Birch bark letter no. 292

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

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

By Yuri Yeliseyev

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

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

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

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b Bakró-Nagy, Laakso & Skribnik 2022, p. 59.
  3. ^ А.В. Арциховский, В.И. Борковский. Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1956–1957 гг.). М.: Из-во Акад. Наук СССР, 1963.
  4. ^ Itämerensuomalaista kirjoitusta 1200-luvulta Archived 2012-05-25 at archive.today (in Finnish)
  5. ^ Barentsen, A. A. (20 November 2023). Studies in West Slavic and Baltic Linguistics. BRILL. p. 332. ISBN 978-90-04-65406-8.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b Written information on Karelians by S. I. Kochkurkina, A. M. Spiridonov, T. N. Jackson, 1996
  8. ^ 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