It always confounded me why Russian language borrowed the
Western word “concurrence” (конкуренция) to mean “competition”.
English concurrence means “coincidence” or “agreement” more
often than not, which seems more suitable given the origins of
the verb to concur, as per OED: Origin: late Middle English
(also in the senses ‘collide’ and ‘act in combination’): from
Latin concurrere ‘run together, assemble in crowds’, from con-
‘together with’ + currere ‘to run’ The only thing that hints on
competition is the sense “collide” this mentions. Also, in the
English-Russian dictionary the entry for concurrence does list
the sense of “competition”, although far from primary, but, at
the same time, none of the major English dictionaries available
on-line (OED, M-W, Cambridge, etc.) mention that sense, even as
archaic (Mayhaps it can be found in un-abridged versions?). Then
it dawned on me that given the French influence on Russian
culture in XVIII–XIX centuries, it could be the respective
borrowing. And sure enough, th