Etymology of the words вариант, момент, спортсмен

[John Dunn]

It seems that вариант (in a different вариант, so to speak) is first recorded lexicographically in 1837; the most likely origin appears to be French, though I would suggest that the meaning of the word has expanded on Russian soil without outside influence (see Slovar' sovremennogo russkogo literaturnogo jazyka, vol. 2).

Somewhat to my surprise I managed to trace спортсмен back to 1879.  It occurs in Aleksandrov's Polnyj anglo-russkij slovar' of that year among the translations offered for sporter [sic!] and sportsman (pp. 490, 491).   I suppose that given the English influence on sport (as variously understood in the 19th and early 20th centuries) and its associated language, borrowing from English would seem the most likely explanation, though an intermediary language (French?) cannot be entirely ruled out.

John Dunn.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michelle Ort <flemwrites at GMAIL.COM>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 09:35:21 +0400
Subject: [SEELANGS] Etymology of the words вариант, момент,  спортсмен

Dear Seelangers,

I am trying to find out when and how the words "variant", "moment", and
"sportsmen" entered the Russian language. Did they come from English,
French, or somewhere else?

Thanks for your help,

Michelle Ort
BA, The College of Wooster '09
Fulbright ETA in Russia 2009-10

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John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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