COGNATES IN ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN

Darkstar 01/2010 How many historical cognates could you spot in two sufficiently distinct languages, such as English, and, say, Russian? f we had no !atin or "#estan, and English were the only $ermanic language a#aila%le, would we still %e a%le to predict the e&istence of ' E?

Some notes on reading Russian (1) *he apostrophe in +la#ic marks ,softness-, which is actually a strong palatali.ation of the preceding consonant/ t emerged as the loss of the short #owel /i/ in 'roto0+la#ic/ 1onse2uently, the pronunciation of /n3/ is in fact similar to the pronunciation of 4n56 in +panish or 4ny6 in canyon in English/ 7or this reason, this sound is fre2uently denoted as 4y6 or 4i6 when written in the !atin alpha%et and pronounced as a short /i/ %y foreign speakers, e/g/ /n3e/ 6 nie 6 nee0Eh (not), howe#er this is ne#er the case with the nati#e speech, where the ,softness- (palatali.ation) is intrinsically part of a preceding consonant8 (2) /o/ is pronounced as /aw/ in 9ritish English or 4o6 in +panish %ut ne#er a diphthong:not as in ,;h<-8 (=) /y/ is a %ack #owel distantly similar to /i/ in ,%it-, ,dim- in "merican English, %ut the %ack of the tongue is located much further in the throat/ +imilar sounds may %e found in the *urkic languages or >orean, %ut the +la#ic /y/ is pro%a%ly e#en deeper/ (?) *he Russian stress is almost completely unpredicta%le and is one of the most difficult points in learning this language, since it3s not usually marked in writing/ Herein, it is marked as a capital/ (@) Anstressed #owels in the standard Boscow dialect are reduced, which means that they are normally pronounced indistinctly (o 6 a, e 6 i)/ " similar #ocalism insta%ility in the stressed position is, in fact, typical of "merican English (hot 6 hAt, sometimesC get 6 g t ), %ut in Russian this type of #ocalic reduction in the unstressed position is e#en stronger and more common, whereas most unstressed #owels are reduced to a schwa (more or less as in a%out)/ Howe#er, in some older Russian dialects, and other +la#ic languages, such as 'olish, the unstressed #owels are always clearly pronounced, as in +panish or talian/

COGNATES
body parts eye nose (finger)nail %row %eard ear ri% cheek ;ko (archaic8 the modern ,gla.- is akin to the English ,glass-) n;s n;gat3 %r;f3 %arad" Aha r3e%r; sh3ek" (not pro#en, though o%#iously similar)

natural p enomena day night sun d3En3 n;ch s;n0tse

month salt snow water wind (water)well dale

mEs3ats (month8 crescent moon) s;l3 sn3Ek #ad" #3Et3er #aln" (wa#e) dal3 na (#alley)8 d;l (archaic: open #alley)

biologi!al p enomena milk egg meat nest leaf tree malak; yai0ts; m3"sa gn3e.d; l3ist8 l3ipest0;k d3Ere#a

"ild and domesti!ated #auna %ea#er %;%r wolf #;lk lyn& rDs3 (historically irregular, ,lys3- e&pected) otter #Ddra rook gr"ch (4 ;ld Eng/ hroc) goose gAs3 (historically irregular, a $ermanic %orrowing into 'roto0+la#ic suspected) swine s#in3y" (pig) cow kar;#a (not pro#en) %ull, %ullock %Dk (relatedness not pro#en, %ut the phonetic similarity is o%#ious) mouse mDsh %ee pch3el" (also akin to the !ithuanian ,%ite-) wasp as" hamster ham3"k (irregular in $ermanic, %orrowed from +la#ic) "ild and domesti!ated #lora lime aspen alder ash0tree %irch rowan %eech moss rye apple l3 pa as3 na al3h" y"sen3 %3er3;.a r3a% na %Ak m;hh r;.h y"%laka

domesti! ob$e!ts door garden d#3Er3 agar;d g;rad (city, town 4 a fort surrounded with a wooden wall as a garden)

#amily terms

mother %rother sister daughter man

m"t3 %r"t s3estr" d;ch3 mA.h (hus%and) mu.h0 k (derogatory ,man-, originally of a ,peasant man-) mu.h0ch3 na (man)

$u%enile "ords "it repetitions t3s fre2uently claimed that these words cannot %e placed among cognates, since they are ,rein#ented%y children each time or something to that e&tent/ *his is not necessarily true, many Eu#enile words in fact seem to %e going far %ack in time into the proto0language/ mummy nanny daddy %a%y caca m"ma n3"n3a d3"d3a (uncle) %"%a (dame, %road8 originally of a peasant woman) k"ka (clearly ancient, also cf/ !atin acare, "rmenian khakor, etc)

pronouns& prepositions& modals thou that (one) no not on to need to me me my thy to thee thee to %e (there) is am %erbs to eat to do a deed, deal to stand +top< to lie down to lie (on th flo) to lie (Fto talk) lie (falsehood) to sit to %eat to lick yEst3 d3Ela0t3 d3Ela (deed, deal, %usiness) sta0y"t3 +t;i< (literally ,+tand (still)/-) lE0ch3 le.h"0t3 lg"0t3 l;.h sidEt3 % 0t3 li."0t3 y" tD t;t (m/), t" (f/), t; (neut/) n3Et n3E n" do (as far as8 to8 until) n"da mn3E (dati#e) m3in3" (accus/) m;i (posses/) t#;i (possessi#e) t3i%3E (dati#e) t3i%3" (accusati#e) %D0t3 yEs0t3 yEsm3 (;ld Russian8 ;ld 1hurch +la#onic, %ut no longer in use)

to suck to lo#e lo#e (n) to sow to sew to mill mill (n) mill0er to %ear to skid to splash to step (on) to thaw to fart to smile

sos"0t3 l3u% 0t3 l3u%;#3 s3Eya0t3 shi0t3 mol;0t3 m3El30n3itsa m3El30n3ik %r"0t3 (to take) skol.0 t3 (to slip, skid) pl3esk0"t3 na0stup0"t3 (literallyC to onstep) t"ya0t3 p3erd30Et3 (*he relatedness is reconstructa%le according to the sound laws) smey"t0tsa (to laugh) (?)

ad$e!ti%es& ad%erbs many, a lot new thin s0mall full cold (adE) cold (n) yellow mn;ga n;#0yi t;nk30ii m"len3k30ii m"lo (few, little) p;ln0yi (adE) poln; (ad#) (full, a lot of, plenty) hal;d0n0yi h;lad .h;lt0yi

numbers one two three four fi#e si& se#en eight nine ten thousand

ad3 n d#" tr3 ch3etDr3e p3"t3 sh3Est3 s3Em3 #;sem3 (;sem3 in other +la#ic) d3E#3at3(irregular from GnE#3at3) d3Es3at3 tDs3ach3a

unob%ious !ognates *hese are the words that either changed their meaning or %ecame strongly modified phonologically or ha#e no clear0cut confirmation #ia regular changesC heart s3Er(d)0tse Hence, also s3er3ed3 na (middle)

s3erd3 t0yi (angry, cf/ %roken0hearted) s3erd3 t0s3a (to %e angry) hundred home a&le to know gold (n) green %ig sil#er listen loud knee Hwo Hwat Hwere Hwen Hweel Hwite Hwistle (n) Hwine (n) light good long length long time short eel name sow, seed foot to feed food fist feel st; sem0y" (family) ;s3 .n"0t3 .;lata .el3;n0yi %al3sh0;i (the relatedness is not pro#en) s3er3e%r; ($ermano09alto0+la#ic isogloss, possi%ly %orrowed as a cultural term) slAsha0t3 sl;#a (word)/ Hence, sl"#a (glory) kal3Ena (historically irregular) kt; sht; gd3E kagd" kal3e0s; s#3Etl0yi (light, adE) s#3Et (the light, n) s#3 st .#;n (the ringing) lAch (a ray, %eam of light) g;d0n0yi (usa%le, #alid) dl3 n0n0yi dl3in" d;lgH kar;t0k30ii Agor3 (dou%tful) m3a sEm3a (seed) p3"tka (ankle) p"da0t3 (fall down 4 ,stum%le-) p3 0t3 (to drink) (pro%a%ly, from ,to feed a %a%y-) p3 s0sh3a .a0p3"st30ye (wrist) (4 ;ld Russian p3ast3 ,fist, palm-) p"l3e0ts (finger)

fire for feather to float, flow fleet mind to mind mum%le

pyl"0t3 (to %urn %right) pDl (rare ardor, %la.e) pr3e0 (prefi& ,%efore- in #er%s) p3er; plD0t3, pl"#a0t3 (swim, float) pl;t (raft) mn3E0niye (opinion)8 p"0m3at3 (memory) mn 0t3 (presume8 think of oneself)

n3em;i (mute)8 (dissimilation m 6 n) hence n3Em0tsy ($ermans 4 ,mute, dum% people- apparently as opposed to Slovene :+la#s, or ,worders-, those who use slovo (word) to speak) through %reast stone side deep hill stem worm ch3Er3e. (cf/ +anskrit tirah, !atin trans, though Iasmer neglects this, assigning it to !ithuanian skersas, which is more regular phonologically) %r3Aha (%elly, stomach (folksy)) st3en" (wall) staran" (side), stran" (country) (relatedness not pro#en) dn; (%ottom) h;lm (most likely, a $ermanic %orrowing) st3E%3el3 (possi%ly unrelated) ch3Er#3 (irregular in +la#ic, ,ch3erm3- e&pected)

sea ;.3era (lake) (uncertainC Eudging %y the celandic sjr (sea), ;ld Jorse sr, and !ithianian eeras (lake)8 the meaning ,lake- is also preser#ed in $erman, +wedish, ;ld English, etc)

Con!lusion' Ke found only c/ 1L0 cognates in modern Russian and English, of which a%out ?0 would look rather du%ious at first glance or e#en after consideration/ *here may %e more, %ut still this might look hardly enough to con#ince the skeptics of their relatedness, if we had no other historical sources/ Howe#er, (1) the cognates occupy a large part of the %asic #oca%ulary, and may %ecome easily noticea%le to anyone who wishes to take a closer look8 (2) the a%ility of the ndo0European languages to clearly preser#e the second sylla%le e#idently indicates linguistic relationship in certain multifocal words, e/g/ mother (mat), sister (sestrA), rother ( rat), etc, which can hardly %e coincidental/ *herefore, the final answer would pro%a%ly %e that these languages are most likely related to each other/