Volga Finns

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bulghars and Khazars
to the southeast and south.

The Volga Finns

Muromian and Meshchera languages.[5] The Permians are sometimes also grouped as Volga Finns.[citation needed
]

The modern representatives of Volga Finns live in the basins of the

Hill Mari
.

Traditionally the Mari and the Mordvinic languages (Erzya and Moksha) were considered to form a Volga-Finnic or Volgaic group within the Uralic language family,[6][7][8] accepted by linguists like Robert Austerlitz (1968), Aurélien Sauvageot & Karl Heinrich Menges (1973) and Harald Haarmann (1974), but rejected by others like Björn Collinder (1965) and Robert Thomas Harms (1974).[9] This grouping has also been criticized by Salminen (2002), who suggests it may be simply a

phylogenetic, group.[10]

Mari

Main article: Mari people

The Mari or Cheremis (Russian: черемисы, cheremisy; Tatar: Çirmeş) have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia. The majority of Maris today live in the Mari El Republic, with significant populations in the Tatarstan and Bashkortostan republics. The Mari people consists of three different groups: the Meadow Mari, who live along the left bank of the Volga, the Mountain Mari, who live along the right bank of the Volga, and Eastern Mari, who live in the Bashkortostan republic. In the 2002 Russian census, 604,298 people identified themselves as "Mari," with 18,515 of those specifying that they were Mountain Mari and 56,119 as Eastern Mari. Almost 60% of Mari lived in rural areas.[11]

Merya

See also: Merya language and Meryans

The Merya people (Russian: меря, merya; also Merä) inhabited a territory corresponding roughly to the present-day area of the Golden Ring or Zalesye regions of Russia, including the modern-day Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Ivanovo, and Vladimir oblasts.[12] In the modern Vepsian language, the word meri means "sea".[13] It is likely that they were peacefully assimilated by the East Slavs after their territory became incorporated into Rus' in the 10th century.[14]

In the 6th century

Nero Lake to the south of Rostov. The annalists also mention the Merya people in connection with some notable events: in 859 they were taxed by the Vikings, and in 862 they took part in the battle against them. In 882 they accompanied Oleg to Kiev, where he established his power, and in 907 they were among the participants in Oleg's Byzantine campaign.[15] In 1235, the Friar Julian sets out to visit the Hungarians who remain in the east. In his second travelogue, he mentions that the Tatars have conquered a country called Merovia.[15]

One hypothesis classifies the Merya as a western branch of the Mari people rather than as a separate tribe. Their ethnonyms are basically identical, Merya being a Russian transcription of the Mari self-designation, Мäрӹ (Märӛ).[16]

The unattested

Sami),[19] and Gábor Bereczki supposes that the Merya language was a part of the Balto-Finnic group.[20]

The Meryans were stated to have fought with the Bolghars in wars against Tatars.[21]

Some of the inhabitants of several districts of Kostroma and Yaroslavl oblasts present themselves as Meryan, although in recent censuses, they were registered as Russians. The modern Merya people have their websites[22][23] displaying their flag, coat of arms and national anthem,[24] and participate in discussions on the subject in Finno-Ugric networks.

2010 saw the release of the film Ovsyanki (literal translation: 'The Buntings', English title: Silent Souls), based on the novel of the same name,[25] devoted to the imagined life of modern Merya (or Meadow Mari) people.

In the early 21st century, a new type of social movement, the so-called "Merya Ethnofuturism", has emerged. It is distributed across central regions of Russia, for example, in Moscow, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Kostroma Oblast, and Plyos. In May 2014, the New Gallery in the city of Ivanovo opened the art project mater Volga, Sacrum during the "Night of Museums".[26] In October 2014, a presentation of "Merya Language" was held at the III Festival of Languages at Novgorod University.

Meshchera

See also: Meshchera language

The Meshchera (Russian: мещера, meshchera or мещёра, meshchyora) lived in the territory between the Oka River and the Klyazma River. It was a land of forests, bogs and lakes. The area is still called the Meshchera Lowlands.

The first Russian written source which mentions them is the

Muroma, which appear to have been assimilated by the East Slavs
by the 10th and the 11th centuries.

Muscovy
.

The Meschiera (along with

Fra Mauro Map (ca. 1450).[27]

Several documents mention the Meshchera concerning the

Mordvin language
was spoken in the lands of the Meshchera.

In the village of

Oka River to the town Kasimov
. The general opinion is nowadays, that the Oka-Ryazan culture is identical to that of the Meshchera. The graves of women have yielded objects typical of the Volga Finns, of the 4th to 7th centuries, consisting of
rings, jingling pendants, buckles and torcs. A specific feature was round breast plates with a characteristic ornamentation.[citation needed
] Some of the graves contained well-preserved
copper oxides of the decorations with long black hair locked into small bells into which were woven pendants.[citation needed
]

In the

Mestchersky
in Russia derives its nobility from having originally been native rulers of some of these Finnic tribes.

The

toponymic evidence that it was a Permic or closely related language.[30] Rahkonen's speculation has been criticized by other scientists, such as by the Russian Uralist Vladimir Napolskikh.[31]

Some toponyms which Rahkonen suggested as Permic are the hydronyms stems: Un-, Ič-, Ul and Vil-, which can be compared to Udmurt uno 'big', iči 'little', vi̮l 'upper' and ulo 'lower'. Rahkonen also theorized the name Meshchera itself could be a Permic word, and its cognate be Komi mösör 'isthmus'.[32]

Contrary to popular opinion, historian Alimzhan Orlov has contested the Finnic background of Meshchera. He thinks it was originally a Turkic, more specifically, a Polovtsian (Kipchak) tribe that appeared in the 5th-8th centuries in southeastern Europe. He states that it eventually, around 1200-1300, was formed into "two Meshchera's" - one Russian, other Tatar. Orlov claims there is archaeological findings to prove his theory. Also, according to him, Ivan the Terrible originally mistakenly identified them as Mari/Cheremis. Orlov, and researches such as G. Ahmarov and M. Zekiyev, have stated that it would not be possible for a Finnic tribe to have adopted Tatar culture, referring to a theory that Mishar Tatars descend from "Tatarized" part of the tribe. Orlov does think, however, that a Turkic Meschera forms the ancestors of Mishar Tatars.[33][34][35]

Mordvins

Main article: Mordvins

The Mordvins (also Mordva, Mordvinians) remain one of the

Turkified
during the 19th to 20th centuries.

The Erzya Mordvins (

substratum). The Teryukhan, living in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast of Russia, switched to Russian in the 19th century. The Teryukhans recognize the term Mordva as pertaining to themselves, whereas the Qaratay also call themselves Muksha. The Tengushevo Mordvins are a transitional group between Moksha and Erzya. They are also called Shoksha
(or Shokshot). They are isolated from the bulk of the Erzyans, and their dialect/language has been influenced by the Mokshan dialects.

Muroma

Merya tribe, were assimilated by the East Slavs in the 11th to 12th century as their territory was incorporated into the Rus'.[36] A group of them migrated to the Carpathian Basin with the Hungarians, or Bulgars, as they are listed by the Rogosk Chronicler, among the peoples who inhabited the Carpathian Basin in 897.[37]

During the excavation of the Muroma tombs, archaeologists uncovered a rich archaeological legacy. Weapons were among the best in the surrounding areas in terms of workmanship, and the jewellery, which is found in abundance in the burials, is remarkable for its ingenuity of form and meticulous workmanship. The Muroma were characterised by arc-shaped head ornaments woven from horsehair and strips of leather, which were spirally braided with bronze wire. This is interesting because it is not observed in other Volga Finnic peoples.[38]

Like other medieval Volga Finns, animal bones were present in the burials as funeral food. Horses were buried separately, bridled and saddled, giving them a pose imitating a living animal lying on its belly with legs tucked up and head raised (it was placed on a step in the grave).[39]

In 2023, 13 Muroma tombs were excavated on the banks of the Oka River, accompanied by a number of artefacts - one of which was a belt buckle, which was most similar to the belt buckles of the conquering Hungarians.[40] Weapons such as spears and axes, as well as coins (dirhams) and five lead weights, among other things, were recovered from the grave of one of the presumably noble men.[41]

The Muroma settlements were located on high ground above the floodplain meadows. Livestock farming formed the basis of the Muroma economy, with pigs, large horned cattle, and to a lesser extent, sheep being raised. Horses played a special role, and they were also bred for meat. The Slash-and-burn agriculture played a minor role in their economy. Their commercial hunting was aimed at fur hunting.[38]

The

Klyazma, which corresponds with Muroma.[45] According to the toponymy, the Muroma language was close to the Merya language.[46] A few words have been reconstructed in the Muroma language, based on toponyms, such as: *juga 'river', *vi̮ksa ‘river connecting two bodies of water', and *voht(V) ‘neck of land between two bodies of water’.[32] The Muroma language died out around the 10th century.[47]

The Primary Chronicle about the Muromians:

"Along the river Oka, which flows into the Volga, the Muroma, the Cheremisians, and the Mordva preserve their native languages."[48]

The Rogosk Chronicler about the Muromians:

"In the year 6405 [897] there were Slavs living along the Danube, as well as the Ugrics, Muromas and the Danubian Bulgars."[37]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Also known as Volga Finnic peoples[1] and Volga Finno-Ugrians[2]

References

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External links

This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in the public domain.

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