Influence of foreign languages on Croatian

Croatian language changed a lot over the years. That happened mostly because of
historical, cultural and political impact. For many years Croatia was occupied by Venetians
and Ottomans (Turks). Also, it was part of Austro-Hungarian empire for some time. These
nations contributed in changing of Croatian language. Words borrowed from these languages
are called ‘posuđenice’. Borrowed words that cannot be replaced with Croatian word with the
same meaning are called ‘usvojenice’.

Words borrowed from Italian language are called Italianisms. They are mostly spoken
in coastal part of Croatia, because that part was occupied by Venetians. Some of them are:

Italianism: barka pasat pjat priša šjor škatula šporko

Italian: barca passare piatto prisa signore scatola sporco
Croatian: čamac proći tanjur žurba gospodin kutija prljavo
English: boat to pass plate rush mister box dirty

Words borrowed from German are called Germanisms. They are most common in the
Kajkavian dialect, but especially in Zagreb’s speech. They came into Croatian from Austrian
part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. Some of them are:

Germanism: bina bluza cigla farba feder friško

German: die Bühne die Bluse die Ziegel die Farbe die Feder frisch
Croatian: pozornica puna opeka boja opruga svježe
English: stage the blouse brick color spring fresh

Words borrowed from Turkish language are called Turkish loan words. They are most
common in shtokavian dialect. Many Turkish loan words have their origin from Greek,
Arabian, or Persian. They came into Croatian because of expansion of Ottoman Empire. Some
of them are:

Turkish l.w.: bakar bunar deva džep kula jastuk tava

Turkish: bakir pinar deve cep kule yastik tava
Croatian: bakar bunar deva džep kula jastuk tava
English: copper well camel pocket tower pillow pan
 Words borrowed from Hungarian are called ‘hungarizmi’. They came into Croatian
from Hungarian part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. For many of them we do not have Croatian
equivalent. Some of them are:

‘Hungarizam’: baršun mačka lopov lopta soba sablja

Hungarian: bársony macska lopas labda szoba szablya
Croatian: pliš mačka kradljivac lopta soba mač/sablja
English: plush cat thief ball room saber/sword

Other languages that had impact on Croatian in history are: Latin (‘inteligencija’,
‘inspektor’, ‘informacija’, ‘koncept’), Greek (‘ikona’, ‘kaos’, ‘kemija’, ‘kor’, ‘anđeo’), and
Czech (‘časopis’, ‘povod’, ‘spis’, ‘tlak’, ‘uloga’, ‘vlak’).

In modern times English has a big impact on Croatian. English words that are used in
Croatian are called ‘anglizmi’. They are mostly used by younger generations.
Some of them are:

‘Anglizam’: bend biznis dizajn fer kompjutor šopingiranje

English: band business design fair computer shopping
Croatian: glazbeni sastav posao ukrasništvo pravedan računalo kupovina

Throughout time, every of these words changed on syntactical, morphological, lexical

or phonological level.