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 take ...

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 B.C. 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 (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

; Sr-Cr.

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

; Goth.

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

; Lat.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

; OCS

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and othe ...

; OE

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

; OHG

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...

; OIr.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writte ...

; ON

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

; PGm.

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...

; Pol. Polish; PSl.

; Russ. Russian Most of the

loanwords A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

come from

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the 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 spoken Germanic language, ...

, with other contributors being

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

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 Foo ...

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

Max Vasmer Max Julius Friedrich Vasmer (; russian: Максимилиан Романович Фа́смер, translit=Maksimilian Romanovič Fásmer; 28 February 1886 – 30 November 1962) was a Russo-German linguist. He studied problems of etymology in I ...

and

Oleg Trubachyov Oleg Nikolayevich Trubachyov (also transliterated as Trubachev or Trubačev, russian: Оле́г Никола́евич Трубачёв; 23 October 1930, in Stalingrad – 9 March 2002, in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian linguist. A re ...

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 Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Cent ...

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...

, and

Alans The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the A ...

, 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 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. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...

and

Dniester The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and t ...

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

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

.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 Ranko Matasović (born 14 May 1968) is a Croatian linguist, Indo-Europeanist and Celticist. Biography Matasović was born and raised in Zagreb, where he attended primary and secondary school. In the Faculty of philosophy at the University of ...

has raised broad objections to the body of past Iranianist research.

Antoine Meillet Paul Jules Antoine Meillet (; 11 November 1866 Moulins, France – 21 September 1936 Châteaumeillant, France) was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. He began his studies at the Sorbonne University, where he wa ...

and

André Vaillant André Vaillant (November 3, 1890 – April 23, 1977), was a French linguist, philologist and grammarian who also specialized in Slavic languages. He was born in Soissons. After studying at École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he became professor ...

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 Zbigniew Gołąb (16 March 1923, in Nowy Targ – 24 March 1994, in Chicago) was a Polish-American linguist and Slavist. He was described as "one of the world's greatest experts on the Macedonian language and the leading expert on Macedonian� ...

's approach as "methodologically unacceptable", emphasizing that initial *''x''- in Slavic has several sources, some of which have been ascertained (like

PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), sweete ...

*#''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 Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...

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 el, σημασία, ', "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 on ...

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 Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

: 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 Languages of the Indo-European family are classified as either centum languages or satem languages according to how the dorsal consonants (sounds of "K", "G" and "Y" type) of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) developed. An e ...

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, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as ...

; i.e., borrowed during a period well after Slavic prehistory (which ended 600 CE). The conclusion is that the speakers of Germanic 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 sub-branches Baltic ...

. 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 the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

, Celts populated the regions of Central Europe in which Slavs spread in the 6th and the 7th century, there may have been speakers of Celtic languages 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 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 reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celt ...

''*karwos'' ‘deer’ (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

''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 was a Western 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 avoid con ...

''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 Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

mediations are ''luk'' (onion), ''haluga'' (fence), ''koš'' (basket), ''talog'' (dregs), ''kurva'' (whore); supposedly

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 (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

,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 Venetic is an extinct Indo-European language, usually classified into the Italic subgroup, that was spoken by the Veneti people in ancient times in northeast Italy (Veneto and Friuli) and part of modern Slovenia, between the Po Delta and ...

, and Armenian 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/