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The lexis of Bulgarian , a South Slavic language, consists of native words, as well as borrowings from Russian, French, and to a lesser extent English, Greek, Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and other languages.
Around three-quarters of the vocabulary in the standard academic dictionaries of Bulgarian consist of native lexical items. Some 2,000 of these items are directly inherited from proto-Slavonic through Old and Middle Bulgarian. These include much of the most common and basic vocabulary of the language, for example body parts (Bulgarian: ръка “hand”) or cardinal numbers (Bulg.: две “two”). The number of words derived from the direct reflexes of proto-Slavonic is more than 20 times greater, accounting for more than 40,000 entries (for example, ръчен “manual”; двуместен “double-place”).
The old Bulgar language has otherwise left only slight traces in Modern Bulgarian. Apart from a small corpus of proper names (for example, Борис “Boris”; Крум “Krum”) and military and administrative titles from the time of the First Bulgarian Empire, only a handful of Bulgar words has survived in Modern Bulgarian. Words which are considered to be almost certainly of Bulgar origin are, for example: бъбрек “kidney”, бисер “pearl”, кумир “idol”, чертог “castle”. Some of these words even spread to other Slavic languages through Old Church Slavonic.
As of the beginning of the 1960s, loanwords amounted to some 25% of the vocabulary of the standard dictionary of Bulgarian. The most important source of loanwords in recent centuries has been Russian. Two other important sources of borrowing were Latin and Medieval and Modern Greek, each accounting for around a quarter of all borrowings. French vocabulary contribution to the Bulgarian language totals around 15% [1] and Ottoman Turkish (along with Arabic and Persian) totalled around 14%, [1] whereas loanwords from Russian accounted for 10% of the borrowings. [1] Lesser but still significant influence was exerted by Italian (around 4%), [1] German (around 4%) [1] and English (around 2%). [1]
Loanwords from Greek were the first to enter the lexis of Bulgarian, as early as the time of Old Bulgarian, (for example, икона “icon” or патриарх “patriarch”) as a product of the influence of the liturgical language of the Orthodox Church. During the period of Ottoman rule, Bulgarian adopted from Greek both common lexical material (хиляда “a thousand”) and international vocabulary of Greek origin (граматика “grammar”). The loanwords from Latin were adopted into the language mainly in the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, many Latin terms entered the language through Romanian, Aromanian, and Megleno-Romanian during Bulgarian Empires. The vast majority of them are international terms in the areas of politics, civil administration, medicine, law, etc. (for example, администрация “administration”). Borrowings from French cover a similar time span and are concentrated in the areas of social and political life, military affairs, cooking, the arts, etc. (бюфет “buffet”).
Loanwords from Turkish (and through Turkish from Arabic and Persian) are a legacy of the period of Ottoman rule (1422–1878) and are divided into two stylistic layers. The first one is neutral and is represented by a corpus of some 800 words, mostly items of clothing, foods and household items (чорап “sock”; чекмедже “drawer”). The remainder consists of colloquial or slightly vulgar terms which occur particularly often in expressive speech and frequently have a humoristic or even pejorative nuance. They generally have neutral native synonyms (cf акъл from Turkish vs ум from common Slavic, both meaning “wits, intelligence”). There is a fluent transition between this group and a large amount of more or less obsolete words that only occur in archaic or dialectal speech.
English is the only language that has significantly influenced Bulgarian since the 1950s.[ citation needed ] The share of English borrowings at present is much larger than the 2% in the 1960s and most likely lies between 10% and 15% of all borrowings. The impact of English is particularly strong in technology, sports, dress, the arts, music and popular culture: корнер “corner” (football), пънк “punk”.
As of the beginning of the 1960s, loanwords amounted to some 25% of the vocabulary of the standard dictionary of Bulgarian. The most frequent source of loanwords in recent centuries has been Russian. Two other important sources of borrowing were Latin and Greek, each accounting for around a quarter of all borrowings, more specifically, Latin (around 26%) [2] and Greek (around 23%). [2] French vocabulary contribution to the Bulgarian language totals around 15% [2] and Ottoman Turkish (along with Arabic and Persian) totalled around 14%, [2] whereas loanwords from Russian accounted for 10% of the borrowings. [2] Lesser but still significant influence was exerted by Italian (around 4%), [2] German (around 4%) [2] and English (around 2%). [2]
Some very frequent expressions have been borrowed from other languages. Most of them are somewhat informal.
Most Slavic languages demonstrate a higher degree of shared vocabulary with one another than English does with the Germanic family due to the number of Romance loans in English on the one hand, and on the other hand due to the influences on Slavic languages of Russian or Church Slavonic, which was a Southeast Slavic language. The adoption of Church Slavonic morphology and vocabulary was used to enrich other Slavic languages. It is especially pronounced in Russian, which today consists of mixed native and Church Slavonic (South Slavic) vocabulary, analogically to the Romance vocabulary of English, but in Russian the Church Slavonisms are not perceived as foreign due to their Slavic roots. [4] An estimated 55% of Russian, incl. vocabulary, syntactic features, etc. goes back to the Church Slavonic language, known as Old Bulgarian, while 70% of Church Slavonic words are common to all Slavic languages. [5] Some authors argue that the Southeast Slavic language Church Slavonic is the "passkey" to the Russian nation and language. [6]
| Bulgarian | Macedonian | Serbо-Croatian | Russian | Polish | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| дърво | дрво | дрво/drvo | дерево | drzewo | tree |
| картоф/компир/барабой | компир | кромпир/krumpir | картофель | ziemniak, kartofel | potato |
| котка/маца/мачка | мачка | мачка/mačka | кошка | kot | cat |
| куче, пес | куче, пес | пас/pas, куче/kuče | собака, пёс | pies | dog |
| къща, дом | куќа, дом | кућа/kuća, дом/dom | дом | dom | house, home |
| маса | маса | сто/stol | стол | stół | table (furniture) |
| мляко/млеко | млеко | млеко, млијеко/mlijeko | молоко | mleko | milk |
| стол | стол | столица/stolica | стул | krzesło | chair |
| Bulgarian | Macedonian | Serbо-Croatian | Russian | Polish | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| имам | имам | имам/imam | имею | mam | I have |
| искам, желая, ща | сакам | желим, хоћу/želim, hoću | хочу, желаю | chcę | I want |
| правя, върша | правам, вршам | вршим, радим/vršim, radim | делаю | robię | I do |
| ходя, вървя | одам, врвам | ходам/hodam | хожу | chodzę | I walk |
| говоря, думам, приказвам, казвам, сборя | зборувам, говорам | говорим/govorim | говорю | mówię | I talk |
| намирам | наоѓам | налазим/nalazim | нахожу | znajduję | I find |
| ям | јадам, ручам | једем/jedem | ем | jem | I eat |
| пия | пијам | пијем/pijem | пью | piję | I drink |
Bulgarian is a South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of Bulgarians.
Macedonian is an Eastern South Slavic language. Spoken as a first language by around two million people, it serves as the official language of North Macedonia. Most speakers can be found in the country and its diaspora, with a smaller number of speakers throughout the transnational region of Macedonia. Macedonian is also a recognized minority language in parts of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Serbia and it is spoken by emigrant communities predominantly in Australia, Canada and the United States.
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples or their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Early Middle Ages, which in turn is thought to have descended from the earlier Proto-Balto-Slavic language, linking the Slavic languages to the Baltic languages in a Balto-Slavic group within the Indo-European family.
Polabian is an extinct West Slavic language that was spoken by the Polabian Slavs in present-day northeastern Germany around the Elbe river, from which derives its name. It was spoken approximately until the rise to power of Prussia in the mid-18th century, when it was superseded by Low German.
Church Slavonic, also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The language appears also in the services of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese and occasionally in the services of the Orthodox Church in America.
Ef or Fe is a Cyrillic letter, commonly representing the voiceless labiodental fricative, like the pronunciation of ⟨f⟩ in "fill". The Cyrillic letter Ef is romanized as ⟨f⟩. In some languages it is known as Fe.
I is a letter used in almost all Cyrillic alphabets.
Bulgar is an extinct Oghur Turkic language which was spoken by the Bulgars.
A yer is one of two letters in Cyrillic alphabets: ъ and ь. The Glagolitic alphabet used, as respective counterparts, the letters
Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family. All Indo-European languages are descendants of a single prehistoric language, reconstructed as Proto-Indo-European, spoken sometime in the Neolithic era. Although no written records remain, much of the culture and religion of the Proto-Indo-European people can also be reconstructed based on their daughter cultures traditionally and continuing to inhabit most of Europe and South Asia, areas to where the Proto-Indo-Europeans migrated from their original homeland.
The history of the Slavic languages stretches over 3000 years, from the point at which the ancestral Proto-Balto-Slavic language broke up into the modern-day Slavic languages which are today natively spoken in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe as well as parts of North Asia and Central Asia.
The lexis of the Romanian language, a Romance language, has changed over the centuries as the language evolved from Vulgar Latin, to Proto-Romanian, to medieval, modern and contemporary Romanian.
Banat Bulgarian is the outermost dialect of the Bulgarian language with standardized writing and an old literary tradition. It is spoken by the Banat Bulgarians in the Banat region, in Romania and Serbia. Officially, it is spoken by 8,000 people, though other estimates give numbers up to 15,000.
The Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop dialect is a dialect currently treated both in the contexts of the southeastern group of Bulgarian dialects and the southeastern subgroup of dialects of the Macedonian language. Prior to the codification of standard Macedonian in 1945, the dialects of Macedonia were classified as Bulgarian. The dialect is dynamic and is well known for the shortening of the words, and also characterised by the excessive use of for the Proto-Slavic yat even in cases where standard Bulgarian has, a feature which is typical for a number of dialects spoken in southern and southwestern Bulgaria . The Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop dialect is closely related to the neighbouring dialects. It is closer to all Eastern Bulgarian dialects than to all Western. The Macedonian language shares much less features with the dialect than it does with the Maleševo-Pirin dialect of Macedonian and Bulgarian. Some Bulgarian dialects are more similar to Macedonian than the Ser-Nevrokop dialect, the Samokov dialect shares more features with Macedonian than both the Ser-Nevrokop and the Pirin-Malasevo dialects do, even though it is not considered a Macedonian dialect, the most of the western Bulgarian dialects and the Smolyan dialect share more similarities with Macedonian than the Ser dialect does. The Samokov dialect, most remarkably, shares with the Macedonian language and the Maleševo-Pirin dialect—the "to be" verb for future tense—"ke", which in contrast is "shte" in the Ser-Nevrokop dialect and in the Bulgarian language. The Yat border passes through the Maleševo-Pirin dialect and divides it on such a way that in the northern area of the dialect the yat is pronounced "e" and in the south—"ya". In the Ser-Nevrokop dialect the yat is pronounced in most places "ya", therefore the city of Serres, after which the dialect is named, is called "Syar" by the locals, as opposed to "Ser" in the Macedonian language. The first person singular is as in Bulgarian, ending with "a" or "am" as opposed to the constant "am" in Macedonian and the Bulgarian Smolyan dialect. The words for man -"m'zh" and for a dream "s'n" are as in Bulgarian, unlike the Macedonian "mazh" and "son". The words for night and tear—"nosht" and "s'lza" are as the Bulgarian, unlike the Macedonian "nok" and "solza".
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and the Albanian diaspora in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. With about 7.5 million speakers, it comprises an independent branch within the Indo-European languages and is not closely related to any other language.
Numerous lexemes that are reconstructible for the Proto-Slavic language have been identified as borrowings from the languages of various tribes that Proto-Slavic speakers came into contact with, either in prehistorical times or during their expansion when they first appeared in history in the 6th century. Most of the loanwords come from Germanic languages, with other contributors being Iranian, Celtic, and Turkic. The topic of such loanwords in Slavic has sparked numerous sharp debates in the 20th century, some of which persist to this day. Many words that were assumed to be borrowings in Proto-Slavic have had their Slavic origin discovered by linguists studying the field of etymology. Scientists like Max Vasmer and Oleg Trubachyov have done a huge amount of research to determine the true origin of Slavic words. Both Vasmer and Trubachev have compiled and published academic dictionaries on Slavic languages and take into account all false and disputed topics in the field of Slavic etymology. Both dictionaries are used in academia worldwide and are considered the most accurate sources for Slavic etymology. Each dictionary consist of a compilation of printed books. But the online version of Vasmers dictionary is available for anyone to view for free.https://lexicography.online/etymology/vasmer/; Another etymological dictionary written by G.P. Cyganenko, takes a more modern look at the theories presented by Vasmer and others. The dictionary is published in print but is also available online for free, however this dictionary mostly explains origins for words that are most common and is not as extensive as the works of Vasmer or Trubachev. http://www.slovorod.ru/etym-cyganenko/index.html
The Slavic influence on Romanian is noticeable on all linguistic levels: lexis, phonetics, morphology and syntax.
Proto-Slavic is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all the Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th century A.D. As with most other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; scholars have reconstructed the language by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic languages and by taking into account other Indo-European languages.
The Proto-Slavic language, the hypothetical ancestor of the modern-day Slavic languages, developed from the ancestral Proto-Balto-Slavic language, which is the parent language of the Balto-Slavic languages. The first 2,000 years or so consist of the pre-Slavic era, a long period during which none of the later dialectal differences between Slavic languages had yet happened. The last stage in which the language remained without internal differences that later characterize different Slavic languages can be dated around AD 500 and is sometimes termed Proto-Slavic proper or Early Common Slavic. Following this is the Common Slavic period, during which the first dialectal differences appeared but the entire Slavic-speaking area continued to function as a single language, with sound changes tending to spread throughout the entire area. By around 1000, the area had broken up into separate East Slavic, West Slavic and South Slavic languages, and in the following centuries it broke up further into the various modern Slavic languages of which the following are extant: Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn and Ukrainian in the East; Czech, Slovak, Polish, Kashubian and the Sorbian languages in the West, and Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian in the South.
Most Serbian words are of native Slavic lexical stock, tracing back to the Proto-Slavic language. There are many loanwords from different languages, reflecting cultural interaction throughout history. Notable loanwords were borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Persian, Turkish, Hungarian, Russian, and German.
The relative weight of inherited Proto-Slavonic material can be estimated from Nikolova (1987) – a study of a 100,000-word corpus of conversational Bulgarian. Of the 806 items occurring there more than ten times, approximately 50 per cent may be direct reflexes of Proto Slavonic forms, nearly 30 per cent are later Bulgarian formations and 17 per cent are foreign borrowings