Foreign words in Russian. About the use of foreign words Foreign words used in Russian

Language is the most universal means of communication that reacts mobilely to changes in the needs of society. Every day one or more new words appear, which are the result of a simplification or merger 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?

Original Russian vocabulary

The Russian language has been formed over many centuries, as a result of which three stages of the genesis of original Russian words have been identified.

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 name of animals (ox, deer) and elements (fire, water).

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

Proto-Slavic vocabulary, which had a high relevance at the border of the 6th-7th centuries, made 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 related to the plant world (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 products (cheese, milk, kvass).

Modern words of primordially 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 down, multiply, lay down), the names of abstract concepts arose (freedom, result, experience, fate, thought), words appeared that corresponded to household items (wallpaper, carpet, book) and the names of national dishes ( pigeons, cabbage soup).

Some words have taken root so firmly in Russian speech that they will not need to be replaced soon, while others were brazenly replaced by more consonant synonyms from neighboring countries. 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 had trade, cultural and political relations with 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 present in our speech so often and for a long time that we are already used to them and absolutely do not perceive them as something alien.

Here are some examples of well-established foreign words:

• China: tea.
• Mongolia: hero, label, 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 colloquial speech of the younger generation, we can conclude that the clogging of the Russian language with foreign words has a more global scale.

We go to a fast food restaurant for lunch and order a hamburger and a milkshake. Having found free Wi-Fi, we will not miss the opportunity to visit Facebook to put a couple of likes under the photo of the best friend.

Borrowing foreign words: the main reasons

Why are we so attracted to vocabulary from neighboring countries?

Greece

Now consider the geography of borrowing.

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

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, felt the taste of style and were able to capture bright events on photos.
It is interesting that the meaning of some words passed into the Russian language without change, while others acquired new meanings (economics - home economics, tragedy - a goat song).

Italy

What do you think, are there many words in Russian speech that come from the Apennine Peninsula? Surely, apart from the famous greeting “chao”, nothing will immediately come to mind. 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 by many languages, including Russian.

Everyone knows the tricks of the Sicilian clans, so the origin of the word "mafia" is beyond doubt. Likewise, "carnival" has taken root in many languages ​​thanks to a colorful 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 direct translation these are not journalists at all, as you might think, but "annoying mosquitoes."

France

But France gave Russian speech a lot of “delicious” words: grillage, jelly, croissant, canape, creme brulee, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, stew, soup, soufflé, eclair, cutlet and sauce. Of course, along with the names, recipes were borrowed from French chefs, many of which were to the taste of Russian gourmets.

A few more extensive branches of borrowing are literature, cinema and the entertainment industry: artist, ballet, billiards, magazine, couplet, 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 behavior in society (etiquette) and the art of beauty (make-up, cream, perfumery).

Germany

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

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

The names of some professions also took root: a hairdresser, an accountant, a locksmith.

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

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

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

England

The largest number of borrowed words come from Foggy Albion. Since English is an international language, and many people 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 use are:

• business (PR, office, manager, copywriter, broker, holding);
• sports (goalkeeper, boxing, football, penalties, time-out, foul);
• computer technologies (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 nominal meaning (jeans, show, weekend).

I think that since I managed to read the entire branch of the discussion (a branch, not a thread [disgusting word], but a discussion, not an argument or a discussion, stylistically "argument" is too "sharp" a word, and "discussion" is soft, though, in some places, opponents clearly did not skimp on expressions), then he deserved the right to his modest word as a linguist.

A lot of thoughts were expressed, smart and not very smart, I can agree with something, frankly I don’t want something. Borrowing is a completely natural way of enriching the vocabulary, there are cases when it crosses all boundaries, there are cases when the fight against it crosses all boundaries. Yes, the Icelandic language committee pursues a wise policy, in my opinion, but in rare cases it has to approve borrowings, because sooner or later tracing loses its productivity. An alternative option for expanding the word-building arsenal (in addition to borrowings) is the transition of root morphemes to word-building ones, but such processes in the language take about a hundred years and cannot be carried out artificially.

A few words about relevance. Take for example the same hackneyed manager. The very phenomenon of "manager" arose in a different socio-cultural space, in the United States, for example, a manager and a salesman are not the same thing, while in Russia now almost every second person is a manager (soon teachers will become educational managers). Here the point is not in the borrowing itself, but in the distortion of the usage of the use of the word. They came to capitalism, tried to copy some models - it did not work out. Even in such a trifling matter as the use of foreign words. It happens. This is not the most important part of the problem. After all, there are real managers in Russia, as in the West, so let them be called managers, all the rest - sellers, managers, etc. Excessive enthusiasm for native words is also not good. In the Navajo Indian language, for example, the word for tank is beeʼeldǫǫhtsoh bikááʼ dah naaznilígíí. The question is, what is worse than the English tank or panzer. Here, of course, a negative attitude towards the descendants of the colonists plays a role, but this is the tenth thing, this fact does not make it easier to understand such a cumbersome construction, after all, all, absolutely all languages, without exception, follow the path of simplification.

For some reason, no one in the course of the dispute mentioned (if I missed / did not notice - I apologize) the importance of such a phenomenon as jargon. There is a norm - these are dictionaries, there is oral speech - this is what we hear every day, it's a no brainer. Another question is what is considered the norm and what should be entered into these same dictionaries. And when. After what period of time the use of the word "coffee" in the middle gender by the broad masses can both genders be fixed as the norm? The question is ambiguous. Pushkin in the original can be found, for example, "meaningless." Once upon a time, such spelling was the norm, mind you, the rule is simpler than today's "without- and without-", before there was only one option - "without-". The question is different: whether the individual prefers to speak in a language close to the norm, or whether he prefers jargon - thieves, conceptual, glamorous, hipster, regional vernacular - the choice is very wide. We must not forget that we live in the 21st century, the century of global peace, the Internet and a tendency to mass hysteria. Is there a new iPhone model out? Urgent buy! Is it fashionable to say "bodyguard"? I will only say "bodyguard"! And you, cavemen, say "bodyguard", as if you ran away from the village yesterday and today you saw a computer for the first time in your life. If one or more sectors of society are dominated by jargon that encourages excessive borrowing, this is a kind of diagnosis. First of all, you need to think about why society is so greedy for foreign culture (and its products of a dubious level), why it treats its own so dismissively, and most importantly, why such an attitude is dictated as a fashion. And this is already a whole bunch of extralinguistic aspects - social, cultural, political, etc., which must be considered both individually and in the aggregate and in their interaction. I can assume what is happening today in this regard with the Russian language, but I am afraid that the wall of text will be ten times longer.

Use of foreign words. The use of foreign words should be appropriate, i.e. caused by necessity. If you have to make a choice between synonymous words (words that are close in meaning), one of which is Russian and the other is borrowed, you must first determine whether the semantic difference between them is significant. If a foreign synonym has shades of meaning that are important for your text and are absent from a native Russian word, the choice in favor of a borrowed variant is justified. Yes, the words "comfortable" and "comfortable" close in meaning, but an adjective of English origin "comfortable" more accurately conveys shades of meaning - "comfortable in everyday life, comfortable." Apparently, it occupies an increasingly strong position in modern Russian speech.

But sometimes the choice of a foreign word is not explained by anything other than a tribute to fashion. Why, for example, write prolonged instead of extended, represent instead of introduce? The only justification that can be found is that words whose borrowing is obvious often have a stylistic overtone of formality that gives the document more weight. (contract extended) sounds better than contract extended). But this logic is not perfect. After all, the terms that are not yet fully mastered by the Russian language, with a high degree of probability, can be misinterpreted. Therefore, before succumbing to their "stylistic charm", one must make sure that their meaning is quite clear to both the writer and the addressee.

Working on the preparation of documents, you can use modern dictionaries of foreign words.

See also:

The vocabulary of the Russian language has been actively replenished for several years by borrowing foreign words. Each of us daily uses expressions that came from English, German, Italian, French. Modern dictionaries interpreting the meaning of foreign words include tens of thousands of positions.

The use of borrowings causes heated debate on various issues. How to write correctly and how to pronounce foreign words? Is it appropriate to use them in Russian? Can borrowing be avoided? Is it worth fighting for the purity of native speech?

There are no definitive answers, hence the heated debate. But we'll try to figure out what's what.

Why do they appear

The process occurs for several reasons:

1. There are new objects and concepts invented in other countries. Most often they are associated with technology, economics, culture, business. For example: radio, performance, marketing.
2. Active public relations between different countries lead to the penetration of words from one language into another. A striking example of this is the official status French among aristocratic circles in the 17th century.
3. Borrowings are used to refer to scientific and technical terms.
4. Words from other languages ​​are used when it is necessary to specify two concepts that are close in meaning. For example, "fear" and "panic".
5. The use of foreign expressions is a fashionable trend.

Are loans necessary?

The use of foreign words in Russian - natural process. Time goes on. New things, scientific directions, cultural phenomena appear. Economics and politics do not stand still. It is far from always possible to find a Russian-language equivalent for a foreign innovation. In such cases, borrowing is the only reasonable solution.

But what do we see now? Borrowings now perform not only their original function. They are gradually replacing Russian words with the same meaning.

We constantly hear: "absolute", "adequate", "humane", "detailed", "potential". But don't these words have Russian analogues? What is worse: “perfect”, “corresponding”, “human”, “detailed”, “possible”?

The use of unjustified borrowing can be encountered literally everywhere: on the radio, in the press, on television. In the speeches of politicians, celebrities and ordinary people.

It is not always reasonable to use foreign words. Sometimes it can lead to misunderstandings. Or put a man in awkward situation, because there are cases when borrowings are used without even knowing their meaning.

Of course, the enrichment of the Russian language at the expense of foreign words is a natural process. It is impossible to avoid it. But each of us is able to refuse the use of unjustified borrowings. The Russian language is one of the most lively, beautiful and rich. It is worth fighting for its purity and originality, and not displacing native words with foreign words.

borrowed words?

The spelling and pronunciation of borrowings cannot be explained using the rules of the Russian language. For this reason, there are several variants of the same word. For example, there are different pronunciations of the word "marketing". Some believe that the emphasis falls on "a", others - on "e".

The appearance of such variations is connected with the fact that many people believe that a foreign word, getting into the Russian language, should retain the same spelling and pronunciation as in the original source.

However, this opinion is erroneous. Most of the time the accent changes. By analogy with Russian words, borrowed words are rebuilt according to the models already existing in the language.

Not only the accent changes, but also the spelling. Having opened the dictionary of foreign words, you can see that in many words the spelling is not preserved. For example, in anglicisms “shopping”, “spammer”.

Stress in borrowings, like spelling, does not always depend on the source. Foreign words are rebuilt according to the models and rules existing in the Russian language.

In order to prove this statement, let's try to figure out how to write "merchandising" or "merchandising" correctly.

What is merchandising?

The concept of "merchandising", which came to us from of English language, is now used quite often. But not everyone understands its meaning.

"Merchandising" comes from the word "merchandise", the translation of which sounds like a product, product, paraphernalia. However, in Russian it has acquired a different meaning.

Merchandising is one of the main components of marketing, responsible for the retail sale of goods. It means preliminary planning and preparation of trading floors. The main task of merchandising is to attract customers to buy a particular product.

As can be seen from this definition, foreign words do not always reflect the meaning that borrowing acquires in Russian.

Which is correct: "merchandising" or "merchandising"?

Wandering through the pages of the Internet, you can find many spellings, up to "myrchundizing". A similar problem often arises in relation to long foreign words. Not knowing what rules and norms to follow, people invent new variations of writing borrowings.

After reviewing Internet dictionaries, we can conclude that both options are acceptable: “merchandising” and “merchandising”. However, the "Explanatory Dictionary of Borrowed Words" Krysin L.P. states that only the first spelling can be considered correct.

Merchandising books published in Russian, magazines and other printed publications use the "a" spelling. This suggests that the generally accepted correct option is still "merchandising".

Why are there different spellings on the Internet?

If you enter “merchandising” or “merchandising” in any search engine, on the first page of the issue you will receive sites with both spellings of the word. This is due to the fact that for some time statistics showed that people are much more likely to look for information using the “merchandising” option.

The majority of Internet users do not have a philological education and are not interested in how foreign words are written. That's where the depressing statistics come from.

In order to increase the level of visits to sites, the owners, for the sake of users, began to use the spelling "merchandising".

However, statistics now show that the generally accepted option is more popular. On the Wordstart site, by writing "merchandising" or "merchandising", you can see that the number of requests for the first option is twice as much as for the second.

Why did the option "merchandising" appear?

To understand why several pronunciation options appeared, the source language will help us.

The transcription of the English word "merchandise" looks like [ʹmɜ:tʃ(ə)ndaız]. That is, the word is written through "a", but read through "e". Probably because of this, two variants of pronunciation were formed. Some, relying on the writing, chose the correct "merchandising". Others, guided by pronunciation, "merchandising."

How not to make mistakes in writing other borrowings?

As we have already found out, the spelling of foreign words cannot be explained using the norms of the Russian language. Knowing how they are written in the original will not always help you. Internet dictionaries may not give an exact answer either.

The most reliable way not to make a mistake is to memorize the spelling of foreign words that are found in printed publications. If you need to use a borrowing that you meet for the first time, you should refer to one of the " explanatory dictionaries foreign words”: Krysina L.P., Pavlenkova F., Sitnikova M.A. or other authors.

Of course, for a Russian person to remember a long borrowing is not so easy. They are often difficult to understand, pronounce and write. However, if you constantly pay attention to foreign words in newspapers, books, magazines, on signs in stores and advertising banners, it will not be difficult to use them accurately.

The Russian language is rich and powerful, and this wealth is constantly growing. And often new words come from other languages. Today we will tell you about the most frequently used words of English origin in Russian. You will find that you already know more than a hundred words in English without even studying them specifically.

Let's see what concepts regarding the names of clothing items and the world of fashion have come to us from the English language.

The cuisine of English-speaking people is hundreds of goodies and goodies, so our domestic hostesses also prepare all kinds of overseas dishes. Here are the words and dishes that enriched the Russian language thanks to English:

English is the international language most often used in high-level business negotiations. The terminology of the business world is based on words of English origin, so if you work in the field of economics, management, marketing and finance, you already know hundreds English words. Let's take a look at the most commonly used ones:

The vocabulary of sports fans consists almost entirely of English borrowings, so it can be said that fans not only learn sports terms, but also expand their vocabulary of English language. See what words from the world of sports English has given us.

In the IT field, almost all words are taken from English. We will list the most frequently used ones here, and you can read about the rest in the articles of our teachers “Ok, Google, or All about gadgets and devices in English” and “Computer basics or how to survive in cyberspace. Basic computer concepts in English".

Of course, it is difficult to place in one article all the words we have taken from the English language. Below we present some of the most frequently used borrowed concepts. We think that every person has used these words at least once in their life.

We also invite you to watch a video about the words that came to Russian from English.

These are the words of English origin in Russian that we often use in our speech. Now you know their origin and also understand them true meaning. However, there are many more such borrowings from English in Russian. Do you know any words that came to us from English? Share your observations in the comments.