Shirokova Maria Sergeevna, 11th grade, secondary school No. 156 with in-depth study of artistic and aesthetic subjects
Borrowings from the Greek language in the linguocultural aspect
Head: Remorov Ivan Aleksandrovich,
candidate philological sciences, Department of Ancient Languages, NSU
Introduction
Language is a most complex creation human mind, and perhaps a condition that allowed a person to fully reveal the essence of the mind itself. For us, thinking is inseparable from speech, and not a single cognitive (mental, cognitive) process can be carried out without the mediation of language. Now, at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, when humanity stands on the threshold of a new, informational stage of social development, a new approach to scientific research: the anthropological factor takes on a dominant role. Thus, in linguistics there is a shift in emphasis from language system on the linguistic personality - the subject of verbal activity - and the influence of language on culture and thinking.
Right now, the problem of the relationship between language and objective reality is becoming particularly relevant. On the one hand, this is a complex linguistic question about whether thought is carried out through language, or whether mental processes are universal, and only their result is expressed in verbal form. These opposing points of view underlie the theories of verbalists, who believe that thought is realized in the word, and averbalists, who are inclined to believe that the units of thought and speech are different. On the other hand, the problem of the relationship between language and culture is closely related to the problem of the relationship between language and reality. Based on the anthropological paradigm of scientific research, linguoculturology, a new linguistic discipline that considers language as a cultural phenomenon, is becoming increasingly relevant. With the modern approach to scientific research, there is a need to consider specific linguistic phenomenon not as an element of the linguistic structure, but as a cultural phenomenon and part of the picture of the world created by a given language.
The language is constantly being improved, responding flexibly to changes in the historical era and cultural traditions. It is not an isolated system, but a system open to interaction with other languages and cultures, therefore the composition of each language is constantly replenished by foreign language units. At the same time, the borrowing of linguistic phenomena is necessarily accompanied by the interaction of cultures, i.e. the fact of borrowing indicates the contact of cultures at the linguistic level and - if we accept the hypothesis of the verbalists - that the borrowed unit changes the picture of the world dictated by the borrowing language. Thus, our work comes down to finding an answer to next question: do borrowings appear as elements of a worldview that is not characteristic of us, embedded in the borrowing language system, or do they become an integral part of it.
We decided to consider borrowings from the Greek language in detail, because... It was he who played a huge role in the development of Slavic writing and the Old Church Slavonic language. In addition, the cultural achievements of Greek civilization not only had a significant impact on Russian culture, but also almost completely laid the foundations of the Western European civilizational type.
Borrowings occur at all language levels, but in our work it is most convenient to work with borrowed vocabulary, because in this case, it is possible to obtain a fairly complete picture of interlingual and intercultural interaction based on dictionary data.
The purpose of our work is to consider, at the lexical level, from the perspective of linguoculturology, the functioning of Greek borrowings in modern Russian language. To do this, you need to analyze a certain group of words Greek origin(Greekisms) and determine the main features inherent in them as elements of a foreign language picture of the world included in the Russian one. Thus, the following tasks can be distinguished:
a) study the universal features of borrowings theoretically;
b) determine the research material (based on data from an etymological dictionary, compile a selection of words of Greek origin);
c) classify Greekisms according to the method of their penetration into the Russian language and note the main features of the words of each group (whether they are perceived as alien - from a cognitive point of view - elements);
d) determine the role of Greek borrowings in the formation of the Russian concept sphere (the concept sphere is understood as a set of concepts - culturally significant concepts);
e) note the peculiarities of the use of Greekisms in modern discourse;
f) establish the nature of the influence of Greekisms on the Russian linguistic picture of the world.
It is necessary to point out that, although practical research is based on etymological data (the definition of Greekisms - the main material and the direct object of research), the tasks of the work are reduced to considering the material not in a diachronic, but in a synchronic aspect, i.e. to the study of the modern linguistic situation. In this regard, we do not focus on how long ago the word was borrowed, how much it has changed appearance and lexical meaning when borrowing. In this work, borrowings are considered from an unusual perspective - as linguistic elements that have passed from one linguistic picture of the world to another, i.e. as an object of study of linguoculturology.
Part one. Basic theoretical principles
I. Linguoculturology as a modern integrated discipline
Within the framework of the modern anthropocentric paradigm (scientific research methodology) special meaning acquire sections of external linguistics that arose at the intersection of linguistics and other humanities. Such integrated disciplines are ethnolinguistics, psycholinguistics, linguoculturology, etc.
Language is the most important factor, determining human activity. Any cognitive (cognitive, related to information processes) activity is impossible without verbal materialization of information about the surrounding reality. Thus, language serves as a means of accumulating and storing culturally significant information. There is no generally accepted opinion about the nature of the connection between language and culture, but the existence of this relationship is not questioned.
Linguoculturology is “a science that arose at the intersection of linguistics and cultural studies and studies the manifestations of the culture of a people, which are reflected and entrenched in the language.” This discipline explores linguistic facts through the prism of spiritual culture, and considers language itself as cultural phenomenon. Unlike linguistic and regional studies, linguoculturology studies not only the national realities reflected in the language, but also the features of cognitive processes characteristic of a given society, as well as the role of language in the formation of cultural universals. The subject of research in linguoculturology can be any linguistic and cultural phenomena in their interrelation. In our case, the subject of research is borrowing as a result of the interaction of cultures.
II. The concept of the linguistic picture of the world
A person records the results of cognition of the objective world in words. The totality of this knowledge, embodied in linguistic form, and represents what is commonly called the linguistic picture of the world. “If the world is a person and the environment in interaction, then the picture of the world is the result of processing information about the environment and the person.” Each language has its own linguistic picture of the world, according to which the native speaker organizes the content of the utterance. This is how the specifically human perception of the world, recorded in language, manifests itself. Thus, the concept of a linguistic picture of the world is basic in linguoculturology, from the point of view of verbalists (see “Introduction”). Averbalistic understanding this term logically follows from the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, according to which “the world as a whole is perceived by a person through the prism of his native language.” Based on this hypothesis, it can be assumed that any borrowing changes the linguistic picture of the world.
The picture of the world as a “system of intuitive ideas about reality” can be represented using spatial, temporal, quantitative, ethnic and other parameters. Its formation is greatly influenced by traditions, cultural characteristics of the ethnic group, social features linguistic personality and much more.
The linguistic picture of the world precedes specialized scientific pictures and shapes them, because a person is able to study the world only thanks to language, in which socio-historical experience is consolidated. Studying the linguistic picture of the world, Yu.D. Apresyan called it a naive picture, emphasizing its pre-scientific origin.
Within the framework of linguoculturology, this term takes on a special meaning. Language is a semiotic (sign) system, therefore, any linguistic unit has its own semantic side and is thus connected with the linguistic picture of the world. The essence of this mechanism can be most clearly seen at the lexical level: each lexeme contains one or another concept that reflects part of the picture of the world. Just as by changing the general, pre-verbal picture of the world, a cultural phenomenon is created on the basis of an archetype, on the basis of one or another phenomenon, reality is built by a linguistic fact, changing the linguistic picture. It is logical to assume that if a change in the preverbal picture of the world leads to a change in the linguistic one, then any linguistic phenomenon within the framework of linguoculturology, it appears as a consequence of a cultural phenomenon. Then, based on these judgments, we can say that borrowing is a direct consequence of the interaction of different cultures, i.e. linguistic continuity naturally follows from the continuity of cultural phenomena.
III.Borrowing as a result of intercultural interaction
The enrichment of the vocabulary of a language at the expense of the vocabulary of other languages is usually a consequence of various political, economic, trade relations. Let us note that there is no generally accepted definition of the concept of culture, but if we consider culture as “the totality of production, social and spiritual achievements of people,” then everything that has to do with the reality surrounding a person, perceived and transformed by him, from everyday objects to abstract philosophical categories, to one degree or another connected with culture. In this case, with any interethnic interaction there is an exchange of cultural information, which, in turn, cannot but affect the language.
Often, when borrowing, a new word comes along with a new reality that did not exist in the culture of speakers of the borrowing language, and therefore is not recorded in the linguistic picture of the world. In some cases, a borrowed word comes as a synonym for a word that already existed in the vocabulary of the borrowing language (for example, the words import and export appeared as synonyms for the Russian import and export). The reasons for such duplication of words can be different: the desire for terminology, especially when the borrowed word is an international term, or the opportunity to emphasize some connotative connotation that is unclear in the original word, and sometimes simply a fashion for a foreign language, which is typical for slang borrowings.
IV. Main ways of borrowing
There are two main classifications of borrowings according to the way they penetrate into the borrowing language.
Oral or written (book) way of borrowing. In the first case, foreign words pass through quite easily and quickly full development in the borrowing language, but are often subject to distortions, folk etymology. In the second case, the words retain closeness to the original in terms of sound appearance and lexical meaning, but remain unmastered longer.
In our work related to the study of borrowings as a consequence of intercultural interaction, the second classification seems more important.
Borrowing is direct or with the help of intermediary languages (indirect). In the first case, the word is directly borrowed from a foreign language, in the second - through derivative languages, as a result of which both the sound and lexical meaning of the word can greatly change. With direct borrowing, the connection between the original source and the borrowing is quite obvious; the borrowed word can be called the point of contact between two linguistic pictures of the world. With indirect borrowing, the borrowed word is the result of a chain interaction of several cultures; its lexical meaning is imprinted with different linguistic patterns. Often the same word is borrowed twice - both directly and indirectly. Thus, the German Būrgemistr directly entered the Russian language as burgomaster, and through Polish - as burgomaster.
Separately from borrowings, tracing is usually considered - “the formation of new words and expressions based on lexical-phraseological and syntactic models another language using elements of a given language." There are tracing papers of several types: lexical, or word-formation (a word created according to a foreign language word-formation model, but using morphemes of a given language, i.e. morpheme-by-morpheme translation of a word), semantic (a word obtaining a new meaning under the influence of a foreign word), syntactic ( syntactic construction, formed according to the model of a foreign language), phraseological (literal translation of a foreign language idiom). In our work related to the study of language material at the lexical level, word-formation and semantic tracings are significant. In the future, when speaking about borrowings, we will mean words that appeared in the language as a result of both borrowing itself and tracing.
V. Mastering foreign words
Borrowed vocabulary, replenishing the vocabulary of the borrowing language, becomes its integral part, interacts with other linguistic units, expanding the semantic and stylistic capabilities of the language. First of all, the borrowing language system masters foreign words, subordinates them to its structure: phonetic, lexical and grammatical.
Phonetic mastery. Once in a foreign language, a word receives a sound design in accordance with the current phonetic laws borrowing language; sounds alien to this language are lost or replaced by similar ones. Phonetic acquisition does not always occur completely. There are words in the Russian language in which vowel sounds in a weak position are not subject to reduction: for example, b[o]a, kaka[o] - no qualitative reduction occurs<о>. In addition, in many borrowed words, before the sound [e] (graphically designated after consonants by the letter “e”), not a soft, but a hard consonant is pronounced: ka[fe], a[te]lie, etc.
Grammar mastery. The borrowing becomes part of the grammatical system of the borrowing language, is recognized as a word of one or another part of speech, and in accordance with this acquires certain morphological characteristics and syntactic function. Often when borrowing, individual grammatical features or even a part of speech. This phenomenon is associated with the external form of the borrowed lexeme. Many borrowings are not amenable to grammatical mastery. For example, the nouns “coat”, “madam”, “kangaroo” and other indeclinables have acquired constant morphological characteristics, but manifest them at the syntactic level, and the case meanings of these words are expressed only analytically.
Lexical acquisition. Those borrowings that are mastered phonetically and grammatically do not always become part of the main vocabulary of the language, because due to the peculiarities of the sphere of use or stylistic coloring, they do not become commonly used (for example, “colloquium”, “incunabula”, etc.). Among the lexically unmastered borrowed words one can distinguish barbarisms and exoticisms. Barbarisms are foreign language inclusions, often used in texts even while preserving the original graphics: “Like a London dandy is dressed...” (A.S. Pushkin), etc.
Exoticisms are words that name the realities of another culture (“Sejm”, “Janissaries”, etc.); These words are usually used to give speech a local flavor when describing foreign customs.
Words that are mastered in all three indicators - usually they are included in the main vocabulary - are not recognized by native speakers as borrowed; the foreign language nature of such vocabulary is established only through etymological analysis. In this case, quite often the original word is replaced by a borrowed analogue.
VI.Greek language. General information
The Greek language with its varieties constitutes a separate, Greek, group of Indo European languages. Now it is widespread in the south of the Balkan Peninsula and the adjacent islands of the Ionian and Aegean seas.
There are three main periods in the history of the Greek language: Ancient Greek (XIV century BC - IV century AD), Central Greek (V - XV centuries) and Modern Greek (from the XV century). A special role in the formation European culture and many Indo-European languages were played by ancient Greek. This language belongs to the earliest Indo-European written languages. His ancient monuments, written in syllabic script and associated with the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization, date back to the 15th-11th centuries.
Phonemic Greek writing, dating back to Phoenician, presumably arose in the 9th-8th centuries. BC. Alphabetical Greek writing was divided into two branches: eastern and western. Western Greek writing became the source for Etruscan, Latin and Old Germanic, while Eastern Greek developed into classical ancient Greek and Byzantine writing. The modern pan-Greek alphabet of 27 letters was formed in the 5th-4th centuries. BC. It was on the basis of Greek writing that Slavic writing was created by the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius.
The enormous influence of the Greek language on the culture of the peoples of the Indo-European language family at a certain historical stage undeniable. Until now, in many countries of the world, a sign of a person’s education is his knowledge of Greek - especially ancient Greek - the language.
Part two. Research of Greekisms
I. Main organizational points
The study of Greekisms in the modern Russian linguistic picture of the world was carried out in several main stages:
1. Compiling a selection of words of Greek origin from an etymological dictionary. "Brief" was used etymological dictionary..." N.M. Shansky. The bulk of the words presented in this dictionary are stylistically neutral and are included in the main vocabulary of the Russian language, which allows you to calmly work with any contexts in the future, focusing only on the material of this selection. In cases where Shansky’s dictionary offered an exclusively hypothetical etymology of possible Greekism, controversial origin words were specified using the “Etymological Dictionary...” by M. Vasmer.
2. Dividing the words of the main sample into groups according to the method of their penetration into the Russian language. This classification allows us to create a fairly clear and complete picture of the interaction of Greek borrowings with other elements of the linguistic picture of the world.
3. Conducting a survey among high school students of school No. 156. (See “Appendix 3”) This survey is aimed at determining the place of Greekisms in the minds of a native speaker, finding out whether Greek linguistic elements are perceived as foreign. In addition, such a technique allows us to consider the word-formation capabilities of the words of the group under study (using several examples) and to study the possibilities of culturally significant Greekisms in replenishing the core (main) and peripheral (connotative) volume of concepts. The survey was conducted only in high school (10th and 11th parallels), because Schoolchildren of this age can already be considered as adult native speakers of the language, ready to actively participate in its development and the formation of its conceptual sphere. In addition, according to age periodization D.B. Elkonin, schoolchildren at this age are already at the youthful stage mental development, at this time their cognitive abilities and memory capacity reaches its maximum value. Two classes from each parallel participated in the survey: economic and humanitarian-aesthetic. This allows us to consider the responses of people with different predominant types of thinking (verbal-logical and figurative, respectively).
4. Study of representations of Greekisms in the discourse of modern newspapers. This part of the study allows us to consider some of the features that the words of the main sample of Greekisms have: the frequency of use of these words in modern discourse, features of word usage, etc. It was newspaper discourse that was examined, because The journalistic style is permeable to different styles of vocabulary, but in general it is stylistically neutral. In addition, although this style implies subjectivity, its author's originality can be neglected if a sufficiently large number of articles are examined. Consideration, for example, of literary texts would not be entirely correct, because style features of this context would be tied to the specific linguistic personality of the author. Two all-Russian periodicals were considered, intended for reading by a wide segment of the population, regardless of gender, age and social affiliation: “Youth of Siberia” and “Honest Word”. At this stage, the main research method was contextual analysis.
II.The degree of adaptation of Greekisms in the Russian language
Almost all words in the original sample are adapted to the morphological system of the Russian language. Not all Greekisms are included in the main vocabulary of the language (scientific terminology: onomastics, orthoepy, etc.; church vocabulary: oil, diocese, etc.), but the bulk of the words are commonly used, i.e. we can talk about general lexical mastery. In addition, the high degree of lexical adaptation of Greekisms is indicated by the fact that among them there are quite a lot of stylistically colored ones: the presence of outdated words indicates that Greekisms, along with original words, can lose their relevance if any external circumstances change (barber, actor - archaisms ), the presence of high or low vocabulary shows that Greekisms occupy a fairly stable position in the Russian language - they penetrate the speech of different styles (fofan is an element of common vocabulary, many tracings - chastity, retribution, splendor, etc. - belong to the high style ).
To consider Greek borrowings on the basis of lexical mastery, it is advisable to give some examples of terminological vocabulary that are not included in our list, but noted in the dictionary foreign words. It was discovered that terms of Greek origin make up the terminology of almost all areas of science and art: biology (amitosis, autogenesis, anabiosis, anaphase, etc.) and, in particular, botany (anabasis, adonis, etc.), geology and mineralogy (anamorphism, alexandrite, etc.), physics (acoustics, analyzers, anaphoresis, etc.), economics (anatocism, etc.), medicine (acrocephaly, anamnesis, etc.), psychology ( autophilia, etc.), astronomy (anagalactic, etc.), chemistry (ammonia, amphoteric, etc.), architecture (acroteria, etc.), geography (aklina, etc.), music (agogy, etc.), literary criticism (Acmeism, anapest, etc.) and linguistics (anadiplosis, amphiboly, etc.). (Only examples from the section on the letter “A” are considered in detail.) Some of these terms were already formed in the Russian language, but from Greek morphemes.
We see that Greekisms in the Russian language play a huge role in the creation scientific picture peace; this can be explained by the fact that it was in ancient Greek works that the foundations of the scientific worldview were laid.
III.Methods of penetration of the Greeks linguistic units to Russian
The words of the main sample were divided into several groups depending on the way they penetrated into the borrowing language:
1. Direct borrowings.
Of the 332 words in the main sample, 64 are direct borrowings from Greek, which constitutes approximately 20% of the research material. These are book words related to various areas human activity: church vocabulary (monk, monastery, etc.), terminology, mainly general scientific, with a fairly wide scope of use (atom, geometry, etc.). It is noteworthy that a significant number of such words were borrowed from the Old Russian language. It follows from this that it is on early stage During its development, the Russian language was influenced by Greek, directly borrowing from it the names of new realities (including scientific concepts) associated with Greek culture.
2. Indirect borrowings.
158 words from the main group were borrowed through other languages - 49% of Greek words. Words of this category came into the Russian language through the European languages of Romance (French - 51% of indirect borrowings, Latin - 6%, Italian - 2%), Germanic (German - 14%, English - 3%, Dutch - 1%), Slavic ( Polish – 8%, Old Church Slavonic – 12%), Baltic (Lithuanian – 1%) groups. This shows that Greek had a huge influence on many Indo-European languages. In addition, two words were discovered that were directly borrowed from languages Turkic family(estuary, ship). This fact indicates that a number of names penetrated into the Turkic languages from Greek when borrowing cultural realities, because culture of ancient Greece, Hellenism, Byzantium for a long time determined the development of the spiritual sphere not only in Europe, but also in Asia (note that in cultural traditions Byzantine Empire combined both Western and Eastern influences).
A large number of words borrowed through Western European languages is a consequence of the enormous influence Greek culture on the formation of the culture of countries Western Europe. There are significantly fewer direct borrowings from Greek in the Russian language than indirect ones. This is due to the fact that the direct interaction of Russian and Greek civilizations was quite limited (due to historical and geographical factors differences in national worldview, people's thinking), and the culture of many European countries goes back to antiquity. The bulk of words in this group were borrowed from French and German; this can be explained by the fact that Russian culture is historically connected with the culture of France and Germany. So, perhaps, many French Greekisms (plastic, period, cream, scandal, etc.) appeared in the era of enlightenment, when Russian art and directions of scientific thought were formed under the influence of French philosophy.
It should be noted that when calculating in this group, it was taken into account from which language the direct borrowing into Russian occurred, because often one Greek word undergoes sequential borrowing through several European languages (for example, many words, before entering the Russian language, were borrowed from Greek into German, and then into French, or vice versa - through French into German). In this case, various connotative increments are gradually superimposed on the original motivation of the word, and the most clearly expressed will be those semantic features of the word that were introduced into the periphery of its meaning by the last of the borrowing languages (before Russian). Thus, indirect borrowing appears as a kind of connecting link between several pictures of the world.
3. Words borrowed through Greek.
The words of this group (5% of Greek words) are close in origin to lexemes from the previous category; these are also indirect borrowings. The fundamental difference is that in in this case the Greek language does not act as a primary source, a system in which it appeared given word, but as an intermediary language. The picture of the world he forms actually becomes a link between the Russian worldview and the picture of the world of a linguistic personality speaking the original source language. Although such words are not actually Greek, they are significant in our study, because with the sequential borrowing of one word by several languages, as noted above, it not only undergoes graphic, phonetic, grammatical development, but also acquires new connotations, and sometimes even changes some of the core semes of the concept as a result of functioning in the new linguistic picture of the world. This group includes, for example, all the currently used names of the months, dating back to Latin (from the Roman calendar), in addition, the words panther, sugar (Indian), papyrus (Egyptian), hosanna, Satan (Hebrew), sandals (Persian), incense (Arabic), doll (Latin).
4. Tracing paper.
84 words of the studied group, which is 25.5%, are calques from Greek. Often tracings are not at all perceived by native speakers as something foreign, because they are composed of Russian morphemes, but it is through the example of calques that one can consider a clear connection between the ways of conceptualizing the world in two different languages. From the point of view of cognitive science, with this type of borrowing the following happens: a word, the motivation of which reflects the peculiarities of the mental activity of native speakers, is “translated” into a foreign language with an attempt to preserve the original motivation. In this case, the word usually acquires a new stylistic coloring and fundamentally new shades of meaning, because perfect semantic identity of units of different languages seems unlikely.
The Russian language contains mainly word-forming calques from Greek. Most of them are Old Slavonic, which can be explained by the word-creative activity of Slavic enlighteners, who sought to create Russian book vocabulary using Greek examples. Among cripples of this type, abstract nouns predominate (splendor, virtue, indifference, etc.), denoting concepts of moral and philosophical categories. These words play a significant role in the formation of the conceptual sphere of the Russian language, representing the most valuable constants of culture (“concepts that appeared in ancient times, can be traced to the present day through the views of philosophers, writers and ordinary native speakers”). Despite the fact that derivational tracings are composed of Russian morphemes, they are often unconsciously perceived by native speakers as elements of foreign culture, because the external form of these words comes into conflict with the internal one, which conveys the mental logic of speakers of another language.
It is interesting that two words from this group are a kind of “double calques” - the Russian word is a calque of the Latin calque of the Greek: insect, common noun (name). The existence of such words confirms the relationship between Greek and Roman cultures.
In addition to word-formation cripples, four semantic ones were discovered: gender (grammatical), ink, chapter, verb (part of speech). Such words also reflect in their internal form motivation that appeared in the Greek language.
In some cases, the same Greek word served as a source for two borrowings in the Russian language: penetration of the word into the borrowing language directly (or indirectly) and calque. In some cases, the resulting words remain identical in lexical meaning and word usage - all words in pairs can act as synonyms, but often tracing paper acquires a slightly different meaning or a different stylistic coloring. The following examples can be given: the alphabet and alphabet; spelling and spelling; the outdated word anchorite, not noted in our sample, and the now used hermit (different stylistic connotations); not noted on our list atheist and atheist; Orthodox and Orthodox (divergence lexical meaning, the second word acquired a more specific, private meaning); geometry and surveying; missing from our sample were anesthesia (a medical term) and insensibility (a common term); anonymous and nameless; philanthropy and philanthropy not noted on our list; the word synagogue and cathedral not noted in our list (borrowing and tracing began to denote the realities of different religious subcultures); symphony and harmony (these two words are connected by the theme of unity, present in all meanings); missing from our sample is the word sympathy and compassion.
5. Author's neologisms.
Creation of author's neologisms is one of effective ways replenishment of the vocabulary of the language. Not all similar words become an element of the linguistic picture of the world, a significant part of them are able to function only in in this context. But individual author's neologisms not only acquire a completely independent lexical meaning and stylistic coloring, but also become part of the active vocabulary of the language. These are some poetic words that have lost their expressiveness when used outside the author's context, as well as words created to denote new realities (usually these are terms introduced in certain scientific works).
Among the studied words, 2.5% are original neologisms composed of Greek morphemes by origin. It is worth noting that the way such words penetrated into the Russian language was through direct borrowing from the language in which they were created. It is advisable to give here all the discovered examples of such words: nitrogen - a neologism by A. Lavoisier (a chemical term; literally “not giving life”); biology – neologism of J.-B. Lamarck (discipline of the natural science cycle; literally “the study of living things”); dynamite is a neologism by A. Nobel (now the word is included in the main vocabulary; literally “strong”); logarithm is a neologism by D. Napier ( mathematical term; literally "number ratio"); neon is a semantic neologism by W. Ramsay (chemical term; literally “new”); panorama – Barker's neologism (literally “the whole view”); parachute – Blanchard neologism (literally “against the fall”); semantics – neologism by M. Breal (linguistic term; literally “meaningful”).
Thus, almost all words in this group are terms. This indicates that, even when direct borrowing of terminological vocabulary from Greek no longer occurs, Greek morphemes actively serve to produce new terms. Although such words are not Greekisms in the strict sense of the word, their semantics, derived from the semantics of individual morphemes, is of certain interest for our work. Such neologisms are created on the basis of existing significant parts of a word to convey a new concept. Wide possibilities for creating terms using Greek roots (usually quite simple to understand by native speakers of the Russian language - due to the fact that these morphemes are used in many words of the main vocabulary and are intuitively clear: -aero-, -auto-, -phono- and etc.) prove that the Greek language serves as a kind of connecting link between the naive and scientific pictures of the world.
To illustrate the results on the methods of borrowing Greekisms, diagrams are provided in the appendix
IV.Analysis of survey results
The questionnaire offered to high school students consisted of three parts
Part one
The first question is aimed at clarifying the following points: whether Greekisms of various groups (see “Ways of penetration of Greek linguistic units into the Russian language”) are perceived as borrowed elements and with what other linguistic pictures of the world Greek borrowings are correlated for native speakers. The task material (to identify borrowed words from those proposed in the list) included commonly used words from each group and some terms that were not included in the main sample. To obtain objective results, several words borrowed from other languages (Latin, English) and several native Russian words were added to the list.
The following results were obtained:
1. Many greek words(especially terminological vocabulary) were indicated as borrowed from Latin (and vice versa), which confirms the connection between the Greek and Latin pictures of the world, which has already been repeatedly noted in our work.
2. Complex terms, in the morphemic composition of which there are any of the fairly well-known international elements (-phono-, -cardio-, poly-, -morpho-, etc.) in most works were indeed considered as Greek, and borrowed through French, the words gramophone and bureaucrat, in which only the second root is Greek, were also noted in many works as Greekisms. This indicates that in this case the students made conclusions based on the external form of the word.
3. Calques were usually perceived as original words, but a fairly large number of people pointed to their Old Slavonic or Greek nature. This confirms the above assumption that in tracings there is a contradiction between external and internal forms.
4. The practice, protocol, and symbol that were completely mastered phonetically, lexically, and grammatically were perceived by almost all respondents as native Russian, in contrast, for example, to the thermos that was not fully mastered phonetically (“e” does not convey the softness of the preceding consonant).
5. The words oil and orthodox were perceived by many as borrowed from Church Slavonic or Hebrew. This is due to the fact that these Greekisms are related to the church sphere. Thus, in the minds of native speakers, the Greek linguistic picture of the world is closely connected with Christian religious ideas.
6. Some respondents pointed to the borrowed nature of the words under study, but assumed that they originated from Western European languages of the Romance and Germanic groups; others associated the same words with the languages of the Indian branch or even the Turkic family. This indicates that elements of both Western and Eastern cultures are naturally intertwined in the Greek linguistic picture of the world.
Part two
The second question is aimed at determining the cultural significance of Greekisms in the linguistic picture of the world, their place in the Russian concept sphere. Students were asked to indicate the associations they had in the words indicated. The task included seven words fully mastered in Russian, which are presumably quite significant cultural concepts. The following results were obtained:
1. The respondents cited great amount associations based on various principles (similarity, contiguity, contrast, etc.); associative connections are created on the basis of concepts about moral values and human qualities (kindness, tenderness), categories of time (eternity), space (endless), color (blue, white), etc. This allows us to talk about these Greekisms as concepts that occupy an important place in the linguistic picture of the world.
2. Among the above associations there are the most important constants of Russian culture (water, earth, light, sky, etc.), i.e. These Greekisms are closely related to the Russian worldview.
3. The respondents often associated these words with elements of foreign culture, in particular Greek. Thus, many words were given associations related to Greek mythology (Orpheus - for the word lyre; Achilles, Hercules - for the word hero, etc.). The connection with Greek culture was especially clear in associations with the word lyre, which even now, outside of a poetic context, is often perceived as exoticism: Greeks, Greece, harp, muse, etc. In addition, many of the words cited as associations are themselves Greek in origin. These facts indicate that Greekisms are still inseparable from the picture of the world formed by the Greek language, and introduce elements of non-Russian culture into the Russian linguistic picture of the world.
Part three
The third question is aimed at determining the word-formation possibilities of Greekisms in the modern Russian language. High school students were asked to choose words with the same root as those indicated in the task. Among the six words given, three (nerve, symbol, magnet) are commonly used, the other three (acoustics, hydrophobia and spelling) are terms. The survey results showed that the word-formation nest of the first three words includes a huge number of cognate words. In general, based on the responses of the respondents, it was possible to completely restore the word-formation nests given in the corresponding dictionary entries dictionary A.N. Tikhonov. This indicates that Greekisms that have been sufficiently mastered in the Russian language are close in their word-formation capabilities to the original words. Of the words with the same root as the three terms, only the adjectives acoustic, hydrophobic, and orthographic were given. In addition, some students cited words with one of the roots of the words hydrophobia and spelling (phobia, hydrolysis, orthoepia, graphic, etc.), which again confirms the universal nature of Greek morphemes.
V. The use of Greekisms in modern discourse
In the discourse of the studied periodicals (see “Main organizational aspects”), published in one week, the words of the main sample of Greekisms and their derivatives appeared 236 times.
The words of the group under study are capable of participating in the formation of lexicalized combinations. Thus, several cases were discovered of the use of speech cliches (one of the components is a Greek word), which are metaphors that have lost their expressiveness (a scandal broke out, save time and nerves, etc.). In addition, in some contexts, terms expressed in phrases (higher nervous activity, etc.) were used.
No pronounced features of word usage or valence of words of Greek origin were identified on the basis of the newspaper discourse under study. In addition, it can be noted that the words under study are part of a wide variety of syntactic structures.
From all of the above it follows that words of Greek origin are used quite often in modern discourse, i.e. on modern stage development of language and culture, they are able to successfully perform the same functions as native words.
VI. Place of words of the group under study in the linguistic picture of the world
Putting together the results of all the work done, we can draw the following conclusions:
1. In modern discourse, mastered Greek borrowings function according to the same basic laws of the language system as original words, perform the same functions and are often not recognized by native speakers as borrowed elements.
2. Greekisms are an integral part of the Russian linguistic picture of the world; they are closely related to many of its other elements. Forming a certain fragment of the linguistic picture of the world, they act as elementary units cognitive processes, shaping the worldview of a native speaker.
3. Among the Greek borrowings there are the most valuable constants of culture (space, angel, hero, etc.), associated with such constants of Russian culture as light, sky, earth, water, etc. The concepts formed by Greekisms are distinguished by one characteristic feature: the preservation of connotations determined by Greek culture. Because Many Indo-European languages were influenced by Greek at one time or another; now the cultural constants formed by Greekisms can be considered universal, having an international character.
4. Through Old Church Slavonic (mainly through tracings), the Greek language had a huge influence on the formation of abstract book vocabulary Russian language.
5. Because the main directions of Western European scientific thought were formed precisely in Greece, and the main layer of terminological vocabulary of almost all scientific fields goes back to the Greek language, the Greek linguistic picture of the world can be called a kind of connecting link between the naive picture of the world and the scientific one, translating the simplest cognitive ones into the form of a scientific worldview elements of the linguistic picture of the world.
6. Through indirect borrowings from Greek and through Greek, the connection between Russian (Slavic) culture and the cultures of foreign countries is realized and consolidated in verbal form - mainly Western Europe, and to some extent the East (this is how it remains historical connection Greek and Eastern cultures).
Conclusion
So, our work devoted to the study of borrowings from the Greek language in the linguocultural aspect is completed. Of course, the analysis presented here cannot be considered completely complete, because Only some of the most basic aspects of the implementation of Greekisms in the modern Russian language were considered, but in general a fairly clear picture of the functioning of Greekisms in the Russian language picture of the world was obtained.
The following directions for further research in this area can be identified:
1) clarify the received data on more words being studied;
2) analyze the representations of Greek borrowings in various discourses;
3) consider in detail the composition of concepts originating from Greek culture;
4) consider the features of borrowings from some other language, for example, Latin, and compare the results with those obtained in this work.
Now linguoculturology is a young and promising linguistic direction, which is finding more and more followers every year. Each new study examines one question and opens up the next. Thus begins a new stage of scientific research. It is impossible to know the full depth of this wonderful science, and today we are happy that we were able to touch a little on the solution to the mystery of the relationship between language and culture - the two greatest creations of the mind.
Ways of penetration of Greekisms into the Russian language
Languages through which indirect borrowing occurred 
Words formed by tracing from Greek
List of used literature
1. Alefirenko N.F. Contemporary issues language sciences: Tutorial. – M.: Flinta: Science, 2005
2. Barlas L.G. Russian language. Introduction to the science of language. Lexicology. Etymology. Phraseology. Lexicography: Textbook / Ed. G.G. Infantova. – M.: Flinta: Science, 2003
3. Big dictionary foreign words. – M.: UNVERS, 2003
4. Vvedenskaya L.A., Kolesnikov N.P. Etymology: Textbook. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2004
5. Girutsky A.A. Introduction to linguistics: Proc. Benefit. Mn. "Tetrasystems", 2003
6. Darvish O.B. Developmental psychology: Proc. aid for students higher textbook institutions /Ed. V.E. Klochko. – M.: Publishing house VLADOS-PRESS, 2003
7. Krongauz M.A. Semantics: A textbook for students. linguistic fak. higher textbook establishments. – 2nd ed., rev. and additional – M.: Publishing Center “Academy”, 2005
8. Kuznetsov S.A. Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. – M.: Reader's Digest, 2004
9. Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. – M., 1990
10. Maslova V.A. Cognitive linguistics: Textbook. – Mn.: TetraSystems, 2004
11. Maslova V.A. Linguoculturology: Textbook. aid for students higher textbook establishments. – M.: Publishing Center “Academy”, 2001
12. Ozhegov S.I., Shvedova N.Yu. Dictionary Russian language: 72,500 words and 7,500 phraseological expressions / Russian Academy Sci. Russian Language Institute; Russian Cultural Foundation; – M.: AZ, 1993
13. Panov M.V. encyclopedic Dictionary young philologist(linguistics). – M.: Pedagogy, 1984
14. Reformatsky A.A. Introduction to linguistics: Textbook for universities / Ed. V.A. Vinogradova. – M.: Aspect Press, 2002
15. Rosenthal D.E., Telenkova M.A. Dictionary-reference book of linguistic terms. – M.: Astrel Publishing House LLC, AST Publishing House LLC, 2001
16. Rudnev V.P. Dictionary of 20th century culture. – M.: Agraf, 1998
17. Tikhonov A.N. School word-formation dictionary of the Russian language. – M.: Citadel-trade, St. Petersburg: Victoria Plus, 2005
18. Vasmer M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. In 4 volumes/Trans. with him. and additional HE. Trubachev. – 2nd ed., erased. – M.: Progress, 1986
19. Frumkina R.M. Psycholinguistics: Textbook. for students higher textbook establishments. – M.: Publishing Center “Academy”, 2001
20. Shansky N.M., Ivanov V.V., Shanskaya T.V. Brief etymological dictionary of the Russian language. Manual for teachers. – M.: “Enlightenment”, 1975
A noticeable trace was left by Greekisms that came to Old Russian language mainly through Old Church Slavonic in connection with the process of Christianization of the Slavic states. Borrowings from the Greek language began to penetrate into the original vocabulary during the period of pan-Slavic unity. Such borrowings include, for example, the words chamber, dish, cross, bread (baked), bed, cauldron, etc.
Borrowings were significant in the period from the 9th to the 11th centuries. and later (so
called East Slavic). The formation of the Old Russian (East Slavic) language begins. To the Greekisms period X-XVII centuries include:
words from the field of religion: anathema, angel, bishop, demon, icon, monk, monastery, lamp, sexton;
scientific terms: mathematics, philosophy, history, grammar;
everyday names: lime, sugar, bathhouse, bench, notebook, lantern;
names of plants and animals: crocodile, buffalo, beans, cypress, cedar, beets, etc.;
words from the field of art and science (later borrowings): trochee, comedy, mantle, verse, logic, analogy, etc.;
Some of the names that are widespread in Russia (Andrey, Peter, Alexander, Galina, Irina, etc.) are of Greek origin. ( Church names from the Orthodox calendar);
many names of precious and semi-precious stones. Sometimes the name refers to the color of the stone. For example, chrysolite is “golden” (Greek), olivine is “green” (Greek), lapis lazuli is “sky blue” (Greek), etc. But sometimes their name is associated with certain properties that were attributed to these stones in ancient times. Thus, amethyst is translated from Greek as “not drunk”: according to legend, this stone is able to “curb passions. And the word agate translated from Greek means “good,” which it was supposed to bring to its owner.
Together with new religion Many new words have come to our country. The original meaning of many of them has long been forgotten, and few people know that an angel is a “messenger”, an apostle is a “messenger”, a clergy is a “lot”, an icon case is a “box”, a liturgy is a “duty”, a deacon is a “servant” , the bishop is “the one looking from above”, and the sexton is the “watchman”. The word hero is also Greek and means “holy” - nothing more, nothing less!
The first books were delivered from Byzantium to Rus'. The Slavs became the enlighteners prominent figures Byzantine Orthodox culture - the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius. The first schools in Kyiv, Novgorod and other cities of Rus' were organized according to Byzantine models. Byzantine masters taught Russian craftsmen to build stone temples, decorate these temples with mosaics and frescoes, paint icons, and create book miniatures.
For example, many Greek words describe the structure of the Temple. The Temple has three parts:
an altar containing an altar and a throne. The main part The temple is an altar, a holy place, therefore the uninitiated are not allowed to enter it. The word “altar” itself means “exalted altar.” He usually settles on a hill. True, some part of the altar is located in front of the iconostasis. It is called the solea (Greek: “elevation in the middle of the temple”), and its middle solea is called the pulpit (Greek: “I ascend”). From the pulpit, the priest pronounces the most significant words during the service. The pulpit is symbolically very significant. This is also the mountain from which Christ preached; and the Bethlehem cave where he was born; and the stone from which the angel announced to the wives about the ascension of Christ.
the middle part of the temple, separated from the altar by the iconostasis, in front of which, on the side of the middle part, there is a solea with an pulpit and choirs, the choirs are places for singers and readers. The very name of the kliros comes from the name of the singer-priests “kliroshans”, that is, singers from the clergy, clergy (Greek: “lot, allotment”)
porch
Let's start with terms that are close and familiar to any teacher of Russian language and literature. The word poetry has become so firmly entrenched in our language that we no longer even think about its meaning. Meanwhile, translated from Greek it means “creativity”. The word poem is translated as “creation”, and rhyme is “proportionality”, “coherence”; the word rhythm is the same root word for it. The stanza translated from Greek means “turn”, and the epithet means “figurative definition”.
Also associated with Ancient Greece are terms such as epic (“collection of tales”), myth (“word”, “speech”), drama (“action”), lyricism (from the word musical), elegy (“plaintive melody of a flute”). , ode (“song”), epithalam (“wedding poem or song”), epic (“word”, “story”, “song”), tragedy (“goat song”), comedy (“bear holidays”). The name of the latter genre is associated with the holidays in honor of the Greek goddess Artemis, which were celebrated in March. This month, the bears came out of hibernation, which gave the name to these performances. Well, the stage is, of course, a “tent” where the actors performed. As for parody, this is “singing inside out.”
As an example of borrowings from the Greek language, one can cite such “medical” words as anatomy (“dissection”), agony (“struggle”), hormone (“set in motion”), diagnosis (“definition”), diet (“image life", "regime"), paroxysm ("irritation").
Some Greek words entered the Russian language through other languages (for example, through Latin, French). There have been cases when the same word came to our country from different languages and at different times, resulting in different meanings. For example, the words colossus, machination and machine are the same root. Two of them come to us directly from the Greek language. One of them means “something huge”, the other means “a trick”. But the third came through Western European languages and is a technical term.
Along with this, the Slavic scribes created words in their language according to the model of Greek words (the so-called word-formation tracing papers), hence the now obsolete word "philosophy", corresponding to the Greek philosophy, and the word-formation calque "Theotokos", which has taken root and has forever entered the language, also created according to the Greek word-formation model.
We see that Greekisms in the Russian language play a huge role in creating a scientific picture of the world; this can be explained by the fact that it was in ancient Greek works that the foundations of the scientific worldview were laid.
Food
To begin with, let’s take our native vegetables, which at first glance have nothing exotic in them. We eat them all our lives and don’t even think about where they came from.
For example, cucumber. Its name comes from the Greek word "άγουρος", which was derived from "ἄωρος", meaning "immature". And all because cucumbers are eaten in their unripe (green) form.
The name beet was borrowed from the ancient Greek “σεῦκλον” (as variants “σεῦτλον”, “τεῦτλον” in different dialects). The ancient Greeks, by the way, greatly valued this vegetable for its beneficial properties.
Here's another example - vinegar. When they began to make it in Rus' is not really established, but it is known that its name comes from the Greek “ὄξος”. In modern Greek, vinegar is called "ξύδι" and "οξύ" is an acid.
The word pancake comes from "ἐλάδιον", which in turn was derived from "έλαιον". It translates as “olive oil”, “a little oil”. Not surprising considering the way this dish is prepared.
Houseware
Now let's talk about the names of objects that surround (or once surrounded) us in everyday life.
For example, a tower. It would seem that this is definitely ours, Russian. But no - it comes from the ancient Greek “τέρεμνον” (τέραμνον), which means “house, dwelling.”
Or a tub. At first glance, it seems that this is not borrowing at all. But in fact, it comes from the Greek “λεκάνη” - “basin, tub”.
The same applies to the name of an object such as a bed, derived from “κρεβάτι” (κράββατος) - it seems, right? It also reminds me of a completely different word - shelter. Although from the point of view of etymology they have nothing in common.
But the name “lamp” has come a long way. From ancient Greek (λαμπάς - “lamp, lamp, torch”) it came to Latin (lараda), from there, in turn, to German and French languages(lamre). And the Russians, having “cut a window” to Europe, borrowed it and changed it in their own way.
Here are a couple more examples: lantern - derived from “φανάρι” (derived from φανός - “lamp, light, torch”), ship - from the ancient Greek “κάραβος” (originally this meant crab. The Greek “καράβι” and Russian were already formed from it "ship").
Other words
That's not all. Let's take the word "crocodile". It is also of Greek origin (κροκόδειλος), and the Latin “crocodilus”, from which the equivalents in English, German and other languages originated, is nothing more than a borrowing.
An equally interesting example is the dragon. At first glance it seems that this Latin word. Yes, there is such a thing - dracō, -ōnis. But this is also borrowing. In Russian it first appeared in the translations of St. Maxim the Greek (Maxim the Greek - Μάξιμος ο Γραικός - a Greek monk, writer and translator who lived in the 16th century. From 1518 he lived in Rus', where the Grand Duke invited him to translate Greek books and manuscripts) .
Dragon in Greek is “δράκων, δράκος”, and this name is derived from the ancient Greek “δέρκομαι” (more precisely, from one of its forms - δρακεῖν), which is translated as “to see clearly”.
Here are two more words that came into the Russian language from Greek via Latin:
- “echo” through German (Echo) and Latin (ēсhō) from “ηχώ” - echo, echo;
- “zone” through French (zone) and Latin (zōna) from “ζώνη” - belt, zone.
The word "hero" also came through French - from the ancient Greek "ἥρως" - hero, warrior. Modern spelling "ήρωας".
You see - there are many more Greek words in Russian than it seems. The vocabulary given in this article is only a small part of them.
And how many traces the myths of Ancient Greece left in our language! Take the word “panic” for example. It comes from the name of Pan (Πά̄ν) - the Greek god of the forest. He could be cheerful, or he could send such terror upon a person (and even an entire army!) that he would start running without looking back. This is how the expression “panic fear” arose.
And today we so often come across and easily use catchphrases from ancient Greek myths (sometimes without even fully understanding their meaning). But about them another time.
Borrowing foreign words is one of the ways to develop any modern language. According to various estimates, today in Russian about 10% of words are borrowed from other languages as a result of various kinds of connections, contacts, and relationships between states. A significant share of this ten percent is occupied by those that appeared in different time words from Greek.
Many Greek words in Russian are similar not only in sound, but also in spelling - this is explained by the fact that at the core Slavic alphabet lies just . For example, the Russian word “coffee” in Greek is pronounced “kafes”, “soup” sounds like “supa”, and “fruit” sounds like “fruta”.
It is worth noting that the Greeks themselves do not speak only their native language; There are also borrowed words in Greek - it was influenced by French, Turkish, Italian, English, etc.
Historical aspect
The first borrowings appeared in Slavic speech back in the days Kievan Rus, when trade was established economic relations with Byzantium. First of all, these were terms related to trade and shipping - sail, ship, hard labor, as well as names of goods imported from Byzantium - lamp, lantern, bed, lemon. Later, the terms that appeared in the speech of merchants and sailors began to be used by those who had nothing to do with trade.
Most of the borrowed words came into Russian through the Old Church Slavonic language - mite, gehenna, heresy, requiem, as well as complex words with the roots “good-”, “good-”, “sue-”. Part - through European languages in the 12th-19th centuries - these are the names of sciences, medical, technical, political terms.
Some words entered Russian through Latin: system, problem, democracy, analysis.
Many of our names, both male and female, are of Greek origin.
Where are the Greek words found?
Greek words can be found everywhere in the Russian language; they are so familiar that they are foreign origin no one thinks about it. Everyday life, science, religion, technology, art, politics - these are not all areas in which there are borrowed words.
From Greece many commonly used words came to us: thermos, lantern, bench, notebook, magnet, hero, dialogue, tower, religious words: gospel, deacon, angel, anathema, monk, monastery, icon, diocese. The names of most sciences also came into Russian from Hellas: mathematics, logic, history, pedagogy, geology, philosophy, physics, geometry, anatomy, geography. Not without them in the field of art - poetry, tragedy, comedy, drama, melody, symphony, epigraph, etc. Doctors cannot do without the diaphragm, aorta, analysis, bacteria, politicians cannot imagine their lives without democracy, monarchy, anarchy, hegemony .
Non-Slavic names
Many names, both male and female, originated from Greece. Probably, each of us has friends named Alexander, Andrey, Galina, Evgeny, Ekaterina, Nikolay, Larisa, Sophia, but no one thought that initially these names were not Russian. Translated from Greek, Alexander means protector of people, Andrey means courageous, brave, Galina means calm, Evgeniy or Eugenia means nobility, Catherine means purity, Nikolay means conqueror of nations, Larisa means seagull, Sophia or Sophia means wisdom. The names Anatoly, Arkady, Angelina, Vasily, Georgy, Denis, Irina, Lydia, Maya, Miron, Peter, Tikhon, Fedot also came from words from the Greek language.
One of the ways of development modern languages is a method involving the borrowing of foreign words. The Russian dictionary was no exception. Today, experts count almost 10% of words in it that came to us from other languages. We began to use them in our speech thanks to various connections, relationships and contacts between states. And among this ten percent, Greek words occupy a significant share.
The importance of the language of ancient culture
When it comes to Greece, most people, as a rule, remember the myths of this state and the names of the gods. At the same time, we remember Archimedes and Sirtaki. And, of course, about amazing language of this people. After all, it was from him that we borrowed many Greek words.
Today, about 20 million people speak Greek. Of course, on a global scale this is not much. However, it is impossible to judge the significance of a language only in terms of the number of speakers.
Modern Modern Greek is the heir to that used in classical Greek literature and philosophy. This is the language of the Gospel and also of the early Christian church. That is why the meaning of his words and their relatively low prevalence are incommensurable quantities.
At one time, Greece had a huge influence on the development of world culture. This was facilitated by her philosophy and politics, literature, art and theater. All specified elements are immutable attributes modern world. However, this is not all. We have incomparably more left of Greek culture. And we are connected to it by stronger threads than we ourselves think. And these are nothing more than Greek words. They, being foreign to us, have become so firmly entrenched in our vocabulary that they seem to us to be originally Russian.
The Importance of Borrowing
Sometimes the history of words is quite surprising. Sometimes it is more interesting than the history of an entire people. The fact is that, on the one hand, language divides people, and on the other, it serves to unite them. It is through borrowing that occurs ethnic contacts and cultural, economic and social ties are established.
Historical aspect
Greek words first appeared in Russian during the period of Kievan Rus. It was during those times that trade and economic relations were established between our state and Byzantium.
The first Greek words spoken by our people were related to shipping and trade. These were terms such as ship, sail and hard labor. Greek words also appeared in the Russian language, meaning the names of those goods that were delivered from Byzantium. Among them are the following: lantern and lamp, lemon and bed. Somewhat later, the Russian people began to use those words that sounded from the mouths of sailors and traders everywhere. They firmly entered our everyday life and were no longer associated with trade.
But words that came from the Greek language came to us in other ways. So, most of from borrowed words came to us thanks to Old Church Slavonic. Among them are requiem and heresy, Gehenna and mite. From Old Slavonic language Some difficult words have also passed over. You can recognize them by their roots, which are “good-”, “sue-”, “good-”. Some words of Greek origin entered our dictionary from European languages in the 12th-19th centuries. These are mostly names various sciences, as well as political, technical and medical terms.
Some words that came from Greek entered the Russian dictionary thanks to Latin. Among them are problem and system, analysis and democracy.
How to recognize them?
Many words in Greek sound almost the same as in Russian. They also have similarities in spelling. It's quite simple to explain. The fact is that the basis of the Slavic alphabet is the Greek alphabet. For example, the familiar word “coffee” is pronounced “kafas” in Greek. “Fruit” sounds like “fruta”, and “soup” sounds like “supa”.
It's interesting that in vocabulary The Greeks also have borrowings. They came to this people from English and Italian, Turkish, French, etc.
Where can you find Greek words?
In the Russian language, terms that came to us from a state that had a huge influence on the development of world culture are found almost everywhere. For modern people, they have become so familiar that we simply don’t think about their origin.
Greek words accompany us in everyday life and science, in art, technology, religion and politics. However, this is far from full list those areas where the words of this great people can be found.
Food
You can start getting acquainted with borrowed Greek words with our native vegetables. They are not delivered to our table from exotic countries, but are grown directly in Russia. We eat them all our lives, without thinking at all about how their names got into our vocabulary.
Take, for example, such a familiar cucumber. This Greek word means “immature.” Why is this so? Yes, because we eat green cucumbers. That is, this vegetable can be called unripe.
The name beet came to us from the ancient Greek language. By the way, these people highly valued this vegetable, which has many beneficial properties.
Another example of a borrowing is the word “vinegar”. It is not known for certain when the production of this product was opened in Rus'. However, it is a well established fact that this is a Greek word translated meaning “acid.”
The pancake came to us from the same language. In translation, the original word from which the name of this product was formed means “a little oil”, “olive oil”. And this is quite understandable based on the method of preparing this dish.
Houseware
From the Greek language many names of objects that surround (or previously surrounded) us in everyday life have come to us. Take, for example, the term “terem”. It seems that this is probably an original Russian word. However, it is not. It came to us from ancient Greek, where it meant “dwelling, house.”
The same can be said about the word “tub”. It is difficult to point out his foreign roots. However, this word also came to us from the Greek language, where it meant basin.
The word “bed” is also borrowed for us. It, as mentioned above, came into the Russian language simultaneously with the development of trade relations.
One of our usual household items is a lamp. And this word came into the Russian language from Greek. However, quite a lot of work has been done a long way. Immediately the ancient Greek word, which in translation sounds like “torch, lamp, lamp,” found its way into Latin. From there it was borrowed by French and German language. And it came to Russia after the “window to Europe” was cut.
Another example is the word “lantern”. It is derived from the term “torch, light, lamp.” But the word “ship” originally meant “crab.” From it the name of the floating vessel, which is familiar to us, was formed.
Names
Greek words came to us along with names. The main way of borrowing them was the spread of Christianity. During the baptism of children in that period, it was customary to give the baby a Greek name. Some of them were paired. For example, Alexander and Alexandra, Evgeniy and Evgenia. Moreover, these names are still used today. But there were also those that are practically no longer found. For example, male name Anastasy. It is paired with Anastasia. Today you can only meet a man with that name in a monastery.
Most Greek names are associated with the history and culture of the country. Let's look at them in a little more detail.
Connection with myths
The name Dmitry is still found in the Russian language. Its origin is associated with the fertility goddess Demeter, who was highly revered by the ancient Greeks. Translated, the name Dmitry means “dedicated to Demeter.”
Another such name is Denis. This is a shortened form of the name Dionysius. You can find two interpretations of it in the dictionary. It is the name of the Greek god of wine, Dionysus, and is also a word meaning “belonging to Dionysus.”
A name like Artemy is supposedly associated with mythology. IN colloquial form it is better known to us as Artem. One of the versions of the origin of this name gives its interpretation as “dedicated to Artemis.” Among the Greeks, she was the goddess of female chastity and hunting. Another translation of the name Artem is “healthy, unharmed.” This is precisely the meaning of the corresponding Greek word.
Some female names include:
Zinaida, meaning from "the race of Zeus, born of Zeus";
- Claudia, which is the adjective “claudus” in Greek (one of the epithets for the lame Hephaestus, the god of volcanoes);
- Maya - mother of Hermes, daughter of Atlas, nymph;
- Lada is the patroness of family happiness and love, the goddess of the Moon.
Names associated with place names
We know the name Anatoly well. It is of Greek origin and translated means “sunrise”, “east”.
The name Arkady came to us from Greece. Translated, it means “resident of Arcadia.” This is an area that is located on the Peloponnese Peninsula. IN ancient period Cattle breeding was well developed here. The figurative meaning of the name Arkady is the word “shepherd”. Interestingly, that territory received its name from the son of the nymph Callisto and Zeus. His name was Arkad or Arkas.
Among the female ones one can name the name Lydia. This was the name of the region in Asia Minor, which is located on its western coast.
"Talking" names
Some names have entered the Russian language, denoting nobility, strength and wisdom. Perhaps the most common of them is Alexander. It is formed from the words “to protect” and “man” in the genitive case. Thus, the name Alexander means “protector of men.” The name Alexey has a similar meaning. Translated this means “prevent”, “reflect” and “protect”.
The name Andrey has a similar meaning. It means "courageous, brave." Among the “speaking” names in the Russian language, the following are common:
Leonidas - “like a lion”;
- Peter, which translated from ancient Greek means “stone, rock”;
- Evgeniy - consists of ancient greek words"noble" and "noble";
- Kirill - comes from the word “authority”, which, in turn, is derived from the ancient Greek “lord”.
There are also “speakers” in the Russian language female names. Among them:
Galina - calmness;
- Sophia - wisdom;
- Larisa - seagull;
- Ekaterina - cleanliness.
Other words
What else has become firmly established in our vocabulary? Take the word “crocodile” for example. He is also of Greek origin. From this ancient language it passed into Latin as crocodilus. And then it ended up in German, English and other dictionaries.
Not many people know how the word “dragon” is translated from Greek. After all, at first glance it has Latin roots. But it came there precisely from Greece, where it meant “to see clearly.” In Russian, the word “dragon” is first found in translations made by the Monk Maxim the Greek. He was a Greek monk, translator and writer who lived in the 16th century. From 1518 he worked in Rus' at the invitation of the Grand Duke, translating Greek manuscripts and books.
The word “echo” came to us through Latin, and thanks to German, “echo”. The concept of “zone” came into French and then into Russian. The words “hero” and “warrior” came to us in the same way.
Scientific concepts
From the Greek language we came to such words as “notebook”, “teacher” and “school”. Moreover, each of them has its own unique history.
Take the word “notebook” for example. It has been known in Rus' since the 11th century. In those days, a notebook was the name given to four sheets of parchment sewn together, from which books were then formed. If we consider the Greek words with translation, then the term “notebook”, or in the original language “tetradion”, had a similar meaning. But more ancient period it was just a four. Moreover, this word was applied to four warriors or horses, etc.
The word “school” has its own history. In Greek it sounded like “scholia”. Its original meaning was the following: rest, free time, leisure, as well as inaction and idleness. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato gave this word a slightly different meaning. In his speech it meant a learned conversation or a leisure activity. Somewhat later, Plutarch used this word to denote an exercise, training session or lectures. The word “school” came into our language, as is commonly believed, from Polish. And it ended up in it thanks to Latin.
The Greek word "pedagogos" in its literal translation means nothing more than "schoolmaster." Initially, teachers were slaves who accompanied boys to school and brought them home from there. Somewhat later, this word began to mean “mentor” and “educator.”
The above examples are only a small part of the words that came into our language from Greek. There are many more of them than meets the eye. It turns out that every Russian person speaks a little Greek without even knowing it.
