Back to index

Russian loanwords

19. Loanwords and Lexical Stratification

Avar vocabulary is heavily stratified. While the core lexicon (body parts, basic actions, numerals, natural phenomena) is native Daghestanian, prolonged historical contact has introduced massive layers of borrowed vocabulary.

This chapter outlines the chronological strata of loanwords, their phonological adaptation, and their grammatical integration into the Avar morphological system.

19.1 Historical Strata (Pre-Russian Borrowings)

Before the 19th century, Avar vocabulary was primarily influenced by religious, cultural, and trade contacts with the Middle East and neighboring Turkic peoples.

19.1.1 Arabic Loanwords

Arabic provided the bulk of religious, scientific, abstract, and socio-political vocabulary following the Islamic conversion of Daghestan. These words are fully adapted to Avar phonology and morphology.

  • Phonological adaptation: Avar possesses many of the guttural and pharyngeal sounds present in Arabic (e.g., гӀ /ʕ/, хӀ /ħ/, къ /qʼ/), making Arabic loans sound highly natural.
  • Religious terms: китаб (book), къуръан (Quran), мажгит (mosque), мадраса (madrasa), дугӀа (prayer), жаннат / алжан (paradise), жагьаннам / жужахӀ (hell), малаик (angel), шайтӀан (devil).
  • Socio-political: хӀукумат (government/state), шаригӀат (sharia), жамагӀат (community), халкъ (people/nation), уммат (nation/ummah), хӀаким (official/ruler), вакил (representative), адат (custom), зулму (oppression/violence).
  • Education and Abstract concepts: мугӀалим (teacher), дарс (lesson), илму (knowledge), тарих (history), суал (question), гъалатӀ (mistake/error), пайда (benefit), хӀисаб (calculation).
19.1.2 Persian Loanwords

Persian borrowings generally relate to trade, administration, textiles, and abstract concepts of culture and war.

  • Abstract & Culture: анищ (desire), амру (order/command), багьа (price), кумек (help), хабар (news), пахру (pride).
  • People & War: багьадур (hero/warrior), душман (enemy), гулла (bullet).
  • Trade & Household: базар (market), базарган (merchant), шагьар (city), дарбанд (gate), килиса (church), дарман (medicine).
  • Textiles: хара (silk), зарбаб (brocade), махмар (velvet), камар (belt).
19.1.3 Turkic Loanwords

Kumyk and Azerbaijani served as lingua francas in the region for centuries, supplying vocabulary for flora, fauna, household items, and agriculture.

  • Food & Agriculture: чай (tea), къабах (pumpkin), къарбуз (watermelon), илхъи (grain), бахча (garden), багӀли (cherry).
  • Household Items: ашхана (kitchen), къазан (cauldron), табакъ (plate), чанах (pot), дафтар (notebook), къутӀи (box), чанта (bag), къап (sack), чадир (tent).
  • Animals: бугъа (bull), хъаз (goose), урдек (duck), чакъал (jackal).
  • Other: къонакъ (guest), байрам (holiday).
19.2 Russian Loanwords

The largest and most actively growing layer of borrowed vocabulary comes from Russian. The integration of Russian words varies strictly by when the word was borrowed.

19.2.1 Early Adaptations (Pre-Soviet)

Words borrowed in the 19th and early 20th centuries were subjected to severe phonetic alteration to fit native Avar phonotactics (which historically forbade consonant clusters and certain phonemes like /f/).

Phonetic Adaptation Rules for Early Loans:

  1. Vowel Epenthesis (Cluster Breaking): Avar inserted vowels to break up Russian consonant clusters.
    • Шкаф → шкап (also replacing /f/ with /p/).
    • Кровать → гарават (with vowel harmony and initial cluster breaking).
  2. Consonant Substitution:
    • ф /f/ → п /p/: Фабрика → пабрик.
    • г /g/ → гь /h/: Газета → гьазит.
    • в /v/ → б /b/: Ведро → бедре.
  3. Depalatalization: Soft Russian consonants became hard.
    • Тюрьма → турма.
    • Чай → чай (Avar ч is hard, unlike Russian).
19.2.2 Modern Adaptations (Soviet and Post-Soviet)

Modern Russian borrowings (especially scientific, political, and technological terms) are borrowed exactly as spelled in Russian. This has fundamentally altered Avar orthography and phonology.

  • Marginal Phonemes: The phoneme /f/ (ф) and /ɨ/ (ы) now exist natively in Avar strictly because of these loanwords (e.g., факт, вышка).
  • Orthographic Preservation: The Russian soft sign (ь) and hard sign (ъ) are preserved exactly as in the original Russian, even though Avar usually uses these symbols purely as modifiers to create digraphs (e.g., гь, тӀ).
    • Апрель, объект, роль.
19.2.3 Doublets

Due to the different waves of borrowing, Avar occasionally possesses "doublets" — two versions of the same Russian word.

  • Губерния (modern spelling) vs. губерн (older truncated adaptation).
  • Машина (car/machine) vs. машин (older).
19.3 Grammatical Integration of Russian Loans

Despite preserving Russian orthography, modern loanwords are strictly subjected to Avar morphological declension rules.

19.3.1 Plural Formation

Russian loanwords follow predictable Avar plural rules based on their final letter:

  1. Polysyllabic Vowel-Final (-би):
    • поэма → поэмаби
    • ракета → ракетаби
  2. Consonant-Final (-ал):
    • трактор → тракторал
    • журнал → журналал
  3. Professions/Rational Nouns (-заби):
    • учитель → учительзаби
    • инженер → инженерзаби
19.3.2 Plural Case Formation (Ergative/Genitive)

When declining a plural loanword into the Ergative or Genitive, the nominative plural suffix modifies predictably:

  1. -ал plurals → -аз / -азул: Drops the final -л.
    • тракторал → Erg: трактораз, Gen: тракторазул (not тракторалаз).
  2. -би plurals → -баз / -базул: Drops the final -и.
    • поэмаби → Erg: поэмабаз, Gen: поэмабазул.
  3. -заби plurals → -забаз / -забазул: Drops the final -и.
    • докторзаби → Erg: докторзабаз, Gen: докторзабазул.
19.3.3 Oblique Stem & Case Formation (Declension Types)

Russian loanwords bypass the complex ablaut and epenthesis rules of native Avar nouns.

  • No Vowel Alternation: Unlike native nouns, Russian loans never undergo root vowel rotation (о→а, е→а). For example, террор forms the plural genitive террорул (not террарул).
  1. Class I (Males/Professions) follow standard Type 1 (-ас).
    • доктор → Erg: докторас, Gen: докторасул.
  2. Class III (Inanimate Objects) skip native epenthetic vowels (like -у-) and directly attach Type 2 (-алъ).
    • трактор → Erg: тракторалъ (not тракторуца).
    • минут → Erg: минуталъ.
19.3.3 Truncation Rules in Declension

While Russian orthography is preserved in the nominative, certain elements are systematically dropped when declining the word into oblique cases or plurals:

  1. Soft Sign (ь) Dropping: The soft sign is stripped before adding Avar suffixes.
    • мораль → Erg: моралалъ (not моральалъ).
    • словарь → Erg: словаралъ.
  2. Final -е Dropping: Nouns ending in -ие drop the final е before suffixation.
    • произведение → Erg: произведениялъ (not произведениеялъ).
    • знание → Plural: знаниял.
19.3.4 Singular-Only Abstract Nouns

Russian abstract nouns ending in specific suffixes are universally treated as Singular Only (Singularia Tantum) in Avar, mirroring their uncountable nature.

  • -ие: телевидение, искусствоведение.
  • -ство: искусство.
  • -ация: автоматизация.
  • -изм: коммунизм.
19.3.5 Derived Adjectives

Avar rarely borrows Russian adjectives directly (e.g., words ending in -ский or -ный). Instead, it borrows the nominal root and attaches native Avar adjectival suffixes (-ияб or -ав / -ай / -аб).

  • Политический → политикияб (politics + iya + class marker).
  • Официальный → официалияб.
  • Русский → гӀурусаб (or гӀурус as a substantive noun).