Hi.
I'm writing a report on a topic that might probably seem rather weird: Russian borrowings in English. Although I've been searching for quite a while, I haven't been able to find much information on English etymolgy in general (I don't even mention Slavonic participation in it). Maybe someone knows of any links that might be useful?
Thanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Russian_origin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_English_words_of_Russian_origin
http://etymonline.com/
http://www.oed.com/ - You need a subscription to use it, perhaps your library has one (or the printed dictionary itself).
I may also offer my mite, copied from the textbook on English Lexicology.
ЦитироватьBesides two main groups of borrowings (Romanic and Germanic) there are also borrowings from a lot of other languages. We shall speak about Russian borrowings, borrowings from the language which belongs to Slavoninc languages.
Russian borrowings.
There were constant contacts between England and Russia and they borrowed words from one language into the other. Among early Russian borrowings there are mainly words connected with trade relations, such as: rouble, copeck, pood, sterlet, vodka, sable, and also words relating to nature, such as: taiga, tundra, steppe etc.
There is also a large group of Russian borrowings which came into English through Rushian literature of the 19-th century, such as : Narodnik, moujik, duma, zemstvo. volost, ukase etc, and also words which were formed in Russian with Latin roots, such as: nihilist, intelligenzia, Decembrist etc.
After the Great October Revolution many new words appeared in Russian connected with the new political system, new culture, and many of them were borrowed into English, such as: collectivization. udarnik, Komsomol etc and also translation loans, such as: shock worker, collective farm, five-year plan etc.
One more group of Russian borrowings is connected with perestroika, such as: glasnost, nomenklatura, apparatchik etc.
Цитата: RawonaM от января 22, 2006, 19:48
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Russian_origin
Ah! The first in the list is "babushka". I remember the time when we dicussed this word here on the forum, we didn't know how to pronouce it correctly :) .
Unfortunately, the lists don't give any generalisation, just facts. So there's a long road ahead for the researcher. In fact, one suffix was borrowed from the Russian language together with the word "narodnik". This is how the word "beatnik" appeared in the English language. The language lacked the suffix to name a new phenomenon (there already existed the word "beater"), so it borrowed one. Afterwards new words were formed with the help of the suffix: e.g."completenik" / a long sweater for trousers/, "sweatnik" /a long jacket/.
I knew about this -nik due to our dear administrator on this forum and it's a pity that not at my lectures on lexicology, maybe I skipped things when I was a student.
Цитировать"sweatnik" ... "completenik"
kæ? :??? where have you heard these?
Picked up from the book :). There was one more - filmnik. 8) But no dictionary knows it.
And no one on the internet knows it, actually.. (http://www.woweb.ru/catalog/523/1077311873/img/1.gif) ;D
Цитата: macabro от января 23, 2006, 23:28
And no one on the internet knows it, actually.. (http://www.woweb.ru/catalog/523/1077311873/img/1.gif) ;D
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=filmnik&btnG=Google+Search
Especially interesting www.filmnik.com.
Rawonam, thank you. :yes:
Цитата: http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980601
- nik is a suffix used to form nouns that refer, usually derisively, to a person who espouses a cause, represents an attitude, or is an ardent enthusiast of the thing indicated by the initial element. A typical example is the late-1950s neatnik 'a person who is overly neat'.
The suffix -nik is derived from Yiddish, where it is used to form personal nouns; it is ultimately from Slavic languages that were in contact with Yiddish. There are various words using the -nik suffix that are much earlier than Sputnik. To choose three examples, all-rightnik, meaning 'a smug, nouveau riche person', is first recorded in 1918 and is found a number of times before Sputnik; no-goodnik 'a worthless person; good-for-nothing' dates from the 1930s (and is possibly based on or influenced by Russian negódnik in the same sense); and the nonce word real-estatenik is found in Jewish-English use in the 1920s.
The Russian satellite Sputnik, launched in 1957, has the same last element that is the source of the Yiddish -nik; the word literally means 'traveling companion', from elements meaning 'together' and 'way; route', and the agentive suffix -nik. The launch of Sputnik was a huge news event in the United States, and help spur America's own space efforts and an educational emphasis on math and science. The popularity of the word Sputnik helped establish -nik in American English; the most notable early example was beatnik, coined by the late San Franciso newspaperman Herb Caen early in 1958 from Beat Generation and -nik. Some other, post-Sputnik uses include peacenik, artnik, nuclear-freezenik, (video) arcadenik, and filmnik.
So, "filmnik" turns out to be some kind of a cinema fan. The ones I liked were: "all-rightnik" and "real-estatenik".
Thanks a lot. ;D It's really helpful.
Didn't know "babushka" was such a popular word... and those -nik words... funny 8)
The best part is to hear the word sputnik pronounced as [ˈspʌtnɪk]. :D
Where did you hear that? Lingvo says it with "u" sound.
Цитата: Rezia от января 25, 2006, 22:10
Where did you hear that? Lingvo says it with "u" sound.
Who cares about Lingvo? :) You can hear it, for example, in "From the Earth to the Moon" mini-series about Apollo project.
Oxford and Collins register both pronunciations.
Right, I see it now. www.dictionary.com gives it as the second variant. That's quite an interesting note. I've never heard about that.
Цитата: RawonaM от января 25, 2006, 20:00
The best part is to hear the word sputnik pronounced as [ˈspʌtnɪk]. :D
Yep, in my 10 years in the US, I don't think I've ever once heard anyone pronounce it correctly. :'( Although, I don't think it should be too hard for an English speaker, after all, they can say "Putin" and they do pronounce "babushka" although with the stress on the "u". :green:
Цитата: "Смайлик" от
they can say "Putin"
It would be strange, if they cannot :)
Well, the French can't. We discussed this earlier in a French topic.
Цитата: "Rezia" от
Well, the French can't.
Well, I mean English speakers. And how do French pronounce it?
Цитата: SS от января 27, 2006, 15:54
Цитата: "Rezia" от
Well, the French can't.
Well, I mean English speakers. And how do French pronounce it?
The last syllable is stressed.
Цитата: RawonaM от января 25, 2006, 20:00
The best part is to hear the word sputnik pronounced as [ˈspʌtnɪk]. :D
I wonder how the word, if borrowed, would adapt to Chinese or Japanese .
I've read that the words are borrowed into Chinese but not really very often. So one of the Russian words taken by Chinese was "большевик" and it became "buershiweike" or "рубль" which became "lubu''.
Speaking of "buershiweike"... Does the Chinese language have an "L" sound? Because some Chinese can't pronounce it. I was in a Chinese restaurant a while back and ordered a sprite from the waitress, and she said that "we have srice". It took me a few seconds to realize that she was saying "slice" (a drink similar to sprite). :D
Oh, and the reason I understood her, is because of the movie "A Christmas Story". There is a scene in it, where Chinese restaurant workers are singing "Jingle Bells", and instead of "fa-la-la" they say "fa-ra-ra". It's a great movie, if you can get a hold of it, do. In the U.S. they show it before every Christmas, kind of like our "С Легким Паром".
I've got one more question. Need to find some brief info about foreign people who translated Russian literary works in the 19th century.
Ah, there is such a catalogue for translations... but it is physical, in the library, in boxes :). If you are in Moscow you can easily get the info. http://www.libfl.ru/
Rezia
Thanks, but I'm not in Moscow and your link is no help. :no: They don't write the translators' names (or maybe I'm just stupid?) :(
And I think that the books in this catalogue have been translated by relatively contemporary writers, am i wrong? (I need to list those people who translated Russian books in XIX)
...And the last one. Can anybody share a link on a list of language groups with subdivision or just post it here? I mean, what i need is the full list of Indo-European, Paleo-Asiatic and others groups.
Thanks.
Цитата: f19 от февраля 12, 2006, 17:52
...And the last one. Can anybody share a link on a list of language groups with subdivision or just post it here? I mean, what i need is the full list of Indo-European, Paleo-Asiatic and others groups.
Thanks.
There was a link somewhere on the forum. You should apply ""search".
I can give one more peculiar Russian borrowing which is not immediately recognizable as a Russian one (in my opinion) . The word is
knout [naut] (a whip) and afterwards the verb
to knout appeared.
I read somewhere that Americans use the word 'nudnik' which means 'зануда'. Both the root 'nud' and the suffix 'nik' are borrowed from russian.
Nudnik is a Yiddish word and was borrowed together with potz, schmuck, schlepp, etc.
FYI, nudnik is also widely used by Hebrew speakers.
Цитата: Смайлик от января 27, 2006, 06:14
they do pronounce "babushka" although with the stress on the "u". :green:
So this word is in use, not just an entry in the dictionary? :) By the way I came across it in one novel, but it was the first time I saw this word in fiction. I can even provide the phrase: "On that day her mother exchanged the babushka for the black hat with the large hatpin" (J.Susann "Once Is Not Enough").
Цитата: "Rezia" от
So this word is in use, not just an entry in the dictionary?
I actually haven't heard it used in a sentence, but many people heard it and don't know what it means. Once in a while I'll get a: "Hey you know Russian! What does 'babooshka' mean?".
The other time I noticed it in a Christmas light display. Every Holiday season there's a show in a nearby park, and they cover the whole park with Christmas lights. In one section there's the theme "Christmas around the world" or something of that sort where they show the variations of Santa Claus around the world, and what do you know... The Russian one looks like a Santa Clause but for some reason had the sign "Babushka" over its head. :no: That was quite a while ago, the first time I saw the show, in subsequent years I don't think they put the section up. I guess the organizers just wanted a Russian-sounding word, and thought most people wouldn't know better anyway. :wall:
I have heard 'babooshka' used in speech by native English speakers. It denotes an elderly woman, usually of Russian (or generally Slavic) origin.
Цитата: Смайлик от марта 2, 2006, 05:08
Цитата: "Rezia" от
So this word is in use, not just an entry in the dictionary?
IThe Russian one looks like a Santa Clause but for some reason had the sign "Babushka" over its head.
Ah, that's really very funny. :D Don't they know ""Father Frost"?
Цитата: Смайлик от января 29, 2006, 08:05
Speaking of "buershiweike"... Does the Chinese language have an "L" sound? Because some Chinese can't pronounce it. I was in a Chinese restaurant a while back and ordered a sprite from the waitress, and she said that "we have srice". It took me a few seconds to realize that she was saying "slice" (a drink similar to sprite). :D.
As far as I know, almost all Chinese languages have the "L" sound but only a few the "R" sound.
Цитата: SS от января 27, 2006, 15:54
Цитата: "Rezia" от
Well, the French can't.
Well, I mean English speakers. And how do French pronounce it?
I guess they pronounce it like "poutine" (пут
ин - stress on the и) which happens to be a special dish from Quebec.
Цитата: Rezia от января 28, 2006, 00:31
Цитата: SS от января 27, 2006, 15:54
Цитата: "Rezia" от
Well, the French can't.
Well, I mean English speakers. And how do French pronounce it?
The last syllable is stressed.
Цитата: RawonaM от января 25, 2006, 20:00
The best part is to hear the word sputnik pronounced as [ˈspʌtnɪk]. :D
I wonder how the word, if borrowed, would adapt to Chinese or Japanese .
I've read that the words are borrowed into Chinese but not really very often. So one of the Russian words taken by Chinese was "большевик" and it became "buershiweike" or "рубль" which became "lubu''.
In Japanese the word would be transcribed as supuutoniku or something similar.
And yes, I get "Hey you know Russian, what does babooshka mean?" sometimes. Never heard it used in another sentence, but a lot of people are aware of that word as a "Russian" word. They put the stress on the penultimate syllable, though.