Thread: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?

Well, just to add some...

Кофе - coffee
Чай - tea, compare chai
Карри - curry

Lots of modern vocabulary is loaned from French including such "everyday" words as пляж, (beach) - la plage and этаж - (floor, as in "first floor") - l'étage.

Sailing terminology (useful if ye like pir-r-rate stor-r-ries, Arrrr. ) is unfortunately mostly Dutch (or at least press-ganged sailor's idea of Dutch.), so "mainsail" would be "грот" and "foremast" - "фок-мачта", and bafflingly "stand from under!" - "Полундра!" (although nowadays this isn't used in it's original strict sense (except by sailors, maybe) - it may mean any kind of emergency.) Then again, ship decks are supported by beams and pillars... Или бимсами и пиллерсами... So some English words here too.

Originally Posted by ac220

Sailing terminology (useful if ye like pir-r-rate stor-r-ries, Arrrr. ) is unfortunately mostly Dutch

One exception to this (that I just learned two days ago in a Web discussion!) -- the Russian naval rank мичман comes from English "midshipman". But the ranks aren't exactly equivalent -- in English, a midshipman is a "larval" officer-in-training; basically a college kid with no practical experience at all. (See, for example, Wesley Crusher from ST:TNG). But a Russian мичман is a Warrant Officer -- in other words, a senior "non-com" who has years of experience.