The Komi mythonym kul’ ‘devil, demon’ in the context of ethno-historical contacts in the European North-East of Russia and in Trans-Urals
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
History, ethnography, archeology
About author:
Institute of Language, Literature and History,Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,Syktyvkar, Russian Federation,[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the hypothesis about borrowing of the Komi demonym kul’ ‘devil, demon’ into the dialects ofthe Mansi and Khanty languages and through them in the Tobolsk Russian subdialect, put forward more than ahundred years ago. But it has not yet been subjected to detailed analysis. Meanwhile, considered in the contextof the Komi-Ob-Ugric-Russian relations, it does not seem flawless. Since the Komi word and its Ob-Ugriancorrespondences have a common Finno-Ugric etymology, it remains unclear what and under what chronotopicconditions it was borrowed into the Ob-Ugric languages from the Komi one. The version about borrowing of theKomi word kul’ in the Russian Tobolsk subdialect through the Ob-Ugric languages remains unproven.
Objective: to verify the history of borrowing the Komi mythonym kul’ ‘devil, demon’ by the Ob-Ugriclanguages, taking into account the Komi-Ob-Ugric-Russian historical relations in the European North-East ofRussia and Western Siberia.
Research materials: the published sources, dialect and etymological dictionaries, and special works on thistopic, mainly of the late XIX – early XX centuries.
Results and novelty of the research: The article offers a new version of the genesis of the word kul’ «Lordof the underworld», which is considered for the first time as a result of semantic contamination in the contactzone of the Komi and Mansi languages. The lexical and semantic variant of this mythologeme with the meaning«water», reinterpreted in the Komi language under Russian influence, was borrowed by the Ob-Ugric languageslater, during the development of Siberia.
Key words: the Komi language, the Ob-Ugric languages, the Russian language, contacts, borrowing,mythonym, devil, demon.
Acknowledgements: the research was carried out within the frames of the research project № 8-6-6-30«Ethno-cultural Processes in the Circumpolar Zone of the North-East of Europe in the Iron Age and the MiddleAges» / The program of complex fundamental research of the Ural Branch of the RAS: 6. «Socio-economic andHumanitarian Problems of Development of Society».
For citation: Fedyuneva G. V. The Komi mythonym kul’ ‘devil, demon’ in the context of ethno-historicalcontacts in the European North-East of Russia and in Trans-Urals // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of UgricStudies. 2020; 10 (1): 178–186.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the hypothesis about borrowing of the Komi demonym kul’ ‘devil, demon’ into the dialects ofthe Mansi and Khanty languages and through them in the Tobolsk Russian subdialect, put forward more than ahundred years ago. But it has not yet been subjected to detailed analysis. Meanwhile, considered in the contextof the Komi-Ob-Ugric-Russian relations, it does not seem flawless. Since the Komi word and its Ob-Ugriancorrespondences have a common Finno-Ugric etymology, it remains unclear what and under what chronotopicconditions it was borrowed into the Ob-Ugric languages from the Komi one. The version about borrowing of theKomi word kul’ in the Russian Tobolsk subdialect through the Ob-Ugric languages remains unproven.
Objective: to verify the history of borrowing the Komi mythonym kul’ ‘devil, demon’ by the Ob-Ugriclanguages, taking into account the Komi-Ob-Ugric-Russian historical relations in the European North-East ofRussia and Western Siberia.
Research materials: the published sources, dialect and etymological dictionaries, and special works on thistopic, mainly of the late XIX – early XX centuries.
Results and novelty of the research: The article offers a new version of the genesis of the word kul’ «Lordof the underworld», which is considered for the first time as a result of semantic contamination in the contactzone of the Komi and Mansi languages. The lexical and semantic variant of this mythologeme with the meaning«water», reinterpreted in the Komi language under Russian influence, was borrowed by the Ob-Ugric languageslater, during the development of Siberia.
Key words: the Komi language, the Ob-Ugric languages, the Russian language, contacts, borrowing,mythonym, devil, demon.
Acknowledgements: the research was carried out within the frames of the research project № 8-6-6-30«Ethno-cultural Processes in the Circumpolar Zone of the North-East of Europe in the Iron Age and the MiddleAges» / The program of complex fundamental research of the Ural Branch of the RAS: 6. «Socio-economic andHumanitarian Problems of Development of Society».
For citation: Fedyuneva G. V. The Komi mythonym kul’ ‘devil, demon’ in the context of ethno-historicalcontacts in the European North-East of Russia and in Trans-Urals // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of UgricStudies. 2020; 10 (1): 178–186.
