Russian Language Exported: BURAN
A steppe blizzard whose name is known even in places where snow is only seen in movies.
A ‘buran’ (English, German, French: ‘buran’) is a fierce snowstorm in the steppe, a type of blizzard. The word likely entered Russian from Turkic languages (probably, Tatar or Bashkir), then made its way into European languages and became the official term for a steppe snowstorm. In 1988, the name ‘Buran’ was given to a reusable Soviet spacecraft – the only one to complete an automatic flight into space and successfully return to Earth. Thus, the word also acquired a cosmic dimension.
