Українське пан і його слов’янські когнати: відоме походження, проблемна етимологія та соціолінгвістична еволюція

The article highlights a problematic issue, the essence of which is that the Ukrainian word пан, borrowed in the first half of the 14th century from Polish, even under the conditions of reconstruction of the Proto-Slavic form, in terms of etymology remains not completely transparent. A number of etymological conceptions are known, according to which West Slavic lexemes of this type are related to a Sanskritic stem, compared with a Greek feminine adjective, etc. Proponents of the «oriental» conception refer to morphological reduction of word forms and assume the existence of a non-Indo-European (Avar) source. According to another interpretation, it is about Proto-Slavic dialecticism and borrowing of Iranian origin. Modern scientific approaches are outlined, in particular, a close to the previous interpretation given in the academic «Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language». In the works of recent years, researchers operate, besides, with toponymic facts and compare Ukrainian пан with an Old Czech word form derived from Avar and Indo-Iranian sources. Other assumptions are also known from history - regarding Dacian or Mongolian origins, etc. An attempt is made to show that lexemes adopted in the East Slavic languages have been traditionally widespread in Ukrainian and Belarusian territories, where also etymologically problematic idioms such as Old Ukrainian господин, in particular in the allocative role, fell out of use. The Russian word пан, borrowed from Polish, spread only in the 16th century, which is explained by geographical and historical circumstances, while in modern Russian it has a relatively narrow sphere of use and is semantically and stylistically ambiguous. Promising from the point of view of various further studies, Ukrainian пан, with its peculiar sociolinguistic history, has become one of the symbols of ethno-cultural revival in Ukraine of the 21st century.