Abstract
This article examines some aspects of the concept "(war)" in Old Russian military stories of XII-XVII centuries, in particular the functioning of sustained verbal complexes (SVC) within them with a meaning ʻbe prepared/get ready for military actionʼ, included in the core of semantic fields of the word ʻ(to make war)ʼ. The purpose of this article is to show which qualities of a Russian man had been valued in ancient times, in the face of military danger, the way Old Russian writers portrayed Russian soldiers and their enemies, what the peculiarity of genre of military novels is. In the analysis, the author draws attention to the structure of SVCs, components interaction, available options, and provides numerous quotes. Terminological and non- terminological SVCs are identified. The analysis helps to reveal some of the characteristics of ancient Russian and old Russian worldview.
Keywords
Concept, semantic field, sustained verbal complex, old russian military novel, options