Meshchera people
The Meschera were a Finno-Ugric tribe in the Volga region, who assimilated with the neighbouring tribes around the 16th century.[1][2][3]
Culture
[edit]The Meschera were primarily fishermen, beekeepers, hunters and bronze craftsmen. They knew of agriculture, but they only used it in limited amounts. Prior to assimilation from the Russians, they held to animistic beliefs.[1]
History
[edit]The first Russian written source which mentions the Meschera is the Tolkovaya Paleya, from the 13th century.[4]
In the Oka River valley, the Meshchera culture appears to have disappeared by the 11th century. In the marshy north, they appear to have stayed and to have been converted into the Orthodox faith. The Meshchera nobility appears to have been converted and assimilated by the 13th century, but the common Meshchera huntsman and fisherman may have kept elements of their language and beliefs for a longer period. In the 16th century, the St Nicholas monastery was founded in Radovitsky in order to convert the remaining Meshchera pagans. The princely family Mestchersky in Russia derives its nobility from having originally been native rulers of some of these Finnic tribes.[5] The Meshchera language[6] is unattested, and theories on its affiliation remain speculative.[7]
Language
[edit]Some linguists think that Meschera might have been a dialect of Mordvinic,[8] while Pauli Rahkonen has suggested on the basis of toponymic evidence that it was a Permic or closely related language.[9] Rahkonen's speculation has been criticized by other scientists, such as by the Russian Uralist Vladimir Napolskikh.[10]
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'.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Waldman, Carl; Mason, Catherine (2006). Encyclopedia of European Peoples. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-2918-1.
- ^ Rahkonen, Pauli (2009), "The Linguistic Background of the Ancient Meshchera Tribe and Principal Areas of Settlement", Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen, 60, ISSN 0355-1253
- ^ "Коми народ / Финно-угры / Народы / Мещера". web.archive.org. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ "Коми народ / Финно-угры / Народы / Мещера". web.archive.org. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ Ruvigny, Marquis of (1914) The Titled Nobility of Europe, London: Harrison and Sons, pages 1007–8.
- ^ "Meshcherian". MultiTree. 2009-06-22. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
- ^ Aikio, Ante (2012). "An essay on Saami ethnolinguistic prehistory" (PDF). Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne. 266. Helsinki, Finland: Finno-Ugrian Society: 63–117. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ Janse, Mark; Sijmen Tol; Vincent Hendriks (2000). Language Death and Language Maintenance. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. A108. ISBN 978-90-272-4752-0.
- ^ Rahkonen, Pauli (2009), "The Linguistic Background of the Ancient Meshchera Tribe and Principal Areas of Settlement", Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen, 60, ISSN 0355-1253
- ^ "Вопросы Владимиру Напольских-2. Uralistica". Forum.molgen.org. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
- ^ Pauli Rahkonen. South-Eastern contact area of Finnic languages in the light of onomastics: dissertation, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki. 2018