Russians and foreigners. The meaning of foreign words in Russian

Language is the most universal remedy communication, which responds in a mobile way to changes in the needs of society. Every day one or more new words appear, which are the result of simplification or merging of existing ones, but the largest number verbal novelties come from abroad. So, foreign words in Russian: why do they arise and what are they?

Primordially Russian vocabulary

The Russian language has evolved over many centuries, resulting in three stages in the genesis of the original Russian words.

Indo-European vocabulary originated in the Neolithic era and was based on the basic concepts of kinship (mother, daughter), household items (hammer), food (meat, fish), the names of animals (bull, deer) and the elements (fire, water).

The main words were absorbed by the Russian language and are considered part of it.

The Proto-Slavic vocabulary, which was of high relevance at the border of the 6th-7th centuries, had a great influence on Russian speech. and spread to the territory of Eastern and Central Europe as well as the Balkans.

In this group, words arose related to flora(tree, grass, root), names of crops and plants (wheat, carrots, beets), tools and raw materials (hoe, cloth, stone, iron), birds (goose, nightingale), as well as food (cheese, milk, kvass).

Modern words of the primordial Russian vocabulary arose in the period from the 8th to the 17th centuries. and belonged to the East Slavic language branch. The mass fraction of them expressed an action (run, lie, multiply, lay), the names of abstract concepts appeared (freedom, outcome, experience, fate, thought), words appeared corresponding to household items (wallpaper, carpet, book) and the names of national dishes ( cabbage rolls, cabbage soup).

Some words have taken root so firmly in Russian speech that they will not need to be replaced soon, while others have been brazenly ousted by more consonant synonyms from the near abroad. So "humanity" turned into "humanity", "appearance" was transformed into "image", and "competition" was called "duel".

The problem of borrowing foreign words

Since ancient times, the Russian people have led trade, cultural and political relations with native speakers of other languages, so it was almost impossible to avoid mixing vocabulary.

New words were introduced into Russian speech both from neighboring states and from distant republics.

In fact, words of foreign origin are so often and for a long time present in our speech that we are already accustomed to them and absolutely do not perceive them as something alien.

Here are some examples of well-established foreign words:

• China: tea.
• Mongolia: hero, shortcut, darkness.
• Japan: karate, karaoke, tsunami.
• Holland: orange, jacket, hatch, yacht, sprats.
• Poland: donut, market, fair.
• Czech Republic: tights, pistol, robot.

Official statistics say that only 10% of words in Russian are borrowed. But if you listen closely to the spoken language of the younger generation, we can conclude that the contamination of the Russian language with foreign words has a more global scale.

We go to lunch at a fast food place and order a burger and milk shake. Having found free wi-fi, we will not miss the opportunity to visit Facebook to put a couple of likes under the best friend's photo.

Borrowing foreign words: the main reasons

Why are we so attracted by vocabulary from neighboring states?

Greece

Now let's look at the geography of borrowing.

The most generous country that has lent the Russian language part of its vocabulary is Greece. She gave us the names of almost all famous sciences(geometry, astrology, geography, biology). In addition, many words related to the field of education (alphabet, spelling, Olympiad, department, phonetics, library) have Greek origin.

Some foreign words in Russian have abstract meanings (victory, triumph, chaos, charisma), others characterize quite tangible objects (theater, cucumber, ship).

Thanks to the ancient Greek vocabulary, we learned how sympathy is expressed, got a taste of style and were able to capture vivid events in photographs.
It is interesting that the meaning of some words passed into the Russian language without change, while others acquired new meanings (economy - home economics, tragedy - goat song).

Italy

Do you think there are many words in the Russian speech that come from the Apennine Peninsula? Surely, apart from the famous greeting "chao", nothing will be immediately remembered. It turns out that Italian foreign words in Russian are present in sufficient quantities.

For example, an identity document was first called a passport in Italy, and only then this word was borrowed in many languages, including Russian.

Everyone knows the tricks of the Sicilian clans, so the origin of the word "mafia" is beyond doubt. Likewise, the "carnival" has taken root in many languages ​​thanks to the bright costume show in Venice. But the Italian roots of "vermicelli" surprised: in the Apennines vermicelli is translated as "worms".

Recently, it has become fashionable to use the definition for the press as "paparazzi". But in a direct translation, these are not journalists at all, as one might think, but "annoying mosquitoes."

France

But France gave the Russian speech a lot of "tasty" words: roasted nuts, jelly, croissant, canapes, creme brulee, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, stews, soup, soufflé, eclair, cutlet and sauce. Of course, along with the names of the French chefs, cooking recipes were also borrowed, many of which were to the taste of Russian gourmets.

A few more broad branches of borrowing are literature, cinema and the entertainment industry: artist, ballet, billiards, magazine, verse, play, purse, repertoire, restaurant and plot.

The French also became the inventors of seductive details of women's clothing (panties and peignoir), taught the world the rules of social behavior (etiquette) and the art of beauty (makeup, cream, perfumery).

Germany

German vocabulary is so different from Russian that it is difficult to imagine what words could take root in it. It turns out that there are quite a few of them.

For example, we often use the German word “route”, which means a pre-selected path. Or "scale" - the ratio of sizes on the map and on the ground. And "font" in Russian is the designation of the characters of the letter.

The names of some professions have also taken root: hairdresser, accountant, locksmith.

The food industry also did not do without borrowing: sandwich, dumplings, waffles and muesli, it turns out, also have German roots.

Also, the Russian language has absorbed several fashion accessories into its vocabulary: for women - "shoes" and "bra", for men - "tie", children - "backpack". By the way, an intelligent child is often called a "prodigy" - this is also a German concept.

Foreign words in Russian they feel quite comfortable, they even settled in our house in the form of a chair, bathroom and tiles.

England

The largest number of borrowed words come from Foggy Albion. Since English is an international language, and many know it at a fairly decent level, it is not surprising that many words migrated into Russian speech and began to be perceived as native.

Foreign words in Russian are almost ubiquitous, but the most popular areas of their application are:

• business (PR, office, manager, copywriter, broker, holding);
• sports (goalkeeper, boxing, football, penalty, time-out, foul);
• computer technology (blog, offline, login, spam, traffic, hacker, hosting, gadget);
• entertainment industry (talk show, casting, soundtrack, hit).

Very often, English words are used as youth slang, which is most influenced by fashion (baby, boyfriend, loser, teenager, respect, make-up, freak).

Some words have become so popular in the world that they have acquired a common noun (jeans, show, weekend).

Foreign words are included in the Russian language along with many concepts, ideas, theories and concepts. To invent your own terms for expressing borrowed concepts is often too difficult and impractical, therefore, in most cases, along with a new concept, a word or phrase that expresses it comes into the language. For example: a floppy disk (from the English diskette) is a small-format magnetic disk, usually flexible, a storage medium for processing on a computer.

The number of such words is gradually increasing in the context of the expansion of political, economic, scientific, technical and cultural ties. Over time, many of the borrowed words are polished, adapt to the norms of the Russian language, become changeable in accordance with these norms, which greatly facilitates their use. For example: audit (from the English. Audit) - a form of financial control over the activities of organizations, enterprises, firms, carried out at the request of the client. In addition, we say audit, having in mind another meaning of the word: audit. Auditor (from Lat. Auditor - listener, investigator) - a person who checks the financial and economic activities of a company on the basis of a contract. This noun, like the word audit, is declined.

The process of "Russification" of borrowed words is the subordination of borrowed unchangeable nouns and adjectives to the norms of the inflection of the Russian language: capi - cap, Papua - Papuan, Papuan, lobby - lobbyist - lobbyist, pique - dive, beige - beige, etc.

However, there are many examples when borrowed words remain "foreigners" in the borrowing language system (jury, highway, scoreboard, attaché, kangaroo, etc.). Difficulties often arise in determining the grammatical gender of these words, in their pronunciation and stress setting. Remember:
1) non-declining words of foreign origin, denoting inanimate objects, refer to the middle gender: publicity (advertising, fame, popularity); summary (short conclusion from what has been said, summary essence of speech).
Although the word coffee refers to the masculine gender, colloquial speech use is possible on average;
2) if a word is included in a more general, generic concept, then it correlates with this concept in grammatical gender. Thus, non-declining nouns included in the concept of "language" refer to the masculine gender: Bengali, Pashto, Hindi, etc .; the word Esperanto is used both in masculine and neuter gender; the word sirocco - male(influenced by the word wind); the words beriberi (disease), kohlrabi (cabbage), salami (sausage) are feminine; the word breeches is not only neuter, but also plural (trousers);
3) non-declining foreign words denoting animate objects (animals, birds, etc.) refer to the masculine gender: gray kangaroo, little chimpanzee, funny pony, pink cockatoo. But: hummingbird, kiwi-kiwi feminine (influenced by the word bird); Iwashi (fish, herring), tsetse (fly) of the female gender; if it is clear from the context that we are talking about a female, then the names of animals refer to the female genus: a kangaroo carried a kangaroo in a bag; the chimpanzee was feeding the cub;
4) non-declining nouns of foreign language origin, denoting people, belong to the masculine or feminine gender in accordance with the gender of the designated person: rich rentier, old lady; the same applies to their own names: the great Verdi, poor Mimi; two-kind are the words vis-a-vis (my vis-a-vis is my vis-a-vis), protege, incognito;
5) the gender of non-declining nouns denoting geographical names (cities, rivers, lakes, etc.) is determined by the grammatical gender common noun, denoting a generic concept (that is, by the type of words city, river, lake, etc.): sunny Batumi, wide Mississippi, full-flowing Ontario, picturesque Capri (island), hard-to-reach Jungfrau (mountain);
6) according to the same principle, the grammatical gender of non-declining names of press organs is determined: The Times (newspaper) published ...; Le Figaro Literer (magazine) published ...; Time (magazine) printed ...;
7) the pronunciation of foreign words has a number of features: in borrowed words in place of the letter o in unstressed position pronounced [o], that is, without reduction: b [o] a, [o] tel, kaka [o], for the sake of [o]; double pronunciation is allowed: p [o] et - p [a] et, with [o] no - with [a] no, etc .; before the vowel, denoted by the letter e, in many foreign words the consonants are pronounced firmly: at [e] le, code [e] ks, kaf [e], Shop [e] n.

Simultaneously with borrowing in Russian, another (Russian in origin) word with the same meaning can function, for example: aloe - agave, lumbago - lumbago, rendezvous - date.

Borrowed words characterizing the specific national characteristics of life different nations and used to describe non-Russian reality are called exotisms. So, when depicting the life and life of the peoples of the Caucasus, the words are used: aul, saklya, arba, dzhigit; Italian flavor is conveyed by the words gondola, tarantella, tavern, spaghetti, pizza, etc.

Many borrowings, unable to withstand the test of time, quickly disappeared from the modern vocabulary, but are found in literature: victoria (victory), plezir (pleasure), voyage (travel), politez (politeness), etabel (arrange).

In recent decades, the abuse of tracing copies from foreign words has become a frequent phenomenon, although there are Russian equivalents to denote the corresponding concepts. For example, we read in the newspapers: the summit participants came to a consensus ... In boutiques big choice ready-to-wear clothes ... We hear on the radio: primaries have passed in the United States, the rating of the main candidate for the post of contender has decreased.

However, the development market economy in Russia has naturally supplemented our speech with such borrowed words as a broker (intermediary), a dealer (a person or company acting on the market using brand manufacturers), tender (official proposal to fulfill the obligation), tranche (financial part, series), transfer (financial translation), offer (official proposal to conclude a deal) and many others.

It should be noted such a phenomenon in the life of a foreign word as a shift in the hierarchy of meanings inherent in the source of borrowing. So, our dictionaries of foreign words give the following meanings english word sponsor: 1. Guarantor. 2. The person who finances the event, the organization. In modern Russian, the first meaning did not take root. The word sponsor stands for "structure, person who finances someone." A similar shift has occurred in the use of the word business. In the Russian interpretation, business is commercial activity, non-state trade, while the dictionary gives the following meanings as the main ones: business, constant occupation, specialty, duty, duty.

One more group of words should be distinguished. Their semantic transformations illustrate a certain change in socio-economic and - as a consequence of this - linguistic guidelines. Consider, for example, the words control, control. They entered the Russian language a long time ago, being borrowed from French, and mean accordingly: check, check. Since the 1990s, the word control has come to mean, first of all, not verification, but management, retention under influence. The pattern is found in English, where control means primarily named control. In the new use, the meaning of the check is shifted to the number of secondary ones.

The words have undergone similar changes: analyst (now not so much the one who analyzes as the observer, commentator); administration (now not only and not so much the governing body of the enterprise as the body state power); director or general director (not only the head of the enterprise, but also often its co-owner). A similar transformation can be found in the meanings of the words liberalization, model, politics.

The main thing in the use of borrowings is the exact knowledge of the meaning or meanings) of a foreign word and the appropriateness of its use.

Words name objects, phenomena, signs and actions of the surrounding world. How more people learns the world (including himself), the more he discovers something new in it, and accordingly calls everything new in words. The entire known world is thus reflected in the vocabulary of the language. In terms of vocabulary, the Russian language is one of the richest in the world. "For everything," wrote K. Paustovsky, "in the Russian language there are a great many good words."

However, any language develops in interaction with other languages. Since ancient times, the Russian people entered into cultural, commercial, military, political ties with other states, which could not but lead to linguistic borrowing. Gradually, the borrowed words were assimilated (from Lat. Assimilare - to assimilate, to assimilate) by the borrowing language and were no longer perceived as foreign.

Borrowed words - these are such foreign language words that are fully included in the lexical system of the Russian language. They acquired lexical meaning, phonetic design, grammatical features characteristic of the Russian language are used in different styles, are written with the letters of the Russian alphabet.

Reasons for borrowing

In different historical periods, borrowings from other languages ​​intensified, both under the influence of external (non-linguistic) and internal (linguistic) reasons.

External causes – these are various connections between peoples. So, in the X century. Kievan Rus adopted Christianity from the Greeks. In this regard, in the Old Russian language, along with borrowed religious ideas, objects of church worship, many Greek words entered, for example: altar, patriarch, demon, icon, cell, monk, icon lamp, metropolitan and others. Scientific terms, names of objects of Greek culture, names of plants, months, etc. were also borrowed, for example: mathematics, history, philosophy, grammar, syntax, idea, theater, stage, museum, comedy, tragedy, alphabet, planet, climate, doll, poppy, cucumber, beetroot, January, February, December and etc.

From the 13th to the 15th centuries Ancient Rus was under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Words from Turkic languages ​​appeared: barn, cart, quiver, lasso, shoe, felt, armyak, sash, sheepskin coat, heel, wide trousers, noodles, khan, sundress, pencil, shed, chest, trestle bed, shortcut.

During the period of the transformations of Peter I, especially a lot of words from Dutch, German, English, French came into the Russian language. It:

military vocabulary: recruit, camp, watch, parade ground, uniform, corporal, order, soldier, officer, company, assault, harbor, fairway, bay, flag, cabin, sailor, boat, dugout, sapper, landing, squadron, artillery;

art terms: easel, landscape, stroke, leitmotif, flare, full house, flute, dance, choreographer(from German); parterre, play, actor, prompter, intermission, plot, ballet, genre(from French); bass, tenor, aria, bravo, lodge, opera(from Italian); names of new household items, clothes: kitchen, sandwich, waffle, minced meat, tie, cap (and from German); muffler, suit, vest, coat, bracelet, veil, necklace, fashion designer, furniture, chest of drawers, sideboard, chandelier, lampshade, cream, marmalade(from French).

Internal reasons - these are the needs of the development of the lexical system of the language, which are as follows:

1. The need to eliminate the ambiguity of the original Russian word, to simplify it semantic structure... This is how the words came into being import Export instead of ambiguous primordially Russian import, export. The words import Export began to denote "import", "export" associated with international trade.

Instead of a descriptive name ( sniper - accurate shooter; motel - hotel for car tourists; sprint - running for short distances; hit - trendy song; killer - payed assassin).

Similarly, the words arose tour, cruise. This process is also supported by the trend towards the creation of international terms. So, for example, football commentators of foreign players in domestic teams call legionnaires.

2. The desire to clarify or detail the corresponding concepts of the language, to delimit its semantic shades. So, briefing - not any meeting casting - not any competition, but primarily in the field of show business. For example, in Russian the word jam both liquid and thick jam are called. To distinguish thick fruit or berry jam, representing a homogeneous mass, from liquid jam, in which whole berries could be preserved, thick jam began to be called the English word jam. The words also arose reportage(with native Russian story), total(with native Russian general), hobby ( with native Russian hobby), comfort - convenience: service - service; local- local; creative- creative ; charm - charm, charm; relaxation - recreation ; extreme- dangerous ; positive- optimism. Thus, the word already existing in the language and the newly borrowed word divide the spheres of semantic influence. These areas may overlap, but they will never coincide completely.

Language signs of borrowed words

Among the phonetic features of borrowed words, the following can be distinguished:

1. Unlike the native Russians, who never begin with a sound a(which would contradict the phonetic laws of the Russian language), borrowed words have an initial a: profile, abbot, paragraph, aria, attack, lampshade, arba, angel, anathema.

2. The initial e is mainly distinguished by Greekisms and Latinisms (Russian words never begin with this sound): era, era, ethics, exam, execution, effect, floor.

3. The letter f also indicates a non-Russian source of the sound f and the corresponding graphic sign was used only to designate it in borrowed words: forum, fact, lantern, film, sofa, scam, aphorism, broadcast, profile etc.

4. A special phonetic feature of Turkic origin is the harmony of the same vowels: ataman, caravan, pencil, sundress, drum, chest, mosque.

5. The combination of two or more vowels in a word was unacceptable according to the laws of Russian phonetics, therefore borrowed words are easily distinguished by this feature: poet, theater, veil, cocoa, radio, punctuation.

Among the morphological signs of borrowed words, the most characteristic is their immutability. So, some foreign-language nouns do not change in cases, do not have correlative singular and plural forms: coat, radio, cinema, metro, cocoa, beige, mini, maxi, blinds and etc.

End borrowing XX - beginnings XXI century.

Scope of use

There are two main types of borrowed words of our time. The first type is relatively old borrowings, updated in last years in connection with the change in the political and economic system of Russia (for example, the word the president, borrowed in the Soviet era, became relevant in the 80s).

The second type is new borrowings. They are especially numerous.

In the 90s. the inflow of borrowings into the Russian language increased greatly, which was associated with changes in the sphere of political life, economy, culture and the moral orientation of society.

Borrowing is in the lead in the political life of the country: president, parliament, inauguration, summit, speaker, impeachment, electorate, consensus etc.

in the most advanced branches of science and technology: computer, display, file, monitoring, player, pager, fax, modem, portal, processor, and also in financial and commercial activities:auditor, barter, broker, dealer, investment, conversion, sponsor, trust, holding, supermarket, manager, default etc.

Into the cultural sphere invade bestsellers, westerns, thrillers, hits, showmen, digests, casting etc.

Attention is drawn to the fact that the rapidly growing number of new names of persons in the Russian language is caused not only by the emergence of new professions - to a greater extent this is due to the fact that new subcultures are emerging, classified by lifestyle, by profession, by belonging to culture. Most of these words are borrowed from the English language. In modern Russian, this group of new names of persons can be considered still developing and constantly replenishing:

blogger - a person who, on a professional or amateur basis, is engaged in the conduct and maintenance of a blog; game designer - rulemaker computer games; downshifter - a person who voluntarily renounced a high position and income for the sake of a simple and unhurried life with his family, for the sake of spiritual self-improvement, travel; skater - a man riding a skateboard; trapper - fur hunter; thrasher - a young man with a non-standard appearance(an abundance of piercings and tattoos, shocking clothes), etc.

Attitude towards borrowing

Foreign words in Russian have always been the subject of close attention and discussion of scientists, public figures, writers, and lovers of the Russian language. Scientists were interested in what place borrowed words occupy in the vocabulary of the Russian language, from which languages ​​most words are borrowed, what is the reason for borrowing, whether foreign words will clog up the native language. Attempts were repeatedly made to replace words that came from other languages ​​with Russian (Peter I,).

Borrowing is a completely natural way of enriching any language. Foreign words add to the vocabulary of the language. This is their positive role. However, the abundant and unnecessary use of foreign words complicates communication, leads to the formation of ridiculous phrases:

An identical decision was made by the pupils of the 3rd "B" grade.

Masha confidentially told her friend about this case.

Until what time is the buffet open?

We wish you family consensus!

Errors in the use of borrowed words lead to the formation of tautological combinations: a leading leader, a young prodigy, a vacancy, an autograph, an old veteran, a forecast for the future, etc. On the other hand, reasonable borrowings enrich speech, give it greater accuracy.

In our time, the question of the expediency of using borrowings is associated with the assignment of lexical means to certain functional styles speech (for example, in scientific speech, preference is given to a foreign language synonym - integration, not a union; flexion, not the ending). Foreign terminological vocabulary is an irreplaceable means of concise and accurate transfer of information in texts intended for narrow specialists.

In our time, the creation of international terminology, uniform names of concepts, phenomena of modern science, production is taken into account, which also contributes to the consolidation of borrowed words that have acquired an international character (medical, space terminology). For example: automobile, cosmodrome, democracy, republic, telegraph, dictatorship, philosophy.

The processes of vocabulary enrichment through borrowing occur today in all modern languages... However, time will show how this will change the appearance of the Russian language, enrich it or “spoil” it. It will also determine the fate of borrowings, which in the end will be approved or rejected by the linguistic taste of the era.

Literature

2. Modern Russian language edited by M., 1976

3. Brief etymological dictionary of the Russian language M., 1971

4. Dictionary of foreign words M: "Russian language", 1988

5. Novels and Americanisms in the Russian language and attitudes towards them. S-Pb., 2000

In many languages, the layer of loan words is extensive. Russian is no exception - we hear and use words from the most different languages... But more than a dozen lexical units passed from the Russian language to others.

The lexicon reflects both the history of the people themselves and the history of their interactions with others. Representatives different countries they trade with each other, fight, live in neighboring territories, monitor each other's political situation. All this is reflected in the language.

There are so many delicious things!

One of the most extensive groups of words that have passed from Russian to other languages ​​is the vocabulary related to cooking.
The English language borrowed the names of the famous Russian fish - beluga and stellate sturgeon. Etymological dictionaries of the English language classify borrowing as XVI century- apparently, then, with the beginning of regular trade cooperation between the countries, the British "tasted" this fish and began to supply it to England. Now in English there is also a synonym for the word "stellate sturgeon" - stellate sturgeon. "Beluga" is also in French - beluga. One of the Airbus aircraft models is also called the same word.
In many European languages the word “sterlet” was also horrible. It is sometimes considered one of the first borrowings from Russian and it is believed that it entered the English language already in the XIV century.
There is a “fish” word from the Russian language even in Japanese - “ikura”. It only designates red caviar as a dish. To designate caviar in general, the Japanese, who know a lot about seafood, use their own words.
The most famous example of borrowing from Russian into many languages ​​is the word "vodka". It can be found in English, French, and German. Moreover, in German, vodka became a "man" - the word acquired the masculine article, der Wodka. And in French there are two words: "wodka" - for Polish and "vodka" - for Russian vodka. V Japanese word"Vodka" has about five spellings.
Of the soft drinks, only kvass is so popular - kvas in English, Spanish, Portuguese and many other languages. In some of the languages, this word entered, probably through other Slavic languages. Those peoples who, like the Russians, made kvass, often have their own names for this drink - kali (Est.), Gira (lit.).

Bread and pies

The Finno-Ugric tribes neighboring with the Slavs borrowed more than a dozen words from Russian. Now, in both Finnish and Estonian, the words for bread have passed from the Slavs: leipä (Fin.) And leib (Est.). The words lusikka (Fin.) And lusikas (Est.) Will seem familiar to a Russian person - both of them probably have a common ancestor - the word "spoon".
In English, there are also "pies" - pirozhki. True, there is a version that this word got into the language through the mediation of Polish, in which "pirogi" are, rather, dumplings with different fillings(sometimes fried). Polish also has "Russian pirogi" (ruskie pierogi) - dumplings stuffed with a mixture of cottage cheese and potatoes, served with fried onions, sour cream or cracklings.
The word "pies" in a meaning close to us turned out to be Japanese- "pirosiki". Moreover, this word was taken at once in the plural, and there is no equivalent in the singular.
The word “pies” also entered the “home” German language of the Volga Germans, taking the form of birocks or pirogen.
There are pies even in Greek - piroski, but only deep-fried dough products are called so, and not baked in the oven.

Grandmothers, nesting dolls, babalaikas and other symbols of Russia

If an Englishman calls someone babushka, then perhaps he does not mean age. He only indicates the method of tying the scarf - a knot under the chin. But the familiar Russian grandmother in a headscarf in English can also be called that.
The Japanese "babusika" is also connected with the scarf and kerchief. Many Japanese people are surprised when they hear the phrase "grandmother", especially if the grandmother does not wear headscarves.
Among the Greeks and some other European peoples, for example, the Spaniards, baboushka is a nesting doll. Australians also prefer this name. But in general, in most languages ​​"matryoshka" is matroesjka (Dutch), matriochka (French, along with poupée russe), matrjoska (Hungarian), and so on. An interesting Finnish name is maatuska, reminiscent of our word "mother". The Spaniards also have a similar variant - mamushka (in Spanish there are a number of designations for "nesting dolls").
No less popular is the word "samovar" - this object for boiling water is called so in most languages ​​(samovar or samowar - this word has hardly undergone any transformation).

Economics and politics

As soon as political and economic relations are established between countries, it becomes necessary to know what monetary units are in use there, what the authorities are called, what administrative-territorial units exist. English traders, diplomats and travelers from the 16th century wrote down Russian words, which were later used to describe the situation in Russia. This vocabulary includes rouble, copeck (penny), voivoda (voivode), boyar (boyar).
The Swedish torg meaning "area" comes from the Russian "bargaining" (trading place), "to trade".
In the 17th century, a special language even developed between Russian and Norwegian fishermen and traders - Russenorsk, in which the vocabulary was divided equally between Russian and Norwegian, and the grammar was simplified as much as possible. The sentences looked something like this: En voga mokka, så galanna voga treska - "One cart of flour for a cod ride." At the beginning of the 20th century, it almost disappeared; it survived only on Svalbard.

Tsars and apparatchiks

An unusual usage is given to the word tsar. Along with the designation of the tsar as the head of Russia in modern English, it is used as an unofficial name for the position of a person responsible for any important area of ​​work, something like an adviser. Even in the American White House there were "tsars", however, former president Obama didn't like the word.
Over time, “kolkhoz”, “perestroika”, “pogrom”, “samizdat”, “nihilist”, “apparatchik”, “special forces”, and “siloviks” passed into other languages. Basically, they remained tracing copies, used only to characterize Russian realities.
There is a French word bérézina for disaster, complete failure. One can easily guess that it appeared in French in 1812, when Napoleon suffered a crushing defeat on the banks of the Berezina River.
Frequent in many articles, the word "satellite" (sputnik), used as an example of the transition of a word to another language, in English did not become a designation for artificial satellites in general, but serves only as the name of that very Soviet system.
Many Russian words passed into the languages ​​of peoples that were either part of Russian Empire, and later in Soviet Union, or "focused" on Russia. So, the words "partisan" (palchhisan), "tractor" (tyraktors) and some others appeared in Korean. Now they are still used in the North Korean version.
Immigrants have brought many words from their native languages ​​to modern Hebrew. From Russian, among others, not even a word entered, but a morpheme - the suffix "nick", denoting a person belonging to a group, or a characteristic of a person (a kibbutznik is a resident of a kibbutz, a boring person is a bore, etc.).
Now the process of borrowing continues - both from foreign languages ​​to Russian, and vice versa.

The number of foreign words in everyday speech is increasing exponentially from year to year. It is frustrating that equivalent words at the same time exist in the Russian language and are used less and less. The situation is aggravated by funds mass media, as well as the policy pursued by the ministries and departments of Russia in this direction. More and more often on TV screens we hear newly introduced words from the predominantly Germanic language group (mainly English), such as " manager", "campus", "shopping", "creativity", "digger"and other similar words. It is worth noting that presidents, prime ministers and other high-ranking officials set a bad example in the use of the aforementioned words.

Below is a list of foreign words with their equivalent meanings in Russian. The list is formed in alphabetical order. If there are any additions or want to discuss this article, you can leave your messages in a specially created topic on our forum.

About the list

The Russian language is deliberately littered, and the common people forgets that there are words of the same meaning in their native language. Therefore, the question "Where is this rich and powerful Russian language?" Comes to mind. We began to forget about the formation of words in our language. Where did this wealth come from in our language? This and other similar questions can be devoted to separate articles.

In some countries, special institutions are being created at the government level to preserve the primordial nature of the native language. For example, the population in France is very attentive and attentive to the language of their everyday communication. At the same time, it is interesting that the residents of the country, first of all, are concerned not with the effect obtained in response to the linguistic policy of official Paris, but with the problem of a possible gradual simplification of French, and, as a consequence, the impoverishment and degradation of its potential. On December 1, 1975, French President Valerie Giscard d'Estein signed a law to protect the French language from the invasion of English and any other language, and therefore foreign culture. Similar measures should be taken in Russia as well.

The purpose of this article is to write equivalent Russian words to English, German and others, which have taken root in our everyday use, as well as to mark with links to misuse words by celebrities and high-ranking officials.

The following words are widely used by the media in Russia and in speeches famous people at a time when there are primordially Russian meanings. If there are no such words or expressions in the list, then everyone can add them to this list by first registering in Wikipedia.

A

• Authoritative - significant
• Alphabet - (came from Greek - ἀλφάβητος). The original word " alphabet"also has a place to be meaning" glagolitic".
• Emphasis - Equivalent emphasis.
• Emphasize - Pay attention.
• Analogy, Analog, Similar - (in English and French"analogue"). Has an equivalent meaning in Russian " similarity"or as an adjective" like" or " same".
• Annotation - (in English "annotation"). Equivalent meaning in Russian " content".
• Aristocracy (from the Greek language - αριστοκρατία). Equivalent word in Russian " know".

D

AND

TO

L

• Legitimate - (from English "legitimate") - primordially Russian equivalent meaning - " law".

M

• Market - (from English "market"). Equivalent value " market".
• Manager is the most frequently used word, from English it means " manager" / "manager" or " supervisor". Often used in phrases office manager - from English means" Secretary".
• Message - (from English "message") - this word is often used in the Russian media. Equivalent value " message".
• Method - (from the ancient Greek "μέθοδος" - the path of knowledge, in English "method") - means in Russian nothing else but " way".
• Moment - (from Latin momentum - means driving force, but has no independent meaning. In English, "moment" - means a short period of time) - an equivalent meaning in Russian " moment".
• Monitoring - (from the Latin word "monitor") - today this word is often used as the verb "monitor". Russian equivalent word " track", "track".

N

• Nickname or Nickname - (from English "nick" or "nickname") - it is best to say " nickname", "nickname" or " pseudonym".

O

• Okay - (from English "ok"). A common word in Everyday life, while in Russian there are many equivalent meanings such as " OK", "OK", in other cases you can also say" Great", "agree", "goes", you can pick up a lot of words, but the use probably comes from the brevity of the English version.

NS

• Person - (from Latin "rrsōna", in English "person") - an equivalent meaning in Russian - " personality".
• Positive - (from English "positive"). Equivalent meaning in Russian " positive". May carry different meanings in different variations.
• Prolong (from English "prolong"). Not otherwise, as " prolong"in Russian. Used in relation to the renewal of any agreements.

R

• Reception - (from English "reception" -reception, accept) an equivalent word in Russian " reception"(most often in hotels).
• Real - (in English "real") means nothing but " valid".

WITH

• Synchronously - (from the English word "synchronously" - means "simultaneously", "at the same time").
• Selfie - (from the English word "self" - means "myself" or "myself"). This word began to spread widely in the meaning of "photographing oneself (or a group of people with oneself)". They could not think of anything how to take this word from the English language, then how can I express myself " self". It is quite understandable and in Russian.
• Sketch - (from English "scatch" -translated not otherwise than " sketch"). This term widespread in the construction industry and architecture. It is interesting that in the Russian language there has long existed an equivalent word " sketch", but in common people you can say" underpainting".
• Speechwriter - (from English "speech" -speech and "writer" -write) - a person who writes a speech for someone. Equivalent meaning can be the word " author" or " author of the text"This word is increasingly included in the vocabulary of central TV channels and magazines.
• Stagnation - (from Lat. Stagno - to make motionless) - an equivalent meaning in Russian " stop", "slow down"or as a noun" deceleration".
• Storage - (from English storage - storage, keep in stock) - equivalent value in Russian " storage".
• Soldier - (from Lat. "Soldus", "Solidus", in English "soldier") - a primordially Russian equivalent meaning " warrior", "warrior" or " howl".

T

• Tolerance - (from Latin tolerantia) the equivalent word in Russian " tolerance".
• Traffic - (from English "traffic" - movement). In Russian, this word began to be used mainly in two meanings. 1) In cases of describing the traffic situation on the roads - "heavy traffic" - when you can say nothing else but " congestion" or " loaded stream"(cars) or even simpler -" traffic jams". 2) In the technical meaning of the number of users who have visited this or that site -" high / low traffic ", when equivalent definitions can be said" high / low attendance"(site).
• Tradition - (from Lat. Language "traditio" - legend, in English "tradition"). Unambiguous meaning in Russian " custom".
• Trading - (from English "trade" - to trade). This word is used more and more often on the Internet. Equivalent meaning in Russian " trade".
• Tour - (from English "tour"). Equivalent value - " travel".

Have

• Weekend - (from English "weekend"). Literally means "end of the week", not otherwise than in Russian " weekend".
• Unique (from Latin "unicus", in English "unique"). Equivalent meaning in Russian " special", "exceptional", "unrepeatable".

F

• Fake - (from English "fake"). Equivalent meaning in Russian " fake".

NS

• Hobby - (from English "hobby") - equivalent meaning " enthusiasm".

NS

• Shopping - (from English "shop" -shop) - also means " purchase"or verb" to shop". On the signboard of one of the large stores in Moscow, there was an inscription" pleasant shopping "- one might say" pleasant shopping. "
• Show - (from English "show" -show) - equivalent meaning " showing", also used in the phrases" TV show "- with an equivalent meaning" telecast" or " TV program".

NS

• Equivalent - (comes from the Latin word "aequivalens", in English "equivalent") - in Russian it means nothing else but " equivalence".
• Experiment - (comes from Latin "experīmentum", in English "experiment") - equivalent meanings in Russian - an experience, trial.
• Existential - (in English the verb "exsist") - an equivalent meaning " existing"

Conclusion

The list, as we can see, is quite impressive and other words will be gradually added to it. Dear readers, if you have additions to this article, other foreign ones with equivalent meanings, then leave your examples on