According to scientists, about ten percent of the words in the Russian language are of foreign origin. And almost a quarter of that amount comes from ancient Greece. They got into Russian vocabulary so long ago that many people are unaware of their foreign roots.
Instruction manual
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The initial entry of Greek words into Russian is due to objective historical reasons - economic and Christian.
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At one time, Kievan Rus maintained close trade ties with Byzantium. For this reason, a large number of Greek words related to trade and shipping penetrated the Russian language. Such words as “ship”, “sail”, “bed”, “lemon”, “cucumber”, “lantern” got into the Russian language in this way. At first, only merchants used them, but then they gradually took root and appeared in the vocabulary of other people. Now few people know that the word "kimar" also came from there. From Greek, it translates as "sleep."
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With the adoption of Christianity, Kievan Rus also adopted a number of Greek words of religious significance. Words such as "angelos", "apostle", "demonos" never required translation. Yes, and the "Bible", "gospel", "icon" - also come from Greece.
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Greek culture and enlightenment contributed to this process. They introduced into Russian vocabulary words such as “philosophy”, “mathematics”, “astronomy”, “notebook”, “school”
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Many Greek words were borrowed through Latin. As a result, all words ending in “kratia” (democracy), logic (chronology), “ema” (dilemma, problem, system) came from there.
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Often, Greek origin can be found in parts of complex words: aqua (water), chrono (time), geo (earth). Especially a lot of them in the names of various sciences. Often there are Greek roots such as the logo (word) and count (write). Moreover, in the latter case, in these words two Greek roots are usually used at once. Geography - a description of the earth, geology - the science of the earth, an autograph - I write.
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There are also two borrowed Greek words in the Russian language. For example, the word "Mesopotamia." This was the name of the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is directly borrowed from the Greek "Mesos" (middle, located in the middle) and Potamos (river). And there is also a derivative of these words Russian tracing-paper "interfluve". There are other similar examples: aligoria - allegory - allegory, symphony - symphony - consonance, simetria - symmetry - proportionality.
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And, finally, there are borrowings of their Greek language, which with Russian derivatives derived from them have nothing in common in meaning, and sometimes are used in exactly the opposite meaning. So the Greek word "idiot" literally translates as "private person. In Russian, the word" idiot "is a person suffering from oligophrenia. And the Greek word" how much, from which the Russian "school" came from, is translated as "leisure, entertainment, relaxation."
