multikulturelles Europa, disoriented Europe / desorientiertes Europa (evaluative component). It is proved that the meaning of the concept „Europa“ can be fully revealed only by taking into account and combining a number of factors (historical, geographical, economic, cultural, religious, political, social, etc)., taking into account their evolutionary dynamics in the past and at the present stage of development.