Polish, Latin, German, Lithuanian - the layers in Belarusian vocabulary that Russian does not share, and how each is adapted.
I can recognise the main borrowing layers in Belarusian vocabulary and use naturalised borrowings with the right declension.
Подивіться на ці приклади. Чи можете ви помітити граматичну закономірність?
Дай мне кубак гарбаты, калі ласка.
Give me a cup of tea, please.
Ён паехаў у краму на ровары.
He rode to the shop on his bicycle.
Дах пакрылі новай цэглай і фарбай.
They redid the roof with new brick and paint.
У свіране яшчэ ляжыць леташняе зерне.
Last year's grain is still in the granary.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
Belarusian and Russian share most of their inherited Slavic stock. Where they diverge is in what they borrowed and from whom, and the reason is geography: the lands were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for centuries, so the borrowing went west while Russian's went in other directions.
The largest, and the reason so much Belarusian vocabulary looks unfamiliar to a Russian speaker:
| Belarusian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| кава | coffee |
| цукар | sugar |
| гарбата | tea |
| ровар | bicycle |
| дах | roof |
| крама | shop |
| парасон | umbrella |
| спадар | Mr, sir |
Mostly through Polish, and mostly crafts, building and trade: дах (Dach), цэгла - brick, шруба - screw, варштат - workshop, цэх, кухня, фарба - paint.
Through the schools and the chancery of the Grand Duchy, so it is concentrated in law, learning and administration: адвакат, студэнт, кансул, рэктар, капітул. Latin was a working language of the Commonwealth's education, and it left more here than it did further east.
Small but old, from centuries of contact with Lithuanian: клуня - barn, жвір - gravel, пуня - hayshed, свіран - granary. These are farm and landscape words, which is what you would expect from neighbours rather than rulers.
When a Belarusian word looks nothing like the Russian one, the answer is usually Polish. Knowing that gives you a second guessing strategy - and if you know any Polish at all, a large free vocabulary.
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2
Вправи для практикиTypical errors: assuming a word that is unlike the Russian one is dialect or invented, and failing to decline a naturalised borrowing.
Treating a Polish-layer word as dialect or invention
Ровар and крама are centuries old.
Not declining a naturalised borrowing
Кава, гарбата and крама decline normally.
Replacing a borrowing with the Russian word
That is the road to trasianka.
Keeping foreign phonetics in a borrowing
Akanne applies and г is fricative.
Дай мне кубак гарбаты, калі ласка.
Give me a cup of tea, please.
<em>Гарбата</em> came through Polish and declines normally.
Ён паехаў у краму на ровары.
He rode to the shop on his bicycle.
Two Polish-layer words in one sentence: <em>крама</em> and <em>ровар</em>.
Дах пакрылі новай цэглай і фарбай.
They redid the roof with new brick and paint.
The German craft layer, all three words.
У свіране яшчэ ляжыць леташняе зерне.
Last year's grain is still in the granary.
<em>Свіран</em> is from the Baltic layer - farm vocabulary from neighbours.
Мы сустрэліся ў кавярні на рагу.
We met at the coffee house on the corner.
<em>Кавярня</em> is derived from the borrowed <em>кава</em> by native means.
Практикувати в курсі
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2