MAN AND SOCIETY THROUGH LANGUAGE: ЗАЕДАЮЩАЯ СРЕДА

The Russian word социология, fi rst introduced into scientifi c discourse by O. Comte in his seminal work «Cours de philosophie positive» (1839–1842), began to be used in the late 1860s. However, it is noteworthy to consider those linguistic elements that, prior to the development and codifi cation of the new science, already possessed semantics congruent with this conceptual framework. Examples of such elements include expressions such as среда заела, заедающая среда and the passive construction заеденный средой, which point to the destructive infl uence of society on the individual. According to the RNC, the fi rst records of these expressions date back to the same 1860s, but a close examination of the contexts leads to the assumption that they came into circulation much earlier, probably in the 1840s. These expressions assume particular pertinence in the context of disputes concerning an individual’s responsibility for their fate and the formation of the personality of a criminal. By the 1880s, expressions such as среда заела and заедающая среда began to be perceived as outdated formulas devoid of meaning. The expression заедающая среда attracted the attention of V. V. Vinogradov and Y. S. Sorokin, but has not yet been the subject of detailed consideration.