How Serbian and Croatian languages help you understand Russian

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the Croatian language, "screw up" means to deceive, "lukomorye" is a seaport, and material values are "harmful". Many words in Russian become clearer if viewed through the prism of related Slavic dialects.

Many times I admired the small discoveries of the common language of our Slavic ancestors, and even now I do not stop doing this. I am sure that Croatian and Serbian languages are much closer to our common proto-language than modern Russian.

Examples that I hope will also please you:

The air in Croatian is "zrak" (zrak), to ventilate - "transparent". Hence many of our words: transparent, vision, gaze at the root, etc. They all have a common root "zr", which came from our Slavic proto-language. In modern Russian, it is believed that at the root there must be at least one vowel, that is, it will assign different roots to these words. It is curious that the sound "R" in Croatian is a vowel. There are words without other vowels at all, they are perfectly readable, realizing that "p" is the only vowel in them.

By the way, the airport sounds like "transparent bow", and the seaport "sea bow". So that's where the curvature comes from! That is, a port by the sea.

The expression "to burn to the ground" in Russian does not find an explanation, and in Croatian "tlo" (tlo) means soil.

A gray gelding is just a gray gelding, Sivka-Burka is a gray-brown horse.

The words "mess", "mess", which many consider modern and almost borrowed, come from the verb to deceive. In the third person, “oni lažu” reads as “they get along,” that is, they tell a lie, they deceive.

After a good rain, we say the earth is sour. Why it has become limp at first glance is not clear. The expression clearly came from the times when there were no acid rains. And the Croatian and Serbian languages explain everything perfectly - "kisha" means rain, so the earth has become sour (and the replacement of "sh" with "s" is quite according to the rules of the language).

Do you think the words "magician", "magic" are borrowed? No matter how … "Mugla" means fog. And it is in the fog that it is easiest to deceive, hide something, present something with magic.

The Russian words "kitchen", "cook" seem to contain a root that is not present in the verbs. And in the Croatian and Serbian languages the wonderful word "kuhati" has been preserved - it means to cook. That is, the main method of cooking in the kitchen was cooking. And they fried on an open fire on the street, and in the language this method of cooking is called "in the heat".

Enough sounds like dosta. That is, "up to a hundred is enough." People knew the measure.

What is the very first Slavic musical instrument? Language will answer this question too. "Svirati" means playing musical instruments, it is obvious that at first the word referred only to the flute, and then it was transferred to all other instruments.

The role of the sea and wind in the life of the Western Slavs who live on the Adriatic coast and hunted by the sea can hardly be overestimated. And the language has retained not one word "wind", but several. Until now, Croatians living at sea will not just say that the wind is blowing, but will always name it depending on the direction of the wind, for example, they say, "south" or "borah" is blowing. Bura is a gusty east wind, its peculiarity is that the wind can increase from weak almost instantly to very strong and dangerous for sailors. This word entered the Russian language as "storm". And the maestral wind is western, strong and even, it is not so dangerous in the open sea, but from deep bays (which are almost all on the coast of the Adriatic are oriented to the west) it is difficult to sail with this wind direction. Therefore, only a real maestro, a pro captain, can sail when a strong maestral blows. In Western languages this wind is called mistral, but the original connection between the name of the wind and the word "maestro" has already been lost, which, of course, speaks of the borrowing of these words from the Slavic language.

Many believe that the words "moral", "moral" appeared in Latin and only later were borrowed in the Slavic languages. This point of view is very convenient for the Vatican - it seems like the savages of the Slavs did not have any morality. Well, about the moral and immoral appearance of ancient Rome, you can also talk for a long time, but something else is more interesting … In the Russian language, there really are no old words with this root, but the Croatian language has retained the word "morati", that is, "must" or "must". Moreover, it should be precisely because it is necessary, because it cannot be otherwise. "I am morah raditi" - I must work, "he is mora raditi" - he must work. That is, ancient Slavic morality is not something introduced from the outside, it is something that needs to be done.

And it is very correct that the words "must" and "must" have the same root. Our common ancestors understood very well that debts must be repaid. It is quite different in English, where the words debt and must are not interrelated in any way. So it is - the debts can not be repaid, you can instead collect new debts. What this leads to, we now well see.

By the way, the work of the ancient Slavs was always a joy, and never under duress. Raditi (to work) and radovati (to please) have the same root "rad", that is, the work and its result pleased our ancestors. The conquerors often subjected the lands of the Eastern Slavs to raids, enslaved people, so in the Russian language the root of the word "work" alas, has changed, in it one can already hear the compulsion of slave labor.

And the word "to fight" sounds like "ratovati", hence our words army, warrior, military deed.

In Russian, there are the words dog and dog. In Croatian and Serbian languages, only the word dog (pas). The word dog is absent, but soba means a room, and it is quite possible to assume that when a domesticated wolf (dog) was allowed into the room, they began to call him a dog. And it is understandable why this word took root among the Eastern Slavs and survived in the Russian language - our climate is colder, in frost a good owner will not drive the dog out into the street. And the Western Slavs are warmer in winter, the dog may well live on the street, remaining a dog, and there is simply no need for a separate word.

Interestingly, the name of the dog breed is "Russian greyhound". Why "greyhound"? But because he runs very fast, faster than all other dogs. The word "brz" means fast.

But the word "bistr" (bistr) means pure, transparent. Typically, the word is applied to flowing water. Such a change in words is also understandable, a clean stream is at the same time the fastest, it is always in motion.

In Russian there are words horse and horse. In Croatian and Serbian, there is always a "horse", regardless of the sex of the horse or horse. But there is the word "losh", that is, bad, weak, hardly applicable. A horse horse means a useless horse, weak, small. It is known that the horses of the nomads were small, well adapted for nomadic life and independent grazing in the steppe, but poor for agriculture and draft work. In one word, "loshi horses" or simply "horses". Since the Eastern Slavs came into contact with the steppe nomads more than others, the word horse took root in the Russian language, and just as the horses of the nomads gradually assimilated with the horses of the Slavs, the word gradually assimilated, it began to mean any horse in general. the chain of the sequence of the appearance of words is clear: horse (in all Slavic languages) -> horse horse -> horse (Russian).

The example of the words horse and horse also shows that our common Slavic ancestors were peaceful farmers, for their way of life nomadic horses of warlike tribes were of little use.

House (structure) in Croatian and Serbian sounds "heap". And this is understandable, there is a lot of everything in the house. But the word dom means genus, domovina - homeland. It is from this root that the Russian word “home” is, because home is where your home is.

The lands of the Western Slavs are much more mountainous than ours. And it is not surprising that the words mountain and valley came to the Russian language from there. "Mountain" in Croatian means up, "share" - down. It is possible that the Russian word grief has the same root. It is possible that our wise ancestors understood very well that raising above their relatives brings nothing but grief in the end.

Speaking of stairs, it's not just social. A staircase in Croatian is “stepenica”, and a step is “step”. Learn the English word step. That is, in the English language, it is initially laid down that they always walk either up or down. On equal terms, they do not know how and, judging by the language, never knew how.

Our ancestors well understood that material benefits are far from the main thing in life, and their veneration is completely harmful. So the material value in the Croatian language sounds like "harm" (vrijednost), material things - "stvari" (that is, what is needed for the created essence of man).

And the money was clearly brought to the Slavs from outside. Money in Croatian "novac", that is, something new, without which they used to do.

There is almost no vocative case left in the Russian language. The only exception is in the word God, as an appeal to God. And in Croatian and Serbian vocative cases are actively used, and the words God and God sound exactly the same.

And the good for our ancestors was only that the good is not only personally, but also for God. The Russian word "thanks" (to something) in Croatian sounds like zbog (from God). What a wonderful wisdom of the tongue. Firstly, everything that did not happen is from God, and secondly, we are grateful for it.

But the Russian word thank you, literally meaning "God save!" in Croatian "praise" sounds, that is, they simply praise. Our ancestors were wiser here, realizing that salvation is needed from flattery.

And now a little humor:

- The French "De …" or the Portuguese "Da …" in the surnames probably comes from the Slavic "…..da …", followed by the infinitive. The meaning is simple - what is before "da" in order to what is after. That is, Vasco Da Gamma is literally "Vasily to add scales". Perhaps this is how the parents saw the destiny of their little son. However, Vasily found himself quite well in another field.

- English YES is an abbreviation of "jesam" (read "yesam") - this is a first-person confirmation (for example, to the question "Are you Sergey?" I will answer "Jesam"). Literally means "I am".

A ballpoint pen was invented by Slavoljub Penkala. Hence the famous English word pen. And this is the true truth.

A little humor: