Flying Contraptions

What do you call airplanes in your language? The Russian for airplane is самолет (sa-ma-LYOT), or "flies on its own." The cool thing is that the word is actually older than the Wright brothers or Alexander Mozhaisky.

Originally самолет could mean anything zipping along under its own power. In fairy tales, the flying carpet was a ковер-самолет (ko-VYOR sa-ma-LYOT). Speedy ferries on Russian rivers were called самолеты. In the early years of aviation, Russians did use the word aeroplane, but eventually the word самолет achieved a monopoly over the flying contraptions, and vice-versa. Interestingly, Russian directly borrows the words "airport" and "aerodrome" instead of creating something out of the word самолет.