Etymology of the words вариант , момент, спортсмен

[Michelle Ort]

Thanks for the replies! They were very helpful.

Michelle Ort.

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 2:19 PM, John Dunn <J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk>wrote:

> 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
>
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>
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