We are used to the fact that all relative adjectives in Russian are formed from nouns: city - > city, song - > song, etc. However, nouns are not always primary and adjectives are secondary in the formation of word-forming pairs. The history of a language knows exceptions when an adjective is used first, and then a related noun appears. This was the case with the adjective dramatic.
In the Dictionary of the Russian language of the XVIII century, the adjective dates from 1735, and the noun drama-1738 (SLRYA XVIII v. L., 1991. Issue 6), that is, the adjective dramatic began to be used earlier than the noun drama. This paradox is observed not only in the Russian language. "Almost everywhere in European languages," notes R. A. Budagov, "the adjective dramatic begins to be used before the noun drama" (Budagov R. A. Istoriya slov v istorii obshchestva, Moscow, 1971).
The adjective dramatic and the noun drama come from the Greek pair drama-dramaticos, where the adjective is formed using the suffix-icos from the noun base in kos-
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in some cases, dramat-. Let us explain the features of this phenomenon. The fact is that in Greek, the basics of drama- / dramat-represent the basis of different case forms: in the original form (im. case) - drama; and in indirect cases-dramatos, the consonant of the base - t appears . Changing the word drama in Greek can be compared to changing different declensions of words like time, seed, tribe, etc. in the Russian language, where the Old Russian basis is preserved in the indirect cases of such nouns: time, seed, tribe, etc. Derivatives of these nouns often retained the basis of indirect cases: temporary, seed, tribal. Similar processes in different languages should be considered as phenomena of the same order.
In the Russian language, the adjective dramatic came from European languages, judging by the stress on the last syllable, it is associated with the French dramatique (dramatique), the basis of which on Russian soil acquired ...
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