Linguistics aspect of the word in the theology of St. Gregory of Nyssa

Abstract

This study sets the stage for the conceptualization of linguistic consequences of theological and philosophical teachings of the word of St. Gregory of Nyssa, which demonstrates the relevance of the Orthodox dogma for linguistics and in general – for the humanities. On the basis of the analogy of the word (λόγος) of man to the Word (Λόγος) of God, the holy author gives a definition word as a phenomenon of the mind in the name. The A. characterizes the un-hypostasism of our word, which does not exist separately from the mind of man. The A. shows the critical importance of this fact for determining by means of linguistics the subject of the research. The author pays particular attention to the clever etiology of the sound-letter name (ὄνομα), acting, according to the saint, in a sensual “mode” (τύπος) of thinking, when the name is the image of the image – mental image of sensual things. The semantic relationship of the name and thought is due the phenomenon (φανέρωσις), which is a correlation «according to the image.» Overall, the study shows that the theological synthesis of St.. Gregory of Nyssa can act as a methodological foundation of modern human-centered linguistics and other humanities sciences.