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EnglishLoanwordsinRussian

The intensity of language contact between Russian and English and the rate ofborrowings has varied over time, with English only relatively recently becoming thepreferred source language for foreign borrowings.The first significant contact betweenRussians and English speakers occurred in the middle of the 16^thcentury, when KingEdward VI sent an envoy to Czar Ivan IV the Terrible to open new markets for Britishmerchandise.

Thereafter, British and Russian merchants began incorporating the first Englishloanwords into Russian: words that usually were not already present, such as mister,alderman, and earl.Although a few Russians visited Britain, more British subjectsvisited Russia, usually after being invited by the government.British professionals,doctors,pharmacists,artisansandofficersbeganworkinginRussiaandinexchange,a
small number of Russians were sent abroad to be trained as translators and interpreters(Proshina2005:439).
In 1649 relations deteriorated and British merchants were deported or restricted tothenorth,asRussiafearedsubordinationbyBritain.ButPetertheGreatlaterreinvigorated the relations between the two countries.After he visited Britain from 1697-8,heappointedBritishengineers,mathematiciansandshipbuilderstoRussianofficesand departments.He also promoted the field of translation, believing that a translatorshouldlearna craftor science anda scientistor craftsmanshouldlearna language.During Peter’s rule loanwords were considered necessary, and the attitude towards themwas quite positive, since it was natural to name foreign concepts using foreign terms.DuringPeter’sreignapproximately150EnglishwordswereaddedtotheRussianlexicon, for the most part terms related to navigation, titles, religion and some wordspertainingto dailylifeand culture(Proshina2005:440).
During the second half of the eighteenth century the number of English wordsaddedtotheRussianlanguageincreased,asRussiangovernmentandhigh-rankingnobility became more Anglophilic.Catherine the Great favored English culture andpromoted translation of its literature into Russian by establishing a translator’s society.Butthemajority ofbooks,particularly fiction,werefirsttranslatedfromEnglishtoFrench or German and only then into Russian.In the 1770s, visiting actors performedEnglish language playsin the English theater,and translations of English literature,especiallyShakespeare,wereabundant.Manytechnicalinventionsofthattimefacilitated even more English borrowings.The first official Russian-American contactoccurredinthelate18^thcentury,whenthepresidentoftheRussianAcademyofScience
met with Benjamin Franklin in Washington.John Quincy Adams became the first USambassador to Russia and became a close friend of Emperor Alexander.In the early 19^thcentury American merchants and manufacturersbegan establishing themselves in St.Petersburg(Proshina2005:440-441).
Inthe19^thcentury,Englishlanguage,literatureandcultureweresecondinpopularity toFrench,butthatslowly begantochange.Originally,Frenchwasthelanguage of the educated classes and the nobility, and many writers, like Pushkin andTolstoy, were bilingual. But by the end of the 19^thcentury, education became availableto other classes and the proportion of French speakers decreased as did the familiaritywithFrenchborrowings.AtthattimeEnglishborrowingswerestillonlyasmallpercentage of the total foreign borrowings into Russian.The first Russian dictionary offoreign words from 1803 listed 120 words of English origin, mostly related to money,measures, dishes, drinks, card games, titles, parties, clothing and dress names.By 1866,another dictionary listed 300 words of English origin, comprising 15% of all loan words.During the 1860s and 70s English-Russian contact weakened as language purism becamepopular and the attitudes of the pre-revolutionary society towards foreign borrowingsbecamemorehostile(Comrie1996:188)and (Proshina2005:441-442).
Technological developments at the beginning of the 20^thcentury led to increasedborrowings from German and English. English became fashionable, and many newwords entered the Russian language: кoдaчиtь ‘take a photo’, фильм ‘film’, джaз ‘jazz’,6oйкot ‘boycott’, and tehhиc ‘tennis’.German was popular because of its use amongMarxists, and remained popular until World War I.But the movement to replace foreignwordswithRussiancounterpartswasstillpresent,andsucceededevenintechnological
fields like aviation: abиatop became (>) лëtчик ‘pilot’, aэpoплah > caмoлët ‘airplane’.During WWI the rate of borrowing from German dropped, and while some Russianreplacementsweresuccessful:cahatopиyм>здpabhицa‘sanatorium’,фeльдшep>лeкapcкий пoмoщhик ‘medical assistant’, andПetep6ypг > Пetpoгpaд ‘Petersburg’,manyotherswerenot:6ytep6poд>xлe6cмaлcoм‘sandwich’andплatзкapt>cпaльhoeмecto ‘place ina sleepingcar’ (Comrie1996:189-191).
After the 1917 revolution, those who rose to positions of prestige and power wereable to assert the acceptability of many features of their own speech and reject features ofthe old norms.What was colloquial became stylistically neutral, and what was non-standard became colloquially standard.This resulted in the belief in some emigrantcircles that the Revolution distorted the Russian language.After 1917, the old regimedisappearedalongwithitswords.So-calledиctopизмы‘historisms’becamelessfrequentlyused,untiltheydisappeared:Дyмa‘council’,гy6ephatop‘governor’,eкзeкytop‘seneschal’,фpeйлиha‘maidofhonor’,пoлицeйcкий‘policeman’,гybephahtкa ‘governess’, attectat ‘certificate’, aдboкat ‘attorney’, пocoл ‘ambassador‘.Some words, like пocoл, were later re-instated.Others were revived only in reference toofficials from other countries.Most recently, some words, like дyмa and aдboкat, wererevivedafterthe fall ofcommunismin 1991(Comrie1996:10,201-202,216).
Not long after the revolution, English became the largest single identifiable sourceof loanwords, followed by the less prestigious German and French.As English becamemore popular,foreignwords were nolongermostly end-stressed likeFrenchwords(мetpo ‘subway’, 6юpo ‘office’, киho ‘cinema’), but they usually preserved the stressfromtheoriginallanguage.Somewordsevenhaddifferentstresslocationand
pronunciationatdifferenttimes.ForexamplethepronunciationofWilliamShakespeare’sfirstnameinRussianchangedfromBильямtoBuльямtoYuльям(Comrie1996:226).
Borrowing slowed down during the turbulent first decade of Soviet power, sincepreviously borrowed words were still being assimilated into the language and other wordswere borrowed internally, usually from the political discourse into everyday use.A 1923survey showed that Red Army men, who were mainly peasants, were unfamiliar withmanyforeignwordslikecиcteмa‘system’,yльtимatyм‘ultimatum’,peгyляpho‘regularly’, иhициatиba ‘initiative’, andмeмopahдyм‘memorandum’.To familiarizethe population with foreign words, it was suggested that they should be used along withRussian counterparts.It was believed that the language of the press should be closer tothecolloquiallanguage,asshownbynewspaperexcerptsfromPravda,29May1924:Эtaмoдификaция,эtoизмehehиetaкtики…‘Thismodification,thischangeoftactics…’andIzvestiya№295,1924:Ctимyл(пo6yждehиe)к6opь6e...‘Stimulus(inducement) to struggle…’Between the late 1920s and the early 1930s the situationimproved, and rural people were using loanwords that “formerly would have soundedvery unusual in the mouth of a peasant”.Loan words were no longer limited to the urbanareas,butwerespreadbyagitation,propaganda,andtheRedArmy(Comrie1996:193,197).
Duringthe 1930s,rapidindustrializationcausedfurther increase inborrowedwords of British and American origin, as did the anti-Nazi alliance during World War II.During this time, the attitude towards the German language was understandably negativeandGermanwordswereoftenusedinnegativecontexts,like6лицкpиг‘blitzkrieg’and
пoлицaй ‘member of local population in occupied areas who is serving the Germanpolice’.This anti-German sentiment also led to the elimination of German military termsthat dealt with ranks.Even well-established borrowings like coлдat ‘soldier’ and мatpoc‘sailor’, were temporarily replaced by кpachoapмeeц ‘red army man’ and кpachoфлoteц‘red navy man’. The word oфицep ‘officer’, was replaced by кpachый кoмahдиp ‘redcommander’,cepжaht‘sergeant’wasreplacedbyкoмahдиpotдeлehия‘sectioncommander’, and so on.But many of these changes did not last long.By the 1940s,manyborrowingswerere-introduced,alongwithEnglish-basedrankingsмapшaл‘marshal’,пoлкobhик‘colonel’,гehepaл‘general’,andevenгehepaлиccимyc‘generalissimo’,reservedspecificallyforStalin(Proshina2005:442)and(Comrie1996:222).
The reluctance to borrow foreign words remained strong after the war, during theso-called Struggle against Cosmopolitanism. Once again there were efforts to restrainborrowingand purifythelanguagebyrejectingexistingloan words:
Фpahцyзcкиe 6yлки ‘French rolls’ became (>)гopoдcкиe 6yлки ‘town rolls’,Aмepикahcкий opex ‘American nuts’ > южhый opex ‘southern nuts’, 6payhшbeйгcкaякoл6aca‘Braunschweigwurst’>мocкobcкaякoл6aca‘Moscowwurst’,цyкatы‘candied fruit’ > киebcкaя cмecь ‘Kiev assortment’.Only some of these replacements,like мocкobcкaя кoл6aca ‘Moscow wurst’, were successful.The Cold War resulted inincreasinghostilitytowardstheUSandamorenegativeattitudetowardEnglishborrowings, as even popular non-fiction used Americanisms in a mostly negative light.Many terms related to sports and technology were replaced: taйм > пoлobиha игpы ‘halftime’andгoлкипep>bpatapь‘goalkeeper’.Butsomenewborrowingsdidappear:
aллepгия ‘allergy’, 6oйлep ‘boiler’ and oфиc ‘office’ (Proshina 2005:442) and (Comrie1996:209-210).
After Stalin’s death, relations with the outside world were relaxed as tourism andcultural and scientific contact became possible.Russians increased their exposure toforeignwordsandwayoflife,andtherateofborrowingagainpeakedinthe1960s.Somenewwordsincluded:aкbaлahг‘aqualung’,шoptы‘shorts’,6apмeh‘barman’,дизaйhep ‘designer’ and кoмпьюtep ‘computer’.During this time there was a shift fromtransliteration of borrowed words to more practical transcription.Adaptation of foreignwords into new nativized formations took place: ahohимщик (‘writer of anonymousletters’, from ahohимhый ‘anonymous’ and the Russian suffix –щик, denoting a person),6eзкoмпpoмиcchoctь(‘qualityofbeinguncompromising’,fromкoмпpoмиcc‘compromise’ and кoмпpoмиcchый ‘compromising’, the prefix 6eз- meaning ‘without’and the suffix –octь, used for abstract nouns).During this time, lexical purism was nolonger a significant issue in Soviet language planning.During the Thaw of the 1960s,newwordswereborrowedthroughmassmedia,popculture,scienceandliterarytranslation. By the middle of the 20^thcentury, the lexicon contained 2000 English words(Comrie1996:210-211)and (Proshina2005:442).
From the 1970s to the mid-1980s the rate of borrowings decreased because thelanguage was still saturated with borrowings from the 1960s and because after the end ofKhrushchev’s Thaw, the perception of loanwords once again became more negative.During this time, the excessive use of foreign words could have been adopted as a sign ofdissent,muchlikeinstudentslang.Someloanwordsfromthisperiodinclude:импичмeht‘impeachment’,иcte6лишмeht‘establishment’andкohcehcyc‘consensus’.
Interest in English as a source of borrowings continued, as earlier borrowings gained newmeanings: 6ahк ‘financial bank’ > ‘database’. New words and calques of words as wellas word combinations entered the language: мoзгobaя ataкa ‘brain storm’ and фaкtopыpиcкa ‘risk factors’.Another source of foreign words was the translation of acronyms:HЛO(heoпoзhahhыйлetaющийo6ъeкt)-‘UFO’andCПИД(cиhдpoмпpиo6petehhoгo иммyhhoгo дeфициta) - ‘AIDS’.The nativized use of foreign affixeslike –дpoм, –teкa, –bизop, –tpoh, –мo6иль, and –a6eль increased.New words formedwith these suffixes were no longer confined to specialized vocabulary:beлoмo6иль‘pedalcar’andco6aкoдpoм‘dogtrack’.Somenewstumpcompoundswereevencreated: yhиbepcaм and yhиbepмaг ‘supermarket’.Most recently, the suffix -иhг ‘-ing’hasbeenundergoingintegrationwithRussianstems:дoгobopceлиhгa‘sellingagreement’, much in the same way as the suffix –изм ‘-ism’ integrated into the languageearlier:aлкoгoлизм‘alcoholism’(Comrie1996:213-215,312).
Seven decades of Soviet establishment promoted a standard language within astaticandconservativesystem(standardgrammar,censorship,andastandardizededucational reading list).Despite the fact that the standard language was excessivelybasedonabureaucraticstyleandlaggedbehindthedevelopmentsinthespokenlanguage,anunderlyingdesiretospeaktheeducatedorliterary standardprevailed.Russianandforeignwordswereusedconcurrently,butcouldeasilyvaryinappropriateness across different registers and styles.Non-standard speech was alwayspresentinRussian,usuallytheresultofgeographicaldialectsandtheuseofthevernacularorprostorechie.Well-educatedspeakersusedstandardlanguageinallsituations,butcouldswitchbetweenregistersandusethenon-standardformstoshow
solidarity with certain social groups, for example.The speakers of prostorechie, howeverwere limited to using one register.Upward social mobility in the Soviet Union createdspeakersofRussianwhoweretryingtotransitionfromthestigmatizedandlessprestigious non-standard or regional varieties to the standard language.During both thebeginning and the decline of the Soviet Union, the higher artistic and bureaucratic styleswere influenced by the lower colloquial ones, with the help of rapid developments injournalism and mass media.The need to reach ordinary people led to the inclusion ofcolloquialisms in the standard language.In the past, the divergence from the standardlanguage could have been seen as a mark of social status (such as pronouncing loanwordsastheyarepronouncedinthesourcelanguage),buttheuniversalizationandstandardization of education introduced and solidified a standard language among themasses(Comrie1996:6, 10-11, 25-27).
AttheendofColdWaronlyonesuperpowerremained,Englishwastheinternationallanguage,andAmericanculture,entertainmentandcorporationswereproliferating all over the world.The development of the Internet united people, broughtthem into contact with English, and induced them to borrow more English words.Inpresent-day Russia,there are twotendenciesinthe evolutionof the lexicon.Asareaction to the fall of Communism, the language is being purged of words associated withthe Soviet period and ideology.A campaign took place to restore pre-revolutionary placenames and replace ideologically marked words such as tobapищ ‘comrade’ > гocпoдиh‘mister’,otдeл‘section’>дeпaptaмeht‘department’andpoдиha‘motherland’>oteчectbo ‘fatherland’.Calques from English can frequently be heard on TV: 6yдьte chaми‘staywithus’.Thenumberofborrowingsmayseemthreatening,sinceRussianis
beingfloodedwithEnglishloanwords,like:иhbectиция‘investment’andэкcклюзиbhый‘exclusive’,evenwhenthereareRussiancounterparts:кaпиtaлobлoжehия and иcключиteльhый, respectively.But this is only a temporarytrend and the current fascination with English might recede just as the use of Frenchloanwords did after the 1917 Revolution and the use of German after World War II did(Proshina2005:442)and(Comrie1996:313-314).
Russia, unlike France for example, has no significant government resistance to theadoption of foreign loanwords into the language.Russian youth slang is particularlyreceptive, with 20% of slang words being of English origin. Equally receptive is thelanguage of technology, business and mass media.Some of the words recently borrowedfor business include: broker, dealer, distributor, and manager.This is mainly becausetheir Soviet-era counterparts like диpeкtop ‘director’, haчaльhик ‘chief, director’ nowhavenegativeideologicalconnotations.Otherrecentwordsarefromthefieldoftechnology and sports: display, file, interface, skateboard, freestyle and overtime.EvensomeborrowingsfromotherlanguagesarebeingreplacedbyEnglishcounterparts:ahимaция>ahимeйшh‘animation’,мaкияж>мeйкaп‘make-up’,6ytep6poд>cehдbич‘sandwich’andшлaгep>xиt‘hit’.DespitethepopularityofEnglishloanwords, some Russian linguistic conservatives are once again voicing their negativeattitudestowards foreignloanwords (Proshina2005:443).