Latviešu valodas dialektālie slāvismi diahroniskā skatījumā

Different aspects of the historical study of Slavisms in the Latvian language can be defined. The problem of distinguishing of a loanword and a native word is relevant, that is, the question of the status of a specific word (a loanword or a native word). There is no certain etymology of some dialectal Slavisms. For example, in the "Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca" (“Etymological Dictionary of the Latvian Language” by Konstantīns Karulis some words that are called Slavisms in the studies of Baltists and Slavists are considered as native lexical elements because they are etymologically related to native words. The article discusses the problem of the origin of Latv. tēgāt ‘understand, question; speak, tell’. This word is considered as a Slavic loanword. Semantic-etymological and cultural-historical analysis of this word allows us to conclude that the borrowed word tēgāt is based on the Old Russian tjagáti, tjagátisja (тяга́ти, тяга́тися) ‘judge, sue’ < *tęgati ‘pull’. The meaning of the Old Russian verb was formed as a result of narrowing of the meaning of the corresponding word in the language of law. In the semantics of borrowed verb of the Latvian language, the development of ancient meanings is also observed. The word is borrowed in the older period of contacts between the Old Latvian and Old Russian languages. East Slavic lexical elements related to the administrative and legal sphere could be borrowed as a result of political and trade contacts.