SPECIALIZED MEANINGS OF THE FRENCH NAME SEIN IN LITURGICAL, CHRISTIAN-ORTHODOX TEXTS

Abstract

This paper proposes a discursive analysis of the specialised meanings
actualised by the noun ´seinª in Orthodox Christian liturgical texts, with particular
reference to Marial and hagiographic hymnography. This analysis shows the
discursive way in which this noun, belonging to the common lexicon of the
language, has been absorbed into a specialised Christian-Orthodox religious lexicon,
where it participates, along with other words from the lexical family concerning the
divine maternity of the Mother of God, in the establishment of a liturgical semiosis
of poetic facture, which recovers part of the literary and ancient Christian lexicon.
We are working on a French-language corpus consisting of several liturgical and
hagiographic texts used in the Orthodox Church, which have a special ritual
relationship with the Mother of God.