Foreign Words

words of foreign origin used in a given language. Depending upon the degree of assimilation into a language, foreign words are divided into borrowed words, exotic words, and barbarisms. Along with the completely assimilated borrowed words, language contains partly adopted words—for example, in Russian silos from the Spanish silos, butsy from the English “boots,” pikirovat’ from the French piquer or the German pikieren, and shorty from the English “shorts.”

Exoticisms and barbarisms have not been assimilated into a language and are not part of its system. They come into use through the necessity of expressing proper names, specific objects, or rituals and serve specific stylistic functions—for example, Dzhordzh (George), lavash (unleavened bread), or shakhsei-vakhsei (a Shiite rite). Internationalisms, words that belong to a common international pool, are also considered foreign words. Such expressions in Russian as terra inkognita, kheppi end, pardon, and radar can be included in this category. A special form is the caique, or semantic borrowing, such as the words vliianie and trogatel’nyi from the French influence and touchant. Bilingualism and intensive cultural contact lead to influxes of foreign words into a language. Excessive and indiscriminate use of foreign words reduces the effectiveness of a language.