Eastern Slavic-North Germanic Linguistic Contacts
Eastern Slavic-North Germanic Linguistic Contacts

Summary/Abstract: The present paper draws the reader’s attention to the lexical influence of Scandinavian languages on the languages of the Eastern Slavic bloc as well as to the “reverse side of the coin” i.e. the Eastern Slavic lexical influence on the Scandinavian languages. The following points are discussed in the study: 1) Russian words of Scandinavian origin.—As it is widely known, in the case of Russian, the influence of the Scandinavian languages began with the emergence of the Rurikovich-dynasty. The changes resulting from it have had their linguistic consequences in Russian, among others, in the form of some loanwords of Scandinavian origin. (About the historical background see Font 1995: 6-42, Pátrovics 1997: 109-116, and Рыдзевская 1978. Be reminded furthermore that in the case of Polish, the Scandinavian lexical influence can be minimized to inter-state relations to a much lesser degree than in the case of Russian. About the Scandinavian-Polish lexical contacts see Jurkowski 1993: 18-25, Pátrovics 2000: 221-226). 2) Words of Eastern Slavic origin in Scandinavian languages such as Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic. 3) Analysis of two etymologies: shelk (silk) and chmeľ (hops). 4) ‘Sovietisms’ in the Scandinavian languages. 5) Two Russian toponyms of Scandinavian origin. 6) Epilog and conclusions. 7) References.— I hope that this two-directional approach puts the matter in different new light and the linguistic data will help to understand the intricate question of interrelation of Eastern Slavic and Scandinavian languages.

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