| Summary: | Introduction. Linguists consider the ability to reflect historical events of society to be a specific feature of socio-political vocabulary. Socio-political vocabulary
is basically studied in synchronous perspectives, through the use of dictionaries and
journalistic texts. Insights into the functioning of socio-political vocabulary in different
languages (including Kalmyk) are historically promising: analysis of socio-political
vocabulary in diachrony helps identify stages of formation and transformation of the
lexical cluster within a particular language depending on changes in a particular society.
Social position-related naming units align with the group of socio-political vocabulary
referred to as ‘vocabulary denoting social classes’ but are not identical to the latter,
since the social position implies not only social status as such but also respective social
roles. G oals. The article seeks to analyze functioning patterns of the mentioned lexical
cluster in 18th-century Kalmyk official letters and in Russian translations of the same
period. M aterials. The work examines 28 letters of the Kalmyk Khan Ayuki and their
Russian translations housed by the National Archives of Kalmykia. All the texts date
to the year 1714. The investigated Kalmyk written sources contain a total of five social
position-related naming units, such as 1) xa:n (transliteration) / хан (modern Kalmyk
spelling); 2)yeke caya:n xa:n / ик qahaH ха н ; 3) kinas / кинас; 4) bayar / баяр; 5) elci/ элч. In Russian 18tll-century translations, the indicated lexemes correspond to seven
units of the same cluster, namely: 1) хан (‘khan’); 2) В еликий Государь (‘Great Sovereign’); 3) князь (‘prince’); 4) боярин (‘boyar’); 5) комендант (‘commandant’);
6) губернат ор (‘governor’); 7) посы льщ ик / посы льны й (‘messenger’). Conclusions.
The analysis of functioning patterns of the lexemes traced in the letters of Khan Ayuki
and their Russian translations reveals certain ethno-linguistic trends in the use of the
vocabulary by the addressant and Russian translators. Social position-related naming
units used in the Kalmyk and Russian texts illustrate the 18th-century official correspondence practices, and can reflect the actual course and circumstances of socio-political
relations between Peter the Great’s Russia and the Kalmyk Khanate
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