Old East Slavic

The Old Ruthenian language (also known as Old Belarusian, Old Russian and Old Ukrainian language) is the name for a language spoken between 10th and 16th century in Kievan Rus and its successor states. It was a predecessor of modern Eastern Slavic languages.

Old Russian
Spoken in:	Eastern Europe
Region:	--
Total speakers:	Extinct
Ranking:	--
Genetic classification:	Indo-European  Slavic    East Slavic     Old Russian
Official status
Official language of:	historical: Kievan Rus, Lithuania, Muscovy, Novgorod, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Regulated by:	--

General description

The language was a direct descendant of the Common Slavonic language (which evolved from the Proto-Slavic language) and faithfully retained most of its features. A striking innovation was the development of so-called full vocalism, probably under influence of indigenous Finno-Ugric languages. For instance, Proto-Slavic /*gordъ/ town, became Old Rus' /gorod/, Proto-Slavic /*melko/, milk - Old Rus' /moloko/, and Proto-Slavic /*korva/, cow - Old Rus' /korova/.

Its dialects were spoken, though not exclusively, roughly in the area today occupied by European part of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, , and parts of Poland and Lithuania. Between 10th and 16th centuries it was also an official language of most of the states occupying the area of Kievan Rus: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Muscovy, and Republic of Novgorod.

It is difficult to asses this language as standardised in the modern sense. The spoken language in Rus' consisted of a variety of dialects, and today we may speak definitely only of the languages of surviving manuscripts, which show regional divergences from the 12th century.

With time it evolved into several more diversified forms, which were the predecessors of the modern Belarusian, Russian, Ruthenian and Ukrainian languages. Each of the aforementioned languages preserved much of the Old Ruthenian grammar and vocabulary.

Old Russian Literature

Old Russian language was the only ancient Slavic tongue (apart from the Old Church Slavonic) that developed a great literature of its own. The earliest specimen of Old Russian, properly so called, must be considered the written Ostromir Codex, written by the diak Gregory at the order of Ostromir, the posadnik or governor of Novgorod. This is a Russian recension of the Slavonic Gospels, of the date 1056 or 1057. Of the year 1073 we have the Izbornik or Miscellany of Sviatoslav. It was written by John the diak or deacon for that prince, and is a kind of Russian encyclopaedia, drawn from Greek sources. The date is 1076.

The next monument of the language is the famous Slovo o zakone i blagodati, by Hilarion, metropolitan of Kiev. In this work there is a panegyric on Prince Vladimir of Kiev, the hero of so much of the Russian popular poetry. This subtle and graceful oration admirably conforms to the precepts of the Byzantine eloquence. It is rivalled by another panegyric on Vladimir, written a decade later by Yakov the Monk.

Ostromir Codex from Novgorod (mid-11th century)

Other 11th-century writers are Theodosius, a monk of the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra, who wrote on the Latin faith and some Pouchenia or Instructions, and Luka Zhidiata, bishop of Novgorod, who has left us a curious Discourse to the Brethren. From the writings of Theodosius we see that many pagan habits were still in vogue among the people. He finds fault with them for allowing these to continue, and also for their drunkenness; nor do the monks escape his censures. Zhidiata writes in a more vernacular style than many of his contemporaries; he eschews the declamatory tone of the Byzantine authors. And here may be mentioned the many lives of the saints and the Fathers to be found in early Russian literature, starting with the Life of Sts Boris and Gleb, written in the late 11th century and attributed to Nestor the Chronicler.

With the so-called Russian Primary Chronicle, also attributed to Nestor, begins the long series of the Russian annalists. There is a regular catena of these chronicles, extending with only two breaks to the 17th century. Besides the work attributed to Nestor, we have chronicles of Novgorod, Kiev, Volhynia and many others. Every town of any importance could boast of its annalists, Pskov and Suzdal among others. In some respects these compilations, the productions of monks in their cloisters, remind us of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, dry details alternating with here and there a picturesque incident; and many of these annals abound with the quaintest stories.

In the 12th century we have the sermons of bishop Cyril of Turov, which are attempts to imitate in Russian the florid Byzantine style. In his sermon on Holy Week, Christianity is represented under the form of spring, Paganism and Judaism under that of winter, and evil thoughts are spoken of as boisterous winds.

The 12th-century Novgorodian children were literate enough to send each other letters written on birch bark

There are also admirable works of early travellers, as the igumen Daniel, who visited the Holy Land at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century. A later traveller was Afanasiy Nikitin, a merchant of Tver, who visited India in 1470. He has left a record of his adventures, which has been translated into English and published for the Hakluyt Society.

A curious monument of old Slavonic times is the Pouchenie (Instruction), written by the great Vladimir Monomakh for the benefit of his sons. This composition is generally found inserted in the Chronicle of Nestor; it gives a fine picture of the daily life of a Slavonic prince. The Paterik of the Kievan Caves Monastery is a typical medieval collection of stories from the life of monks, featuring devils, angels, ghosts, and miraculous resurrections.

We now come to the famous Lay of Igor's Campaign, which narrates the expedition of Igor Svyatoslavich, prince of Novgorod-Severskiy against the Cumans. It is neither epic nor a poem but is written in rhythmic prose. Any Christian influence is hard to trace, whereas pagan gods and deities are famously invoked by Igor's grieving wife, Yaroslavna, from the walls of Putivl. Of the whole bulk of the Old Russian literature, the Lay is the only work familiar to every educated Russian or Ukrainian. Its brooding flow of images, murky metaphors, and ever changing rhythm haven't been successfully rendered into English yet; the best attempt at translation belongs to Vladimir Nabokov.

The Zadonshchina is a sort of prose poem much in the style of the Tale of Igor's Campaign, and the resemblance of the latter to this piece furnishes an additional proof of its genuineness. This account of the battle of Kulikovo, which was gained by Dmitri Donskoi over the Mongols in 1380, has come down in three important versions.

The early Russian laws present many features of interest, such as the Russkaya Pravda of Yaroslav the Wise, which is preserved in the chronicle of Novgorod; the date is between 1018 and 1054. The laws show Rus at that time to have been in civilization quite on a level with the rest of Europe.

Notable texts

• Bylinas
• The Tale of Igor's Campaign - one of the most outstanding literary work in this language
• Russkaya Pravda - 11th century legal code issued by Yaroslav the Wise
• Praying of Daniel the Immured
• A Journey Beyond the Three Seas

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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

See also:

• East Slavic languages
• Slavic languages
• Russian language
• Ukrainian language
• Belarusian language

External links

• Ostromir's Gospel Online
• Online library of the Old Russian texts