Terminologia di origine slava nella lingua inglese

English contacts with Moscow began in 1553 with the arrival of Richard Chancellor, 
in the territory of the czar. He was the captain of the merchant expedition in the East, in 
search of new markets for English trade. They immediately decided to draw up a 
commercial agreement with the country they had discovered. Their expactations of good 
profits were soon widely fulfilled. Russia revealed itself a good market; the czar and his 
court were eager to have all the commodities affered by the English merchants, and in 
turn they could sell them the material necessary to England for the building of new ships. 
 
Both countries benefited from this trade: Russia could finally have contacts with the 
West and put an end to its isolation from the world; England, on its side, could improve 
its economy by developing a profitable commerce. The opening of a new market route 
that led through Russia into Persia and the Middle East made the good relationship, 
established between Queen Elizabeth I and Czar Ivan IV, even more important. The 
English monarch and the czar tried to keep their “friendship” alive in every possible way 
and the letters of Elizabeth and her successors to the emperors of Russia are important 
documents testifying to the close relationship existing between two countries that have 
always appeared so distant and different. 
But the Anglo-Russian relationship has not been continuous; there have been times 
when the two countries looked at each other rather coldly. 
The first approach in 1553 seemed the beginning of a good friendship but the 
following century witnessed a sudden break of almost every contact. Then, in the 
eighteenth century thanks to the new policy of the czar Peter I, contacts between Russia 
and England were resumed. The czar, not only wanted to re-open the trade, but intended 
to give way to frequent cultural exchanges that could allow his country to become one of 
the great Powers of Europe. 
At this time, many Englishmen travelled in Russia and, vice-versa, many Russians 
spent long periods working and studying in England. The frequent exchanges of visitors 
favoured a mutual understanding between the two peoples and this brought to light the 
differences that existed between the two countries.  
If in the time of Elizabeth and Ivan these differences were not so evident, now they 
were slowly driving them apart. In the sixteenth century, besides the fact that Ivan was 
a tyrant and Elizabeth a more democratic monarch, the two nations were in a similar 
situation, that is, they were growing and making every possible effort to become an 
empire. 
But in the eighteenth century while Western Europe, under the influence of the 
Enlightment, preached freedom, democracy and the defence of human rights, in Russia 
the monarch still had full powers and governed the nation ignoring the existence of the 
basic rights of man. 
The gradual differentiation of the cultural and political situation of England and 
Russia was the main cause of the end of all relations, in the twentieth century, England 
found itself defender of the principles of consumerism while Russia declared “war” on any 
country that did not accept the ideals of Communism. 
Having a general idea of the events that brought Russians and Englishmen 
together, as well as those that drove them apart, we are provided with the basis on 
which to build a more subtle analusis of the cultural background that characterized each 
single period (either of friendship or disagreement). It is interesting as well as important 
to illustrate the behaviour of England towards Russia and the consideration that the 
English people had about that country. 
Although many prejudices die hard, as time passed, the mentality changed and, 
starting from the sixteenth century and ending with the 1980s, it is possible to notice a 
gradual change in the opinion that Englishmen had of Russia. 
At the beginning, the first approach towards this far-away country was 
characterized mainly by curiosity. Everything was new: the landscape, the people, their 
way of living etc… All this was accompanied by a great number of stories and yarns by 
the merchants of the Muscovy Company that did not exactly tell the truth. Books on 
Russia were not reliable as they were imprecise in their descriptions and the authors did 
not interest themselves in deepening their observations. Most of all, their stories 
appeared to be only legends. 
In the eighteenth century, when Russia was no longer a nation to be discovered, 
part of the English people (the most educated, the intellectuals) took interest in the 
aspects of the life of that country that had previously been ignored. Good examples were 
the translations of novels, essays and sermons from Russian that could give to the 
English public an idea of what kind of cultural activities there were in Eastern Europe. In 
any case it must be remembered that prejudices born in the past centuries were still 
alive. 
My sudy on this subject leads to the following conclusion: England, strong in its 
national pride, did not give other countries the chance to show their own cultural and 
social echievements. It is also true, however, that Russia in the time of Ivan IV was not a 
modern country and lived mainly as in the Middle Ages. But even, when under Peter I 
and Catherine II, native writes acheved great heights and could be considered equal to 
the famous writers of Western Europe, Englishmen did not believe it possible. 
The low consideration of the Russian language, due to the fact that it seemed 
incomprehensible was the main reason for the refusal to approach that language closer. 
A negative attitude towards foreign languages has always been a peculiar feature of the 
Anglo-Saxon people, but this was particularly true towards Russian. Barbarian, primitive, 
impossible to read and speak: these were the adjectives used to describe that language. 
And this is exaclty what this work wants to demonstrate. Though the contacts 
(commercial and diplomatic) between the two countries have been frequent as well as 
lasting, English does not have in its vocabulary as many Slavonic words as those of other 
languages. The few Slavonic words found in the English vocabulary (a little over 100) are 
the concrete proof of the little importance that the “friendship” between England and 
Russia has always represented. 
The core of the thesis is in fact the analysis of these Russian words: their origin, 
their importance and their development in the English language. Each group, in which 
the words examined have been divided, shows exaclty what kind of a lexicon was 
considered necessary by the Englishmen in the different periods of their intercourse with 
Russia. 
 
In the first group all the words, that appeared in English in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, are collected; these define certain peculiar aspects of local life, 
certain kinds of animals found in the territory and finally titles of some local authorities. 
All these words were useful to the English for survival in that country: they needed to 
know who they had to apply to, in order to arrange thair trade, for example the czar; the 
names of the products they were buying from the people, like sable fur; and what they 
could use to transport them, a droshky or a tarantass. The second group of words follows 
tha same principle as the first. It contains the lexicon necessary for dealing with 
everyday life in that country and it was strictly connected with commercial business. That 
is the reason why in these two groups there are words like sable or sevruga, the first 
known for its fur and the second for its caviar; words like droshky or tarantass that were 
used for the long journeys as the only means of transportation available in that country. 
Among these words are: czar or hospodar that were very useful to the visitors 
when they had to ask for the local authority and when they had to address them during 
official ceremonies (the Russians considered the respect of titles extremely important). 
The last group, on the contrary, is very different from the others, the lexicon in this 
case is mainly political. The reason of this is that the new social order established after 
the Revolution of 1917 was totally new to everyone and therefore there was not an 
appropriate lexicon to define the situation in its various aspects. For the occasion, new 
words were created in Russian and soon the new vocabulary entered the English 
language. Among the words best known by everybody are: Bolshevik and kolkhoz, Cheka 
and Ogpu which are symbols of the new Communist regime created by Lenin and Stalin. 
All these words evoke something terrible, that is, the negative experience of the 
Communist tyranny in the Eastern European countries. Nevertheless, in this group words 
can be found that represent the breath of freedom given by the policy of Gorbachev in 
the ‘80s. these words are perestrojka and glasnost, the catchwords of a new era. 
0. PREMESSA 
 
0.1. Scopo della tesi 
 
Chi si interessasse di cercare in un dizionario di lingua inglese quante sono le parole 
di origine slava rimarrebbe stupido dal numero irrilevante di esse; naturalmente parliamo 
di termini entrati nell'uso comune. La tesi si occupa di questo argomento affiancandolo 
con una necessaria analisi storico-culturale dei due mondi (slavo e inglese) dal momento 
in cui si ebbero i primi contatti. 
Una profonda conoscenza e comprensione degli elementi peculiari che 
caratterizzavano le due diverse culture è indispensabile come base per l'analisi 
linguistica, principale oggetto di studio di questa tesi. l'inquadramento storico fornisce 
un'idea generale di tre diversi periodi in cui le due nazioni hanno avuto contatti (i secoli 
XVI, XVIII e XX); il confronto mette in evidenza le profonde diversità esistenti tra 
Inghilterra e Russia dai punti di vista politico, sociale e culturale. 
Si incomincia, così, a intravedere quale può essere stato uno (forse il principale) dei 
motivi di un tale scarso afflusso di termini slavi nel lessico inglese: oltre alle già 
accennate differenze culturali e storiche, l'indifferenza (o meglio la sufficienza) con la 
quale gli inglesi hanno guardato nei periodi storici suddetti alla nazione russa, 
geograficamente molto distante dall'Inghilterra ma soprattutto culturalmente così diversa 
da quella britannica. 
 
0.2. Situazione degli studi 
 
Va anzitutto sottolineato che la bibliografia interessante l'argomento è scarsissima e 
questa è una conferma della poca attenzione che i linguisti britannici hanno dedicato al 
tema. Esso potrebbe apparire poco rilevante, e invece aiuta a comprendere l'importanza 
degli atteggiamenti mentali dei popolo nella fondazione e nello sviluppo dei loro rapporti 
culturali. 
La bibliografia utilizzata è sostanzialmente di tre generi: quella che ha fornito le 
informazioni per l'inquadramento storico-politico, quella di carattere socio-culturale e 
infine quella di carattere linguistico necessaria per l'analisi etimologica e semantica dei 
termini considerati. 
Da quel che abbiamo detto si evince che la ricerca di fonti informative su di un 
argomento in buona parte sconosciuto è stata difficile. 
I testi consultati nella facoltà di studi slavi ed est-europei dell'università di Londra 
hanno comunque fornito gli elementi necessari alla stesura di una tesi che oltre all'analisi 
tecnica della lingua ha voluto dare un'idea più completa di tutto ciò che ha giocato un 
ruolo importante in questo processo di acquisizione linguistica. 
Particolarmente importante è stata la consultazione di due autori: Tolstoy (1875) e 
Fletcher (1966). Importanti, il primo perché fornisce una testimonianza dei rapporti tra 
Ivan IV ed Elisabetta I (XVI sec.), rapporti che emergono dalla corrispondenza dei due 
sovrani; il secondo perché è testimonianza del già accennato atteggiamento di sufficienza 
degli inglesi nei confronti dei russi, esso fornisce, inoltre una serie di vocaboli slavi che 
col tempo sono diventati parte integrante del lessico inglese. 
Per una precisa analisi linguistica sono stati utilizzati l'Oxford English Dictionary e 
l'Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology affiancati dal dizionario monoligue russo Ozegov. 
0.3. Articolazione del lavoro 
 
La divisione della tesi in tre capitoli è stata dettata dalla necessità di giungere 
all'analisi dettagliata dei prestiti linguistici in questione solo dopo aver dato gli elementi di 
giudizio utili alla comprensione del fenomeno. 
Il primo capitolo fornisce le informazioni sul panorama storico delle due nazioni 
mettendo in evidenza le caratteristiche tipiche di entrambe. In questo capitolo, suddiviso 
in tre sottocapitoli che trattano ciascuno uno dei periodi storici citati (XVI, XVIII e XX 
sec.) vengono inoltre spiegati i motivi e le circostanze che hanno determinato il tipo di 
relazione istaurata tra Russia e Inghilterra. 
Nel secondo capitolo l'accento si posa soprattutto sulle conseguenze dei contatti 
intercorsi tra i due popoli. Questo significa illustrare esclusivamente le reazioni del popolo 
inglese di fronte ad un popolo da esso così lontano geograficamente ma soprattutto 
culturalmente. 
Anche questo capitolo segue la stessa divisione in periodi del capitolo precedente; 
ogni paragrafo presenta citazioni tratte da pubblicazioni dell'epoca nelle quali è evidente 
l'atteggiamento di superiorità e di sostanziale disprezzo riservato ai russi. 
Il terzo e ultimo capitolo entra nel vivo del discorso, mostrando, attraverso esempi 
tratti da testi inglesi, quali furono le parole che l'inglese acquisì dalle lingue slave. 
Per una migliore comprensione del processo che ha portato all'ingresso di una parte 
(sia pure irrisoria) del lessico slavo nella lingua inglese, è stato compilato un glossario 
che oltre a fornire l'analisi etimologica di ciascun termine, illustra anche i cambiamenti 
che quest'ultimo ha subito nel tempo. 
N.B.: per quanto riguarda la trascrizione dei termini russi in caratteri latini è stata 
utilizzata la grafia italiana ad esclusione della parte riguardante il glossario dove si è 
mantenuta la trascrizione usata nella lingua inglese.