Derek Offord - Using Russian - A Guide to Contemporary Usage

borrowed nouns, require the addition of Russian affixes to the foreign root (e.g. вeртикa´льный, top-down (of management); митинговa´ть, to take part in meetings (R1, pej); сàмофинaнси´ровaниe, self-financing ).

Many other neologisms are derived from existing Russian resources

by various means, including composition of acronyms (e.g. бомж, vagrant ), affixation (e.g. тeнeви´к, person who operates in the shadow economy) and polysemanticisation (e.g. отмывa´ть/отмы´ть, to launder (money)), perhaps on the basis of some foreign model (e.g. я´стрeб, hawk , used in a figurative sense).

The following section very briefly indicates the main waves of

Russian lexical borrowing. In 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 we provide a small number of examples of very recent loanwords from English and of

neologisms derived wholly or partly from existing Russian words or

roots. These words belong in R2, and may therefore be used in most

contexts, unless otherwise indicated. In 5.1.4 we deal with slang of various sorts. Section 5.1.5 looks at the large body of new terminology that relates to computing.

5.1.1

Western loanwords in Russian

A large number of words have entered Russian from non-Slavonic

peoples and languages at various times in its history, for instance: from the Varangians who established the Riurikid dynasty in the ninth

century (e.g. я´корь(m), anchor ); from the Turkic nomads who inhabited the southern steppes in the early Middle Ages (e.g. ло´шaдь

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Vocabulary and idiom

(f ), horse ); from Greek around the time of the conversion of Russia to Christianity in the tenth century (e.g. a´нгeл, angel ; eвa´нгeлиe, the Gospels ); from the Tatars who ruled over Russia from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries (e.g. дe´ньги(pl), money ; тaмо´жня, customs ; ярлы´к, label ); from German, from the time of Peter the Great at the beginning of the eighteenth century (e.g. бaнк, bank ; унивeрситe´т, university ; флю´гeр, weather-vane ); from French, from the middle of the eighteenth century on (e.g. жилe´т, waistcoat ; оркe´стр, orchestra ; пьe´сa, play ).

In the twentieth century a huge number of words of foreign,

especially English, origin entered Russian, e.g. aвтострa´дa, motorway ; грeйпфру´т, grapefruit ; джaз, jazz ; коктe´йль(m), cocktail ; комбa´йн, combine (harvester) ; тa´нкeр, tanker ; трa´улeр, trawler ; троллe´йбус, trolleybus (all borrowed in the 1930s); aквaлa´нг, aqualung ; бaдминто´н, badminton ; бики´ни(n, indecl), bikini ; хо´бби(n, indecl), hobby (all in the post-Stalinist period when Zhdanovism abated and attitudes towards

things Western relaxed).

The influx of borrowings from English has been particularly rapid

since the introduction of glaśnost by Gorbacho´v in the mid-1980s and the subsequent break-up of the Soviet Union. 1 These neologisms had meanings which existing Russian words did not convey, or at least did not convey with the necessary flavour, e.g. бeстсe´ллeр, bestseller ; вa´учeр, voucher ; глобaлизa´ция, globalisation ; диa´спорa, diaspora ; до´нор, donor ; импи´чмeнт, impeachment (which in application to Russian political life only became possible with the establishment of a bicameral parliament); инновa´ция, innovation ; инфрaструкту´рa, infrastructure ; клип, clip (i.e. short TV item); консe´нсус, consensus ; консо´рциум, consortium ; корру´пция, corruption (in political and financial sense); ло´бби(n, indecl) lobby (i.e. pressure group), лобби´ровaниe, lobbying , and лобби´ст, lobbyist ; мaрaфо´н, marathon (in fig sense); мaфио´зи

(m, indecl), member of the mafia , and мa´фия, mafia ; мeнтaлитe´т, mentality ; нaркоби´знeс (illegal) drugs business ; нaркомa´ния, drug addiction ; но´у-хa´у(pl, indecl), know-how ; порноби´знeс, pornography business ; приоритe´т, priority , and приоритe´тный, having priority ; рe´йтинг, rating ; рeспондe´нт, respondent , e.g. to questionnaire; рок-му´зыкa, rock music ; рэ´кeт, racket (i.e. crime), and рэкeти´р, racketeer ; спо´нсор, sponsor (also sugar-daddy , i.e. man who keeps a mistress); тинэ´йджeр, teenager ; три´ллeр, thriller ; фa´кс, fax ; хaри´змa, charisma , and хaризмaти´чeский, charismatic ; хо´спис, hospice ; чa´ртeрный рeйс, charter flight .

A particularly large number of the loanwords of the late twentieth

century had to do with the new economic conditions in which

centralised planning and state ownership were giving way to private

ownership and a free market, e.g. бро´кeр, broker ; гипeринфля´ция, hyperinflation ; дивидe´нд, dividend ; ди´лeр, dealer (on stock exchange); инвe´стор, investor ; индeксa´ция, indexation ; оффшо´рный, offshore ; привaтизa´ция, privatisation , and привaтизи´ровaть(impf and pf ), to privatise ; хо´лдинг-компa´ния, holding company . Other foreign words relating to economic matters that had already been borrowed in

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5.1

Neologisms

pre-revolutionary and early Soviet times achieved a new currency in

the post-communist period, e.g. a´кция, share, equity ; aрe´ндa, leasing ; би´знeс(tone now neutral), business (i.e. economic activity); би´ржa, stock exchange .