Numerous

lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms ta ...

s that are reconstructable for

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

have been identified as borrowings from the languages of various tribes that Proto-Slavic speakers interacted with in either prehistoric times or during their expansion when they first appeared in history in the sixth century (the Common Slavic period).Language abbreviations used in this article: Av.

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

; Sr-Cr.

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

; Goth. Gothic; Lat.

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

; OCS

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

; OE

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

; OHG

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

; OIr.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

; ON

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

; PGm.

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

; Pol. Polish; PSl.

; Russ. Russian Most of the

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

s come from

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...

, with other contributors being

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, and Turkic. Slavic loanwords sparked numerous debates in the 20th century, some of which persist today. Linguists

Max Vasmer Max Julius Friedrich Vasmer (; ; 28 February 1886 – 30 November 1962) was a Russian and German linguist. He studied problems of etymology in Indo-European, Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages and worked on the history of Slavic, Baltic, ...

and Oleg Trubachyov compiled and published academic dictionaries on Slavic languages that are used worldwide in academia and are considered the most accurate sources for Slavic etymology. Another etymological dictionary written by G.P. Cyganenko takes a more modern look at the theories presented by Vasmer and others, and mostly explains origins for words that are most common and is not as extensive as the works of Vasmer or Trubachev.

Slavic and Iranian

Slavs in the Proto-Slavic era came into contact with various Iranian tribes, namely

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

, and

Alans The Alans () were an ancient and medieval Iranian peoples, Iranic Eurasian nomads, nomadic pastoral people who migrated to what is today North Caucasus – while some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded ...

, who were present in vast regions of eastern and southeastern Europe in the first centuries CE. The names of two large rivers in the centre of Slavic expansion,

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

and

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

, are of Iranian origin, and Iranian toponyms are found as far west as modern-day

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

.Matasović 2008:47 For a long time there have been investigators who believe that the number of loanwords from Iranian languages in Proto-Slavic is substantial. However, other Slavists claimed that confirmed Iranianisms in Slavic are few in number, and Ranko Matasović has raised broad objections to the body of past Iranianist research. Antoine Meillet and André Vaillant explain the alleged lack of Iranianisms in Slavic: "the civilization of warrior and partially nomadic tribes, like Scythian and Sarmatian, could have exerted only a cursory influence on the patriarchal civilization of Slavs".Meillet & Vaillant 1934:508 Matasović criticizes Zbigniew Gołąb's approach as "methodologically unacceptable", emphasizing that initial *''x''- in Slavic has several sources, some of which have been ascertained (like PIE *#''ks''-) and others which have not. Matasović recommends that instances of initial *''x''- in Slavic should first be explained by recourse to regular Slavic sound laws, and that Iranian should be proposed as a source if and only if the etymon has been attested in Iranian, and if and only if there is additional phonetic evidence to support the proposal. Meillet and Vaillant considered that the

semasiological Semasiology (from , ', "signification") is a discipline of linguistics concerned with the question "what does the word ''X'' mean?". It studies the meaning of words regardless how they are pronounced. It is the opposite of onomasiology, a branc ...

development of the Proto-Slavic word for ''god'' was an Iranianism. In both Slavic and Indo-Iranian, the root that denotes ''deity'' also denotes ''wealth'', ''share'' (Proto-Slavic *''bagu'' > Common Slavic *''bogъ'') and ''Indo-Iranian'' (Old Persian '' baga'', Sanskrit '' bhága''). One of the Iranian-Slavic lexical isoglosses is a lone

adposition Adpositions are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositions (which precede their complemen ...

: Old Persian '' rādiy'', OCS '' radi''.

Slavic and Germanic

It is uncertain when Proto-Slavic speakers first came into contact with Germanic tribes: among Common Balto-Slavic words that have centum reflexes, none of them have typical Germanic sound-features. As for Baltic languages, all their prehistoric Germanic loanwords either come from Slavic or are borrowed from

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic; Danish and ; ; ; ) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic in the first centuries CE. It is the earliest stage of a c ...

; i.e., borrowed during a period well after Slavic prehistory (which ended 600 CE). The conclusion is that the Proto-Germanic speakers must have lived far from the area of the subsequent spread of speakers of

Proto-Balto-Slavic Proto-Balto-Slavic (PBS or PBSl) is a reconstructed hypothetical proto-language descending from Proto-Indo-European (PIE). From Proto-Balto-Slavic, the later Balto-Slavic languages are thought to have developed, composed of the Baltic and Sla ...

. Gothic loanwords into Slavic (as opposed to Baltic) occur much more frequently. There follows a list of words which are generally held to be Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic: * PSl. *''asilu'', donkey (OCS ''osьlъ'') < Goth. ''asil''- (< Lat. ''asellus''); * PSl. *''bergu'', hill (OCS ''brěgъ'') < Germanic *''bergaz'' (cf. German ''Berg''); Many scientists have rejected this theory of Germanic origin of the word and rather consider it an Indo-European cognate. * PSl. *''bjōda'', bowl (OCS ''bljudo'') < Goth. ''biuda''; * PSl. *''bōkū'', letter (OCS ''buky'') < Goth. ''bōkō''; * PSl. *''činda'', child, infant (OCS ''čędo'') < Germanic *''kinda'' (cf. German ''Kind''); This word was originally believed to be of Germanic origin but many scientists have refuted that theory and the word is now considered to be an Indo-European cognate. * PSl. *''gardu'', enclosed space (OCS ''gradъ'') < Goth. ''gards'', court; The theory of this word being a Germanic loan has been rejected by many scientists, and it is now considered to be of Slavic origin. * PSl. *''ganeznantej'', to grow healthy (OCS ''goneznǫti'') < Goth. ''ganisan''; * PSl. *''kōpītej'', to buy (OCS ''kupiti'') < Goth. ''kaupjan'' (< Lat. ''caupo'') (cf. German ''kaufen''); * PSl. *''kōsītej'', to test, taste (OCS ''kusiti'') < Goth. ''kausjan''; * PSl. *''kuningu'', duke (OCS ''kъnędzь'') < Germanic *''kuningaz'' (cf. OE ''cyning'', OHG ''chuning''); * PSl. *''lēku'', cure (OCS ''lěkъ'') < Germanic *''lēka'' (cf. Gothic ''lēkareis'', doctor); * PSl. *''lōku'', onion, leek (OCS ''lukъ'') < Germanic *''lauka''- (cf. OHG ''lauh'', OIcel. ''laukr''); * PSl. *''nōta'', cattle (OCS ''nuta'') < Germanic *''nauta''; * PSl. *''ōseringu'', ear-ring (OESl. ''userjazъ'') < Goth. ''ausihriggs''; * PSl. *''pulku'', folk (OCS ''plъkъ'') < Germanic *''fulkan'' (cf. OE, OHG ''folc''); * PSl. *''skulingu'', small money (OCS ''skъlędzь'') < Goth. ''skilling''; * PSl. *''skatu'', cattle (OCS ''skotъ'') < Germanic *''skatta'' (cf. German ''Schatz'', treasure); * PSl. *''smakū'', fig (OCS ''smoky'') < Goth. ''smakka''; * PSl. *''šelmu'', helmet (OCS ''šlěmъ'') < Germanic *''helma''- (cf. OHG ''helm''); * PSl. *''tūnu'', fence (OCS ''tynъ'') < Germanic *''tūnaz'' < Celtic *''dūno'', fortification (cf. OIr ''dún''); * PSl. *''xlaiwu'', pigsty (OCS ''xlěvъ'') < Germanic *''hlaiwan''; * PSl. *''xlajbu'', bread (OCS ''xlěbъ'') < Germanic *''hlaibaz''; * PSl. *''xulmu'', hummock (OCS ''xъlmъ'') < Germanic *''hulma''-; * PSl. *''xūzu, xūsu'', house (OCS ''xyzъ'') < Germanic *''hūsan'', *''hūzan''; * PSl. *''želdān'', to compensate damage (OCS ''žlěsti'') < Germanic *''geldan'', to buy out. This set of loanwords covers diverse semantic fields, fields from which languages readily borrow words: buildings (*''xūzu'',*''tūnu''); terrain features (*''xulmu'', *''bergu''); social interaction and societal structure (*''pulku'', *''želdān'', *''kōpītej'', *''činda''); animals and cattle (*''asilu'', *''skatu'').

Slavic and Celtic

By the time Slavs start to appear in historical records, Celtic languages were already limited to the British Isles and modern-day France. However, during the age of

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

, Celts populated the regions of Central Europe in which Slavs spread in the 6th and the 7th century, there may have been Celtic languages speakers in the regions of Slavic expansion. Two likely examples of direct borrowings from Celtic are # PSl. *''karwā'' ‘cow’ (Pol. ''krowa'', Russ. '' koróva'', SCr. ''krȁva''), postulated by some to be a feminine derivative of a lost masculine noun supposedly borrowed from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

''*karwos'' ‘deer’ ( Welsh ''carw'', Breton ''karv'', Cornish ''karow''), which would in turn be a regular Celtic centum reflex of PIE '. Lithuanian ''kárvė'', whose accentuation matches that of the Slavic etymons, points to prehistorical Balto-Slavic borrowing, but this hypothesis does not take into account

Old Prussian Old Prussian is an extinct West Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to av ...

''curwis'' ‘ox’, and the Slavic protoform is usually reconstructed as PSl. *''kòrva'', inherited with incomplete satemization from an ''o''-grade PIE variant '. # PSl. *''krawu'' ‘roof’ (OCS ''krovъ'', Czech/Russ. ''krov'') is traced by some to Germanic etymons with the same meaning (OE ''hrōf'', ON ''hróf'' etc.); if Celtic mediation is assumed, from dialectal PIE *''ḱrōpo''- > Proto-Celtic *''krāfo''- (cf. MIr ''cró'' ‘enclosure’, Welsh ''crau'' ‘hovel, pigsty’). However, the Slavic preform is usually reconstructed as PSl. *''kròvъ'' and considered a derivative of *''krỳti'' ‘to cover, hide’. Furthermore, the Celtic words are unrelated to Germanic (< *''hrōfa''- < *''ḱrōpo''-), stemming instead from Proto-Celtic *''krewo''- ~ ''kruwo''-, presumably from PIE ' ‘to hide’.

Slavic and Greek

Ancient Greek words in Proto-Slavic are identified through phonetic features, some related to Greek phonetic history, others possibly Scythian-Sarmatian or Gothic mediations. Non-mediated Ancient Greek words are ''korablja'' (ark), ''koliba'' (cottage, hut), and supposedly ''trem'' (porch);

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

mediations are ''luk'' (onion), ''haluga'' (fence), ''koš'' (basket), ''talog'' (dregs), ''kurva'' (whore); supposedly Gothic mediations are ''crkva'' (church) and ''daska'' (plank).

Other Indo-European languages

Speculations as to contacts between Proto-Slavic speakers and other Indo-European languages are frequent in the literature on Slavic historical linguistics. Proposals include the Italic, Illyrian,

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

,Sorin Paliga: "Slavic *tъrgъ, Old Church Slavonic trъgъ. Their Origin and Distribution in Postclassical Times", Slavia Meridionalis 15, 2015 Instytut Slawistyki PAN, DOI: 10.11649/sm.2015.005 Venetic, and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

languages.

Notes

References

* * * Holzer, Georg. 1990. Germanische Lehnwörter im Urslavischen: Methodologisches zu ihrer Identifizierung. ''Croatica, Slavica, Indoeuropea''. Wien: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Series: Wiener Slawistisches Jahrbuch, Ergänzungsband; VIII. 59–67. * * * * * Meillet, Antoine; André Vaillant. 1934. ''Le slave commun''. Paris: H. Champion. * Saskia Pronk-Tiethoff. ''The Germanic Loanwords in Proto-Slavic''. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2013. * * https://lexicography.online/etymology/vasmer/