Slavic words in other languages

George   Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:49 pm GMT
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Despite a comparable extent of historical proximity, the Germanic languages show fewer significant Slavic influence partly because Slavic migrations were mostly headed south rather than west. Due to political reasons, there is a tendency to diminish Slavic contributions to Germanic languages. For instance, Max Vasmer has claimed that there are no Slavic loans into Common Germanic. The only Germanic language that shows significant Slavic influence is Yiddish. However, there are isolated Slavic loans into other Germanic languages. For example the word for "border", in modern German Grenze, Dutch grens was loaned from the Common Slavic *granica. English derives quark (a kind of cheese, not the subatomic particle) from the German Quark, which in turn is derived from the Slavic tvarog, which means "curd". Many German surnames, particularly in Eastern Germany and Austria, exhibit Slavic origins. Swedish also has torg (market place) from Old Russian tъrgъ, tolk (interpreter) from Old Slavic tlŭkŭ, and pråm (barge) from West Slavonic pramŭ.

The Czech word robot is now found in most languages worldwide, and the word pistol, probably also from Czech, is found in many Indo-European languages, including Greek (πιστόλι, pistóli).

A well-known Slavic word in almost all European languages is vodka, a borrowing from Russian водка (vodka), lit. "little water", from common Slavic voda (water, cognate to the English word) with the diminutive ending -ka. Owing to the mediæval fur trade with Northern Russia, Pan-European loans from Russian include such familiar words as sable. The English word vampire was borrowed (perhaps via French vampire) from German Vampir, in turn derived from Croatian vampir, continuing Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь. During the heyday of the USSR in the 20th century, many more Russian words became known worldwide: da, soviet, sputnik, perestroika, glasnost, kolkhoz, etc.
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Do you know some more?
Guest   Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:55 pm GMT
Gulag.
matko   Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:58 pm GMT
I know one: nectie, or cravat.

The necktie traces back to the time of Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) when Croatian mercenaries from the Military Frontier in French service, wearing their traditional small, knotted neckerchiefs, aroused the interest of the Parisians. Due to the slight difference between the Croatian word for Croats, Hrvati, and the French word, Croates, the garment gained the name "Cravat". The new article of clothing started a fashion craze in Europe where both men and women wore pieces of fabric around their necks. In the late seventeenth century, the men wore lace cravats that took a large amount of time and effort to arrange. These cravats were often tied in place by cravat strings, arranged neatly and tied in a bow.
PARISIEN   Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:40 pm GMT
French "bougre" and English "bugger" are said to be derived from "Bulgar[ian]"...

I think that German 'Trabant' (satellit) is from Slavic origin.
"Datsche" (=Datcha) is/was used in Eastern Germany for a small wooden cottage on the country.

Similarity with Slavic 'rabata' has probably kept alive the RBT theme of 'Arbeit', 'arbete', 'arbeid' in continental Germanic languages, while it has been lost in English.

Et, en français (et d'autres langues sûrement), tous les mots qui réfèrent à des réalités historiques/géographiques slaves/russes: boyard, taïga, toundra, podzol, tchernozium, samovar, zadruga, polié, karst, doline, isba, Cosaque, balalaïka, oblast, voïvode, tsar, verste, bortch, zakouskis, blinis, moujik, knout, slivovitch...
Joao   Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:59 pm GMT
It's a a brand, not a common word, but what about Vodafone?

Had those who chose the name of the mobile phone operator, Slavic words in mind? Vodafone = "water phone"
Guest   Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:15 am GMT
Vodkafone would be a nicer brandname.
guest   Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:03 am GMT
la joupanie, un neologisme francais concernant aux depertements croate, inventé a La Haye.
en croate: županija
Fritz   Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:09 am GMT
slivovitza, rakija, cravata etc.
Leasnam   Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:09 am GMT
English 'sabre' which may ultimately be of Magyar origin
English 'hamster' (German 'Hamster') may be another
English 'kielbasa'
Kaeops   Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:45 am GMT
troika (threesome) in English...
purist   Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:47 am GMT
In my language there is no word of slavic origin because they all sound harsh and unpleasant!
Reykjavik   Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:47 am GMT
then your language must be either Japanese or Icelandic because all European languages have some Slavic words.
Casual Sex   Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:43 pm GMT
troika (threesome)

Oh, yeah! Mm-hm.
evol   Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:01 pm GMT
troika (threesome)

Oh, yeah! Mm-hm.

Troika is only used to mean three horses not people.
Kaeops   Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:04 pm GMT
Troika is only used to mean three horses not people. //

Not really, in the UK, Lasgo was considered ''a Belgian trance troika''
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0M703prHw4

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/troika

1. a Russian carriage, wagon, or sleigh drawn by a team of three horses abreast.
2. a team of three horses driven abreast.
3. any group of three persons, nations, etc., acting equally in unison to exert influence, control, or the like.