ON THE ISSUE OF THE SEMANTIC EVOLUTION OF THE WORD “CAUCUS”

With the development of mediation as a new professional field in modern Russia the study of terminology and special vocabulary is becoming relevant in the Russian language in the field of the mediation negotiations. The article investigates a separate word that means one of the procedural stag-es of mediation. Caucus in mediation is an individual confidential meeting of a mediator with the parties to the conflict / dispute, held alternately in equal temporary conditions for ascertaining the true interests of the parties to the dispute and defining a strategy for further joint negotiations between the parties and developing mutually acceptable solutions. Unlike other names of the mediation stages, to indicate individual meetings of the mediator the exotic word "caucus" with an obvious foreign origin is used. The article is aimed to find the etymology of the word "caucus" and explanations of ways of borrowing it into professional communication of mediators in the Russian language. As research methods we used an etymological analysis, a method of generalization of dictionary definitions and a comparative method. Authentic dictionaries, reference books, manuals and normative documents were used as research material. As a result of the research, it was found that the word is borrowed into Russian from American English, but not yet recorded in the dictionaries of the Russian language in this meaning. In Russian, the word "caucus" is known more in the field of politics as a borrowed nomination, denoting the realities of another culture. The study of etymology of the English word "caucus" clarifies some aspects of the meaning of the word in the narrow professional sphere of mediation. Along with that, the authors con-sider the actual meaning of the word in mediation as an independent word, the homonym of "caucus" in a political sphere.