Alatyr (mythology)
The Alatyr in East Slavic legends and folklore is a sacred stone, the "father to all stones", the navel of the earth, containing sacred letters and endowed with healing properties. Although the name Alatyr appears only in East Slavic sources, the awareness of the existence of such a stone exists in various parts of the Slavdom. It is often mentioned in stories and referred to in love spells as "a mighty force that has no end."
In the
Etymology
The stone is usually called Alatyr (
According to Roman Jakobson in a review of Max Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language :
The most precious and miraculous stone (stone for all stones) of Russian folklore, "alatyr" or "latir" is undoubtedly an alternation of the word "latygor" (derived from Latgalia) and means a Latvian stone, which is to say, amber.[4]
In literature
In Russian folklore it is a sacred stone, the “father to all stones”,[1] the navel of the earth, containing sacred letters and endowed with healing properties.[5] Although the name Alatyr appears only in East Slavic sources, the awareness of the existence of such a stone exists in various parts of the Slavdom. It is often mentioned in stories, and is referred to in love spells as "a mighty force that has no end."[2]
Russian original text
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In
In popular culture
- The Legend of the Young Boyar Duke Stepanovich (In that rich India ...) (Duke Stepanovich)
An eagle is sitting on a stone, Whether on a stone on a plate
- Poem by K. D. Balmont, Alatyr Stone (1906)
- Short story by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Alatyr (1914)[13]
Ancient Slav tales tell of "the white burning stone on Buyan", possibly referring to Alatyr.[14]
In Latvian, Belarusian and Russian healing charms, a raven is invoked as a helping animal: it is called upon to take away the disease from the patient, fly away to the ocean and place the illness on a white or gray stone. In a Russian charm, this stone is explicitly called "Latyr-stone".[15]
See also
References
- ^ a b Meletinsky 1990, p. 33.
- ^ a b Wikisource. . Small Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (in Russian). p. 31. 1907–1909 – via
- ^ "Veselovsky" (in Russian). pravenc.ru. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ Vasmer 1986, p. 69.
- ^ Petrukhin 1995, p. 31.
- ^ Nadezhdin, Nikolai. О русских народных мифах и сагах в применении их к географии и особенно этнографии русской [About Russian folk myths and sagas as applied to geography and especially Russian ethnography]. Vol. 8. p. 35.
- ^ a b Korinfsky, Apollon. Народная Русь (Коринфский)/Сине море (in Russian).
- ^ Bartmiński 1996, p. 349.
- ^ Bartmiński 1996, pp. 381–384.
- ^ Bartmiński 1996, pp. 384–386.
- ^ Bartmiński 1996, pp. 390–394.
- ^ Bartmiński 1996, pp. 386–390.
- ISBN 978-1-78435-209-7.
- OL 13446306M.
- )
Bibliography
- Bartmiński, Jerzy (1996). Słownik stereotypów i symboli ludowych. Kosmos. 1, Niebo, światła niebieskie, ogień, kamienie [Dictionary of stereotypes and folk symbols. Cosmos. 1, Heaven, heavenly lights, fire, stones] (in Polish). Vol. 1. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej. ISBN 83-227-0901-3.
- "Голубиная книга". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional Volumes). St. Petersburg. 1890–1907.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Голубиная книга [Small Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]. St. Petersburg.
1907-1909
- Korinfsky, Apollon (1901). Народная Русь : Круглый год сказаний, поверий, обычаев и пословиц русского народа [Folk Russia: All year round tales, beliefs, customs and proverbs of the Russian people] (in Russian). Izdaniye knigoprodavtsa M. V. Klyukina.
- Meletinsky, E.M., ed. (1990). Алатырь [Alatyr] (in Russian). Советская энциклопедия. p. 333. )
- )
- Vasmer, Max, ed. (1986). Этимологический словарь русского языка М. Фасмера [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian).
Further reading
- Shedden-Ralston, William Ralston (1872). The Songs of the Russian People: As Illustrative of Slavonic Mythology and Russian Social Life (2 ed.). Ellis & Green.
- Grushko E.A.; Medvedev Yu.M. (2008). Русские легенды и предания [Russian legends and traditions]. Издат. Эксмо. pp. 7–208. ISBN 978-5-699-06209-6.
External links
- "Alatyr". Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language = Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch.
- Works related to Alatyr (in Russian mythology) // Small encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron at Wikisource
- Works related to Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language at Wikisource