Birch bark letter no. 292
Birch bark letter no. 292 is a birch bark letter that is the oldest known document in any Finnic language.[1] The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century and is written in the Cyrillic script.[2] It was found in 1957 by a Soviet expedition led by Artemiy Artsikhovsky in the Nerevsky excavation on the left coast side of Novgorod.[3] It is currently held at the Novgorod City Museum.
The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of Livvi-Karelian, the language spoken in Olonets Karelia,[4] although the exact form is difficult to determine, as Finnic dialects were still developing during that period.
Transcription
[edit]
The text is written in Cyrillic in a Finnic language variety that is closer to modern Karelian or Veps.[2] A transcription of the text is as follows:[5]
- юмолануолиїнимижи
- ноулисѣханолиомобоу
- юмоласоудьнииохови
Interpretations
[edit]By Yuri Yeliseyev
[edit]The text, as transliterated to the Latin alphabet by Yuri Yeliseyev in 1959[6] and interpreted in modern Finnish:
jumolanuoli ï nimizi
nouli se han oli omo bou
jumola soud'ni iohovi
Jumalannuoli, kymmenen [on] nimesi
Tämä nuoli on Jumalan oma
Tuomion-Jumala johtaa.
In English, this means roughly the following:
God's arrow, ten [is] your name
This arrow is God's own
The Doom-God leads.
Yeliseyev believes, that this is an invocation against lightning, as evidenced by "ten your names" construction. According to superstitious notions, knowledge of the name gives a human the magic power over an object or phenomenon.[7]
By Martti Haavio
[edit]As the orthography used does not utilize spaces between words, the source text can be transcribed into words in different ways. Martti Haavio gives a different interpretation of the text in his 1964 article, suggesting, that this is a sort of an oath:
jumolan nuoli inimizi
nouli sekä n[u]oli omo bou
jumola soud'nii okovy
In modern Finnish, this means roughly the following:
Jumalan nuoli, ihmisen
nuoli sekä nuoli oma.
Tuomion jumalan kahlittavaksi.
In modern Estonian, this means roughly the following:
Jumala nool, inimese
nool ja nool omaenda.
Kohtujumala aheldatuks.
In English, this means roughly the following:
God's arrow, man's
arrow, and (his) own arrow. [
To be chained by the Doom-God.]
By Yevgeny Khelimsky
[edit]Professor Yevgeny Khelimsky in his 1986 work[8] criticizes Haavio's interpretation and gives the third known scientific interpretation, believing the letter to be an invocation, like Yeliseyev:[7]
Jumalan nuoli 10 nimezi
Nuoli säihä nuoli ambu
Jumala suduni ohjavi (johavi?)
A translation into Finnish of this interpretation would look something like this:
Jumalan nuoli 10 nimesi
Nuoli säihkyvä nuoli ampuu
Suuto-Jumala (Syyttö-Jumala)† ohjaa (johtaa?)
In English, it means roughly the following:
God's arrow, ten your name(s)
Arrow sparkling, arrow shoots
The Doom-God guides/directs (leads/rules?)
†Syyttö-Jumala could also mean "Blaming God" or "God that blames"; modern Finnish syyttää = to blame or prosecute.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Bakró-Nagy, Laakso & Skribnik 2022, p. 59, The Novgorod birch-bark letter No. 292 from the early thirteenth century... written in Cyrillic... is not Finnish, but rather represents a Finnic language variety closer to today's Karelian or Veps.
- ^ a b Bakró-Nagy, Laakso & Skribnik 2022, p. 59.
- ^ А.В. Арциховский, В.И. Борковский. Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1956–1957 гг.). М.: Из-во Акад. Наук СССР, 1963.
- ^ Itämerensuomalaista kirjoitusta 1200-luvulta Archived 2012-05-25 at archive.today (in Finnish)
- ^ Barentsen, A. A. (20 November 2023). Studies in West Slavic and Baltic Linguistics. BRILL. p. 332. ISBN 978-90-04-65406-8.
- ^ Елисеев Ю. С. Древнейший письменный памятник одного из прибалтийско-финских языков.— Изв. АН СССР. Отд-ние лит. и языка, 1959, т. 18, Вып. 1, с. 65—72.
- ^ a b Written information on Karelians by S. I. Kochkurkina, A. M. Spiridonov, T. N. Jackson, 1996
- ^ Хелимский Е. А. О прибалтийско-финском языковом материале в новгородских берестяных грамотах. In the book Янин В. Л., Зализняк А. А. Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1977—1983 гг.): Комментарии и словоуказатель к берестяным грамотам (из раскопок 1951—1983 гг.) / АН СССР. Отд-ние истории. — М.: Наука, 1986. — С. 254—255.)
Sources
[edit]- Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena (2022). The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-876766-4.
- Jelisejev, J. S. Vanhin itämerensuomalainen kielenmuistomerkki, Virittäjä-lehti, 1961: 134
- Jelisejev, J. S. Itämerensuomalaisia kielenmuistomerkkejä (Zusammenfassung: Ostseefinnische Sprachdenkmäler), Virittäjä-lehti 1966: 296 [1]
- Martti Haavio The Letter on Birch-Bark No. 292, Journal of the Folklore Institute, 1964. JSTOR 3814030
- Haavio, Martti, Tuohikirje n:o 292. Vanha suomalaisen muinaisuskonnon lähde, Virittäjä-lehti 1964: 1 [2]
External links
[edit]- (in Russian) Birch bark letter no. 292 (includes a photo and references) - at the website on Russian birch bark letters
- (in Finnish) Tuohikirje 292
- (in Finnish) Vielä kerran itämerensuomen vanhimmista muistomerkeistä - with (English) summary following references