It's no secret that not all words that make up the vocabulary of the native language are native Russian. Even by the pronunciation and / or spelling of some words, one can easily guess that their country of origin is Britain, France, Germany or some other. What are the reasons for borrowings, what are they for, and what kind of borrowings are found in modern Russian?
What is borrowing
And although this question is perhaps somewhat silly to consider (everyone should understand what is being said), one cannot start talking about borrowing without defining this term itself. So, linguists call borrowing, firstly, any foreign word that appeared in the native language from a foreign one, even if in its morphemes (parts of a word) it does not outwardly differ from Russian words. Secondly, under borrowingsthe process of acceptance by the language of a given foreign element, getting used to it, gradual use of it by native speakers is understood. Borrowing is an integral part of the process of development and change of speech. Foreign words in Russian make up no more than ten percent of all the vocabulary available in it (nevertheless, this is a lot).
Why needed
Why can't a language develop on its own, without outside interference? What is the role of borrowing? Why are they so necessary - and these are not big words, they are really needed.
First of all, it is worth realizing the fact that the process of borrowing is typical for any language, this is a normal and even inevitable phenomenon. They play a truly important role for a language absorbing new words. Firstly, he is enriched in this way, his vocabulary increases. Secondly, language and speech are a direct and immediate reflection of the relationship between different peoples and nationalities. Thirdly, borrowings often act as a "transmitter" of new derivational morphemes, thanks to which new words subsequently appear (we will return to this issue in more detail a little later).
Borrowings are necessary when there is absolutely no word in the native language to express this or that concept. This situation is considered the main reason for their appearance and the most popular. Borrowing then acts as the "savior" of the receiving language. Close (but not the same) causethe appearance in the language of new words from another source language is the emergence of new objects that require one or another nomination. In addition, in some cases, borrowing words in modern Russian appear as a kind of tribute to fashion. Another reason lies in the fact that often in the Russian language there is a whole expression to denote a concept, while foreigners use only one word. This reason can be briefly described as "convenience".
The need to fill in the gaps in the expressive means of the language also leads to the appearance of foreign loanwords. By the way, such a (foreign) word often, in the opinion of many, sounds better, it is more solid, pretentious, more prestigious - and this also gives a reason to take it for yourself. There are a lot of reasons for borrowings in the modern Russian language - another question is whether they are always so necessary and are used exclusively on the merits. We will return to this issue a little later.
Where do they come from
Many mistakenly believe that only English gives us its words and expressions. However, this is fundamentally wrong, despite the fact that there are really enough borrowings from English (anglicisms) in our language.
Throughout its centuries-old history, the Russian people have maintained close economic, cultural, political and other relationships with a variety of peoples. This could not but affect the vocabulary - the most receptive and mobile layer of the language, which, like a sponge, absorbedincludes many elements of foreign cultures.
The Russian language contains words from English, French, German, Latin, Greek, Turkic, Scandinavian, Slavic languages. For example, "notebook" came from Greek, "w altz" - from French, "tomato" - from Italian. At the same time, it is interesting that it is far from always possible to easily and quickly understand the “country of origin” of a particular word or expression. The etymology of many of them is still a mystery to linguists and philologists.
Paths of borrowing
How are words borrowed in modern Russian? There are only two such options: it is oral and written speech. The first method often greatly changes the appearance of the word (for example, the potato, which came to us from the Italian language, in the original looks like tartufolo), the second, on the contrary, leaves the lexemes practically untouched. In addition, a word can pass from language to language directly, or maybe through the so-called intermediary language.
Classification
Borrowings in modern Russian can be divided into several groups in different ways. The first acceptable classification is according to the source, that is, according to the language from which the given word came. Each language has its own term. So, English borrowings in modern Russian are usually called Anglicisms, Czech - Bohemianisms (because the historical name of the region is Bohemia), French - Gallicisms (from Gaul). Words that came from Hungary are called Magyarisms or Ungarisms, and from any eastern language -Orientalisms, and so on.
Another way to classify is by type of contact, as already mentioned above: either directly or through an intermediary, or verbally or in writing (through books). By the way, artists often resorted to the latter method, finding and reviving archaisms (old words that are not used now) in their masterpieces - for example, Richard Wagner or Alexei Tolstoy.
The third category is the method of borrowing: the whole word or some part of it can pass into a new language (both will be lexical borrowing), in addition, an already existing word may have a new meaning (semantic borrowing).
Finally, all foreign borrowings in modern Russian can be classified into necessary and unnecessary, in other words, justified and unjustified. The first category will include those words that had no analogues in the language before their appearance, and their occurrence was necessary to describe a particular phenomenon and / or object. There are a great many such words, for example, telephone, mixer, snowboard, chocolate, bowling and the like. These lexemes filled the gaps in our language, so their appearance is justified.
It's a completely different matter - foreign words that appear in Russian as a synonym for already existing concepts: "message" - "message", "goalkeeper" - "goalkeeper" and the like. As a rule, such equivalents are just Anglicisms and are associated with the general fashion for everything English andAmerican, associated with the "alignment" with these countries. Meanwhile, the presence in the language of words that duplicate each other ultimately leads to the elimination of one of the synonyms from speech. It is impossible to predict which word will disappear - one's own or borrowed.
Borrowing periods
Below will be a little more about the words that came from English, German and French. In the meantime, it is worth giving a general description of borrowings in modern Russian.
This process began in antiquity - perhaps even in the prehistoric period. This issue has not yet been fully studied and is of the greatest interest both for philologists and linguists, and for historians. If we talk about the well-known periods of borrowings, then the first one undoubtedly refers to the Old Russian language - then words from Slavic (for example, the names of the months) and non-Slavic (usually B altic and Scandinavian) languages (village, herring, anchor and many others).
Separately, it is necessary to mention the influence of the Greek language (largely due to the closest ties with Byzantium, and also due to the establishment of Christianity in Russia) - it was he who gave the Russian "brother" a lot of scientific terms (such as, for example, mathematics or history), religious concepts (anathema, icon or bishop) and so on.
The seventeenth century was marked by borrowings from Latin - since then they have relentlessly appeared in our language. Some of the lexemes that emerged then exist to this day (for example, doctor). At the same time, under Peter, active penetration into Russia began. European culture, which is most directly reflected in the language. Many concepts of military, scientific, cultural terminology and many, many others have been known to Russian speakers ever since: ammunition, cruiser, captain, general, tariff, and the like. Do not forget about maritime terminology, because it was Peter who actively developed navigation. Thanks to his connections with Holland, the Russian language was enriched with such words as sailor, navigator, drift and others. Peter's reforms and innovations gave way to a variety of German, French and English borrowings in modern Russian, and this is in view of the fact that the emperor himself demanded not to use foreign words in his speech.
In the eighteenth century, French became practically a court language, extremely common in Russia. This contributed to the fact that a huge number of words from the language of Dumas penetrated into Russian speech. Basically, these were words describing life, clothes, food: marmalade, vest, couch, and so on. In the same period, words from Italy and Spain also appeared in Russian vocabulary, however, in terms of their number they were significantly inferior to French borrowings: aria, piano, short story, guitar, tenor - all words similar and familiar to the Russian ear came to us from these warm countries.
Similar lexical transformations continued into the nineteenth century, until they were replaced by anglicisms - such borrowings characterize the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The flow of English words into our speechdue to the activation of all kinds of relations with foreign representatives, and since the international language in which all business is conducted is English, such a trend is not surprising. All these words can rightfully be considered the latest borrowings in modern Russian. And most of them have already fully assimilated.
Categories
There are several groups or categories into which all borrowings in modern Russian can be divided. The first of these will include all those words that have already lost all possible signs of their foreign origin. For example, the word bed - it is unlikely that a large number of people know that this word came into our language from Greek. Or such a lexeme as a chair - who would have thought that Germany is its homeland.
The second group includes words that retain some elements of a foreign sound that is unusual for Russians: for example, French veil or British jazz - these words have long been familiar to us, but nevertheless something inherent in them makes us guess about their non-Russian origin (sometimes prefixes contribute to this - for example, trans- or anti-).
The third category includes political, cultural and scientific concepts. Borrowings in modern Russian are often words that are used in several languages at once - in other words, internationalisms. These words include, for example, telegraph.
And finally, the fourth group are the words of the so-called limited use. Problemborrowings in modern Russian is such that not all lexemes that have come into our speech become commonly used and popular. Some remain uncommon book vocabulary - such words, as a rule, have synonyms that have long been known and familiar to the inhabitants of Russia (this again brings us back to the issue of unjustified borrowings): for example, shock - stun, immoral - immoral and the like. Not bookish, but having an alternative variant in Russian speech, lexemes also include such “noble” words as rendezvous (we’ll often say “date”).
In addition, the same category includes words that are quite common in our speech, but at the same time retain a foreign spelling - merci or okay. They also have equivalents, but they can be considered as a kind of expressive means that serve to decorate and give more expression.
How to find out borrowing
We learned above that many words that came into the Russian language from others have already “got used” to it so much that they have completely lost signs of their origin. Therefore, it is not at all easy to understand sometimes that the word-foreigner is in front of you. However, there are still ways to solve this problem. So, borrowings in modern Russian can be recognized as follows:
- If the word begins with the letter "a" (except for native Russian interjections - ah, aha, ay): profile, aster, lampshade.
- Foreign words are also indicated by the presence of the letter "f" in the word (in any place) - also with the exception of Russian interjections like fu: cafe,decanter, fact, closet, february.
- Joint of two or more vowels at the root: duel, poet, theater, guard, diet.
- The presence of the letter "e": echo, peer, sir, aloe, floor (except for Russian interjections and pronouns eh, eh and others).
- Combinations of kyu, pyu, mu and others: debut, puree, cuvette, muesli, banknote.
- Double consonant at the root of the word: Saturday, abbot, alley.
- Combinations ke, ge, heh at the root of the word: rocket, emblem, scheme.
- Indeclinable words: subway, coat, coffee, cafe, cinema.
- Türkic words can be recognized by the endings -lyk or -cha: bashlyk, cherry plum; Greek - at the end -os: space, epic, chaos. A sign of Latin borrowings is the endings -us, -mind, -tion and the like: plenum, radius, third, and so on. German are recognized by the combinations -sht- and -shp- at the beginning of the word, as well as at the end -meister: stamp, punks, accompanist. The English, on the other hand, tend to use combinations -tch- and -j-, as well as the endings -ing, -men or -er: rally, timer, businessman, match, manager.
tracing paper
The so-called dictionary of modern borrowings in Russian also includes calques. This French term refers to a word or even a whole phrase, which is created according to a foreign model, but using native Russian elements. As a rule, such words arise as a result of the translation of foreign-language lexemes in parts. Similar examples of modern borrowings in Russian can be, for example, the verb look - it is a morphemic translation of the German verb aussehen. Such words appear mainly due to translationslike neoplasms.
There are also so-called semi-calques - words half created from Russian elements, and half from foreign ones. Such lexemes include the word humanity, the suffix of which is Russian, and the root came from German.
English borrowings in modern Russian
The first relationship between Britain and Russia began in the sixteenth century - first trade began, then political and diplomatic ties. In the same period, the first “news” from the English appeared in Russian speech - words such as lord or mister. A huge number of English borrowings in modern Russian came into it in the era of Peter the Great - basically, of course, these were terms for maritime affairs, trade, from the military field.
Anglicisms continued to appear in the Russian language throughout the subsequent history, but it became possible to talk about a new round of borrowings after the strengthening of the influence of the United States of America. Active interaction with Britain and America in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has resulted in an incredible number of English words appearing in our speech. Moreover, this is facilitated by the fashion for English expressions: even the names of many positions and professions in Russian now sound completely different from Russian - for example, a cleaning lady is called nothing more than a “cleaning manager.”
German borrowings in Russian
The earliest borrowings from German are recorded in Russian yetin the thirteenth century. These are words such as master, knight, duke, penny, pound and others, and they are found, as a rule, in various letters and chronicles. A large amount of German military terminology replenished the Russian language in the seventeenth century (for example, a soldier), and in the era of Peter the Great, such German borrowings appeared in Russian as a chisel, drill, workbench, wax, paste - words characteristic of a working person.
The majority of the population does not even know that many lexemes of our language are actually native German. Meanwhile, such words as, for example, fraer, iceberg, car, tie, torch, date, grind, tomato, painter, paramedic, post office, locksmith, huntsman, mouthpiece, button, apron, puck, canister, sleeve are famous for German origin, howitzer, barrier, arsenal, landscape, aiguillette, flute, French horn, fireworks and many, many others.
French borrowings
French borrowings available in modern Russian first appeared in it in the time of Peter the Great - despite the fact that ties between Russia and France existed before. Peter, who was interested in the achievements of the French in science and technology, contributed to the emergence of gallicisms in Russian speech. At first, the French words, with which the inhabitants of Russia began to juggle, referred exclusively to military terminology and science, but later the range of their use expanded - up to the everyday level.
The latter happened after the Frenchthe language became the court language of the Russian tsars - during the reign of Catherine II. And to this day in the Russian language there are many lexemes that came from French: shop, parliament, regime, advance payment, compartment, luggage, trench, dugout, crew, kiosk, loan, patrol, bank, taxi, lawn, premiere, gallery, city hall and many more.
Foreign borrowings in Russian is a topic of incredible interest not only for specialists, but also for native speakers. It's so exciting to know where certain words in our speech came from.
