English borrowings

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1. Borrowings as a way of replenishment of the vocabulary

Being an adaptive system, the vocabulary is constantly adjusting itself to the changing conditions of human communication. New notions appear, requiring new words to name them. New words, expressions or neologisms are created for new things. The neologism is a newly coined word or phrase or a new meaning for an existing word. There is a problem of denomination. It is not still clear which words to consider new? The most rational point is that new words are the ones that appeared in the last years of the previous generation.

The borrowed words are taken from another language and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of English. They came in different times. Early Latin borrowings were adopted in the 1st century BC (butter, chalk, kitchen). In the 5th century AD there penetrated a few Celtic words into English (cradle, London). In the 7th century AD, during the Christianization, there were adopted many religious terms from Latin (priest, nun). From the end of the 7th century till the middle of the 11th century there penetrated Scandinavian words into the English language (window, husband, law, ugly, weak, call, take, die). The Scandinavian words are similar in pronunciation to the Anglo-Saxon ones. Many Scandinavian words start with the ask-cluster: skill, skin, ski, skirt, sky. In 1066 when the Norman Conquest took place, England became a bilingual country. French was officially introduced into the life of the people. The French words borrowed at that period are of the following layers: administrative, military terms (army, officer), educational (pupil, pencil, library), words of everyday life (dinner, river, uncle). In the Renaissance period there were borrowed numerous words from Latin and Greek connected with science (university, professor), Italian (piano, opera, violin etc.). In the 18th-20th centuries the basis of the words became different due to the colonial expansion: Indian (pundit), Arabic (sherbet), Chinese etc. The Russian borrowings in the English language are of the following layers: prerevolutionary (before 1917 vodka, valenkis, pelmenis), sovietisms (preserve only Russian meaning: polit-bureau, 5-year-plan) and the perestroika period.

1.1 The notion of borrowings

According to some linguists Borrowed words (loan words, borrowings) are words taken over from another language and modified according to the patterns of the receiving language.

Nowadays borrowing is not very important in the every day life but it is active in the sphere of science. It is common that a lot of terms are often made up of borrowed morphemes in general from classical languages.

The most characteristic feature of English is usually said to be its mixed character. Manу linguists consider foreign inf1uence, to be the most important factor in the history of English. This wide-spread viewpoint is supported оn1у bу the evidence of the Еng1ish word-stock, as its grammar and phonetic system аге very stable аnd not easi1y inf1uenced bу other 1anguages. While it is altogether wrong to speak of the mixed character of the language as a whole, the composite nature of the Eng1ish vocabulary cannоt bе dеniеd.

То comprehend the nature of the English vocabu1ary and its historical development it is necessary to examine the etymology of its different layers, the historica1 causes of their appearrance, their volume and role and the comparative importance of native and borrowed e1ements in replenishing the Eng1ish vocabulary. Before embarking upon а description of the Eng1ish word-stock from this point of view we must make special mention of some terms.

1. In linguistic literature the term native is conventional1y used to denote words of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles from the continent in the 5th century bу the Gemanic tribes - the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. Practically, however, the term is often applied to words whose origin cannot be traced to аnу other language. Thus, the word path is classified as native just because its origin has not yet been estab1ished with аny degree of certainty. It is possible to conjecture that further progress of linguistic science may throw some light upon its origin and it may prove to have been borrowed at some еarlier period. It is for this reason that Prоfеssоr А.I. Smirnitsky relying оn the earliest manuscripts of the English language available suggested another interpretation of the term nаtive - as words which may be presumed to have existed in the Eng1ish word-stock of the 17th century. This interpretation may have somewhat more reliable criteria behind it, but it seems to have the same drawback - both viewpoints present the native element in English as static.

2. The term borrowings is used in linguistics to denote the process of adopting words from their languages and аlso the result of this process, the language material itself. It has already been stated that not only words, but аlso word-building аffixes were borrowed into English. It must bе rnentioned that some word-groups, too, were borrowed in their foreign form.

In its second meaning the term borrowing is sometimes used in а wider sense. It is extended onto the so-callеd translation-loans (or loan-translations) аnd semantic borrowing. Translation-loans аге words and expressions fоrmеd from the material avai1able in the language after the patterns characteristic of the given language, but under the influenceof some foreign words andexpressions (wall newspaper < Russ. стенгазета). Semantic borrowing is the appearence of а new meaning due to the influence of a related word in another language (the word bureau entered political vocabulary, as Political bureau, under the influence of Russian).

Further on we shall use the turm borrowings in its second meaning, as a borrowing proper or a word taken over in its material form.

Distinction should bе made between tгuе borrowings and words formed out of morphemes borrowed from Latin and Greek, e.g. telephone, pbonogram. Such words were never part of Latin and Greek and they do not reflect any contacts with the peoples speaking those languages.

It is of importance to note that the term borrowings belongs to diасhrоniс description of the wоrd-stосk. Thus the words wine, cheap, pound introduced bу the Romans into all Germanic dialects long before the Ang1es and the Saxons settled оn the British Isles, and such late Latin loans as libi, memorandum, stratum may all be reffered to borrowings from the same language in describing their origin, though in modern Eng1ish they constitute distinctIy different groups of words.

3. There is also a certain confusion between the terms source of borrowings and origin of the word. This confusion may be seen in contradictory marking of one and the same word as, say, а French borrowing in оnе dictionary and Latin borrowing in another. It is suggested here that the term sourceof borrowing should bе applied to the language from which thisor that particular word was taken into EngIish. So when describing words as Latin, French or Scandinavian borrowings we point out their source but not their origin. The te1rmorigin of the word should be applied to the language the word mау be traced to.

It should be remembered, however, that whereas the immediate source of borrowing is as а ru1e known and cаn bе stated with some certainty, the actual origin of thе word mey be rather doubtful. Foг example, the word ink was borrowed frоm Old French, but it may be traced back to Latin and stiI1 further to Greek, and it is quite possible that it was borrowed intо Greek from the other 1anguage.

The immediate source of borrowing is naturally of greater importencafor language students because it reveals the extra-linguistic factors responsible for the act of borrowing, because the borrowed words bear, as a rule, the imprint of the sound and graphic form, the morphological and semantic structure characteristic of the language they were borrowed from.

1.2 Causes and ways of borrowings

In its 15 century long history recorded in written manuscripts the English language happened to come in long and close contact with several other languages, mainly Latin, French and Old Norse (or Scandinavian). The great influx of borrowings from these sources cаn bе accounted for by a number of historical causes. Due to the great influence of the Roman civilization Latin was for а long time used in England of learning and religion. Old Norse was the language of the conquerors who were оn thee same level of socia1 and cultural development and who merged rather easily with the local population in the 9th, 10th and the first hаlf of the 11th century. French (to be more exact its Norman dialect) was the language of the other conquerors who brought with them а lot of new notions of a higher social system - developed feudalism, it the language of upper classes, of official documents and school instruction from the middle of the 11^th century to the end of the 14^th century.

In the study of the borrowed element in English the main emphasis is as a rule placed оn the Midd1e English period. Borrowings of later periods became the object of investigation only in recent years. These investigations have shown that the fIow of of borrowings has been steady and uninterpreted. The greatest number has come from French. They refer to various fields of social-politica1, scientific and cultural life. А large portion of borrowings (41%) is scientific and technical terms.

The number and character of borrowed words tell us of the re1ations between the peoples, the leve1 of their culture, etc. It is for this reason that borrowings have often been called the milestones of history. Thus if we go through the lists of borrowings in English and arrange them in groups according to their meaning, we shall be able to obtain much valuable information with regard to Egland's contacts with many nations. Some borrowings, however, cannot be explained by the direct influence of certain historical conditions, they do not come along with any new objects or ideas.

It must be pointed out that while the general historical causes of borrowing from different languages have been studied with а considerablе degree of thoroughness the purely linguistic reasons for borrowing аrе still open to investigation.

The number and character of borrowings do not only depend оn the historical conditions, оn the nature and length of the contacts, but also on the degree of the genetic and stгuсtural proximity of languages соncerned. The closer the languages, the deeper and more versatile is the influence. This largely accounts for the well-marked contrast between the French and the Scandinavian influence on the English language. Thus under the influence of the Scandinavian languages, which were closely related to Old English; some classes of words were borrowed that could not have been adopted from non-related or distantly related languages.

Borrowings enter the language in two ways: through oral speech (by immediate contact between the peoples) and through written speech (by indirect contact through books, etc.)

Oral borrowing took place chiefly in the early periods of history, whereas in recent times written borrowings gained importance. Words borrowed orally are used short and they undergo a considerable changes in the act of adoption. Written borrowings preserve their spelling and some pecularities of their sound-form, their assimilation is а long and laborious process.

1.3 Criteria of borrowings in English

Though borrowed words undergo changes in the adopting language they preserve some of their former peculiarities for a comparatively long period. This makes it possible to work out some criteria for determining whether the word belongs to the borrowed element.

In some cases the pronunciation of the word (strange sounds, sound combinations, position of stress, etc.), its spelling and the correlation between sounds and letters are an indication of the foreign origin of the word. This is the case with waltz (G.). psychology (Gr.), soufflй (Fr.), etc. The initial position of the sounds [v], [dз], [з] or of the letters x, j, z is a sure sign that the word has been borrowed, e.g. volcano (It.), vase (Fr.), vaccine (L.), jungle (Hindi), gesture (L.), giant (OFr.), zeal (L.), zero (Fr.), zinc (G.), etc.

The morphological structure of the word and its grammatical forms may also bear witness to the word being adopted from another language. Thus the suffixes in the words neurosis (Gr.) and violoncello (It.) betray the foreign origin of the words. The same is true of the irregular plural forms papyra (from papyrus, Gr.), pastorali (from pastorale, It.), beaux (from beau, Fr.), bacteria, (from bacterium, L.) and the like.

Last but not least is the lexical meaning of the word. Thus the concept denoted by the words ricksha(w), pagoda (Chin.) make us suppose that we deal with borrowings.

These criteria are not always helpful. Some early borrowings have become so thoroughly assimilated that they are unrecognisable without a historical analysis, e.g. chalk, mile (L.), ill, ugly (Scand.), enemy, car (Fr.), etc. It must also be taken into consideration that the closer the relation between the languages, the more difficult it is to distinguish borrowings.

Sometimes the form of the word and its meaning in Modern English enable us to tell the immediate source of borrowing. Thus if the digraph ch is sounded as [?], the word is a late French borrowing (as in echelon, chauffeur, chef); if it stands for [k], it came through Greek (archaic, architect, chronology); if it is pronounced as [t?], it is either an early-borrowing (chase, OFr.; cherry, L., OFr.; chime, L.), or a word of Anglo-Saxon origin (choose, child, chin).

2. Historical contacts between Russia and Britain

According to historians (Ocherki, http://russianculture.ru/brit/brit2.htm) some contacts between Russia and England might have occurred in early periods. For example, in some British and Russian chronicles there are some vague pieces of information about the presence of two princes from The British Isles at the court of Jaroslav the Wise. There is also information that in 1074 Gytha - King Harold's daughter - married the Russian Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh. King Harold was defeated and killed at Hastings in 1066. According to these chronicles Gytha gave her first son the double name Mstislav-Harold in honour of the grandfather.

However, these early contacts were of an occasional character. Permanent trade and diplomatic relations between the two countries were established only in the middle of the 16th century from the moment when the British navigator Richard Chancellor was given an audience with Ivan IV (The Terrible) in Moscow. It must be mentioned that in 1553 The English Company of Merchant Adventures for the Discovery of Lands, Territories, Isles, Dominions and Seignories Unknown organized an expedition for the exploration of a possible Northeast Passage to Asia. Edward Bonaventure was the only ship to survive this expedition and all other ships were devastated by storm in the White Sea. Richard Chancellor was second in command under Sir Hugh Willoughby. However, Hugh Willoughby died during this storm. Chancellor managed to reach a fishing wharf in the mouth of Northern Dvina. His negotiations with the Russian czar paved the way for trade with Russia and the formation of Moscovy Company.

Moscovy Company is the first important English joint-stock company and it was founded in 1555 in London. The company was granted a Russian trade monopoly. It was dissolved as late as 1917.

In order to stimulate the growth of trade in northern Russia the czar built a large port - New Kholmogory (Archangel).

When returning to England Richard Chancellor published a book on his voyage to Russia Anglorum navigatio ad Moscovitas. There is also information about this trip in two Russian chronicles: `Dvinskaja' and `Nikonovskaja'.

After Chancellor's voyage information about Russia spread quickly in England. Moreover, some phenomena and events of Russia were depicted in William Shakespeare's works Henry V and Macbeth and in Christopher Marlowe's play The Massacre at Paris and Tamburlaine the Great. Russia was also mentioned in John Webster's play The White Devil and Thomas Middleton's comedy The Roaring Girl. Robert Green tells us about the daughter of the Russian emperor in his work Pandosto (Ocherki, http://russianculture.ru/brit/brit3.htm). Thus because of the fact that Russia was frequently mentioned in the literary works of this time people in Britain knew a great deal about the country.

During the period of his reign czar Ivan IV (The Terrible) invited many skilled British specialists: physicians, chemists and craftsmen. British physicians Robert Jacob, Mark Ridley and Arthur Dee worked at the courtyard of Ivan IV (The Terrible).

The British specialists A. Farquarson, S. Gwyun and R. Grace were invited to Russia for the establishment of the School for Mathematical and Navigational Crafts. A. Farquarson made the first tables of logarithms and sine in Russia. Because of his fundamental knowledge the doctor of philosophy and medicine, the member of the London Royal Society Robert Areskin was appointed the head of Aptekarskij Prikaz. The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1725 and its first honourable foreign member was Hans Sloan, the president of the London Royal Society. As known, at this period many young Russians were sent abroad in order to study.

It must be mentioned that Russia was described in the writings of many English authors of this period, for instance, in Swift's Rural Life and `Candelius and Vanessa', in the second part of D. Defoe's work Robinson Crusoe. Peter I became a popular figure in Britain. In 1718 Haaron Hill published the poem `The Northern Star' which was about Peter I.

Continually, in the 18th century the ideas of the English classicism and sentimentalism were spread in Russia (Ocherki, http://russianculture.ru/brit/brit-13.htm, Ocherki, http://russianculture.ru/brit/brit14.htm).

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century Britain, the homeland of socialism, attracted many Russian intellectuals (Kaznina, http://russian-culture.ru/brit/histbr7.htm). Congresses of the Russian revolutionaries took place in London.

After the October Revolution some members of the Russian Royal family immigrated to Britain. The most influential group among Russian immigrants were Cadets lead by P.N. Miljukov. Among Russian immigrants there were also some writers, for instance, V.D. Nabokov.

After the October Revolution the interest in Russia increased gradually. In 1921 Britain was the first European country to commit a trade agreement with USSR and in 1924 England established diplomatic relations with the country.

Among famous Russian emigrants of the 1930s Bertold Ljubetkin should be mentioned. He was an architect and he represented the Russian avant-gardism in England.

At the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century a very large amount of translations of Russian literary books were made. One of the most successful Russian books translated into English was F. Dostojevsky's book The Brothers Karamasov.

In the first years after the revolution nearly twenty periodicals about Russia were issued in England. Among them there are such journals as The New Russia, Russian life, The Russian, newspapers: The Russian Outlook, The Russian Gazette, Russian Times, The Russian Economist etc. The British Russian Gazette reported on the activity of the Russian industrials. In 1923 The Slavonic and East European Review was published in London.

Thus permanent contacts between Russia and England were established in the middle of the 16th century and they have continued until now. These contacts involve trade, diplomatic and cultural relations. Therefore, people in both countries know a great deal about each other.

Furthermore, Britain was not the only English-speaking country with which Russia established cultural, diplomatic and trade contacts. Russia had also such contacts with America in the 18th century (Bernbaum, http://www.racu.org-/context/reflect_feb1997.html). In the following chapters the linguistic consequences of these contacts in English will be analysed.

2.1 Russian loan words in English

2.1.1 The lexical category of the Russian borrowings

All Russian borrowings chosen from dictionaries are nouns. Totally 59 nouns will be analyzed in this chapter and they are the following words: agitprop, babushka, balalaika, blin, Bolshevik, borzoi, boyar, bridge, chernozem, Comintern, crash, dacha, droshky, Doukhobor, galyak, glasnost, gley, gulag, Kalashnikov, kasha, kefir, kolynsky, kolkhoz, Komsomol, kopeck, kvass, Leninism, mammoth, Menshevik, muzhik, oblast, paulownia, perestroika, piroshki, podzol, politburo, polynia, pood, ruble, samarskite, samisdat, samovar, Samoyed, sastruga, seecatch, sierozem, soviet, sovkhoz, sputnik, starets, stishovite, sterlet, taiga, theremin, tovarich, troika, verst, vodka, zemstvo.

2.1.2 The meanings and the etymological characteristics of the borrowings

Main Entry: agitprop Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, from agitatsiya agitation + propaganda. Date: 1935: PROPAGANDA; especially: political propaganda promulgated chiefly in literature, drama, music, or art. agitprop adjective (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The greater perversion of capitalist consumption, according to Veblen, was its willingness to waste - a tendency captured in Soviet agitprop as `Western decadence.' (Neil, http://indyweek.com/durham/2000-02-23/rumble.html).

Main Entry: babushka Function: noun Etymology: `Russian grandmother', diminutive of baba old woman. Date: 1938. 1 a: `a usually triangularly folded kerchief for the head' b: `a head covering resembling a babushka'; 2: an elderly Russian woman (Merriam-Webster, http://www.mw.com-/home.htm). Ex.:

How to Tie a Scarf - Babushka. (Goltz, http://www.bellescarves - .com-/tie-babushka.html)

…a wonderful, smiling Russian babushka (grandmother) appeared in my doorway with a steaming bowl of Pokhelbka… (Black, http://www.travellady.com-/articles/article-realrussian.html).

Main Entry: balalaika Function: noun. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1788: a usually 3-stringed instrument of Russian origin with a triangular body played by plucking or strumming (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The varied family of Central Asian lutes is a large one, and one of the most popular and best known is the balalaika, with its unique triangular body shape

(Brown, http://www.larkinam.com/MenComNet/Business/Retail/Larknet/ArtBala-laika).

Main Entry: blin Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural blini or blinis. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1888: a thin often buckwheat pancake usually filled (as with sour cream) and folded (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com-/home.htm). Ex.:

When the guests arrived, we served them caviar on buckwheat blini, those tiny little pancakes

… (Atkinson, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/-2001/-0527/-taste.html)

Main Entry: Bolshevik Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural Bolsheviks also Bolsheviki. Etymology: Russian bol'shevik, from bol'shii greater. Date: 1917. 1: a member of the extremist wing of the Russian Social Democratic party that seized power in Russia by the Revolution of November 1917: 2: COM-MUNIST. Bolshevik adjective (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home - .htm). Ex.:

Would the Bolsheviks of 1917 act any differently? (Kreis, http://www - .historyguide.org/europe/lecture7.html)

CanadianBolsheviks. (Angus, http://www.pathfinderpress.com/d600/628.shtml).

Main Entry: borzoi Function: noun. Etymology: Russian borzoi, from borzoi `swift'. Date: 1887: `any of a breed of large long-haired dogs of greyhound type developed in Russia especially for pursuing wolves' - called also Russian wolfhound (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

to realize that they are dogs, too…accidents could happen when a Borzoi or even a pack of them chases a fast moving «object» under the full urge to hunt it down… (Ruoff, http://www.european-borzoi.de/working/obidience_e.htm)

Main Entry: boyar Variant(s): also boyard. Function: noun. Etymology: Russian boyarin. Date: 1591: `a member of a Russian aristocratic order next in rank below the ruling princes until its abolition by Peter the Great' (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

On the other hand, the boyars and the lesser members of the ruling class were clearly not vassals of the princes. (Rempel, http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/russia/lectures/05feudalism.html)

bridge NOUN: `Any of several card games derived from whist, usually played by four people in two partnerships, in which trump is determined by bidding and the hand opposite the declarer is played as a dummy.' ETYMOLOGY: From earlier biritch (influenced by bridge1), from Russian birich, a call, from Old Russian birich. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). http:- //www.bartleby.com/61/94/B0479400.html). Ex.:

Gates, a bridge fanatic who frequently plays the game online… (Ewalt, http:// -www.commweb.com/article/IWK20020823S0008)

Main Entry: chernozem Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, from chлrnyi `black `+ zemlya `earth'. Date: 1841: `any of a group of dark-coloured zonal soils with a deep rich humus horizon found in regions (as the grasslands of central No. America) of temperate to cool climate' - chernozemic adjective (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The lower limit of the optimal soil moisture on Chernozem for potato is 75-80% of field water capacity (FWC)… (BosЎjak, Pejic, http://www.actahort.org/books/449/-449_29.htm)

Main Entry: Comintern Function: noun. Etymology: Russian Komintern, from Kommunisticheskii Internatsional Communist International. Date: 1923: the Communist International was established in 1919 and dissolved in 1943 (Mer-riam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The 2nd world congress adopted a list of 21 conditions to determine the admission of parties to the Comintern (Sheehan, http://www.comms.dcu.ie/-sheehanh-/comintern1.htm).

Main Entry: crash Function: noun. Etymology: probably from Russian krashe-nina `coloured linen'. Date: 1812: `a coarse fabric used for draperies, towelling, and clothing and for strengthening joints of cased-in books' (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

Verdugo linen crash for summer suits… (Kiplinger, http://www.fabrics.net/joan-1000.asp)

Main Entry: dacha Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, from Old Russian, `land allotted by a prince'; akin to Latin dos' dowry'. Date: 1896: `a Russian country cottage used especially in the summer'. (Merriam-Webster, http:// -www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The plane came down 20 miles outside the Siberian city of Irkutsk in the middle of Russia's southern border, close to the shores of Lake Baikal, where many locals have their dacha, or summerhouse (Aris, http://millenniumdebate.org/tel4-july012.htm).

Main Entry: droshky Variant(s): also drosky. Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural droshkies also droskies. Etymology: Russian drozhki, from droga `pole of a wagon'. Date: 1808: `any of various 2 - or 4-wheeled carriages used especially in Russia' (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

«The droshky stopped in front of a three-story house.» (Pushkin, http://faculty.-virginia.edu/dostoevsky/texts/postmaster.html)

Main Entry: Doukhobor Function: noun. Etymology: Russian dukhobor, dukhoborets, from dukh spirit + borets wrestler. Date: 1876: `a member of a Christian sect of 18th century Russian origin emphasizing the duty of obeying the inner light and rejecting church or civil authority'. (Merriam-Webster, http:// -www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The Doukhobors practice a form of Christianity and believe that Jesus Christ is a spiritually advanced teacher and example to others (Androsoff, http://www.ual-berta.ca/~jrak/doukhobors.htm)

galyak NOUN: `A flat glossy fur made from the pelt of a stillborn lamb or kid'. ETY-MOLOGY: Russian dialectal golyak, `sheepskin coat of smooth fur', from Russian goly, `smooth', `bald', `naked'. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com/61/64/G0026400.html). Ex.:

«…adding 1/2 collar of Galyak for collar of coat» (A & L. Tirocchi Databases, http://tirocchi.stg.brown.edu/database/transact_db.php3? ledgerID=L2685&client=C420).

Main Entry: glasnost. Function: noun. Etymology: Russian glasnost', literally, `publicity', from glasnyi `public', from glas' voice', from Old Church Slavonic glasu - more at CALL. Date: 1986 (Merriam-Webster, http://www.mw.com/-home.htm). Ex.:

Mikhail Gorbachev began to promote a policy of openness in public discussions about current and historical problems. The policy was termed glasnost [`openness'] (The Colombia Electronic Encyclopedia, http://www.factmonster.com/-ce6/history/A0820965.html).gley NOUN: `A sticky, bluish-gray subsurface layer of clay found in some waterlogged soils'. ETYMOLOGY: Russian dialectal gle, clay. (The American Her-itage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com/61/93/G0-149300.html). Ex.:

The profile is considered to be that of a ground - water gley, a modification of the calcareus ground water gley found elswere… (Wald, http://www.caithness.org/community/social/text/dunnetbayarea/dunnetarticle.htm)

Main Entry: gulag Function: noun. Usage: often capitalized. Etymology: Russian, from Glavnoe upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh lagerei `chief administration of corrective labor camps'. Date: 1974: the penal system of the U.S.S.R. consisting of a network of labor camps; also: LABOR CAMP. (Merriam-Web-ster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

He ….was subsequently sentenced to five years internment in the infamous GULAG prison camps of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia

(Ireland, http://www.ripnet.org/-besieged/pleads.htm http://www.ripnet.org/besieged/pleads.htm).

Kalashnikov NOUN: Any of a series of assault rifles of Soviet design, especially the AK-47. ETYMOLOGY: After Mikhail Timofeevich `Kalashniko'v (born 1919), Soviet arms engineer (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com/61/54/K0005450.html). Ex.:

…the adolescent human male equipped with a Kalashnikov-an AK-47 assault rifle

(Klare, http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1999/jf99/jf99klare.html).

Main Entry: kasha Function: noun. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1808. 1: `a porridge made usually from buckwheat groats'; 2: `kasha grain before cooking' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com-/home.htm). Ex:

Schi and kasha is the meal of Russian (http://www.russianfoods.com/cuisine/-article00010/default.asp).

1. cup of medium or coarse kasha (Perez, http://www.jewish-food.org/-recipes-/kashties.htm)

Main Entry: kefir Function: noun. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1884: `a beverage of fermented cow's milk' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.-htm). Ex.:

Hi, this page is dedicated to sharing live Kefir grains among Kefir and yogurt lovers.

(Smajlovic, http://www.torontoadvisors.com/Kefir/kefir.htm).

kolinsky NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. kolinskies 1. A northern Eurasian mink (Mustela siberica) having a dark brown coat with tawny markings. 2. The fur of this animal. ETYMOLOGY: Russian kolinski, of Kola, from Kola, Kola Peninsula. (The Am-erican Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com-/61/95/K0099500.html). Ex.:

Kolinsky - The finest sable, they are ideal for watercolor. The best hairs come from Siberian Kolinsky. (Colburn, http://www.creativecauldron.com/article-Brushes.shtml)

Main Entry: kolkhoz Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural kolkhozy or kolkhozes Etymology: Russian, from kollektivnoe khozyaistvo `collective farm'. Date: 1921: `a collective farm of the U.S.S.R' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.-m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

In 14% of the cases collectives within the kolkhoz distributed the shares to those worthy of it, i.e. hardworking members of the kolkhoz (Eckert. Elwert, http:// -www.gtz.de/orboden/eckert/eck2_3.htm).

Main Entry: Komsomol Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, from Kommunisticheskii Soyuz Molodezhi, `Communist Union of Youth'. Date: 1925: a Russian Communist youth organization' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.mw.com/-home.htm). Ex.:

The Party has prescribed a certain amount of responsibility to the Komsomol, but it is questionable as to how much political influence is vested there (Minich, http://www.minich.com/portfolio/Komsomol.html).

Main Entry: kopeck Variant(s): or kopek Function: noun. Etymology: Russian kopeika. Date: 1698 - see ruble at MONEY table (Merriam - Webster, http:// -www.mw.com/home.htm). Ex.:

They were issued in six standard denominations: 10, 25 and 50 kopecks and 1, 5 and 10 roubles.

(Hoge, http://www.money.org/sealskin2.html)

Main Entry: kvass Function: noun. Etymology: Russian kvas. Date: circa 1553: `a slightly alcoholic beverage of eastern Europe made from fermented mixed cereals and often flavored' (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The beverage enjoyed by Muscovites, other city dwellers and villagers throughout Russia is kvass, a lacto-fermented beverage made from stale rye bread (Fallon, http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/kvass.htm)

Main Entry: Leninism Function: noun. Date: 1918: `the political, economic, and social principles and policies advocated by Lenin; especially: `the theory and practice of communism developed by or associated with Lenin' - Leninist noun or adjective - Leninite noun or adjective (Merriam-Webster, http:// -www.m-w.com/home.htm) Ex.:

While Marxists may find Taber's book useful, anarchists no doubt would extend and sharpen his critique of Leninism. (O'Connor, http://library.nothingness - .org/articles/all/en/display/366)

Main Entry: mammoth. Function: noun. Etymology: Russian mamont, mamot. Date: 1706. 1: `any of a genus (Mammuthus) of extinct Pleistocene elephants distinguished from recent elephants by highly ridged molars, usually large size, very long tusks that curve upward, and well-developed body hair'. 2: `something immense of its kind <the company is a mammoth of the industry'. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

…maybe the day will come when our grandchildren will be able to see a living mammoth at their local zoo (Eschberger, http://www.suite101.com/-article.cfm/paleontology/69777)

Author of the mammoth `Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do. (Vices and Victimless Crimes'. http://www.free-market.net/directorybytopic/consensual/)

Main Entry: Menshevik Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural Mensheviks or Mensheviki. Etymology: Russian men'shevik, from men'she' less; from their forming the minority group of the party'. Date: 1907: `a member of a wing of the Russian Social Democratic party before and during the Russian Revolution believing in the gradual achievement of socialism by parliamentary methods in opposition to the Bolsheviks'; - Menshevism noun - Menshevist noun or adjective (Merriam - Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The Mensheviks, along with the other revolutionary groups, were defeated by the Bolsheviks… (the Oxford English Reference Dictionary, http://www.xrefer.-com/entry/408591)

Main Entry: muzhik Function: noun. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1568: `a Russian peasant' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

Out of a mob of muzhiks repressed by feudal slavery of accursed memory, this revolution created, for the first time in Russia, a people beginning to understand its rights… (Lenin, http://www.marx2mao.org/Lenin/FADS11.html).

Main Entry: oblast Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural oblasts also oblasti Etymology: Russian oblast'. Date: circa 1886: `a political subdivision of Imperial Russia or of a republic in the U.S.S.R'. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

`ST Peterburg and Leningrad Oblast Inwestment Laws - Update' (Kim, http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/9911stpete. Htm).

Main Entry: paulownia Function: noun Etymology: New Latin, from Anna Pavlovna died 1865 Russian princess. Date: 1843: `any of a genus (Paulownia) of Chinese trees of the snapdragon family; especially: one (P. tomentosa) widely cultivated for its panicles of fragrant violet flowers' (Merriam-Webster, http:// -www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

Advance Investments says paulownia trees originated in East Asia and are cultivated in Australia and the United States. (Tankersley, http://www.ruralnews - .co.nz/article.asp? channelid=55&articleid=1229)

Main Entry: perestroika Function: noun. Etymology: Russian perestroika, literally, `restructuring'. Date: 1986: t'he policy of economic and governmental reform instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union during the mid-1980s' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

What many fail to realize is that the policies of Glasnost-Perestroika …are rooted in and derive sustenance from Marxist-Leninist ideology (Montgomery, Farrell, http://www.newsmax.com/commentmax/print.shtml? a=2001/10/1/143126)

pirozhki VARIANT FORMS: also piroshki; PLURAL NOUN: `Small Russian pastries filled with finely chopped meat or vegetables, baked or fried'. ETYMOLOGY: `Russian, pl. of pirozhok, diminutive of pirog, dumpling' (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.-com/61/80/P0328000.html). Ex.:

The event itself features traditional Russian cuisine such as pirojki, borsch, and blini (Davis, http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~ogse-p/archives/Oct98/news6.html

Main Entry: podzol Variant(s): also podsol. Function: noun. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1908: `any of a group of zonal soils that develop in a moist climate especially under coniferous or mixed forest and have an organic mat and a thin organic-mineral layer above a light gray leached layer resting on a dark illuvial horizon enriched with amorphous clay' - podzolic adjective (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

Podzol. A zonal soil that occurs in the taiga or boreal forest regions of the world, where winters are cold, summers are relatively short, and the yearly rainfall between 500 and 800 mm… (Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia, http://www.-xrefer.com/entry/222054)Politburo noun: Inflected forms: pl. politburos. `The chief political and executive committee of a Communist party.' Etymology: Russian, contraction of Polit(icheskoe) Byuro, `political bureau- (Merriam-Webster, http://www.mw.-com/home.htm). Ex.:

In instituting these reforms Gorbachev, the Politburo…did not depart from basic tenets of Marxist-Leninist ideology (Montgomery, Farrell, http://www.news-max.com/commentmax/print.shtml? a=2001/10/1/143126).

Main Entry: polynya Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural polynyas also polynyi. Etymology: Russian polyn'ya. Date: 1853: `an area of open water in sea ice' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

Coastal polynyas characteristically lie just beyond landfast ice… (Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/eb/article? eu=62257)

Main Entry: pood Function: noun. Etymology: Russian pud, from Old Russian, from Old Norse pund `pound' - more at POUND. Date: 1554: `a Russian unit of weight equal to about 36.11 pounds (16.38 kilograms) (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

I can fully military press a 1.5 pood kettlebell but I cannot press a 2 pood KB (Culver, http://www.dragondoor.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl? rm=mode2&articleid=19)

ruble VARIANT FORMS: also rouble NOUN: See table at currency. ETYMOLOGY: Russian rubl', from Old Russian rubl, `cut, ' `piece' (probably originally a piece cut from a silver bar), from rubiti, `to chop', `hew' (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com/61/60/R0336000.-html). Ex.:

The conversion of billions of dollars into rubles has expanded the domestic supply of base money (Bernstam. Rabushka, A. http://www.russianeconomy.-org/comments/062101.html)

samarskite NOUN: A velvet-black mineral that is a complex mixture of several rare-earth metals with niobium and tantalum oxide. ETYMOLOGY: After Col. M. von Samarski, 19th-century Russian mining official (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com/61/35/S0053500.html). Ex.:

The remaining minerals are listing according the group to which they belong…OXIDES: cerianite, chlorite, fourmarierite, hornblende…microlite, rutile, samarskite - (Y)…

(Werner, http://www.nags.net/Nags/english/articles_werner/evje/ive-land-_pegmatite_district.htm).

Main Entry: samizdat Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, from sam - self- + izdatel'stvo `publishing house'. Date: 1967: `a system in the U.S.S.R. and countries within its orbit by which government-suppressed literature was clandestinely printed and distributed; also: such literature.' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The catalogue begins with the legendary forefather of samizdat …Nikolai Glazkov, and continues with the Liyanozovo poets Evgenii Kropivnitskii, Vsevolod Nekrasov, Igor' Kholin, and Genrikh Sapgir. (Uffelmann, http://www.-artmargins.com/content/review/praeprintium.html)

Samovar NOUN: `A metal urn with a spigot, used to boil water for tea and traditionally having a chimney and heated by coals.' ETYMOLOGY: Russian: samo, self; see sem-1 in Appendix I + varit', `to boil'. (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. http://www.-bartleby.com/61/57/S0055700 - .html). Ex.:

The first samovars are thought to have been used for preparing tisanes of herbs, and only later became almost exclusively used for tea

(Atam, S.http://www.byegm.gov.tr/yayinlarimiz/NEWSPOT/1998/Jan/N4.htm)

Main Entry: Samoyed Variant(s): also Samoyede Function: noun. Etymology: Russian samoed Date: 1589. 1: `a member of any of a group of peoples inhabiting the far north of European Russia and parts of northwestern Siberia'. 2: `the family of Uralic languages spoken by the Samoyed people'. 3: `any of a Siberian breed of medium-sized white or cream-colored sled dogs'. - Samoyed adjective - Samoyedic adjective (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm) Ex.:

The Samoyed people lived a seminomadic life as reindeer herders (Dannen, K. Dannen, D, http://www.samoyed.com/TheSamoyed.htm)

This language group includes Finnish, Lapp, Estonian, Magyar (Hungarian) and Samoyed (Devlin, http://www.winged-horse.com/archives/Language.htm)

Though the Samoyed may look to some like an overgrown stuffed toy, this is a rugged working breed (Dannen, K. Dannen, D. The Samoyed. http://www - .samoyed.com/TheSamoyed.htm)

sastruga VARIANT FORMS: also zastruga (z-strg, zд-) NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. sastrugi (-g) `A long wavelike ridge of snow, formed by the wind and found on the polar plains.' ETYMOLOGY: Russian dialectal zastruga: za, `beyond' + struga, `deep place into which one may fall' (sastruga. the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. http://www.bartleby.com/61/54/S0095400.html). Ex.:

«sastruga,» for instance, refers to a wind-shaped ridge of snow, sort of an elongated snow dune

(Hartman, http://www.kith.org/logos/words/lower/w.html)

seecatch NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. seecatchie (-kch) `The adult male fur seal of Alaska'. ETYMOLOGY: Russian sekach, from sech', `to cut' (seecatch. the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language.http://www.bartleby.-com/61/36/S0213600.html). Ex.:

Seecatch: A Story of a Fur Sale. (Used Book Central, Link).

Main Entry: sierozem Function: noun. Etymology: Russian serozem, from seryi `gray' + zemlya `earth'; akin to Latin humus `earth' - more at HUMBLE. Date: 1934: `any of a group of zonal soils brownish gray at the surface and lighter below, based in a carbonate or hardpan layer, and characteristic of temperate to cool arid regions.' (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

To these soils belong mountain - forestry, where loss formed 16,5% and meadow-serozem (Movsumov, http://www.toprak.org.tr/isd/isd_30.htm)

Main Entry: soviet Function: noun. Etymology: Russian sovet `council', `soviet'. Date: 1917. 1: `an elected governmental council in a Communist country'. 2 plural, capitalized a: BOLSHEVIKS b: `the people and especially the political and military leaders of the U.S.S.R.' - soviet adjective, often capitalized - soviet·-ism noun, often capitalized (Merriam-Websteer, http://www.m-w.com/home - .htm). Ex.:

Soviets and Factory Committees in the Russian Revolution (Rachleff, http://www.geocities.com/~johngray/raclef.htm)

The Soviets thus proved that life in space was possible. (Lawrence, http://www.-excaliburelectronics.com/space030101.htm

Main Entry: sovkhoz Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural sovkhozy or sovkhozes. Etymology: Russian, short for sovetskoe khozyaistvo `soviet far'. Date: 1921: `a state-owned farm of the U.S.S.R. paying wages to the workers'. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

The sovkhoz-state farm-in Butrimonys gave her an apartment and work. (Niklewicz.http://www.warsawvoice.pl/v444/neighbors.html)

Main Entry: sputnik Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, literally, `traveling companion', from s, so `with' + put' `path'. Date: 1957: `a manufactured object or vehicle intended to orbit the earth, the moon, or another celestial body'. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

Recently declassified documents reveal that it would be difficult to overstate the impact of the Soviet's launch of Sputnik on the U.S. space program

(Johnson, http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/political_economy/20255)

starets NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. startsy (stдrts) `A spiritual adviser, often a monk or religious hermit, in the Eastern Orthodox Church.' ETYMOLOGY: `Russian, elder', starets, from Old Church Slavonic starts, `elder', from star, `old'. (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.http://www.bartleby.-com/61/97/S0709700.html). Ex.:

«Do you want to hear what the special method of praying was that the starets told him about?» she asked. «(Salinger, http://www.ralphmag.org/staretsZM.html)

stishovite NOUN: `A dense tetragonal polymorph of quartz that is formed under great pressure and is often associated with meteoroid impact.' ETYMOLOGY: After Sergei Mikhailovich Stishov (born 1937), Russian mineralogist. (the Am-erican Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language http://www.bartleby - .com/61/60/S0766000.html). Ex.: