Scientific Journal of KubSAU

This article is devoted to the development of the social aspects of the concept of "Friend" in Russian dating from the 12th century. The article describes the main stages of formation of the concept "Friend", states the social aspects of its development, as well as their reflection in the semantics of the Russian words. Based on the works of authoritative linguists, we found out that the conceptual sphere of language is undergoing changes, depending on the social and historical factors – it may be restricted, expanded, changed in its evaluation, the disappearance of parts of concepts or even the whole concepts may occur, which are naturally reflected in the vocabulary of the language. In addition, such a phenomenon as a change in the nominative density of the concept can be observed, which is the loss of some of the nominations and / or acquisition of new ones. The considered concept "Friend" is defined in the article as a non-parametric, non-regulatory, socio-specific concept, which usage depends on the specifics of the society in which it is used. The analysis of the concept "Friend" usage based on the material of different literary, documentary and historical sources showed that the social sphere of functioning of the concept "Friend" from the 12th to the 20th century includes the sphere of generic communication, non-blood everyday social contacts, trade and other economic relations, warfare and communication at the highest levels