Archaisms are not just obsolete words, but those that have moved into this category due to the emergence of new words. For example, today no one calls poems verses; this word can only be found in literature, theatrical productions or in everyday speech to give an ironic or sublime connotation. Sometimes a synonym is replaced not the whole word, but only its lexical meaning. For example, the word "rebel". It is used today in the meaning of "raise a rebellion, speak out against something, be reborn, rise again" and has a high stylistic coloring. But once in Russia it was a commonplace everyday, which was used in the meaning of "get up, rise to your feet." Or another example: “Do not spare your stomach!”, Which means “Do not spare your life!” As you can see, the word stomach in Russian has been preserved, but its meaning has changed. And in the meaning of "life" the word "belly" is archaism. Examples of other changes: tie (lexico-phonetic archaism, the modern synonym is “tie”); Father! (grammatical archaism, the word "father" is in the vocative case, which is not used in modern Russian ); happiness (word-building archaism, today the word "happiness" with this suffix is not used).
Semantic archaism deserves special attention. Examples of such archaisms have been given above ("stomach" in the meaning of "life"). They have a form familiar to the reader, but with a different meaning, which makes it difficult to understand the text. Very often, semantic archaisms are found in religious literature. For example, “the enemy” is a demon, “charm” is not something beautiful and pleasant, but a temptation, something that leads to sin, the “word” (“in the beginning was the Word”) is not a unit of speech, but mind. Between archaism and its modern synonym there can be a rather subtle semantic connection. “Charm” may indeed be a temptation, but in the modern sense, the word “charm” has a more positive connotation - not necessarily any lovely thing will be sinful. Such nuances are very important for a correct understanding of the meaning of the work. Even with relatively modern authors, for example, Anna Akhmatova, one can find archaic words. Examples from the literature are very numerous: archaic words can be found both in prose and in poetry. In the latter, they play a special role, give elevation, maintain melody, and therefore look natural.
Archaisms in English: Examples
"Old words", or "archaic words" (i.e., archaisms), in English can be classified in much the same way as Russians. Although, of course, there are peculiarities associated with the grammatical structure of the language, however, you can meet almost any type of archaism from the above.
For example, thou - you (instead of you) - the most vivid and interesting archaism. Examples of forms of this word: thee - you (instead of modern you) and thy - your (modern word - your). Yes, once in English there was an appeal to “you,” but today, whoever we address, we say “you,” that is, You. "You" in English was phased out gradually. Very rarely, but this word can be found today. For example, in a famous Metallica song called The Unfirgiven there is a line: "So I dub thee unforgiven" - "So I call you unforgiven." Of course, this is a unique archaism. Examples of other obsolete words do not reflect so clearly the social and psychological changes in the life of English-speaking people:
1. Hither - "here" (lie. - here). At the same time, the hither form, although it is obsolete today, refers to early modern English. A more ancient form is the hider, which came from the Proto-Germanic language. However, despite the similarities between hither and here, there is no identity between them. "Here" comes from a completely different word with the meaning "to be in this place", hither has a slightly different semantic connotation - "move here", not without reason there is an idiomatic expression with the meaning "back and forth" - hither and thither.
2. Betwixt - "between." The synonym used today is between. As it is easy to see, the obsolete word took part in the word formation of the modern lexical unit.
3. Hearken or harken - "listen." Some sources claim that this is historicism, that is, an obsolete word that has no analogues in the modern language, but in foreign dictionaries you can see the mark archaic. Again, the connection hearken and hear (modern "listen") according to theseological dictionaries exists, therefore, to say that this word means a phenomenon that has disappeared or is no longer in use cannot be.
But the word phaeton is not archaism. After all, phaetons, open four-wheeled strollers, are no longer used, and will forever remain an item from the past.
Thus, historicisms are what characterize an era. These words are outdated with the phenomena or objects that they describe. Archaisms are obsolete units of speech. They would have been successfully used today if they had not been pressed out by new forms.