Two Finno-Ugric ethnonyms in ancient Russian texts of XIII–XV centuries
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
Philology
About author:
Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, [email protected]
Introduction: article is devoted to medieval names of the Finno-Ugric people living towards the north, the northeast and the east from the Northern Russian princedoms in XIII–XV centuries.
Objective: to offer an explanation of not unclear ethnonym toymitsi, toymichi which was noted once in the text of XIII century and to track changes of the ethnonym vyada ~ vada in the same text and in later composition of XV century – “Zadonshchina”.
Research materials: the monument of the ancient Russian literature of the beginning of XIII century «The Tale of Doom of Russian land», kept in two manuscripts; the work of XIV–XV centuries, which contain a description of territories and people around the Russian princedoms, including territories to the Northeast from Russia; one manuscript of “Zadonshchina” of XV which is its special version in which the editor has made an insert from « The Tale of Doom of Russian land». There is a name the Breathing sea in the same texts, and this is one of the first mentions of Arctic ocean in ancient Russian texts.
Results and novelty of the research: Toymichi on morphological structure is the name of inhabitants of a river basin with the name Toyma. We know not less than four such names in an area towards the north from the river basin of Kama, two of them are names of inflows of Northern Dvina. Belonging of the ethnonym Toyma to any languages and explanation of this hydronym are unknown. Having addressed to research on toponymy and microtoponymy of the Russian North, the author made the assumption that these hydronyms (names of the rivers) of Toyma are Baltic-Finnish by origin as they have the most reliable parallels in modern Baltic-Finnish languages, and their identification reflects ancient migration of these peoples towards the east. The ethnonym vyada (presumably it is the name of the Udmurts) in the list of “Zadonshchina” is replaced by the form of the word ‘water’, i.e. it already owing to misunderstanding was mixed up with a word ‘water’. Comparison of «The Tale of Doom of Russian land» and the List of “Zadonshchina” with inserted fragment from «The Tale of Doom of Russian land» shows how ancient Russian writers gradually lost understanding of geographical and ethnic realities of the oldest text in its citations in structure of the subsequent compositions.
Key words: Finno-Ugric languages, Baltic-Finnish languages, toponymy, ethnonymy, ancient Russian literature, manuscripts, versions.
For citation: Burykin A.A. Two Finno-Ugric ethnonyms in ancient Russian texts of XIII–XV centuries // Vestnik Ugrovedenia= Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2018; 8(1): 22–27.
Introduction: article is devoted to medieval names of the Finno-Ugric people living towards the north, the northeast and the east from the Northern Russian princedoms in XIII–XV centuries.
Objective: to offer an explanation of not unclear ethnonym toymitsi, toymichi which was noted once in the text of XIII century and to track changes of the ethnonym vyada ~ vada in the same text and in later composition of XV century – “Zadonshchina”.
Research materials: the monument of the ancient Russian literature of the beginning of XIII century «The Tale of Doom of Russian land», kept in two manuscripts; the work of XIV–XV centuries, which contain a description of territories and people around the Russian princedoms, including territories to the Northeast from Russia; one manuscript of “Zadonshchina” of XV which is its special version in which the editor has made an insert from « The Tale of Doom of Russian land». There is a name the Breathing sea in the same texts, and this is one of the first mentions of Arctic ocean in ancient Russian texts.
Results and novelty of the research: Toymichi on morphological structure is the name of inhabitants of a river basin with the name Toyma. We know not less than four such names in an area towards the north from the river basin of Kama, two of them are names of inflows of Northern Dvina. Belonging of the ethnonym Toyma to any languages and explanation of this hydronym are unknown. Having addressed to research on toponymy and microtoponymy of the Russian North, the author made the assumption that these hydronyms (names of the rivers) of Toyma are Baltic-Finnish by origin as they have the most reliable parallels in modern Baltic-Finnish languages, and their identification reflects ancient migration of these peoples towards the east. The ethnonym vyada (presumably it is the name of the Udmurts) in the list of “Zadonshchina” is replaced by the form of the word ‘water’, i.e. it already owing to misunderstanding was mixed up with a word ‘water’. Comparison of «The Tale of Doom of Russian land» and the List of “Zadonshchina” with inserted fragment from «The Tale of Doom of Russian land» shows how ancient Russian writers gradually lost understanding of geographical and ethnic realities of the oldest text in its citations in structure of the subsequent compositions.
Key words: Finno-Ugric languages, Baltic-Finnish languages, toponymy, ethnonymy, ancient Russian literature, manuscripts, versions.
For citation: Burykin A.A. Two Finno-Ugric ethnonyms in ancient Russian texts of XIII–XV centuries // Vestnik Ugrovedenia= Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2018; 8(1): 22–27.
