The grammar of the Russian language contains hundreds of rules and even more exceptions to them. For this reason, only a few are able to learn everything and put into practice. Most of us, from the time of spelling lessons, remember that it is possible to determine how to write a controversial vowel in a word if you decline it (or pick the one-root) so that the stress falls on it. However, what happened to the particularly problematic terms? For example, with such a noun of foreign origin as “mosaic” (or “mosaic”)? Indeed, in this case, the debate is about which letter to write in the root of the word. Let's find the answer to this question, and also learn about the interpretation and origin of this noun.
What is gaping?
Before dealing with the spelling of any term, it is always worthwhile to sort out whether it belongs to the original Russian vocabulary or is it borrowed. With the second option, it is very likely that the spelling of the word in question is a tradition that cannot be explained by the rules of the Russian language, and this case just needs to be memorized.
However, some borrowings are already several hundred years old, and they are so familiar to everyone that not everyone can recognize foreign names in them.
To make it easier to do, it is worth learning one feature of the East Slavic languages. During their formation, they lacked the concept of gaping (the presence of several vowels nearby), since all syllables were open (begins with a consonant and ends with a vowel).
Based on the fact that in the problematic terms “mosaic” and “mosaic” there is a probability of gaping “ai” (if you write it through “and”), we can assume that it does not apply to the native Slavic vocabulary. So, you should check his spelling in the dictionary.
How to: mosaic or mosaic?
Having opened any linguistic folio, you can find in it that this noun is really of foreign origin and is written with the letter "and".
And another option: “mosaic”, is not used in Russian under any conditions, and such spelling, according to modern grammar rules, is always a mistake.
Meaning of the word “mosaic”
To understand the reasons for the dispute about writing the considered noun, it is worth knowing its interpretation and the history of the appearance in Slavic languages.
The meaning of the word "mosaic" became known in the lands of Russia with the adoption of Christianity in the X century. Indeed, along with the new religion in the country, the need arose to build temples for its adherents. The Greeks were considered the most skilled craftsmen in those days, and they brought with them the tradition of decorating patterns from colorful pieces of stone, smalt or ceramic tiles, known today as mosaics.
Soon, Slavic masters also learned this craft, and the tradition of using such design techniques for decorating churches has been firmly entrenched among the Slavs for centuries.
It is worth noting that, in contrast to the ancient Greeks and Romans (decorating not only religious buildings, but also their houses in this way), in Russia this method was mainly practiced only for decorating churches.
Only after the collapse of Tsarist Russia (the formation of the USSR) and the beginning of the anti-religious campaign, mosaic became an element of design for public buildings in all adjacent territories.
In the same period, for children's creativity began to produce sets of plastic, also called "mosaic". By the way, they are very popular today.
Why did the spelling "mosaic" arise
How is the question of writing this noun (mosaic or mosaic) related to the period of its appearance in the Slavic languages?
The fact is that this term, like the art form itself, was borrowed through the mediation of the Greek language, in which it looked μωσαϊκό and was pronounced with “y”. And given that there was no gaping phenomenon in Old Slavonic, a new term for hearing could have been written “mosaic”. By the way, this is evidenced by the fact that in the Bulgarian language - a similar version of "mosaic" is still used. Yes, and in Ukrainian the word is also pronounced with the sound [th] - “mosaic” (diphthong “ї” after publicly means two sounds [th]).
During the reforms of Peter I, the Russian Empire began to focus on Europe. During this period, a huge number of new terms of foreign origin flow into the Russian language. Most likely, at this time, the spelling norm of the term in question was “adapted” to European (based on Latin and Italian spelling and sound) - that is, with “and”. It exists today, and not only in Russian, but also in Belarusian, Polish, Czech and most other Slavic and non-Slavic languages.
Despite this, the people apparently retained memories of the existence of the “mosaic” norm, therefore, some people still make mistakes in this noun.
What rule explains this spelling
Having figured out how to correctly: a mosaic or a mosaic, it is worth clarifying which rule regulates its spelling. This noun refers to a specific kind of vocabulary terms, the correctness of which is checked using a spelling dictionary.
But in this particular case, the unstressed “and” can be “manifested” by choosing the cognate adjective “mosaic”. In it, the stress is transferred to the "problem" letter "and". However, usually this method is not used to spell the roots of words of foreign origin.
Accent Question
Having considered how and why the noun “mosaic” is written, it is worthwhile to find out which syllable is emphasized in it. The fact is that different languages use different options. However, in Russian shock is the letter “a” in the second syllable.