ABSTRACT
Since the eighteenth century, French loanwords have been entering the Russian vocabulary and are the marks of cultural influence. When considered chronologically and topically, groups of these borrowed words tell the story of when French cultural influence occurred in Russia and what type of influence. Though the scope of this chapter is broad, providing an overview of Franco-Russian cultural interaction across the entire history of Imperial and Soviet Russia, it ultimately argues that a single key period of cultural influence is the most significant: the 1780s to 1820s. The lexical data introduced in this chapter form the empirical backbone of the book and are referenced throughout the book in support of the argument that the narrative accounts of subsequent chapters are relevant to understanding Russian culture today.
