The chapter deals with the conceptualization of a
social-moral emotion, ruşine
[shame], in Old Romanian (16th–18th centuries).
Within an integrative theoretical and methodological framework
(combining elements of Cultural Linguistics, Textual and Cognitive
Lexical Semantics, Cultural Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology
of Emotions), I tackle the patterns of conceptualizing
shame, delineating the prototypical feature
profile, together with its contextual variation, as highlighted by
the counterpart lexicalization. The corpus data bring forward a
complex componential grid. Certain types of shame
can be outlined: (a) dysphoric prototypical shame;
(b) contiguous shame, contextually intersecting
with disrespect, dishonor or
fear; (c) religious shame,
hedonically hybrid, both euphoric and dysphoric, overlapping with
respect and fear; (d)
positive shame, socially validated and decoded
as shyness, modesty, or, in a
romantic love context, as pudor.