Russian is one of the group of East Slavic languages, along with Ukrainian and Belarusian. It is the most widespread Slavic language and one of the most widespread languages in the world in terms of the number of people who speak it and consider it their native language.
In turn, the Slavic languages belong to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Thus, in order to answer the question: where did the Russian language come from, you need to make an excursion into antiquity.
Origin of Indo-European languages
About 6 thousand years ago there lived a people who are considered to be a native speaker of the Proto-Indo-European language. Where he lived exactly is the subject of fierce debate among historians and linguists today. The steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, and the territory on the border between Europe and Asia, and the Armenian Highlands are called as the ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans. In the early 80s of the last century, the linguists Gamkrelidze and Ivanov formulated the idea of two ancestral homelands: first there was the Armenian Highlands, and then the Indo-Europeans moved to the Black Sea steppes. Archeologically, the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language are correlated with the representatives of the Yamnaya culture, who lived in the east of Ukraine and in the territory of modern Russia in the 3rd millennium BC.
Allocation of the Balto-Slavic branch
Subsequently, the Proto-Indo-Europeans settled throughout Asia and Europe, mixed with the local peoples and gave them their own language. In Europe, the languages of the Indo-European family are spoken by almost all peoples, except for the Basques, in Asia, various languages of this family are spoken in India and Iran. Tajikistan, Pamir, etc. About 2 thousand years ago, the Proto-Slavonic language emerged from the common Proto-Indo-European language. The Prabalto-Slavs existed as a single people speaking the same language, according to a number of linguists (including Ler-Splavinsky) for about 500-600 years, and the archaeological culture of Corded Ware corresponds to this period of the history of our peoples. Then the linguistic branch was divided again: into the Baltic group, which henceforth healed an independent life, and the Proto-Slavic, which became the common root from which all modern Slavic languages originated.
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Old Russian language
Common Slavic unity lasted until the 6th-7th century AD. When speakers of East Slavic dialects emerged from the general Slavic massif, the Old Russian language began to form, which became the ancestor of the modern Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. The Old Russian language is known to us thanks to the numerous monuments written in the Church Slavonic language, which can be considered as a written, literary form of the Old Russian language. In addition, written monuments have survived - birch bark letters, graffiti on the walls of churches - written in everyday, colloquial Old Russian language.
Old Russian period
The Old Russian (or Great Russian) period covers the time from the XIV to the XVII centuries. At this time, the Russian language finally stands out from the group of East Slavic languages, phonetic and grammatical systems close to modern ones are formed in it, other changes take place, including dialects. The leading among them is the "akay" dialect of the upper and middle Oka, and, first of all, the Moscow dialect.
Modern Russian language
The Russian language, which we speak today, began to take shape from the 17th century. It is based on the Moscow dialect. The decisive role for the formation of the modern Russian language was played by the literary works of Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, Sumarokov. Lomonosov also wrote the first grammar that consolidated the norms of the literary Russian language. All the wealth of the Russian language, formed from the synthesis of Russian colloquial, Church Slavonic elements, borrowings from other languages, was reflected in the works of Pushkin, who is considered the creator of the modern Russian literary language.
Borrowings from other languages
Over the centuries of its existence, the Russian language, like any other living and developing system, has been repeatedly enriched with borrowings from other languages. The earliest borrowings include "baltism" - borrowings from the Baltic languages. However, in this case, we are probably not talking about borrowing, but about the vocabulary that has survived from the time when the Slavic-Baltic community existed. The "baltisms" include words such as "ladle", "tow", "skirda", "amber", "village", etc. During the period of Christianization, "Greekisms" - "sugar", "bench" entered our language. "Lantern", "notebook", etc. Through contacts with European peoples, the Russian language entered "Latinisms" - "doctor", "medicine", "rose" and "Arabisms" - "admiral", "coffee", "varnish", "mattress", etc. A large group of words entered our language from the Turkic languages. These are words like "hearth", "tent","Hero", "cart", etc. And, finally, since the time of Peter I, the Russian language has absorbed words from European languages. In the beginning it is a large layer of words from German, English and Dutch, related to science, technology, naval and military affairs: "ammunition", "globe", "assembly", "optics", "pilot", "sailor", "deserter ". Later in the Russian language settled French, Italian and Spanish words related to household items, the field of art - "stained glass", "veil", "couch", "boudoir", "ballet", "actor", "poster", "macaroni "," Serenade ", etc. And, finally, today we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time from English, mainly from the language.related to science, technology, naval and military affairs: "ammunition", "globe", "assembly", "optics", "pilot", "sailor", "deserter". Later in the Russian language settled French, Italian and Spanish words related to household items, the field of art - "stained glass", "veil", "couch", "boudoir", "ballet", "actor", "poster", "macaroni "," Serenade ", etc. And, finally, today we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time from English, mainly from the language.related to science, technology, naval and military affairs: "ammunition", "globe", "assembly", "optics", "pilot", "sailor", "deserter". Later in the Russian language settled French, Italian and Spanish words related to household items, the field of art - "stained glass", "veil", "couch", "boudoir", "ballet", "actor", "poster", "macaroni "," Serenade ", etc. And, finally, today we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time from English, mainly from the language.today we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time from English, mainly from the language.today we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time from English, mainly from the language.