Russian Language Exported: TAIGA
This word encompasses millions of square kilometers of forest, frosty silence and the power of nature. The Russian language gifted the world the word ‘taiga’.
Taiga refers to the vast coniferous forests of Siberia. The word came into Russian from the southern Siberian Turkic languages (such as ‘Altaic’ and ‘Khakass’), where it means ‘dense forest’. It was Russian scientists who gave it its modern meaning and, from their maps, it entered the world as the scientific term (English ‘taiga’, French ‘taïga’, German ‘Taiga’) for the planet's main forest biome.
