The Russian language, like any other, has its own lexical system, which has been formed over not just centuries, but even millennia. The composition of the vocabulary has a different origin. There are both native Russian and borrowed words in it. Grammatical vocabulary and the origin of words are studied at school, as well as at philological faculties.
Basic concepts
The Russian language has a rich lexical system, the formation of which began in the Neolithic era and continues today. Some words disappear from the active vocabulary of the language, becoming archaisms, others, on the contrary, penetrate our speech, becoming an integral part of it.
In the system of the language, the vocabulary in terms of origin is divided into borrowed and native Russian. Originally Russian vocabulary makes up about 90% of the total lexical composition. The rest is borrowed. In addition, our dictionary is updated every year.new words and concepts that arise as a result of scientific and technological progress.
Original Russian vocabulary
The main layer is native Russian vocabulary. In this group, the following subgroups are distinguished, correlated with the stages of development of not only the language, but also the people themselves:
- Indo-European vocabulary.
- Common Slavic.
- Old Russian.
- Actually Russian.
The words that emerged during these periods form the basis, the backbone of our vocabulary. That is what should be considered in the first place.
Indo-European period
Originally Russian vocabulary in terms of origin dates back to the Neolithic period. The period is characterized by the presence of one, common proto-language - Indo-European, which functioned around the 2nd millennium BC. The words of this group include the names of animals, concepts for designating kinship, food products. For example: mother, daughter, ox, bull, meat and others. All of them have consonant counterparts in other languages. For example, the word mother has a similar sound in both English (mother) and German (mutter).
Common Slavic stage
Common Slavic vocabulary originated around the 6th century AD. It was inherited from various tribes that lived in the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe.
The vocabulary of this period refers to lexical-semantic groups that are used to designate the names of body parts, animals, natural phenomena, time periods, plants and flowers, namesparts of buildings, tools. The most striking examples of vocabulary preserved from this period are: oak, linden, spruce forest, tree, leaf, millet, barley, bark, hoe, house, canopy, shelter, chicken, goose, kvass, kissel. The layer of this vocabulary is inherent mainly in the Slavic peoples.
Old Russian period
Old Russian (or East Slavic) vocabulary penetrated into our vocabulary during the period of the Slavs' settlement in the territory of modern Europe, approximately in the 11th-9th centuries. This also includes the period of formation of the formation of the state of Kievan Rus, that is, the IX-XIV centuries. Related words such as good, dove, uncle, lace, finch, squirrel, forty, ninety, today.
These words are also characterized by the presence of prefixes v-, you-, do-, vz-. For example: platoon, knock out, finish off, catch up.
You can find vocabulary formed during this period only in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages.
The period of formation of the Russian people
From the 14th century, a new grammatical vocabulary began to appear in the Russian language. These words appear after the collapse of the Old Slavic language into Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages. Proper Russian words include such as grumble, wallpaper, cabbage rolls, experience.
This includes all nouns formed with the help of suffixes -schik, -ovshchik, -stvostvo, -sh(a). For example: fire extinguisher, party membership, nationality, checkered. This also includes adverbs in a peasant way, in autumn, verbs to cringe, crash, worry.
Knowing these features, you caneasily calculate the words formed at this stage of development.
This period is the last in the formation of the main layer of Russian lexemes proper.
Borrowed vocabulary
Since ancient times, the Russian people have developed not only trade and cultural ties, but also political and military ones. All this led to language borrowings. Getting into Russian, the word in the lexical system of the language changed under its influence and became part of its vocabulary. Borrowed words have significantly enriched the Russian language and brought a lot of new things to it.
Some words were borrowed completely, some were modified - they received native Russian suffixes or prefixes, which ultimately led to the formation of a new word that already had Russian origin. For example, the word "computer" entered our lexicon without changes, but the word "atomic scientist" is considered to be native Russian, as it was formed from the borrowed word "atom" according to the native Russian word-formation model.
They distinguish borrowing from Slavic, as well as Turkic, Latin, Greek, Germano-Romance languages, which include English and German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch.
Old Church Slavonicisms
After the adoption of Christianity by Russia at the end of the 10th century, many words came into the Russian language. This was due to the appearance in Russia of Church Slavonic books. Old Slavonic, or Old Bulgarian, Church Slavonic, was used by a number of Slavic states as a literary written language,which was used to translate Greek church books.
Church terms, words denoting abstract concepts, came from it into the Russian language. These include the priest, the cross, power, calamity, harmony, and many others. Initially, these words were used only in written, book speech, but over time they penetrated into oral speech.
The vocabulary of the Church Slavonic language in terms of origin has the following distinctive features:
- The so-called disagreement at the root of words. For example: gate or captivity. At the same time, the gate options will be full-voiced and full.
- Combination of railway in the roots of words. A striking example is the word walking.
- The presence of the consonant u in words, for example, in the word illumination.
- The vowel e at the beginning of a word and before a hard consonant: one.
- Syllables la-, ra- at the beginning of the word. For example: rook, equal.
- Presence of prefixes in-, through-. For example: repay, excessive.
- Suffixes -stvi-, -usch-, -yusch-, -ash-, -yash-: knowledgeable, burning, melting.
Parts of the first words of God- good-, evil-, sinful-, soul-, good-: God-fearing, malevolence, blessing.
These words are still used in Russian today. At the same time, few people suspect that in fact the named lexemes are not native Russian and have foreign roots. Especially often they can be found in biblical texts, works of the classics of Russian literature.
Polish lexemes
Considering what kind ofvocabulary from the point of view of origin, one cannot but recall the borrowings from the Polish language, which began in the 17th-18th centuries. From the West Slavic language, such words as belongings, painting, rabbit, periwinkle, jam penetrated into ours. It is worth noting that they replenished the stock of not only Russian, but also Ukrainian, Belarusian.
Greek borrowings
A significant layer of borrowed vocabulary is Greek. It began to penetrate into our language even in the period of pan-Slavic unity. The oldest lexical "gifts" include words such as ward, bed, cauldron.
In the period from the 9th to the 11th century, the following words were borrowed: anathema, angel, mathematics, lampada, history, philosophy, notebook, bathhouse, lantern. In a later period, words related to words from the field of art and science were borrowed: comedy, anapaest, logic, analogy and many other concepts that are firmly entrenched in the terminological apparatus of most modern sciences.
It is worth noting that thanks to the influence of Greece and Byzantium, the vocabulary and phraseology of the Russian language has been significantly enriched. However, the influence of these countries was felt not only by such a science as philology, but also by mathematics, physics, chemistry, and art.
Latin language
In the period from the 16th to the 8th centuries, Latin words entered the Russian language, enriching the lexical fund in the field of scientific, technical, socio-political terminology. They enter mainly through Ukrainian and Polishlanguages. The development of education and science, as well as the historical and cultural ties of these countries, contributed especially strongly to this.
From the Latin language, such familiar concepts as holidays, office, director, audience, school, process, public, revolution and others have come to us.
Turkic language
For a long time our paths crossed with the Tatars, the Turks. Words such as pearls, beads, caravan, money, bazaar, watermelon, bathrobe, fog, bloomers, names of horse colors: roan, bay, bulany.
Mostly borrowing came from the Tatar language. Associated with trade, cultural or military ties that have existed between our peoples for several centuries.
Scandinavian languages
Very few borrowings from the Scandinavian languages - Swedish, Norwegian. Penetrated in the early period because of the trade relations that existed between our peoples in the pre-Christian period.
The most striking words that have penetrated the Russian lexical system: the names Igor and Oleg, the names of products - herring, pud, hook, mast, sneak.
Western European languages
The origin of the vocabulary of the modern Russian language, its development is also closely connected with a number of European languages. After the reforms of Peter the Great, in the 17th-18th centuries, lexemes from Western European languages entered the Russian language.
A number of words came into our language from German to denote military, commercial and everyday vocabulary, science and art: bill, headquarters, corporal, tie, easel, resort, landscape.
Dutch "shared" with Russian nautical terms: shipyard, harbor, pilot, fleet, sailor. Marine terms also came from English: midshipman, brig.
Words such as boycott, tunnel, football, sport, finish line, cake, pudding entered our lexical system from English.
The 20th century also includes words from the technical and sports, financial, commercial fields, and art. New words that replenished our lexical system at that time: computer, file, byte, overtime, broker, leasing, talk show, thriller, briefing, impeachment.
In the 18th-19th centuries, words from the French language also penetrated into the Russian language - bracelet, wardrobe, vest, coat, broth, cutlet, toilet, battalion, garrison, actor, play, director.
Musical terms, terms from the field of art came from Italian and Spanish to Russian: aria, tenor, libretto, sonata, carnival, gondola, serenade, guitar.
All of them are still actively functioning in our lexical system, and we can learn about where and how they came from from dictionaries.
Neologisms
At the present stage, the lexical system of the Russian language is replenished with new words. They enter the language through the emergence of fresh concepts and phenomena. When an object or thing arises, new words appear to designate them. They do not immediately enter the active vocabulary.
For some time the word is considered a neologism, then it becomes commonly used and is firmly included in the language. Earlier words-neologisms were pioneer, Komsomol member, cosmonaut, Khrushchev and so on. Now no one will suspect neologisms in them.
Dictionaries
In order to check which vocabulary in terms of origin is used in a particular case, you can refer to etymological dictionaries. They describe in detail the origin of the word, its initial etymology. You can use the school and short etymological dictionaries edited by N. Shansky, "Russian Etymological Dictionary" by A. E. Anikin or "Etymological Dictionary" by P. A. Krylov and others.
You can find out the meaning of foreign words that came to us from foreign languages using the wonderful "Dictionary of Foreign Words" edited by Ozhegov.
Study in school
Vocabulary in terms of origin and use is usually studied in the school course of the Russian language in the section "Lexicology and Phraseology". The closest attention to this topic is paid in the 5th-6th grades, as well as the 10th. Schoolchildren learn the origin of words and phraseological units, their meaning, learn to distinguish them, work with various dictionaries.
In some cases, teachers may conduct entire electives, extra-curricular activities dedicated to the study of the origin of words.
What materials can be used when studying the topic "Vocabulary from the point of view of origin"? Table with classification and examples, texts in different languages containing words borrowed from Russian, dictionaries.
Studying at University
Especiallyvocabulary is studied in detail from the point of view of origin at the university, at the Faculty of Philology. This topic is given several classes in the course "Lexicology and Phraseology of the Modern Russian Language". In practical classes, students analyze various texts, finding native Russian and borrowed words in them, classify them, and work with dictionaries. They also determine the stylistic possibilities of borrowed, obsolete words.
At lectures and seminars, the classification of vocabulary by origin, use and functioning in the modern Russian language is considered in detail. This approach allows you to interest students, to most deeply master the proposed knowledge on the topic under study.
Conclusions
Any word in the lexical system of a language has its own history and origin. Some words have long been functioning in our language, since the period when a single, Indo-European language functioned, others came to us in different time periods from Slavic or European languages, and others arose during the development of modern information technologies.
Understanding the history of the emergence of certain words will help us not only understand their deep meaning, but also trace the development of the culture of our country in a given period.
