The meaning of the word "comilfo" and the role of borrowing in Russian

Any living language is a dynamically developing phenomenon. And one of the ways of development is borrowing. If you understand the system and ways of borrowing words, then the meaning of the word "comme il faut" will not be difficult to establish.

In any (especially European) language, very little primordially exclusively its words and roots, because the languages of Europe for centuries closely interacted with each other and with the languages of Asia, Africa, America and Australia (due to colonization).

Foreign tokens can come into the language both to denote new phenomena, and as new names for old phenomena. For example, in many languages there are words (companion, cranberry, vodka, cabbage soup, borsch, gingerbread and others, which call items of traditional Russian way of life). Words that have passed into international culture are borrowed from Russian. Just as Russian children ask a question about the meaning of the word "comilfo", the French are perplexed about the borsch, until they try it.

Borrowing can be of two kinds. First, there is more or less precise phonetic copying of the word and its natural adaptation for a more comfortable pronunciation. Secondly, the dismemberment of the constituent parts of the word or expression and translation of parts of the word into the language in which the borrowing takes place. So, more often, complex, multi-root words or whole expressions are borrowed. Often, in order to identify such a borrowing, one must have an extensive linguistic outlook or a phenomenal linguistic flair. For example, few people realize that the word "Orthodox" is a tracing-borrowing of the Greek word "orthodox". Throughout the centuries of history, borrowings from the languages of other peoples came to Russian.

A brief history of borrowing is this: In the X-XII centuries there appeared a lot of greekisms, that is, roots that came from the Greek, especially in the church sphere. In the 12th-14th centuries the Turks came: the Mongol yoke could not pass without a trace for the language.

Further - the times of Troubles, Cossack riots, Split - and close interaction with the Commonwealth. In Russian there are polonisms - that is, borrowing from the Polish language. Then, of course, the meaning of the word "komilfo" was not yet known.

Peter I was very fond of Dutch and German culture, and this also did not pass unnoticed for the Russian language, responding to a number of Germanisms, especially in the military and shipbuilding spheres.

In the second half of the 18th and 19th centuries, everyone was known to be crazy about France and the whole of French culture in general. The meaning of the word "komilfo" was then known to any child: "a good tone, rules of decency." In French, the phrase "comme il faut" means "as needed". Gallicisms did not keep themselves waiting and occupied many spheres of life - military, court, art, fashion. Sometimes we do not even see the Gallicisms in their native language: battalion, boa, marmalade, tights, broth, komilfo. The importance of gallicisms for the Russian language is difficult to exaggerate. They undoubtedly enriched our language with a variety of sound combinations. But now, unfortunately, many people began to forget the implications of some borrowing, and this is not comme il faut! The meaning of the word is the smallest thing you need to know about it.

Well, the twentieth century is famous for its Anglicisms and Americanisms. They came along with a fashion for jeans and McDonald's, appeared along with lean models and iPhones, sailed from the sea along with rock culture and dollars.

Undoubtedly, the 21st century, the first century of the new millennium, will also bring us new phenomena and invariably new borrowings.