The origin of the Russian language and its lexical composition

The Russian language belongs to numerous Slavic languages, which are subdivided into East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian), West Slavic (Polish, Czech, Slovak) and South Slavic (Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovian).

Origin of the Russian language

The first data, telling about its occurrence, open from the 9th century AD, at the time when the Slavic writing was being formed. Reliable information about the Slavic tribes goes back to the IV century. In these times there were already three main groups of Slavs, hence, languages. However, up until the 9th-10th centuries, when the written language arose, they were so similar in their grammatical structure and lexical composition that different tribes could easily understand each other. This indicates that the origin of the Russian language and other Slavic languages begins from the common ancient Slavonic or Old Slavonic.

In turn, the Slavic languages are part of the Indo-European languages, which also include the Greek, Latin, modern Romance, Germanic, Celtic, Baltic languages and some languages of India and Iran. It would seem that there is nothing in common between modern Persian, Albanian and Russian. However, in their comparative historical analysis, it is possible to identify some single basis, this suggests that all languages belonging to the Indo-European group had a common language "platform" for a very, very long time-the Pra-Indo-European language, from which they began their independent development. In turn, the Slavonic language was the basis of the Slavonic language, to which the Russian language belongs. The origin of any of them, thus, the process is very long, complex and quite controversial, since it is possible to establish the sources of this origin only by comparing very scanty historical data containing grains, the remains of ancient word forms and language constructions.

Origin of words in Russian

The vocabulary of the Russian modern language evolved over a very long time. The process of forming the lexical composition of each language, including Russian, is closely connected with the formation of the nation, the historical development of the people. At the heart of this process are two components: it is the native language that existed in the language since ancient times, and borrowed words that gradually become part of its lexical system.

The original vocabulary of the Russian language combines groups of words that have Indo-European, East Slavic, Old Russian and Russian proper foundations, indicating the origin of the Russian language.

Indo-European vocabulary entered the Russian of the ancient system, to which belonged the common Slavonic language. These are the words denoting the relationship: mother, father, daughter; Animals: bull, sheep; Food - bone, meat and others.

Words from the Common Slavonic language are inherited from the time of the linguistic unity of the Slavic tribes, from about VI century AD. These are terms that denote plants and flora - linden, leaf, oak, forest, boron, root, branch, millet, pea, barley, etc. This lexical group includes concepts that denote instruments of labor and labor process - hoe, weave, fabric, shuttle, forging, etc .; Words related to the topic of housing, food, household utensils, birds and animals.

Some of the words in Russian refer to the East Slavic or Old Russian vocabulary. They arose during the formation of Kievan Rus, which included the tribes of the Eastern Slavs. These are words that occur only in three Eastern Slavic languages, for example, denoting qualities, actions - good, rumble; Some degree of kinship - stepdaughter, uncle: some names of birds and animals, etc.

Actually Russian vocabulary consists of words that arose in the language already after the formation of the Great Russian nationality, when the national Russian language began to take shape and develop, from about the 17th century. These are some concepts pointing to household items and food stuffs - cabbage, cabbage, and belyasha; The designations of actions - to defuse, smash, pound; Some abstract concepts - experience, result, deception, etc.

Finally, a significant lexical group in the Russian language consists of borrowing words that have entered it in the process of cultural, trade, military, political ties with other states. Such words were gradually assimilated, i. Were part of the commonly used and gradually lost their foreign language sound. In Russian, they penetrated both from related Slavic languages, and non-Slavic. Many words were borrowed from the Greek language even in the period of unity of the Slavic tribes. Scientific vocabulary and terminology mostly came to us from Latin. Words from Turkic languages (most of them from Tatar) penetrated into Russian as a result of early cultural ties and predatory raids. One of the numerous groups is borrowing from Western European languages, which is connected with the cultural, legal, military and political reforms of the Russian state, beginning with Peter's times.

The origin of the Russian language and its lexical composition is closely connected with the emergence, formation and development of the people, the Russian nation and statehood, because language is a complex, "living", evolving "organism" that reveals and reflects the underlying processes in human society.