The article examines the origins of the dialectal Slavic word rēdīt ‘to put in order, to arrange’ in the Latvian language. The dialectal verb can be attributed to Old Russian borrowings of the Latvian language. Semantic-etymological and cultural-historical analysis of this word allows us to conclude that the borrowed word rēdīt corresponds to the Old Russian words (po)ryadíti ‘to bring something into order, into norm; to establish (the fee stipulated by the contract); to comply with (a contract, agreement)’, (po)ryadítisya ‘to come to an agreement, to conclude a contract; to contract’. The meaning of the Old Russian verb developed as a result of the narrowing of the meaning of the corresponding word in the language of law. Correlative meanings are noted in business writings from the northwestern area of Old Russian, as well as in Pskov dialects, i.e., in texts belonging to the language contact zone. The semantics of the borrowed Latvian verb also reveals the development of historical meanings. The dialectal Slavic word rēdīt was borrowed during the ancient period of contact between Latvian and Old Russian. East Slavic lexical elements related to administrative and legal matters may have been borrowed as a result of political and trade contacts.
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