12
votes
Accepted
Почему "Венера", а не 'Венус"?
Imparisyllabic Latin words (meaning words having an extra syllable in genitive compared to nominative) are usually cited in their genitive form, as it's usually a more accurate representation of the ...
- 52.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Why is "томат" spelt without an "o" at the end?
Why on Earth it should be? Just because in other languages -ato ending are OK for nouns? Why банан and not банана? Or кофе but not кофи?
This is emotional part of an answer, and as of the facts - ...
- 37.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Рубашка -- единственное исконно-русское название предмета одежды?
Большое количество заимствованных слов, обозначающих предметы одежды, неудивительно, если вспомнить, что мода в Россию, по крайней мере, с петровских времен, приходила из-за границы. Этим же ...
10
votes
Почему Фёдор Достоевский, но Чарльз Буковски?
Транскрипция только польских фамилий даёт в русском варианте "-ий", и если это делается через английский язык, то в случаях, когда польское происхождение носителя фамилии хорошо известно, например ...
- 11.9k
8
votes
Почему Фёдор Достоевский, но Чарльз Буковски?
Общая установка на то, что иностранные фамилии остаются иностранными, даже когда они морфологически прозрачны в силу происхождения из родственных славянских языков (или даже русского). Бывала и ...
- 19.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Is "держать пари" commonly used in Russian?
It is very common as a book expression which saw a large drop in usage from early XX century.
In speech you would expect it to be Спорим or Бьюсь об заклад when more ornate. But it's in everybody's ...
- 2,665
8
votes
Почему Фёдор Достоевский, но Чарльз Буковски?
Потому что Буковски - это иностранная фамилия, и ее склонять по русским правилам не принято. Нет русских фамилий на -и, которые бы склонялись в единственном числе.
А Достоевский - русский писатель с ...
- 4,384
8
votes
Гол!... - нет - штанга!
На самом деле, хотя в стандартном немецком эта часть футбольных ворот называется (во множественном числе) Torfposten, в австрийском немецком они часто так и называются - штанги (Stangen).
Вот цитата ...
- 37.9k
7
votes
Verbs deriving from Oriental languages in terminology translating Buddhist texts
Oriental spiritual practices have not been that big part of everyday Russian life long enough for such verbs to emerge in everyday language other than in analytic form (делать + noun).
However, ...
- 52.2k
5
votes
Почему "Венера", а не 'Венус"?
In modern Italian she is Venere, in Latin one of the forms were Venĕris according to Italian Wikipedia.
In Serbian and Bulgarian she is Венера. Looks like it's nothing very special about Russian. You ...
- 2,665
5
votes
Terminology for how well steak is done
Why a new term
Doneness is a scale. Steak is not a traditional Russian dish; there are five commonly used degrees of doneness for steaks but only three established Russian translations (с кровью, ...
5
votes
Why is "томат" spelt without an "o" at the end?
Words get borrowed into the languages not necessarily from the languages they originated in, not necessarily keeping their meaning, not necessarily the way they originally sounded and not necessarily ...
- 52.2k
4
votes
Accepted
Is there a relationship between цель and "Ziel" (german)?
Just like many word of German origin it came through Polish, here’s relevant quote from wiktionary (which, can not help but notice is almost always best starting point when you have a question about ...
- 37.9k
4
votes
From where does "это" come?
Э was originally a deictic (meaning Hey, look!) particle есе / ѥсе in Old Church Slavonic that became attached to many pronouns:
Такой — этакий
Так — этак
То — это
Те — эти
It was a common feature, ...
- 2,262
3
votes
Roman and Greek loan words in Russian and Germanic languages
I think it is, although I can't prove it, or maybe I can by comparing the number of originally Latin words used in an English sentence with their number in its translation into Russian.
And it's ...
- 19.6k
3
votes
Accepted
Terminology for how well steak is done
Steak can not be regarded as a Russian dish, even бишфтекс is not the same. That's why we have to borrow the terms together with the recipe.
Those words are not considered to be Russian, and if you ...
- 4,384
2
votes
Why did the meaning of the loanword креол change?
Вторые <жители Америки> суть, которыи Криолы зовутся, от родителей Ишпанских в Америке рожденные. Пуф. Ист. 1718
http://endic.ru/fasmer/Kreol-6582.html
On this link, you can see all the Russian ...
- 4,384
2
votes
Terminology for how well steak is done
This phenomenon of using English words (medium, medium rare) in Russian language nowadays is more related to rebranding/marketing and increased interest amongst Russian youth towards Western/European ...
2
votes
Гол!... - нет - штанга!
While most of Russian football terminology has been borrowed or calqued from English indeed, there are lots of terms which are either original Russian or borrowed or calqued from other languages: ...
- 52.2k
2
votes
Is Интернационализм a French loanword?
The word originates from Latin roots inter(между) plus national(nation)(национальный,народный) and appeared in Russian as a loan word from French at the beginning of the 20 th century(according to ...
- 21.4k
2
votes
French loanwords ending in "-tion"
Just to complement Matt's answer. Your assumption is indeed false, first set of words with "-ция" was not derived from French words but rather from their Latin cognates - through Polish - for instance ...
- 37.9k
2
votes
Accepted
French loanwords ending in "-tion"
"-ция" is a rendering of Latin "-tio" rather than French "-tion". Even though some words were borrowed from French (actually in Russian many loan words were borrowed indirectly through Polish), they ...
- 15.3k
2
votes
Roman and Greek loan words in Russian and Germanic languages
I think Russian has less Latin borrowings than English (but not necessary German!) but maybe more Greek borrowings. Some of them became so much indistinguishable from Russian words that the majority ...
- 14.4k
1
vote
Words in Russian of foreign origin
Hebrew served as a major source of Russian names. For example, the erstwhile most popular name 'Иван' stems from the Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (jōħānān, “God is gracious”). Likewise, 'Михаил' comes from the ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible