Abstract:
The ethnonym Tsyhan (Gypsy), being an integral part of Ukrainian proverbs, sentences and phrases, is found in the collection of M. Nomis, the Phraseological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language and in the 11- volume Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language. It has been established that in addition to the ethnonym itself, the paremias include the sayings-markers that are typical for the mentioned nationality, and can be described as peculiar intertextemes in paremia microtext (for example: Achkhavere pid cherevere - expression, which, in the opinion of Ukrainians, Gypsies use to evade horses). The semantic field of the name tsyhan (Gypsy) includes its derivatives, in particular, the abstract noun tsyhanstvo (Gypsyism) and the adjective tsyhanskyi (Gypsy) (eg: Have your tsyhanstvo (Gypsyism) and gentlefolk, the black horse, and also a whip, and Gypsy sun). The analysed ethnonym, functioning in the Ukrainian Paremia Fund, not only implements its lexical semantics, but also actualizes a number of connotative semes. Linguistic-cultural connotations, selected by the method of component analysis through the study of the internal form (according to O. Potebnya) of stable phrases, give an interesting picture of stereotyped perception among Ukrainians of differential mental, status, custom, and sometimes even physiological features of an ethnic group, with which our ancestors, for historical reasons, had very often to contact. Sometimes they, rather than dictionary lexical meaning, serve as a motivational base for a number of literary and dialectal derivatives (for example, to "wheedle, cheat", the gypsywoman is a "dark red colour apple", etc.).
