Kunigo Juozo Laukaičio Mažojo katekizmo vaikeliams religijos terminų norminimas

Author(s): Aušra Rimkutė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 82/2009

At the beginning of the 20th century Juozas Laukaitis (1873–1952) was among those outstanding figures who cherished the Lithuanian church language and who was very much concerned about standardising Lithuanian religious terms. He was chair of the so-called Prayer Commission and one of the first to take care of the language of prayers and to promote their Lithuanian version. The paper aims at discussing the terms and their evolution in the three editions (1904, 1907 and 1914) of J. Laukaitis’s Catechism Minor for Children (Mažasis katekizmas vaikeliams). The paper also aims at identifying principles and criteria of standardising religious terms, evaluating amendments made in catechisms published almost one hundred years ago in reference to standard Lithuanian.From the three editions of the Catechism there were about 600 different onestem (almost one third of all terms) and compound religious terms, their synonyms and variants collected. All editions contained some Lithuanian religious terms, e.g. Dievas (‘God’), duona (‘bread’), dvasia (‘spirit’), Kraujas (‘blood’), Kūnas (‘body’), našlė (‘widow’), Sūnus (‘son’), vanduo (‘water’), velnias (‘devil’), žaltys (‘grasssnake’) etc., some borrowed terms which had no equivalents at the time or their foreign origin might have been overlooked, e.g. almužna (‘alms’), aniolas (‘angel’), arkaniolas (‘archangel’), čysčius (‘purgatory’), čystata (‘chastity’), dūšia (‘soul’), grabas(‘coffin’), griešnas (‘sinful’), karunka (‘canticle’), pakūta (‘repentance’), šliūbas (‘wedding’), veselija (‘marriage’) etc. Most terms were used synonymously, e.g. auka – apiera (‘offering’), išpažintis – spaviednis (‘confession’), nusidėjimas or nuodėmė – griekas (‘sin’), bausmė – kora (‘punishment’), malonė – mylista (‘mercy’), mirtis – smertis (‘death’), paslaptis – tajemnyčia (‘secret’), pragaras – pekla (‘hell’), pasaulis – svietas (‘world’), teismas – sūdas (‘trial’), viltis – nodieja (‘hope’) etc. (preference was usually given to the Lithuanian term).The standardisation of religious terms by J. Laukaitis could be treated as the most general approach to standardising the terms of the field. Spelling and syntactic varieties of the terms as well as their synonyms found in the three editions of the Catechism Minor for Children suggest that religious terms were still rather inconsistent.

Dėl šalutinių priežasties sakinių su jungtuku jog

Author(s): Artūras Judžentis / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 82/2009

The conjunction jog connects reason clauses frequently used in old Lithuanian writings as well as in present-day publicist, belles-lettres and free style Lithuanian; however, new descriptive, standardising and pedagogical grammars fail to mention them. The paper deals with older and modern usage of the above clauses, offers an overview of their research and development of codification. The paper suggests that the above clauses should be treated as appropriate for standard Lithuanian; arguments for the claim are provided.

Kazimieras Gaivenis – poetinio polėkio terminologas

Author(s): Pranas Kniūkšta / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 82/2009

Iš kur kilęs ki̇̀biras (kibi̇̀ras)

Author(s): Vincentas Drotvinas / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 83/2010

The article discusses the origin of two Lithuanian homonyms, namely, 1. ki̇̀biras, kibi̇̀ras ‘a small dry twig, a dry branch’, and 2. ki̇̀biras ‘a container to carry water and draw it from a well’ (Lietuvių kalbos žodynas, 1959, vol. V). The Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian (Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas, 2006) gives two stress variants for the second homonym: ki̇̀biras, kibi̇̀ras. The dictionaries of Lithuanian provide convincing evidence testifying to the Lithuanian origin of the word. This word originates in the Western Highlanders (Aukštaitian) subdialect, it has also been traced in some dictionaries that were published in the 17th c. in thePrussian Lithuania, or Lithuania Minor, is found in dictionaries and folklore collections. Moreover, the word belongs to the general lexicon of current Lithuanian. Etymologists K. Būga (1958, 1959), E. Fraenkel (1962), A. Brückner (1989), M. Vasmer (1986), and A. Bańkowski (2000) suggest different interpretations of its origin: OSlav. cьbьrъ (< OHG zwibar) and Lith. kib-ti „an.?“, kyb-oti „an.?“

Kitų kalbų tikrinių vardų rašymo probleminiai atvejai latvių kalboje

Author(s): Dzintra Šulce / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 83/2010

Problematic character of spelling and pronunciation of proper names becomes apparent in all languages, including Latvian, a cognate language of Lithuanian. Difficulties arise both when words of Latvian origin are used in another language and when rendering borrowed proper names into Latvian.Scientifically based principles of rendering borrowed proper names into Latvian were defined in the second half of the 19th century. These principles bear a sufficiently universal character and they have preserved their topicality even nowadays. Borrowed proper names still follow the pronunciation rules of the original language, only letters of the Latvian alphabet are used in their spelling, and the rendered proper names are included into the Latvian grammar system.Language history shows that early borrowed personal names were localised and translated into Latvian. It means adjustment of literary and folklore pieces, historic events, personalities etc. to the singularity of the given nation, of the country and specific character of perception.When proper names of the original language are not written in Latin letters, they are transliterated in Latvian. The spelling of the borrowed proper names in Latvian, taken as a whole, is fixed and complies with the rules; however, deviations from the pronunciation principle become more frequent, especially in cases of personal names of foreign origin.Mistakes, inaccuracies and deviations from the original version of proper names can be caused by the influence of other languages. For quite a long time, Russian was used as an intermediary language; nowadays new problems arise from the strong infatuation with English versions.Latvialisation of borrowed proper names according to their pronunciation, with the original form enclosed in brackets, is mentioned as the most optimal principle of rendering borrowed proper names. In such cases this will certainly bring most benefit to the reader, for whom the text might become easier to perceive. With contacts between countries and languages developing, in practice more attention is given to the original spelling of proper names.

Trumpųjų žinučių rašybos bruožai

Author(s): Laima Nevinskaitė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 83/2010

The aim of the article is to describe orthographical features and functional properties of Lithuanian short messages. The data was derived from a corpus of 2060 messages written by 75 different senders of different age groups and various service providers. The material allows to get a full view of SMS orthography yet the sample is not representative thus the quantitative data is to be treated as preliminary.Earlier research in some other languages has shown that peculiarities of SMS language are mainly determined by their functions, i. e. SMS messaging is primarily used for informal immediate communication and for certain specific reasons related to technological and economic factors (limited SMS length, ease of text typing), entertainment as well as social identity and self-expression.The analysis of orthography of Lithuanian SMS has shown that although the authors have used many original ways of spelling, punctuation and typing, hardly any message was difficult to understand while many of the specific features could be explained by the authors’ attempts at brevity and speed of typing, e. g. replacing w with v and other nonstandard spelling. On the other hand, certain features which evidently appeared due to the limited message size, for example, avoidance of space after punctuation marks, have clearly become customary tosome of the senders because the majority of the messages do not reach the maximum size limit.The following specific features of orthography have been established: Lithuanian diacritics are seldom used; nonstandard spelling (v replaced with w, i with j, ks with x, other incorrect spelling); use of abbreviations (both traditional and new abbreviations, ommittance of parts of words, leaving out vowels, replacing parts of words with numerals); absence of capital letters; unpunctuated clauses and sentences; nonstandard typing (no spaces after punctuation marks). The Lithuanian SMS orthography is characterized by fewer specific features than the orthography of some other languages. For example, no acronyms and initialisms and homophones have been found in this material which may be explained by the different features of different languages.

Skolinių su kirčiuotais dvigarsiais el, er, eu dabartinė kodifikacijos būklė ir galima kaita

Author(s): Rita Miliūnaitė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 89/2016

The accentuation history of the codification of the loanwords with semi-diphthongs el, er and diphthong eu demonstrates that their variant with the short vowel [ẹ] with the falling syllable accent was an artificial invasion of the sound and prosody system of Standard Lithuanian that was thrown out of joint especially by the appearance of the 1951 dictionary of the so-called international words. The most obvious consequences of this phenomenon in the present usage is the levelling up of syllable accents and the encouragement of movable stress, as well as different syllable accent marking in words of the same origin (e.g. temosas and tèrminis) that were included into the dictionaries at different time. The theoretically declared originality of the [ẹ] in words of foreign origin is difficult to record practically, linguists’ attitude towards it is subjective and ordinary language users do pronunciation with the rising syllable accent of the above mentioned semi-diphthongs and diphthong eu i.e. the pronunciation and accentuation of loanwords are naturally adjusted to the sound and prosody system of the Lithuanian language. Therefore, at present there is a clear contradiction between usage and codification. Under such circumstances, the importance of codification grows: it becomes either a factor for preservation and stabilisation of rea norms, or an obstacle to their natural development. The goal of the article is to analyse the codification state of loanwords with stressed el, er, eu that was created in the Lithuanian language at the beginning of the 21st century, and to define possible solutions to the change of the codification system. The following aims are set: 1) to discuss the usage criteria and its reliability in the codification of the phenomenon under discussion; 2) to examine the 2003 and 2014 recommendations of the institution that approves the norms of standard language – the State Lithuanian Language Commission (SLLC) – that concern the accentuation of el, er, eu, reveal their main points and purposefulness; 3) to deal with the codification issue of the loanwords with the stressed el, er, eu based on codification theory (codification strategic trends, correlation between competitive variants, principles and criteria of codification and its methods); 4) to asses the development of the possible solutions of codification and consequences of the phenomenon under discussion. Drawing on these recommendations developed by the Language Commission in 2003 and 2014 concerning the accentuation of el, er, eu as well as the issue of their codification based on codification theory the article asserts that the Commission’s recommendations for accentuation took a reasonable measure to legalize the rising syllable accent of el, er, eu (for example, šefas, koncetas, terapeũtas, -ė) as a second variant of more frequently used loanwords where they were not codified. Since these recommendations are based on the tendencies of real usage and the rising syllable accent of el, er, eu variants has been accepted as standard, and corresponding with these tendencies, the strategic codification trend towards the system is clearly seen – the aim is to make the codification of these words with the rising syllable accent. It is suitable to change the codification of separate words or their sub-systems through variants; also, theoretically, it could be suitable to bring the accentuation of the systemically higher level of loanwords with el, er, eu closer to real usage. However, until now the codification of these phenomena has not been uniform and was carried out at different time. Besides, the Language Commission’s recommendations encompass only more frequently used words, but not all that are included into the normative Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian that is being edited (it includes only a few borrowed proper nouns loanwords). There are many differently stressed variants, in various stages of change. Therefore, this method of codification to put the accentuation of loanwords with el, er, eu has so far not proved to be useful until now. Codification theory and practice demonstrate that the most rational way out the present situation is to take the last step and to take a rational decision and to level up the codification system, so that all loanwords with el, er, eu, including new ones that will be accepted into the Lithuanian language are stressed with the circumflex accent according to the tendencies in real usage. Another one would be to leave an acute accent variant as the second one where it is a remnant of the earlier codification. The normative Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian that is being edited, which the Language Commission is going to approve, presents the best opportunity to level up the accentuation system in order to eliminate the contradictions between usage and codification. In practice it means that in this dictionary the variant of the loanwords with el, er, eu that bear the circumflex accent should be universally considered as the first one and the main norm. In this way the language users’ expectations to have a clear accentuation system of such words would also be satisfied and they would not have to make sure in what stage of change through variants of codification this or that word is. Note. While the article was being edited, on 17 June 2016, the State Lithuanian Language Commission passed the recommendation that the variant of loanwords with el, er, eu bearing the circumflex is to be systematically considered as the main stressed variant in the Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian i.e. to level up the accentuation system as has been suggested in this article.

Pertarų dažnumas ir įvairovė sakytinėje lietuvių kalboje

Author(s): Laura Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 87/2014

The aim of the research discussed in the article is to disclose the peculiarities of the use of fillers in the spoken Lithuanian language. Sakytinės lietuvių kalbos tekstynas (Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian, available at http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/sakytines-kalbos-tekstynas/) covering the 2006–2009 usage has been used for the research. The Corpus comprises 80 hours of transcribed language (amounting to 225 000 words in total) mostly consisting of dialogues and spontaneous, informal speech, yet including the more formal language from the prepared speeches of different speakers.The frequency and variety of fillers are analysed taking into account the types of spoken language distinguished according to publicity/privacy. It was found out that fillers account for 2.3 per cent of words in the spontaneous spoken language, while in the public language they are used markedly less and amount to 0.6 per cent of the total of the words used. The variety of fillers in the spontaneous spoken language is extensive as they are used frequently and tend to be picked from interlocutors. In this case, they usually do not perform any function and are used habitually rather than with the purpose of filling the silence. The research of fillers in the public language showed differences between the following two types: it has been found out that the academic communication and communication in the media differ not only in the frequency and variety of fillers but also in the peculiarities of usage. In the public media language, fillers are used to fill the silence, start a new topic or conversation with a new listener of the programme. In academic language, adverbs denoting affirmation usually turn into fillers (iš tikrųjų, žinoma, be abejo – ‘indeed, of course, no doubt’).

Asmenvardžių rašymas Lietuvos Respublikos dokumentuose ir valstybinės kalbos funkcijos

Author(s): Kazimieras Garšva / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 87/2014

Artimiausiu laiku Seimas siekia apsispręsti, kaip Lietuvos Respublikoje bus rašomi, tariami ir funkcionuos asmenvardžiai. Valstybei, tautai ir kalbai tai yra labai svarbus klausimas. Autorius su šiuo klausimu, esančiu kelių mokslų sankirtoje, yra susijęs jau 20 metų, recenzavo ar rengė Konstitucijai neprieštaraujančius įstatymų projektus. Iniciatyvą dėl asmenvardžių rašybos dokumentuose keitimo iškėlė ne kalbininkai, o pirmiausia politikai. Argumentuodami savo siūlymus, projektų pateikėjai nurodė kalbos mokslo neatitinkančius ir kitokius motyvus, bet į juos vis tiek reikia atsakyti. Straipsnio tikslas – išnagrinėti svarbiausius Lietuvos Respublikos piliečių vardų ir pavardžių rašymo dokumentuose principus ir pasiūlyti tinkamiausią įstatymo projektą. Straipsnio uždaviniai – trumpai aptarti dabartines asmenvardžių rašybos problemas, tyrinėjimo metodiką, turimus svarbiausius duomenis, įstatymų projektus ir jų ryšį su valstybinės kalbos funkcijomis.

Kalbos kultūros šaknys ir kylantys modernizacijos vėjai

Author(s): Vitas Labutis / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 84/2011

Graži Kalbos kultūros 50 metų sukaktis – tinkama proga pakalbėti apie tai, kaip, kokiomis aplinkybėmis ir kieno rūpesčiu šis leidinys radosi lituanistikos pasaulyje, kas lėmė jo kryptį, uždavinius ir pobūdį. Kartu kyla noras šiek tiek pamąstyti apie to leidinio dabartį ir ateitį.

Nauji 2007–2010 m. lietuviškos kilmės vaikų vardai ir jų davimo polinkiai

Author(s): Daiva Sinkevičiūtė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 84/2011

The paper discusses names of Lithuanian origin, which were hardly ever given to babies some time ago but appeared in the Republic of Lithuania in 2007–2010. The paper aims at identifying names which contribute to the expansion of the Lithuanian onomastics. The key factor in the discussion is the novelty of the name; a distinction is drawn between the names suggested by the authors of the Lietuvių vardų kilmės žodynas (Dictionary of Origin of Lithuanian Names) and newly coined names, which are divided according to origin to two-stem compound, appellative, locative and truncated names. Many new names emerged as a result of human creativity; most names listed in the Dictionary had already been given to new-born babies. In the names given between 2007 and 2010, most names are two-stem compound, appellative names and truncated two-stem names; of them, appellative names and truncated names are often expanded by suffixation. These types of names are characterised by the following features: 1. Two-stem compound names are coined on the basis of usual stems; however, there are cases when one of the stems is appellative, of appellative or foreign origin. Such tendency in coining new compound names is not new; it was observed in old two-stem compound names as well. The same principle applies when new borrowed names are recreated. According to the frequency of stems, in female names the second stem mant- and the first stem ai- clearly stand out. 2. Appellative names are coined in two ways: the base of unsuffixed names is usually expressed by the lexis referring to nature; the base of suffixed names is expressed by appellative names with the same stem. Suffixed appellative names, like suffixed truncated names, are built with the help of suffixes, which are of foreign origin in the new names as well as in Lithuanian hydronyms. Such names are considered acceptable. 3. The abundance of names originating from truncated names attests to a general tendency towards shortening. Such names demonstrate that newly coined truncated names and those suggested in the Dictionary have the inflections -as, -is and -ius; -a and -ė. Thus new truncated names are made on the basis of all possible variants.

Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos (2010)

Author(s): Jūratė Palionytė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 84/2011

Pagrindiniai Kalbos komisijos veiklos tikslai ir uždaviniai įgyvendinami vykdant Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės patvirtintas kalbos programas. 2010 m. toliau vykdytos Valstybinės kalbos norminimo, vartojimo, ugdymo ir sklaidos 2006–2015 m. programa ir Tarmių ir etninių vietovardžių iš- saugojimo 2001–2010 m. programa, taip pat programa „Teisinė ir administracinė valstybinės kalbos priežiūra“.

Tarptautinė konferencija Nacionalinės kalbos mokslo ir aukštojo mokslo srityse

Author(s): Jolanta Zabarskaitė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 84/2011

Taline 2011 m. rugpjūčio 29–30 dienomis vyko tarptautinė konferencija Nacionalinės kabos mokslo ir aukštojo mokslo srityse, skirta: • akademinei kalbų politikai; • analizei, kokiomis kalbomis pagal mokslo sritis šalių universitetuose dėstoma studentams, rašomos disertacijos, leidžiami mokslo žurnalai; • mokslo kalbos kokybės ir jos raidos šiuolaikiniame, globalėjančiame pasaulyje tyrimams.

Profesoriui Arnoldui Piročkinui – 80 metų

Author(s): Aldonas Pupkis / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 84/2011

Žinomam filologui, kalbininkui, istorikui, kultūrininkui profesoriui Arnoldui Piročkinui 2011 m. vasario 25 d. sukako 80 metų. Ir nors šiais asmenybių nuvertinimo laikais darosi neįprasta rašyti proginius sukaktuvinius straipsnius, vis dėlto Arnoldo Piročkino nuveikti darbai nusipelno daugiau dėmesio, negu jiems buvo skiriama ikšiolinėje lietuvių kalbotyros istorijos literatūroje. Tad čia pridera tarti keletą žodžių apie tuos darbus sukaktuvinkui pagerbti ir gerbiamiems Kalbos kultūros leidinio skaitytojams.

Garbingas Antano Balašaičio jubiliejus

Author(s): Aurelija Gritėnienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 84/2011

Antanas Balašaitis gimė 1931 m. balandžio 15 d. Banių k. (Jùrbarko r.). Šeimoje augo trys broliai. Vyresnysis Petras Telviak pradinę mokyklą pradėjo lankyti nuo 1937 m. rudens, o jaunėlis Antanas 1938 m. pavasarį mokyklos slenkstį peržengė jau išmokęs didžiąsias raides (jas per žiemą išmoko iš laikraščiais nuklijuotų kambario sienų). Baigę pradinę, abu broliai septynerius metus pėstute kasdien po penkis kilometrus žygiavo į Ežvilko gimnaziją ant Šaltuonõs kranto.

Marijos Razmukaitės onomastikos darbai

Author(s): Kazimieras Garšva / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 84/2011

Kai Algirdas Sabaliauskas spausdins Lietuvių kalbos istorijos trečiąjį tomą, po Marijos Razmukaitės pristatymu nurodys literatūrą: Norkaitienė M. Džiugu matyti kolegę metus skaičiuojant nuveiktais darbais (Gimtoji kalba 3, 2001). O kitas šaltinis gal bus ir šis straipsnis. Didysis metraštininkas, matyt, nutylės, jog kadaise mūsų stalai stovėjo vienas prieš kitą, o už sienos M. Razmukaitė pro kaštonus žiūrėjo į Petro Povilo bažnyčią (trečiame aukšte tai gerai matyti) ir vis rašė rašė apie tikrinius žodžius – vietovardžius, pavardes ir šiek tiek apie tarmes. Kadangi ji gimusi balandžio 1-ąją, sveikinimai ateina įvairiu laiku.

Stratégiai fejlesztések az észt nyelv fennmaradásáért

Author(s): Kata Kádár / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 05/2017

Gimtakalbių ir negimtakalbių mokinių lietuvių kalbos kokybė

Author(s): Loreta Vilkienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 3/2019

Lithuanian language, native language, non-native language, C-test, error, grammar,vocabulary.The aim of the paper is to answer the questions about the extent of specific types of errors in Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian students’ performance on the same test and what it can say about native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ Lithuanian competence. Research material was a C-test completed by 326 third grade pupils of 6 Gymnasiums in Vilnius. There were 127 Lithuanian, 96 Polish, and 103 Russian pupils aged between 16–17. A total of 19,560 test items were analysed combining quantitative and qualitative error analysis methods. Data analysis leads to the following conclusions: 1. The analysis of the extent of the errors revealed that the two non-native speaker groups are similar. The native speaker group made significantly fewer errors in all categories. The results of the analysis of the nature of errors suggest that, in principle, grammatical competence of non-native speakers is closer to that of native speakers than lexical competence. 2. An examination of the same problematic points for all three groups reveals that, in most cases, both native and non-native speakers make the same mistakes, but non-native speakers make more of them. This suggests that the skills which differentiate between native speakers are the ones that are more difficult to develop for non-native speakers as well. 3. Non-native speakers have a narrower vocabulary than native speakers, they make more lexical mistakes. However, it should also be noted that native speaker performance is also dominated by lexical errors. 4. Analysis of the most problematic points revealed that grammar mistakes in such cases are more often made by native speakers than by non-native speakers. These grammatical mistakes are probably due to the lack of strong ability of native speakers to see beyond the words immediately following each other, to take into account more complex constructions, long sentences and to understand the logic of the text

Corpus-assisted Discourse Analysis of New Digital Genres: A Study of Online Product Descriptions in Lithuania

Author(s): Jūratė Ruzaitė / Language(s): English Issue: 35/2019

The present paper relies on a corpus linguistic approach to reveal how the new digital genre of prod¬uct descriptions is constructed and shaped by Lithuanian bread manufacturers. This study primarily focuses on the Multi-Dimensional analysis of bread descriptions as compared to other genres. It in¬vestigates the dominant verbal discourses of bread promotion and the typical linguistic choices used to disseminate these discourses. The data includes product descriptions available on the websites of six major industrial bread bakers in Lithuania and consists of more than 150 product descriptions (ap¬prox. 10,000 words). The lexical choices in these texts are evaluated by referring to the Corpus of Con¬temporary Lithuanian (tekstynas.vdu.lt) as a general reference corpus. The results show that in Lithuanian bread descriptions two text functions dominate: descriptiveness and prepared expressiveness, which further indicates that the target texts are closest to academic prose and fiction. The analysis of collocations and word frequencies supports the prevalence of features characteristic of both academic prose and fiction. This new digital genre is used by producers to disseminate and emphasise certain values and ideologies through explicit verbal references to tradition, inheritance, and continuity.

В дополнение к списку межславянских лексических заимствований в русском приказном языке XVII в

Author(s): Liudmila Pavlovna Garbul / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2020

This paper is devoted to the problems of complex inter-Slavic language contacts in the 17th century and continues the author’s cycle of publications on this topic. The study is based on historical and philological methods that help to establish the direction of language influence when genetically related languages contact. The successful application of these methods is facilitated by the use of historical dictionaries of the West Slavic and East Slavic languages with a great depth of diachrony and a wide range of written monuments of different genres and various origins. This information helps to identify inter-Slavic language borrowings and verify the results of previous studies. The paper examines the origin and history of four words found in the Muscovite diplomatic correspondence: navezenie ‘captivity, imprisonment’, nadariti / nadaryti ‘to give, to bestow’, novokreščeniec ‘neophyte; Anabaptist’, novoobrannyj ‘newly elected’ in all contacting languages: Russian, Polish, the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as well as Belarusian and Ukrainian. The author aims at proving that these words are lexical borrowings from the Polish language. The study is based on a careful comparison of data of various types of dictionaries of the Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Polish languages, which made it possible to prove the foreign origin of these tokens in the Russian language and to establish the source of borrowings as well as to identify the intermediary role of the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Polish–Russian language contacts. As a result of the study, it was found that all four lexemes are Polonisms. It was also established that the words nadariti / nadaryti, novokreščeniec, and novoobrannyj were introduced to the Russian written language of the 17th century, most likely due to the mediation of the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In addition, the time of appearance of the word nadariti / nadaryti in the Russian written language was specified, and an earlier chronology was established for the word novoobrannyj. The materials in this publication can be used to supplement and clarify the information of the etymological and historical dictionaries of the Slavic languages.