Borrowed words from Greek. Dictionary of Ancient Greek Culture

One of the ways of development of modern languages ​​is the method of borrowing foreign words. The Russian dictionary was no exception. Today, experts count in it almost 10% of the words that came to us from other languages. We began to use them in our speech due to various connections, relationships and contacts between states. And among these ten percent, Greek words occupy a considerable share.

The Significance of the Language of Ancient Culture

When it comes to Greece, most people tend to remember the myths of this state and the names of the gods. At the same time, we recall Archimedes and Sirtaki. And, of course, about amazing language this people. After all, it was from him that we borrowed many Greek words.

Today on Greek about 20 million people speak. Of course, on a global scale, this is not much. However, it is impossible to judge the meaning of a language only in terms of the number of speakers.

Modern Modern Greek is the heir to that used by classical Greek literature and philosophy. It is the language of the gospel and also of the early Christian church. That is why incommensurable values ​​are the meaning of his words and their relatively low prevalence.

At one time, Greece provided a huge impact to the development of world culture. This was facilitated by its philosophy and politics, literature, art and theater. All specified elements are immutable attributes modern world. However, this is not all. We have incomparably more left of Greek culture. And we are connected with it by stronger threads than we ourselves think. And these are nothing but Greek words. They, being foreign to us, have become so firmly established in our vocabulary that they seem to us primordially Russian.

The Importance of Borrowing

Sometimes the history of words is quite surprising. Sometimes she more entertaining than history the whole people. The fact is that, on the one hand, language divides people, and on the other, it serves to unite them. It is through borrowing that ethnic contacts take place and cultural, economic and social ties are established.

Historical aspect

Greek words in Russian first appeared during the existence of Kievan Rus. It was at that time that trading and economic relations between our state and Byzantium.

The first Greek words spoken by our people were related to shipping and trade. These were such terms as ship, sail and hard labor. Greek words also appeared in Russian, meaning the names of those goods that were delivered from Byzantium. Among them are the following: a lantern and a lamp, a lemon and a bed. Somewhat later, those words that sounded from the lips of sailors and merchants, the Russian people began to use everywhere. They firmly entered our everyday life and were no longer associated with trade.

But the words that came from the Greek language came to us in other ways. So, most of from borrowed words came to us thanks to Old Slavonic. Among them are memorial services and heresy, Gehenna and mite. Some compound words were also transferred from the Old Slavonic language. You can recognize them by the roots, which are “good-”, “sue-”, “good-”. Some words of Greek origin found their way into our dictionary from European languages in the 12th-19th centuries. Mostly the names various sciences, as well as political, technical and medical terms.

Some words that came from Greek entered the Russian dictionary thanks to Latin. Among them are the problem and the system, analysis and democracy.

How to recognize them?

Many words in Greek sound almost the same as in Russian. They also have a similar spelling. It's pretty easy to explain. The point is that the basis Slavic alphabet makes up the Greek alphabet. For example, the word “coffee” that we are accustomed to is pronounced in Greek as “kaphas”. "Fruit" sounds "fruit", and "soup" - "soup".

Interestingly, in vocabulary Greeks also have borrowings. They came to this people from English and Italian, Turkish, French, etc.

Where can you find Greek words?

In Russian, the terms that came to us from the state, which had a huge impact on the development of world culture, are found almost everywhere. For modern man, they have become so familiar that we simply do not think about their origin.

Greek words accompany us in everyday life and science, in art, technology, religion and politics. However, this is by no means a complete list of those areas where the words of this great people can be found.

Food

Acquaintance with borrowed Greek words can begin with our native vegetables. They are not delivered to our table from exotic countries, but grown directly in Russia. We eat them all our lives, not at all thinking about how their names got into our vocabulary.

Take, for example, such a familiar cucumber for us. This Greek word means "immature". Why exactly? Yes, because we eat green cucumbers. That is, this vegetable can be called immature.

From ancient Greek came to us and such a name as beets. By the way, this people highly appreciated this vegetable, which has many useful properties.

Another example of borrowing is the word "vinegar". When the production of this product was opened in Russia, it is not known for certain. However, it is precisely established that this is a Greek word, which means "acid" in translation.

Fritters came to us from the same language. In translation, the original word from which the name of this product was formed means “a little oil”, “olive oil”. And this is quite understandable based on the method of preparation of this dish.

Houseware

From the Greek language came to us and many names of objects that surround (or previously surrounded) us in Everyday life. Take, for example, the term "terem". It seems that this is probably a native Russian word. However, it is not. It came to us from ancient Greek, where it meant "dwelling, house."

The same can be said about the word "tub". It is difficult to point to its foreign roots. However, this word also came to us from the Greek language, where it meant pelvis.

The word “bed” is also borrowed for us. It, as mentioned above, came into the Russian language simultaneously with the development of trade relations.

One of the household items familiar to us is a lamp. And this word came into Russian from Greek. However, it managed to do quite a bit a long way. Immediately the ancient Greek word, which in translation sounds like “torch, lamp, lampada”, fell into Latin. From there it was borrowed by French and German. And it got to Russia after the "window to Europe" was cut through.

Another example is the word "lantern". It is derived from the term "torch, light, lamp". But the word "ship" originally meant "crab". From it, the name of a floating vessel familiar to us was formed.

Names

Greek words came to us along with names. The main way of their borrowing is the spread of Christianity. During the baptism of children in that period, it was customary to give the baby a Greek name. Some of them were in pairs. For example, Alexander and Alexandra, Eugene and Eugene. And these names are still in use today. But there were also those who are almost never seen. For example, man's name Anastasy. It is paired with Anastasia. Today, you can only meet a man with that name in a monastery.

Largely Greek names associated with the history and culture of the country. Let's consider them in a little more detail.

Connection with myths

Until now, the name Dmitry is found in Russian. Its origin is associated with the goddess of fertility Demeter, who was highly revered by the ancient Greeks. In translation, the name Dmitry means "dedicated to Demeter."

Another such name is Denis. This is a shortened form of the name Dionysius. There are two definitions in the dictionary. It is the name of the Greek god of winemaking, Dionysus, and also a word meaning "belonging to Dionysus."

Such a name as Artemy is presumably associated with mythology. In colloquial form, it is better known to us as Artem. One version of the origin of this name gives its interpretation as "dedicated to Artemis." She was the Greek goddess of female chastity and hunting. Another translation of the name Artem is "healthy, unharmed." This is the meaning of the corresponding Greek word.

Among the female names can be called such as:

Zinaida, meaning from "the family of Zeus, born of Zeus";
- Claudius, which is the adjective "claudus" in Greek (one of the epithets for the lame-footed Hephaestus - the god of volcanoes);
- Maya - mother of Hermes, daughter of Atlanta, nymph;
- Lada is the patroness of family happiness and love, the goddess of the moon.

Names associated with place names

We know the name Anatoly well. It is of Greek origin and in translation means "sunrise", "east".

The name Arkady also came to us from Greece. In translation, it means "inhabitant of Arcadia." This is an area that is located on the Peloponnese peninsula. AT antique period cattle breeding was well developed here. The figurative meaning of the name Arkady is the word "shepherd". Interestingly, that territory got its name from the name of the son of the nymph Callisto and Zeus. His name was Arkad or Arkas.

Among women, the name Lydia can be called. This was the name of the region in Asia Minor, which is located on its western coast.

"Talking" names

Some names denoting nobility, strength and wisdom have entered the Russian language. Perhaps the most common of them is Alexander. It is formed from the words "protect" and "man" in the form of the genitive case. Thus, the name Alexander in translation means "protector of men." The name Alexey is endowed with a similar meaning. Translated, it is “prevent”, “repel” and “protect”.

Similar in meaning is the name Andrew. It means "courageous, brave". Of the "speaking" names in Russian, the following are common:

Leonid - "like a lion";
- Peter, which in ancient Greek means "stone, rock";
- Eugene - consists of the ancient Greek words "noble" and "noble";
- Cyril - comes from the word "authority", which, in turn, is formed from the ancient Greek "master".

There are also “speaking” in Russian female names. Among them:

Galina - calmness;
- Sofia - wisdom;
- Larisa - seagull;
- Ekaterina - cleanliness.

Other words

What else has firmly entered our lexicon? Take the word "crocodile". He is also of Greek origin. From this ancient language it passed into Latin as crocodilus. And after that it got into German, English and other dictionaries.

Not many people know how the word "dragon" is translated from Greek. After all, at first glance it has latin roots. But it came there precisely from Greece, where it meant "to see clearly." In Russian, the word "dragon" is first encountered in translations made by St. Maximus the Greek. He was a Greek monk, translator and writer who lived in the 16th century. From 1518 he worked in Russia at the invitation of the Grand Duke, translating Greek manuscripts and books.

Through Latin, the word "echo" came to us, and thanks to German - "echo". The concept of "zone" came into French, and then into Russian. In the same way, the words "hero" and "warrior" came to us.

Scientific concepts

From the Greek language, words such as “notebook”, “teacher” and “school” came to us. And each of them has its own unique history.

Take the word "notebook" for example. In Russia, it has been known since the 11th century. In those days, a notebook was called four sheets of parchment sewn together, from which books were later formed. If we consider Greek words with translation, then the term "notebook", or in the original language "tetradion", had a similar meaning. But in more ancient period it was just a "four". Moreover, this word was applied to the four warriors or horses, etc.

The word "school" has its own history. In Greek, it sounded like "scholia". Its original meaning was the following: rest, free time, leisure, as well as inactivity and idleness. A slightly different meaning was given to this word by the philosopher of ancient Greece Plato. In his speech, it meant learned conversation or leisure activities. Somewhat later, Plutarch used this word as a designation for an exercise, training session or lecture. The word “school” came into our language, as is commonly believed, from Polish. And in it it turned out thanks to Latin.

The Greek word "pedagogos" in its literal translation means nothing more than "tutor". Initially, teachers were called slaves who accompanied the boys to school and brought them home from there. Somewhat later, this word began to mean "mentor" and "educator".

The above examples are only a small part of the words that came into our language from Greek. There are many more of them than it seems at first glance. It turns out that every Russian person speaks a little Greek without even knowing it.

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov in his book "On the Benefits of Reading Church Slavonic Books" wrote that Church Slavonic"rich by nature ... even more enriched from the Greek." In the Slavic language we find "Greek abundance and from there we multiply contentment Russian word, which is great in its own prosperity, and is akin to the acceptance of Greek beauties through Slovenian ... "

Try to read the words written in Greek:

What do they remind you of? Of course, you easily recognized the familiar words in them:
HISTORY, NOTEBOOK, CATALOG, PROGRAM, LITERATURE, METAPHOR, PARAGRAPH, CHRONICLE, SPACE, LAMP.

This circumstance is worthy of surprise: many letters and words in Russian and Greek are very similar in spelling. How to explain similar phenomenon?

Firstly, the fact that our Slavic alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet. Secondly, many words in Russian are of Greek origin. However, we are so used to them that we do not notice their foreign appearance. Pay attention, for example, to the words: notebook, teacher, school, Bible, Gospel, angel, apostle, icon, prosphora, catalogue, anthology, reader, alphabet, era, echo, hero, politics, dialogue, archeology, morphology, syntax, phonetics, grammar, arithmetic, mathematics, fantasy . All these words are borrowed from Greek.

known different ways borrowing words: direct borrowing and tracing.

Direct borrowing of Greek words

From school vocabulary

Consider the words: notebook, school, teacher that came to us from the Greek language. Each of them has its own story.

AT Old Russian word notebook known since the 11th century. AT Ancient Russia word notebook the scribes called four sheets of parchment, sewn together, from which a book was then obtained. Interesting that the word notebook derived from the Greek [tetradion], which had a similar value

nie, although in more ancient times this word simply meant four. It could be four warriors, four horses, etc.

The history of the word school from Greek is interesting. [sholi]. Its original meaning is "leisure, free time, rest" and even "idleness, inactivity." The ancient Greek philosopher Plato used it in a slightly different sense - "leisure activity, learned conversation." And later Plutarch used the word in meaning - " training session, exercise, lecture, school of philosophers. "This word got into the Russian language, it is believed, from Polish, and Polish, in turn, borrowed it from Latin.

The word teacher (from [pedagogos]) literally means *schoolmaster". Ancient Greece originally it was called "a slave who accompanied the boy to school and back"; later - "educator, mentor *.

What is the Bible?

You all know the word Bible. It is based on the Greek [vivlion] or in classical reading [biblion]. Translated into Russian, this word means "book". the bible was being written different people for many centuries and has come down to us thanks to the fact that the Church carefully preserved it. The Bible contains 77 books, four of which are called Gospels.

Word Gospel comes from Greek [evangelion], which in Greek means "good, joyful news." in Greek spoken language word several centuries before the birth of Christ meant "a gift received by a good messenger who announced to the people about victory or deliverance from death." The same word was later called "the sacrifice that the Greeks made on the occasion of receiving news of the victory." And then with a word the joyful news itself began to be called - "unexpected news about deliverance, about victory, about salvation."

gospel books are called in which the testimonies of the apostles about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, about His Resurrection, victory over death are presented.

From church vocabulary

Word angel(from Greek [angelos]) - means "messenger" and is the same root gospel, a apostle means "messenger", in Greek this word would look like this: [apostolos].

The Greek word [icon] translates very beautiful word"image". Hence our word icon.

Have you been out in church and do you know what it is prosphora? It's a little bread round shape, specially baked for the church service.

Its name comes from the Greek word [prosphora], which means "offering". Why "offering"? AT ancient church Christians themselves brought everything necessary for Divine services, including bread. Perhaps it was of a different form, but it was also called prosphora. It's amazing how words can store a whole story.

Tracing words

All the words considered so far are borrowed directly from the Greek language. However, there is another way of borrowing - tracing,

Tracing is a morphemic translation of a word into another language (i.e. consecutive translation prefix, root, suffix, ending). Words formed according to this model are called "tracing paper".

"Kalki" are the vast majority of two-root and multi-root words. These include words with the root good: good choking, good image, good honor, good molding, good mind, good fasting, good sound, good angry, good hoot, good act, good detail, good gift. For example:

[ef] [crazy] [ia]
good - soul - ie

[ef] [background] [ia]
good - sound - ie

Another example is the word indifferent whose history is very interesting. The Greek word was [isopsychos]. The ancient Greeks used it in the meaning of "same in spirit, unanimous." AT Old Church Slavonic a “tracing paper” was made from it, which was preserved in the Russian literary language:

Equal (o) - shower - ny

and for a long time the word was used in the sense of "like-minded, like-minded." A.P. Chekhov used the word indifferent in the meaning of "preserving an even state of mind, imperturbable" . The modern understanding of this word - "indifferent, indifferent" - shows us how far we have moved away from its original meaning.

"Kalki" is truly a treasury of the Russian language and gives us the opportunity to feel the "element of Greek thinking." Here is a small list of these most poetic words: long-suffering, wonderworker, silverless, chronicle, painting, conscience, consciousness, doubt, life-giving, nameless, miraculous.

Double borrowing

It is interesting to note that some Greek words were borrowed twice: in the form of "tracing paper" and directly. Let us turn for examples to words from the history of the ancient world. You know that Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia are one

but the same ancient name region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. But have you ever thought about the relationship between these names? Inter-speech- this is "tracing paper" from Greek [meso-potamya]: [mesos] - "middle, located in the middle"; [potambs] - "river". Thus the word Mesopotamia is a direct borrowing, and Mesopotamia- this is "tracing paper".

There are many such examples of double borrowing in Russian:

About metamorphoses

Do you know what the words machine, mechanics, colossus, machination according to their Greek source are the same root? They are based on the Greek word [mihani] (or [makhana]) with the meanings: "fiction, cunning; tool, machine (for example, siege); means". As you can see, the range of original meanings of the Greek word very wide. In addition, his path from Greek to us passed through different languages. Incorporating the features of each language, this word has undergone various "transformations *, or, as the Greeks would say, metamorphosis([metamorphosis]). As a result, we have words that are so different in meaning.

About names

Highly interesting area borrowed words - names of Greek origin. Together with baptism, Russia inherited the names of Greek saints: Alexander(meaning "protector of the people") Alexei("defender"), Irina("world"), Evgeny("noble"), Kseniya("stranger, foreigner"), Nicholas("victorious people"), Galina("silence, calmness"), Ekaterina("always clean*") and many others. This topic, of course, requires special consideration.

The use of Greek roots in word formation

Greek words borrowed directly or by tracing are called Greekisms. In Russian, words should be distinguished from them, for the formation of which Greek roots are used. These are new words that were not in the Greek language. There are many such words, for example: photography, clinic, telegram, microscope, telephone. Word photo Literally means "light writing". It was invented in England in early XIX century based on Greek words: [grapho] - "I write, depict" and [fos], in the genus. case [photos] - "light".

Let's look at one more word - polyclinic. It arose in the second half of the 19th century from the Greek words [polis] - "city" and [wedge-

ki] - "doctoring, caring for a bedridden patient *. Initially, the word polyclinic was used only in the meaning of" urban medical institution*. Later, this word, due to the convergence of its first part with the Greek word [polis] - "many", received a slightly different meaning - "a medical institution in many specialties", which we now use.

By the same principle, a great many scientific terms. Thus, most of the names of sciences are Difficult words with integral part -graphy and -logy. These components are formed respectively from [grapho] - "I write" [logos] - "teaching".

For example: geography, calligraphy, spelling; biology, morphology, psychology, geology.

The following are some questions and “hints” that you can ask children to independent work.

Questions for independent work

1. Is it right to say " from a monolithic stone"?

2. What does it mean to "meet with pomp", or what the word means pompous?

3. What is " draconian measures"?

4. What kind of person can be called concise, or what is conciseness?

5. What does it mean to "make your mite»?

6. What does it mean to "be subjected to ostracism»?

7. What does it mean epistolary creativity or epistolary heritage?

8. What is talent? And what does it mean "to bury talent into the ground"?

Hints

1. Adjective monolithic comes from the Greek word [monoli-os], which means "carved from one stone": [monos] - "one", [lios] - "stone".

2. The word pump comes from the Greek [pompi] - "a triumphal, solemn procession."

3. "Culprit" expressions draconian measures is one of the Athenian rulers named [The Dragon]. He ruled in Athens at the beginning of the 7th century BC. and was the initiator of property laws. The laws turned out to be strict and severely punished any violation. Often, having fallen into debt bondage, farmers were sold into slavery outside of Attica.

4. The original source of the borrowed word laconism is Greek [laconismos] from verb [laconiso] - "I imitate the Lacedaemonians, follow the Laconian customs; I express myself concisely, briefly." Who are the Lacedaemonians? Spartans. You probably know that they were distinguished by their simplicity of manners, brevity of speech (one must also add - courage and militancy, but now we are talking not about that). Several stories have been preserved on this subject. For example, once the Macedonian king threatened to go to war against the Spartans and began to list what he would do with them if he came: he would wipe them off the face of the earth, take their children and wives into slavery, etc. To which the Spartans responded single word: "If a".

5. We owe this expression to the gospel story. There lived a poor widow. And she brought her last two coins to the Temple in Jerusalem as a sacrifice to God. These were the smallest copper coins; one such coin was called by the Greeks [lapton]. Christ, who noticed this, said that she put the most (more than those who put a lot in the treasury). For the rich contributed out of excess, but she brought the last.

6. In Athens and in some other cities of Ancient Greece, there was such a custom: citizens whose influence and power threatened (or allegedly threatened) prosperity public life and the life of the state, expelled. The issue of expulsion was considered resolved if at least 600 votes were cast against the expelled. The voices were given like this: the name of the exiled was written on the shard. Such shard called [ostracon]. Hence the name of this kind of judgment and exile - here [ostrakismos].

7. From the Latin language we borrowed the word epistle. And the ancient Romans, in turn, adopted it from Greek. In ancient Greek [epistole] meant "letter, message".

8.Talent(from [talanton]) is common in ancient world "currency unit and a unit of weight. "We learned this word from the gospel parable about talents, where the word talent used in the sense of "a gift received from God." Later we lost the original meaning of this word and began to use the word talent meaning simply "gift".

Akhmadieva S.F.,
teacher at the Orthodox Gymnasium in the name of
Reverend Sergius Radonezh

The origin of words true value studies the science called etymology. Its name comes from the Greek word which means "true, i.e. the original meaning of the word." Parchment (or parchment) is a writing material made from specially treated skin of young animals, which was used even before the advent of paper. The word parchment comes from the adjective [pergamenos] by city name [Pergamon] in Asia Minor, where leather was first used as writing material. There are two traditions of reading Greek words: classical and Byzantine. classical tradition reflects an attempt to reconstruct the ancient Greek pronunciation, based on the sound of ancient Greek borrowings, mainly in Latin. The Byzantine system reflects the phonetics of medieval Greek, the language spoken by East End Roman Empire - Byzantium. Russia was baptized from Byzantium and in the same period learned many Greek words. This collection was prepared at the Orthodox Gymnasium, in which the Greek language is studied in the Byzantine tradition. Therefore, the Byzantine tradition is adopted in this work. By the way, the word alphabet conveys the Byzantine pronunciation system. original Greek word [alfavitos] was formed by adding the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: [alpha] and [vita]. According to the Byzantine tradition, we say "alphabet" and not "alphabet". The word tracing paper comes from the Latin sagso - "to leave traces, imprints". Dictionary of modern literary language/ Ed. V.P. Felitsyn and I.N. Shmelev. T.12.-M.-L.: Ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1961. The Greek letter (phyta) is pronounced like the English th, rendered by the transcription mark .

Food

To begin with, let's take our native vegetables, in which at first glance there is nothing exotic. We eat them all our lives and do not even think about where they came from.

For example, cucumber. Its name comes from the Greek word "άγουρος", which was derived from "ἄωρος", which means "immature". And all because cucumbers are eaten in an unripe (green) form.

The name beet was borrowed from the ancient Greek "σεῦκλον" (as variants "σεῦτλον", "τεῦτλον" in different dialects). The ancient Greeks, by the way, really appreciated this vegetable for its beneficial properties.

Another example is vinegar. When it began to be made in Russia, it has not really been established, but it is known that its name comes from the Greek "ὄξος". In modern Greek, vinegar is called "ξύδι" and "οξύ" is an acid.

The word pancake comes from "ἐλάδιον", which, in turn, was formed from "έλαιον". It translates as "olive oil", "a little oil". Not surprising considering the way this dish is prepared.

Houseware

Now let's talk about the names of objects that surround (or once surrounded) us in everyday life.

For example, Terem. It would seem - here it is exactly ours, Russian. But no - it comes from the ancient Greek "τέρεμνον" (τέραμνον), which means "house, dwelling".

Or lohan. At first glance it seems that this is not a borrowing at all. But in fact, it comes from the Greek "λεκάνη" - "basin, tub."

The same applies to the name of such an object as a bed, formed from "κρεβάτι" (κράββατος) - it looks like it, right? It also reminds of a completely different word - blood. Although in terms of etymology they have nothing in common.

But the name "lamp" has come a long way. From ancient Greek (λαμπάς - “lamp, lamp, torch”) it came to Latin (lamrada), from there, in turn, to German and French(lampe). And the Russians, “cutting a window” to Europe, borrowed it and changed it in their own way.

Here are a couple more examples: a lantern - derived from "φανάρι" (derived from φανός - "lamp, light, torch"), a ship - from the ancient Greek "κάραβος" (originally it meant crab. The Greek "καράβι" and Russian "ship").

Other words

That's not all. Take the word "crocodile". It is also of Greek origin (κροκόδειλος), and the Latin "crocodilus", from which the equivalents in English, German and other languages ​​\u200b\u200bhave come, is nothing more than a borrowing.

An equally interesting example is the dragon. At first glance it seems that this latin word. Yes, there is - dracō , -ōnis. But this is also borrowing. In Russian, it first appeared in the translations of the Monk Maxim the Greek (Maxim the Greek - Μάξιμος ο Γραικός - a Greek monk, writer and translator who lived in the 16th century. From 1518 he lived in Russia, where he was invited Grand Duke for translating Greek books and manuscripts).

Dragon in Greek is “δράκων, δράκος”, and this name is derived from the ancient Greek “δέρκομαι” (more precisely, from one of its forms - δρακεῖν), which translates as “clear to see”.

Here are two more words that came into Russian from Greek through Latin:

• "echo" through German (Echo) and Latin (ēсhō) from "ηχώ" - echo, echo;
• "zone" through French (zone) and Latin (zōnа) from "ζώνη" - belt, zone.

The word "hero" also came through French - from the ancient Greek "ἥρως" - hero, warrior. Modern spelling "ήρωας".

You see - there are a lot more Greek words in Russian than it seems. The vocabulary presented in this article is only a small part of them.

And how many traces the myths of ancient Greece left in our language! Take the word "panic". It comes from the name of Pan (Πά̄ν) - the Greek god of the forest. He could be cheerful, but he could send such horror to a person (and even to a whole army!) That he started to run without looking back. This is how the expression “panic fear” arose.

And today we so often meet and casually use catchphrases from ancient Greek myths (sometimes not even fully understanding their meaning). But about them - another time.

Mainly through the medium of Old Church Slavonic in connection with the process of Christianization Slavic states. Borrowings from the Greek language began to penetrate into the original vocabulary even in the period of common Slavic unity. Such borrowings include, for example, the words chamber, dish, cross, bread (baked), bed, cauldron, etc.

Borrowings were significant in the period from the 9th to the 11th centuries. and later (so

called East Slavic). The formation of the Old Russian (East Slavonic) language begins. To Greekisms period X-XVII centuries include:

Russia adopted the "Greek law", that is, Orthodoxy, which for centuries determined the cultural and historical development of our Fatherland.

Along with the new religion, many new words came to our country. The original meaning of many of them has long been forgotten, and few people know that an angel is a “messenger”, an apostle is a “messenger”, a clergy is a “lot”, an icon case is a “box”, a liturgy is a “duty”, a deacon is a “servant” , the bishop is “looking from above”, and the sexton is “watchman”. The word hero is also Greek and means "holy" - no more, no less!

The first books were delivered from Byzantium to Russia. The Enlighteners of the Slavs became eminent figures Byzantine Orthodox culture- holy brothers Cyril and Methodius. The first schools in Kyiv, Novgorod and other cities of Russia were arranged according to Byzantine models. Byzantine masters taught Russian masters to build stone temples, decorate these temples with mosaics and frescoes, paint icons, and create book miniatures.

For example, many Greek words describe the structure of the Temple. The Temple has three parts:

an altar containing an altar and a throne. The main part the temple is an altar, a holy place, so the uninitiated are not allowed to enter it. The very word "altar" means "exalted altar." He usually settles on a hill. True, some part of the altar is in front of the iconostasis. It is called the solea (Greek “elevation in the middle of the temple”), and its middle of the salt is called the pulpit (Greek “I ascend”). From the pulpit, the priest pronounces the most significant words during the service. The pulpit is symbolically very significant. This is the mountain from which Christ preached; and the Bethlehem cave where he was born; and the stone from which the angel announced to the women about the ascension of Christ.

· the middle part of the temple, separated from the altar by an iconostasis, in front of which, from the side of the middle part, there is a salt with an ambo and choirs, choirs are places for singers and readers. The very name of the kliros comes from the name of the choristers-priests “kliroshanes”, that is, choristers from the clergy, clergy (Greek “lot, put on”)

porch

It has been found that terms of Greek origin make up the terminology of almost all areas of science and art: biology (amitosis, autogenesis, anabiosis, anaphase, etc.) and, in particular, botany (anabasis, adonis, etc.), geology, etc. mineralogy (anamorphism, alexandrite, etc.), physics (acoustics, analyzers, anaphoresis, etc.), economics (anatocism, etc.), medicine (acrocephaly, anamnesis, etc.), psychology ( autophilia, etc.), astronomy (anagalactic, etc.), chemistry (ammonia, amphoteric, etc.), architecture (acroteria, etc.), geography (akline, etc.), music (agogics, etc.), literary criticism (acmeism, anapaest, etc.) and linguistics (anadiplosis, amphiboly, etc.). (Only examples from the section on the letter "A" are considered).

Let's start with terms that are close and familiar to any teacher of the Russian language and literature. The word poetry has become so firmly established in our language that we no longer even think about its meaning. And meanwhile, in translation from Greek, it means "creativity." The word poem is translated as "creation", and rhyme - "proportion", "consistency", the word rhythm is the same root to it. The stanza in Greek means “turn”, and the epithet is “figurative definition”.

Such terms as epic (“collection of legends”), myth (“word”, “speech”), drama (“action”), lyrics (from the word musical), elegy (“mournful tune of a flute”) are also associated with Ancient Greece. , ode (“song”), epithalama (“wedding poem or song”), epic (“word”, “story”, “song”), tragedy (“goat song”), comedy (“bear holidays”). Name latest genre associated with holidays Greek goddess Artemis, who coped in March. This month, the bears came out of hibernation, which gave the name to these performances. Well, the stage is, of course, the “tent”, where the actors performed. As far as parody is concerned, it is “singing inside out”.

As an example of borrowings from the Greek language, we can cite such “medical” words as anatomy (“dissection”), agony (“struggle”), hormone (“I set in motion”), diagnosis (“definition”), diet (“image life”, “mode”), paroxysm (“irritation”).

Some Greek words got into Russian through other languages ​​(for example, through Latin, French). There were cases when the same word came to our country from different languages and in different time, resulting in different meanings. For example, the words colossus, machination and machine have the same root. Two of them came to us directly from the Greek language. One of them means "something huge", the other - "trick". But the third came through Western European languages ​​and is a technical term.

Along with this, the Slavic scribes created words in their language according to the model of Greek words (the so-called word-formation tracing papers), hence the now obsolete word of wisdom, corresponding to Greek philosophy, and the word-forming tracing paper of the Mother of God, which has taken root, forever included in the language, also created according to the Greek word-formation model.

We see that Greekisms in Russian play huge role in creating a scientific picture of the world; this can be explained by the fact that it was in the ancient Greek works that the foundations of the scientific worldview were laid.

Joke- Russian word, derived from the Greek word ανέκδοτος (from Greek anekdotos unpublished). Jokes originally existed in oral, were a witty story about everyday problems and topical political events, often with obscene, obscene content, therefore they were not subject to publication, publicity. Russian word a nekdot comes from the Greek word ανέκδοτος (unpublished, unpublished), since the jokes contained obscene words, they were not allowed to be published.

Diamond - stone of victory and strength, its name comes from the Greek "adamas" - indestructible

Galaxy- (from Greek γάλα [gala] - milk, γάλακτος (genitive case)
MILKY WAY, GALAXY - (from Greek - milky) the constant phenomenon of a light strip that crosses everything starry sky, visible on a dark moonless night onsky (because of its resemblance to spilled milk).
The origin of the concept of the Galaxy is associated with the myth of the birth of Hercules. The great ancient Greek hero Hercules was the son of Zeus and mortal woman Alcmene, daughter of the king of Mycenae. How the events of that time are described: since Hercules was born from a mortal, he lacks divinity and Zeus secretly puts him under the sleeping Hera's chest. She wakes up, pushes Hercules away, some of the milk spills out and what the Greeks called "kyklos galaxias" [gr. γαλαξίας (κύκλος)] - Milky Way in Russian.Our concept of the Galaxy - it is from this milk, which spilled sometime when Zeus tried to feed Hercules.

Grammar. The word grammar (grammar) - (Greek grammatike, from gramma letter, spelling), came into English from French (grammaire), eventually ascending - through a series of intermediate links - to ancient Greek wordγράμμα (the name of the pad.), γράμματος (gen. pad.) letter, etymologically - (something) scratched.

GYMNASTICS- (from the Greek gymnos naked). In ancient Greece, for a long time, athletes competed in the same light raincoats. One day, one of the winners of the competition lost his raincoat while running, and everyone decided that it was easier for him to run without a raincoat. Since then, all participants in the competition began to enter the arena naked. In Greek, naked "γυμνός". Hence the word "gymnastics" appeared, which in ancient times included all types of physical exercises.

AndDIOT- - origin of the word.
English word "idiot" and Russian "moron" originate from the ancient Greek word "ιδιώτης" .
The Greek word "ιδιώτης" comes from the word "ίδιος" (self) and the ending "ώτης".
From the ancient Greek language, the word "ιδιώτης" entered into Latin language as "idiota" in the sense of "untrained, ignorant person". In the same sense, it was originally used in English language(idiot), and then entrenched in the meaning of "feeble-minded", as in Russian.

HYSTERIA - origin
HYSTERIA-(from Greek υστέρα (Hysteria) uterus)
1. Do you ever experience exhaustion or stress?
2. Do you have difficulty falling asleep?
3. Do you suffer from bloating?
4. Are you less interested in food or sex?
5. Do you have a strong desire for sex?
6. Do you often find yourself in confusing situations?
If any of the respondents answered yes to one of these questions and was a woman, then it was believed that she was suffering from hysteria and should be placed in a psychiatric clinic. Surprisingly, the above took place in the 19th century. in the countries of Northern Europe.
In Greek, the word "υστέρα" means uterus. Definition hysteria(υστερία) as an ailment was first given by Freud as a symptom of an unstable or problematic erotic attraction. Naturally, this was the most frequent "disease" of women. "Hysterical" women went to a special doctor. After each visit to the doctor and massage as therapy, the women left with a sense of relief, in a state of euphoria, finally freed from the "illness". In those years, women suffering from this "ailment" were considered hysterical. Women with excessive sexual desire were treated with distrust and fear, they were stigmatized. But today this word "hysteria" has nothing to do with sexual desire, but is used equally in relation to both women and men suffering from mental and bodily pathologies.
So the word "hysteria" comes from the Greek "hystera", which means uterus.

Nostalgia from the Greek word νοσταλγία (nostalgia< νόστος return home + άλγος suffering, pain. Feeling of painful homesickness.

Word " Symbol"comes from the Greek word σύμβολο (symbolon) , what does "conditional language" mean, symbol what l. concepts, ideas. The symbol contains figurative meaning, it contains a certain secret, a hint, allowing only to guess what is meant, what the author wanted to say (in literature).

EUTHANASIA - ευθανασία (Greek- easy death).
According to etymology, the word euthanasia means an easy, painless death. The word consists of the prefix "ευ", which means "good, light" and the word "θάνατος", which means "death". Originally the Greek word ευθανασία (euthanasia) meant a glorious, beautiful, quiet death. Today, retaining its original meaning, this word is also used as medical term: euthanasia(deliberately accelerating death or painless compassionate killing of hopelessly ill people in the last stage of the disease).
An example of a light and happy death(euthanasia) is the case of Diagoras from Ancient Greece, a famous athlete, a native of the island of Rhodes, who lived in the fifth century BC, who became the winner in four Panhellenic competitions. Three of his sons were also famous athletes and on the same day became winners in different types competitions Olympic Games. Their father, a well-known and already gray-haired athlete, overwhelmed with a sense of joy, pride and satisfaction for the successes of his sons, shed tears, while his sons, lifting him on their shoulders, circled around the stadium to the cheers of the people: "Die now, Diagoras! What a better can you still expect a moment for death? You can't become an Olympian god!". And, indeed, the elder died of excitement and joy.

Energy, as we learn from dictionaries, this is a common quantitative measure various forms the motion of matter. And the word is of Greek origin. In Greek, the word energy (ενέργεια) has several meanings. It consists of the prefix εν - "inside" and the word εργο - "work, labor". Today it means, firstly, work, action, effort, activity, for example, φιλική ενέργεια - friendly act, εχθρική ενέργεια - hostile act, επιθετική ενέργεια - offensive action.
Secondly, it means an act, an act, for example, τρομοκρικτική ενέργεια - a terrorist act, and, thirdly, energy as a physical term, for example, θετική ενέργεια - positive energy, δυναμική ενέργεια - potential energy, ατομική ενέργεια - atomic Energy, πυρινική ενέργεια - nuclear energy. This word is also found in the phrases: renewable sources of energy - ανανεώσιμες πηγές ενέργειας, θέτω σε ενέργεια - bring into action, ενεργοιήση- to start the work of something, ενεργός - active, active, ενεν, εν, working, etc.