Section Four FINNO-UGRIAN BELIEFS AND MYTHS

Considering the geographical map of Russia, one can notice that in the basins of the Middle Volga and Kama, the names of rivers ending in "va" and "ga" are common: Sosva, Izva, Kokshaga, Vetluga, etc. Finno-Ugrians live in those places, and translated from their languages "wa" and "ha" mean "river", "moisture", "wet place", "water". However, the Finno-Ugric toponyms{1 ) are found not only where these peoples make up a significant part of the population, form republics and national districts. Their distribution area is much wider: it covers the European north of Russia and part of the central regions. There are many examples: the ancient Russian cities of Kostroma and Murom; rivers Yakhroma, Iksha in the Moscow region; the village of Verkola in Arkhangelsk, etc.

Some researchers consider Finno-Ugric in origin even such familiar words as "Moscow" and "Ryazan". Scientists believe that Finno-Ugric tribes once lived in these places, and now ancient names keep their memory.

{1 } Toponym (from the Greek "topos" - "place" and "onyma" - "name") - a geographical name.

WHO ARE THE FINNO-UGRI

Finns called people inhabiting Finland, neighboring Russia(in Finnish " Suomi "), a acne in ancient Russian chronicles called Hungarians. But in Russia there are no Hungarians and very few Finns, but there are peoples who speak languages ​​related to Finnish or Hungarian . These peoples are called Finno-Ugric . Depending on the degree of proximity of languages, scientists divide Finno-Ugric peoples into five subgroups . In the first Baltic-Finnish , are included Finns, Izhors, Vods, Vepsians, Karelians, Estonians and Livs. The two largest peoples of this subgroup are Finns and Estonians- live mostly outside of our country. In Russia Finns can be found in Karelia, Leningrad region and St. Petersburg;Estonians - in Siberia, the Volga region and in the Leningrad region. A small group of Estonians - setu - lives in Pechorsky district of the Pskov region. By religion, many Finns and Estonians - Protestants (usually, Lutherans), setu - Orthodox . little people Vepsians lives in small groups Karelia, the Leningrad region and in the north-west of the Vologda, a vod (there are less than 100 people left!) - in Leningrad. And Veps and Vod - Orthodox . Orthodoxy is professed and Izhorians . There are 449 of them in Russia (in the Leningrad region), and about the same number in Estonia. Vepsians and Izhors retained their languages ​​(they even have dialects) and use them in everyday communication. The Votic language has disappeared.

The biggest Baltic-Finnish people of Russia Karelians . They live in Republic of Karelia, as well as in the Tver, Leningrad, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions. In everyday life, Karelians speak three dialects: actually Karelian, Ludikovskiy and Livvikovskiy and their literary language is Finnish. It publishes newspapers, magazines, and the Department of Finnish Language and Literature operates at the Faculty of Philology of Petrozavodsk University. Karelians also know Russian.

The second subgroup consists Saami , or Lapps . Most of them are settled in Northern Scandinavia, but in Russia Saami- inhabitants Kola Peninsula. According to most experts, the ancestors of this people once occupied a much larger territory, but over time they were pushed to the north. Then they lost their language and learned one of the Finnish dialects. The Saami are good reindeer herders (nomads in the recent past), fishermen and hunters. In Russia they profess orthodoxy .

In the third Volga-Finnish , the subgroup includes Mari and Mordovians . Mordva- indigenous people Republic of Mordovia, but a significant part of this people lives throughout Russia - in Samara, Penza, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Ulyanovsk regions, in the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, in Chuvashia etc. Even before the accession in the XVI century. Mordovian lands to Russia, the Mordovians got their own nobility - "inyazory", "otsyazory", i.e., "masters of the earth." Inyazori they were the first to be baptized, quickly Russified, and later their descendants made up an element in the Russian nobility a little less than those from the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. Mordva is divided into erzya and moksha ; each of the ethnographic groups has a written literary language - Erzya and Moksha . By religion, Mordovians Orthodox ; they have always been considered the most Christianized people of the Volga region.

Mari live mainly in Republic of Mari El, as well as in Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk and Perm regions. It is generally accepted that this people has two literary languages ​​- meadow-eastern and mountain-Mari. However, not all philologists share this opinion.

More ethnographers of the 19th century. noted the unusually high level of national self-consciousness of the Mari. They stubbornly resisted joining Russia and being baptized, and until 1917 the authorities forbade them to live in cities and engage in crafts and trade.

In the fourth Permian , the subgroup includes proper Komi , Komi-Permyaks and Udmurts .Komi(in the past they were called Zyryans) form the indigenous population of the Komi Republic, but also live in Sverdlovsk, Murmansk, Omsk regions, in the Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs. Their primary occupations are farming and hunting. But, unlike most other Finno-Ugric peoples, there have long been many merchants and entrepreneurs among them. Even before October 1917. Komi in terms of literacy (in Russian) approached the most educated peoples of Russia - Russian Germans and Jews. Today, 16.7% of Komi work in agriculture, but 44.5% in industry, and 15% in education, science, and culture. Part of the Komi - the Izhemtsy - mastered reindeer breeding and became the largest reindeer herders in the European north. Komi Orthodox (part of the Old Believers).

Very close in language to the Zyryans Komi-Permyaks . More than half of these people live in Komi-Perm Autonomous Okrug, and the rest - in the Perm region. Permians are mostly peasants and hunters, but throughout their history they have been factory serfs in the Ural factories, and barge haulers on the Kama and Volga. By religion Komi-Permyaks Orthodox .

Udmurts{ 2 } concentrated mostly in Udmurt Republic where they make up about 1/3 of the population. Small groups of Udmurts live in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, the Republic of Mari El, in the Perm, Kirov, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk regions. The traditional occupation is agriculture. In cities, they most often forget their native language and customs. Perhaps that is why only 70% of Udmurts, mostly residents of rural areas, consider the Udmurt language their native language. Udmurts Orthodox , but many of them (including the baptized) adhere to traditional beliefs - they worship pagan gods, deities, spirits.

In the fifth Ugric , the subgroup includes Hungarians, Khanty and Mansi . "acne "in Russian chronicles they called Hungarians, a " yugra " - Ob Ugrians, i.e. Khanty and Mansi. Although Northern Urals and the lower reaches of the Ob, where the Khanty and Mansi live, are located thousands of kilometers from the Danube, on the banks of which the Hungarians created their state, these peoples are the closest relatives. Khanty and Mansi belong to the small peoples of the North. Mansi live mostly in Anty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a Khanty - in Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, Tomsk Region. Mansi are primarily hunters, then fishermen, reindeer herders. The Khanty, on the contrary, were first fishermen, and then hunters and reindeer herders. Both of them profess orthodoxy However, they did not forget the ancient faith. The traditional culture of the Ob Ugrians was greatly damaged by the industrial development of their region: many hunting grounds disappeared, rivers were polluted.

Old Russian chronicles preserved the names of the Finno-Ugric tribes, now disappeared, - Chud, Merya, Muroma . Merya in the first millennium A.D. e. lived in the interfluve of the Volga and Oka, and at the turn of the I and II millennia merged with the Eastern Slavs. There is an assumption that the modern Mari are the descendants of this tribe. Murom in the 1st millennium BC. e. lived in the Oka basin, and by the XII century. n. e. mixed with the Eastern Slavs. Chudyu modern researchers consider the Finnish tribes who lived in antiquity along the banks of the Onega and the Northern Dvina. It is possible that they are the ancestors of the Estonians.

{ 2 ) Russian historian of the XVIII century. V. N. Tatishchev wrote that the Udmurts (formerly they were called votyaks) perform their prayers “under some good tree, but not under a pine and spruce, which have no leaf or fruit, but aspen is revered as a cursed tree ... ".

WHERE THE FINNO-UGRIANS LIVED AND WHERE THEY LIVE

Most researchers agree that the ancestral home Finno-Ugric was on the border of Europe and Asia, in the areas between the Volga and Kama and in the Urals. It was there in the IV-III millennium BC. e. a community of tribes arose, related in language and close in origin. By the 1st millennium A.D. e. the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples settled as far as the Baltic and Northern Scandinavia. They occupied a vast territory covered with forests - almost the entire northern part of present-day European Russia to the Kama in the south.

Excavations show that the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples belonged to Ural race: in their appearance Caucasoid and Mongoloid features are mixed (wide cheekbones, often a Mongolian section of the eye). Moving west, they mixed with Caucasians. As a result, in some peoples descended from the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples, Mongoloid signs began to smooth out and disappear. Now "Ural" features are characteristic to one degree or another of all Finnish peoples of Russia: medium height, broad face, snub-nosed nose, very blond hair, sparse beard. But in different peoples, these features manifest themselves in different ways. For example, Mordva-Erzya tall, blond, blue-eyed, and mordva-moksha and shorter in stature, and broader in face, and their hair is darker. At Mari and Udmurts often there are eyes with the so-called Mongolian fold - epicanthus, very wide cheekbones, a liquid beard. But at the same time (the Ural race!) Fair and red hair, blue and gray eyes. The Mongolian fold is sometimes found among Estonians, and among Vodi, and among Izhorians, and among Karelians. Komi there are different ones: in those places where there are mixed marriages with the Nenets, they are black-haired and slanting; others are more like Scandinavians, with slightly wider faces.

Finno-Ugrians were engaged agriculture (to fertilize the soil with ashes, they burned out parts of the forest), hunting and fishing . Their settlements were far apart. Perhaps for this reason they did not create states anywhere and began to be part of neighboring organized and constantly expanding powers. One of the first mentions of the Finno-Ugric peoples contains Khazar documents written in Hebrew, the state language of the Khazar Khaganate. Alas, there are almost no vowels in it, so it remains to be guessed that "tsrms" means "Cheremis-Mari", and "mkshkh" - "moksha". Later, the Finno-Ugric peoples also paid tribute to the Bulgars, they were part of the Kazan Khanate, in the Russian state.

RUSSIAN AND FINNO-UGRI

In the XVI-XVIII centuries. Russian settlers rushed to the lands of the Finno-Ugric peoples. Most often, the settlement was peaceful, but sometimes indigenous peoples resisted the entry of their region into the Russian state. The most fierce resistance was provided by the Mari.

Over time, baptism, writing, urban culture, brought by the Russians, began to displace local languages ​​and beliefs. Many began to feel like Russians, and really became them. Sometimes it was enough to be baptized for this. The peasants of one Mordovian village wrote in a petition: "Our ancestors, the former Mordovians", sincerely believing that only their ancestors, pagans, were Mordovians, and their Orthodox descendants do not belong to Mordovians in any way.

People moved to cities, went far away - to Siberia, to Altai, where one language was common to all - Russian. The names after baptism were no different from ordinary Russians. Or almost nothing: not everyone notices that there is nothing Slavic in surnames like Shukshin, Vedenyapin, Piyashev, but they go back to the name of the Shuksha tribe, the name of the goddess of war Veden Ala, the pre-Christian name Piyash. So a significant part of the Finno-Ugric peoples was assimilated by the Russians, and some, having adopted Islam, mixed with the Turks. That is why the Finno-Ugric peoples do not make up the majority anywhere - even in the republics to which they gave their name.

But, having dissolved in the mass of Russians, the Finno-Ugric peoples retained their anthropological type: very blond hair, blue eyes, a "shee-shek" nose, a wide, high-lying face. The kind that nineteenth-century writers called "Penza peasant", is now perceived as a typical Russian.

Many Finno-Ugric words have entered the Russian language: "tundra", "sprat", "salaka", etc. Is there a more Russian and everyone's favorite dish than dumplings? Meanwhile, this word is borrowed from the Komi language and means "bread eye": "pel" - "ear", and "nyan" - "bread". There are especially many borrowings in the northern dialects, mainly among the names of natural phenomena or landscape elements. They give a peculiar beauty to local speech and regional literature. Take, for example, the word "taibola", which in the Arkhangelsk region is called a dense forest, and in the Mezen River basin - a road that runs along the seashore next to the taiga. It is taken from the Karelian "taibale" - "isthmus". For centuries, peoples living nearby have always enriched each other's language and culture.

Patriarch Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum were Finno-Ugric by origin - both Mordvins, but irreconcilable enemies; Udmurt - physiologist V. M. Bekhterev, Komi - sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, Mordvin - sculptor S. Nefyodov-Erzya, who took the name of the people as his pseudonym; Mari - composer A. Ya. Eshpay.

ANCIENT CLOTHING V O D I I J O R C E V

The main part of the traditional women's costume of the Vodi and Izhorians - shirt . Ancient shirts were sewn very long, with wide, also long sleeves. In the warm season, the shirt was the only clothing of a woman. Eshyo in the 60s. 19th century after the wedding, the young woman was supposed to walk in one shirt until her father-in-law gave her a fur coat or caftan.

The Votic women for a long time preserved the ancient form of unsewn waist clothing - khursgukset worn over a shirt. Hursgukset looks like Russian ponyova. It was richly decorated with copper coins, shells, fringe, bells. Later, when he entered the life of the driver sundress , the bride put on a hursgukset for a wedding under a sundress.

Peculiar unsewn clothes - annua - worn in the central part Ingermanland(part of the territory of modern Leningrad region). It was a wide cloth that reached to the armpits; a strap was sewn to its upper ends and thrown over the left shoulder. Annua diverged on the left side, and therefore they put on a second cloth under it - khurstut . It was wrapped around the waist and also worn on a strap. The Russian sarafan gradually replaced the ancient loincloth among the Vodi and Izhori. Belted clothes leather belt, cords, braided belts and narrow towels.

In ancient times, water women shaved head.

TRADITIONAL CLOTHING KHANTOV I M A N S I

Khanty and Mansi clothes were sewn from skins, furs, fish skins, cloth, nettle and linen canvas. In the manufacture of children's clothing, the most archaic material was also used - bird skins.

Men put on in winter oar fur coats from deer and hare fur, squirrel and fox paws, and in summer a short dressing gown made of coarse cloth; collar, sleeves and right half were turned off with fur.Winter shoes was fur, and wore it with fur stockings. summer They were made from rovduga (suede from deer or elk skin), and the sole from elk skin.

Men's shirts they sewed from nettle canvas, and pants from rovduga, fish skin, canvas, and cotton fabrics. Over the shirt must be worn woven belt , to which hung beaded bags(they held a knife in a wooden sheath and a steel).

women put on in winter fur coat deer skin; the lining was also fur. Where there were few deer, the lining was made from hare and squirrel skins, and sometimes from duck or swan down. Summer wore cloth or cotton robe ,decorated with stripes of beads, colored fabric and pewter plaques. These plaques were cast by women themselves in special molds made of soft stone or pine bark. The belts were already masculine and more elegant.

Women covered their heads in both winter and summer shawls with a wide border and fringe . In the presence of men, especially older relatives of the husband, according to tradition, it was supposed to be the end of a scarf cover one's face. There were Khanty and beaded headbands .

Hair before it was not customary to cut. Men, dividing their hair into a straight parting, collected it in two tails and tied it with a colored cord. .Women braided two braids, decorated them with colored lace and copper pendants. . At the bottom of the braid, so as not to interfere with work, they were connected with a thick copper chain. Rings, bells, beads and other ornaments were hung from the chain. Khanty women, as usual, wore a lot copper and silver rings. Beaded jewelry was also widespread, which was imported by Russian merchants.

HOW THE MARIANS WAS DRESSED

In the past, Mari clothing was exclusively home-made. Upper(it was worn in winter and autumn) was sewn from home cloth and sheepskin, and shirts and summer kaftans- Made of white linen.

women wore shirt, caftan, pants, headdress and bast bast shoes . Shirts were embroidered with silk, wool, cotton threads. They were worn with belts woven from wool and silk, decorated with beads, tassels and metal chains. One of the types headdresses of married Marieks , similar to a cap, was called shymaksh . It was sewn from thin canvas and put on a birch bark frame. An obligatory part of the traditional Mariek costume was considered jewelry made of beads, coins, pewter plaques.

Men's suit consisted of canvas embroidered shirt, pants, canvas caftan and bast shoes . The shirt was shorter than women's, it was worn with a narrow belt made of wool and leather. On the head put on felt HATS and SHEARLING caps .

WHAT IS THE FINNO-UGRIAN LANGUAGE RELATIONSHIP

The Finno-Ugric peoples differ from each other in their way of life, religion, historical destinies and even appearance. They are combined into one group based on the relationship of languages. However, linguistic affinity is different. The Slavs, for example, can easily come to an agreement, each explaining himself in his own dialect. But the Finno-Ugric peoples will not be able to communicate with their brethren in the language group just as easily.

In ancient times, the ancestors of modern Finno-Ugric peoples spoke in one language. Then its speakers began to move, mixed with other tribes, and the once single language broke up into several independent ones. The Finno-Ugric languages ​​diverged so long ago that there are few common words in them - about a thousand. For example, "house" in Finnish is "koti", in Estonian - "kodu", in Mordovian - "kudu", in Mari - "kudo". It looks like the word "oil": Finnish "voi", Estonian "vdi", Udmurt and Komi "vy", Hungarian "vaj". But the sound of languages ​​- phonetics - remained so close that any Finno-Ugric, listening to another and not even understanding what he is talking about, feels: this is a related language.

FINNO-UGRIC NAMES

Finno-Ugric peoples have been confessing for a long time (at least officially) orthodoxy , so their names and surnames, as a rule, do not differ from Russians. However, in the village, in accordance with the sound of local languages, they change. So, Akulina becomes Okul, Nikolai - Nikul or Mikul, Kirill - Kyrlya, Ivan - Yivan. At Komi , for example, often the patronymic is put before the name: Mikhail Anatolyevich sounds like Tol Mish, that is, Anatoly's son Mishka, and Rosa Stepanovna turns into Stepan Rosa - Stepan's daughter Rosa. In the documents, of course, everyone has ordinary Russian names. Only writers, artists and artists choose the traditional village form: Yivan Kyrlya, Nikul Erkay, Illya Vas, Ortjo Stepanov.

At Komi often found surnames Durkin, Rochev, Kanev; among the Udmurts - Korepanov and Vladykin; at Mordovians - Vedenyapin, Pi-yashev, Kechin, Mokshin. Especially common among Mordovians are surnames with a diminutive suffix - Kirdyaikin, Vidyaikin, Popsuikin, Alyoshkin, Varlashkin.

Some Mari , especially the unbaptized chi-mari in Bashkiria, at one time they accepted Turkic names. Therefore, chi-mari often have surnames similar to Tatar ones: Anduganov, Baitemirov, Yashpatrov, but their names and patronymics are Russian. At Karelian there are surnames both Russian and Finnish, but always with a Russian ending: Perttuev, Lampiev. Usually in Karelia by last name can be distinguished Karelian, Finn and Petersburg Finn. So, Perttuev - Karelian, Perttu - Petersburg Finn, a Pertgunen - Finn. But the name and patronymic of each of them can be Stepan Ivanovich.

WHAT THE FINNO-UGRIANS BELIEVE

In Russia, many Finno-Ugric peoples profess orthodoxy . In the XII century. the Vepsians were crossed, in the XIII century. - Karelians, at the end of the XIV century. - Komi. At the same time, to translate the Holy Scripture into the Komi language, a Permian writing - the only original Finno-Ugric alphabet. During the XVIII-XIX centuries. Mordvins, Udmurts and Mariyi are christened. However, the Mariys did not fully accept Christianity. To avoid conversion to the new faith, some of them (they called themselves "chi-mari" - "true Mari") went to the territory of Bashkiria, and those who remained and were baptized often continued to worship the old gods. Among Mari, Udmurts, Saami and some other peoples were distributed, and even now preserved, the so-called dual faith . People revere the old gods, but recognize the "Russian God" and his saints, especially Nicholas the Pleasant. In Yoshkar-Ola, the capital of the Republic of Mari El, the state took under protection the sacred grove - " kyusoto", and now pagan prayers are taking place here. The names of the supreme gods and mythological heroes among these peoples are similar and probably go back to the ancient Finnish name for the sky and air -" ilma ": Ilmarinen - the Finns Ilmailin - Karelians,Inmar - among the Udmurts, Yong -Komi.

CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE FINNO-UGRI

Writing many Finno-Ugric languages ​​of Russia was created on the basis Cyrillic, with the addition of letters and superscripts that convey the peculiarities of sound.Karely , whose literary language is Finnish, is written in Latin letters.

Literature of the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia very young, but oral folk art has a long history. Finnish poet and folklorist Elias Lönro t (1802-1884) collected the tales of the epic " Kalevala "among the Karelians of the Olonets province of the Russian Empire. In the final edition, the book was published in 1849. "Kalevala", which means "country of Kaleva", in its rune songs tells about the exploits of the Finnish heroes Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Lemminkäinen, about their struggle against the evil Loukhi , mistress of Pohjola (the northern country of darkness). In a magnificent poetic form, the epic tells about the life, beliefs, customs of the ancestors of the Finns, Karelians, Veps, Vodi, Izhorians. This information is unusually rich, they reveal the spiritual world of farmers and hunters of the North. "Kalevala" stands along with the greatest epics of mankind.There are epics and some other Finno-Ugric peoples: "Kalevipoeg"("Son of Kalev") - at Estonians , "Feather-bogatyr"- at Komi-Permyakov , preserved epic tales Mordovians and Mansi .

The Komi language is included in the Finno-Ugric language family, and with the Udmurt language closest to it, it forms the Permian group of Finno-Ugric languages. In total, the Finno-Ugric family includes 16 languages, which in ancient times developed from a single language-base: Hungarian, Mansi, Khanty (Ugric group of languages); Komi, Udmurt (Permian group); Mari, Mordovian languages ​​- Erzya and Moksha: Baltic and Baltic languages ​​- Finnish, Karelian, Izhorian, Vepsian, Votic, Estonian, Liv languages. A special place in the Finno-Ugric family of languages ​​is occupied by the Sami language, which is very different from other related languages.

The Finno-Ugric languages ​​and the Samoyedic languages ​​form the Uralic family of languages. The Nenets, Enets, Nganasan, Selkup, and Kamasin languages ​​are classified as modern languages. The peoples speaking Samoyedic languages ​​live in Western Siberia, except for the Nenets, who also live in northern Europe.

The question of the ancestry of the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples has long been of interest to scientists. They also searched for the ancient ancestral home in the Altai region, on the upper reaches of the Ob, Irtysh and Yenisei, and on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Modern scientists, based on the study of the vocabulary of the flora of the Finno-Ugric languages, have come to the conclusion that the ancestral home of the Finno-Ugric peoples was located in the Volga-Kama region on both sides of the Ural mountains. Then the Finno-Ugric tribes and languages ​​separated, became isolated, and the ancestors of the current Finno-Ugric peoples left their ancient ancestral home. The first annalistic references to the Finno-Ugric peoples already find these peoples in the places of their current residence.

Hungariansmore than a millennium ago they moved to the territory surrounded by the Carpathians. The self-name of the Hungarians Modyor has been known since the 5th century. n. e. Writing in the Hungarian language appeared at the end of the 12th century, and the Hungarians have a rich literature. The total number of Hungarians is about 17 million people. In addition to Hungary, they live in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria, Ukraine, Yugoslavia.

Mansi (Voguls)live in the Khanty-Mansiysk district of the Tyumen region. In Russian chronicles, they, together with the Khanty, were called Yugra. Mansi use writing on a Russian graphic basis, have their own schools. The total number of Mansi is over 7,000 people, but only half of them consider Mansi their native language.

Khanty (Ostyaks)live on the Yamal Peninsula, lower and middle Ob. Writing in the Khanty language appeared in the 30s of our century, but the dialects of the Khanty language are so different that communication between representatives of different dialects is often difficult. Many lexical borrowings from the Komi language penetrated into the Khanty and Mansi languages. The total number of Khanty is 21,000 people. The traditional occupation of the Ob Ugrians is reindeer herding, hunting, and fishing.

Udmurtsthe least advanced from the territory of the Finno-Ugric ancestral home; they live on the lower reaches of the Kama and Vyatka rivers, except for the Udmurt Republic, they live in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Mari El, Vyatka region. There were 713,696 Udmurts in 1989; writing arose in the 18th century. The capital of Udmurtia is the city of Izhevsk.

Marilive on the territory of the Volga left bank. About half of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El, the rest live in Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and Udmurtia. Writing in the Mari language arose in the 18th century, there are two variants of the literary language - meadow and mountain, they have the main difference in phonetics. The total number of Mari is 621,961 (1989). The capital of Mari El is the city of Yoshkar-Ola.

Among the Finno-Ugric peoples, the 3rd place is occupied byMordovians. There are more than 1,200 thousand of them, but the Mordovians live very widely and fragmented. Their more compact groups can be found in the basins of the Moksha and Sura rivers (Mordovia), in the Penza, Samara, Orenburg, Ulyanovsk, and Nizhny Novgorod regions. There are two closely related Mordovian languages, Erzya and Moksha, but speakers of these languages ​​communicate with each other in Russian. Writing in the Mordovian languages ​​appeared in the 19th century. The capital of Mordovia is the city of Saransk.

Baltic-Finnish languages ​​and peoples are so close that speakers of these languages ​​can communicate among themselves without an interpreter. Among the languages ​​of the Baltic-Finnish group, the most common isFinnish, it is spoken by about 5 million people, self-name of the Finnssuomi. In addition to Finland, Finns also live in the Leningrad region of Russia. Writing arose in the 16th century, from 1870 the period of the modern Finnish language begins. The epic "Kalevala" sounds in Finnish, a rich original literature has been created. About 77 thousand Finns live in Russia.

Estonianslive on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, the number of Estonians in 1989 was 1,027,255 people. Writing existed from the 16th century to the 19th century. two literary languages ​​developed: southern and northern Estonian. In the 19th century these literary languages ​​converged on the basis of Middle Estonian dialects.

Karelylive in Karelia and the Tver region of Russia. There are 138,429 Karelians (1989), a little more than half speak their native language. The Karelian language consists of many dialects. In Karelia, Karelians study and use the Finnish literary language. The most ancient monuments of Karelian writing date back to the 13th century; in the Finno-Ugric languages, in antiquity this is the second written language (after Hungarian).

Izhorathe language is unwritten, it is spoken by about 1,500 people. The Izhors live on the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Finland, on the river. Izhora, a tributary of the Neva. Although the Izhors call themselves Karelians, it is customary in science to single out an independent Izhorian language.

Vepsianslive on the territory of three administrative-territorial units: Vologda, Leningrad regions of Russia, Karelia. In the 30s, there were about 30,000 Vepsians, in 1970 - 8,300 people. Due to the strong influence of the Russian language, the Vepsian language differs markedly from other Baltic-Finnic languages.

Vodskythe language is on the verge of extinction, since there are no more than 30 people speaking this language. Vod lives in several villages located between the northeastern part of Estonia and the Leningrad region. The Votic language is unwritten.

Do youlive in several seaside fishing villages in northern Latvia. Their number in the course of history, due to the devastation during World War II, has sharply decreased. Now the number of Liv speakers is only about 150 people. Writing has been developing since the 19th century, but at the present time Livs are switching to the Latvian language.

Samithe language forms a separate group of Finno-Ugric languages, since there are many specific features in its grammar and vocabulary. The Saami live in the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. There are only about 40 thousand of them, including about 2000 in Russia. The Sami language has much in common with the Baltic-Finnish languages. Sami writing develops on the basis of different dialects in Latin and Russian graphic systems.

Modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​have diverged so much from each other that at first glance they seem completely unrelated to each other. However, a deeper study of the sound composition, grammar and vocabulary shows that these languages ​​have many common features that prove the former common origin of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​from one ancient parent language.

ON THE CONCEPT "KOMI LANGUAGE"

Traditionally, the Komi language is understood as all three Komi dialects: Komi-Zyryansky, Komi-Permyak and Kozhi-Yazva. Many foreign Finno-Ugric scholars do not separate the Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak languages. However, in Soviet ethnography, two ethnic groups are distinguished - Komi-Zyryans and Komi-Permyaks, and in linguistics, respectively, two languages. Komi-Zyryans and Komi-Permyaks freely communicate with each other in their languages, without resorting to Russian. Thus, the Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak literary languages ​​are very close.

This closeness is clearly seen when comparing the following two sentences:

1) Komi-Zyryan literary language -Ruch vidzodlis gogorbok and ydzhyd goats vyly addzis uros, kodi tov kezhlo dastis tshak .

2) Komi-Permyak literary language -Ruch vidzotis gogor and ydzhyt koz yylis kazyalis urokos, code tov kezho zaptis tshakkez .

"The fox looked around and on the top of a tall spruce saw a squirrel that was storing mushrooms for the winter".

The study of the Komi-Zyryan literary language, in principle, makes it possible to read everything written in the Komi-Permyak literary language, as well as to communicate freely with the Komi-Permyaks.

RESIDENCE AND NUMBER OF KOMI

A special ethnographic group of the Komi are the Komi-Yazva people whose language is very different from the modern Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak dialects. Komi-Yazvinians live in the Krasnovishersky district of the Perm region along the middle and upper reaches of the river. Yazva, the left tributary of the river. Vishera, which flows into the Kama. Their total number is about 4,000 people, however, at present, the Komi-Yazva people are rapidly becoming Russified.

In the Afanasyevsky district of the Kirov region, the so-called "Zyuzda" Komi live, the dialect of which stands, as it were, between the Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak dialects. In the 1950s, there were more than 5,000 Zyuzdins, but then their number began to decrease.

Komi-Zyrianslive in the Komi Republic in the basins of the rivers Luza, Vychegda and its tributaries Sysola, Vym, in the basins of the Izhma and Pechora rivers, which flows into the White Sea. Mezen and its tributary Vashka. Accordingly, the Komi ethnographic groups are subdivided along the rivers - Luz Komi, Sysolsky, Vychegodsky, Vymsky, Udorsky, Izhma, Upper Pechora Komi, etc. region, in many villages of the lower Ob and along its tributaries, on the Kola Peninsula in the Murmansk region in Omsk, Novosibirsk and other regions of Siberia.

Komi-Permyakslive in isolation from the Komi-Zyryans, to the south, in the Perm region, in the Upper Kama region, on its tributaries the Spit, Inva. The capital of the Komi-Permyatsk Autonomous Region is the city of Kudymkar.

The total number of the Komi population (Komi-Zyryans and Komi-Permyaks), according to the population censuses, was constantly increasing: 1897 - 254,000; 1970 - 475,000; 1926 - 364,000; 1979 - 478,000; 1959 - 431,000; 1989 - 497,081.

Demographers have noticed a trend towards a sharp decline in the growth of the Komi population in recent decades. If for 1959-1970. the increase was 44,000 people, then for 1970-1979. - only 3,000 people. For 1979 In the USSR, there were 326,700 Komi-Zyryans and 150,768 Komi-Permyaks. In the Komi SSR, 280,797 Komi-Zyryans lived, which amounted to 25.3% of the population of the republic.

In 1989, the Komi made up 23% of the population of the Komi SSR. According to the 1989 census, 345,007 Komi-Zyryans and 152,074 Komi-Permyaks lived in the USSR. However, the number of people who speak the Komi language is decreasing. So, in 1970, 82.7% of the Komi-Zyryans and 85.8% of the Komi-Permyaks called the Komi language their native language. In 1979, 76.2% of the Komi-Zyryans and 77.1% of the Komi-Permyaks called the Komi language their native language. For 10 years, the Komi language community has decreased by 33,000 people. The decline in the number of Komi speakers continues. According to the 1989 census, among all the Komi in the USSR, 70% named the Komi language as their native language, i.e. now every third Komi no longer speaks the mother language.

From the book "KOMI KYV: Self-instruction manual for the Komi language" E A Tsypanov 1992 (Syktyvkar, Komi book publishing house)

The book tells about the languages, peoples, migratory movements of the Finno-Ugric peoples. About how the Finno-Ugric community arises, beliefs, customs, rituals are formed. Various historical and ethnographic sources are involved. Brief grammars of some Finno-Ugric languages ​​are given.

* * *

The following excerpt from the book Finno-Ugric peoples. Languages, peoples, migrations, customs (Andrey Tikhomirov) provided by our book partner - the company LitRes.

Compiler Andrey Tikhomirov

ISBN 978-5-4490-9797-2

Created with the intelligent publishing system Ridero

Finno-Ugric languages

The Finno-Ugric languages ​​(or Finno-Ugric languages) are a group of languages ​​that are closely related to the Samoyedic languages ​​and form, together with the latter, a large genetic Uralic language family.

The Finno-Ugric languages ​​are divided into the following branches: Hungarian, represented by the Hungarian language; Ob-Ugric, consisting of the Mansi and Khanty languages ​​spoken in the northern part of the Ob River basin; Baltic-Finnish with languages: Finnish, Estonian, Liv, Vod, Veps, Izhora and Karelian; Sami, represented by the Sami language, which is spoken by the Sami (Lapps) living on the Kola Peninsula, in the northern part of Finland, Sweden and Norway; Mordovian with two main dialects - Erzya and Moksha; Mari, consisting of meadow-eastern and mountain dialects; Perm, including the Udmurt language and the Komi language with the Komi-Zyryan, Komi-Permyak and Komi-Yazva dialects.

Samoyedic languages, a family (according to other classifications, a group) of languages ​​as part of the genetic community of the Uralic languages. Includes languages: Nenets, Enets, Nganasan, Selkup, almost extinct Kamasin, extinct Mator (Motor), Karagas and Taigi. Samoyeds, outdated. - Samoyeds, (annalistic - Samoyed) (from Sameemne, in the Sami language - the land of the Saami), 1) The old Russian name for the Saami and other peoples of the North of Russia and Siberia. 2) An obsolete name for all Samoyed peoples.

In addition, the so-called Ural race stands out, which occupies an intermediate position between the Mongoloid and Caucasoid races. Characterized by straight dark hair, dark eyes, sometimes a flat face, a strongly developed epicanthus (narrow nose with a concave back). It is now distributed in western Siberia (Khanty, Mansi, northern Altaians, etc.).

Siy Eniko, Hungarian Language Course, Second Edition. Tankyonkiado, Budapest, 1981, p. ten. Szíj Enikő, Magyar nyelvkönyv, Második kiadas, Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 1981, oldal 9

The Hungarian language is in close genetic relationship with the Ob-Ugric languages, making up the Ugric group of Finno-Ugric languages. The Hungarians, who once lived close to the Khanty and Mansi, occupied the modern territory only in the 9th century. All other Finno-Ugric languages ​​form the Finnish group or the Baltic-Finno-Permian group.

Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian are developed literary languages, and they have an old script. Mordovian, Mari, Udmurt, Komi, Khanty and Mansi as literary languages ​​were formed only in the 20-30s. 20th century.

In the 2nd half of the 14th century. In the Komi language, ancient Permian writing was created, which fell into decline in the 18th century. Ancient Permian writing - writing created in the 14th century. missionary Stefan of Perm on the basis of one of the ancient dialects of the Komi language. A special alphabet was compiled on the model of Greek and Slavic-Russian, translations of some liturgical books were made. Now out of use. At present, small monuments of it have survived in the form of inscriptions on icons and in handwritten books, lists of alphabets, etc. A valuable source for the study of ancient Permian writing is the list of liturgy (the so-called Evgeniev-Lepekhinsky texts), rewritten in the 17th century. Russian alphabet from Old Perm, which is a coherent text of about 600 words. This writing in the 14-17 centuries. enjoyed a certain popularity among Russian Moscow scribes, who used it as a secret writing.

Ancient Permian writing

The most ancient written monuments are Hungarian (13th century), Komi (14th century),

Finnish (15th-16th centuries).

Common to modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​are some conjugation, declension and word-formation affixes inherited from the Finno-Ugric language, as well as several hundred common roots. In the Finno-Ugric vocabulary for individual languages, regular sound correspondences are observed. However, the modern Finno-Ugric languages, due to a long isolated development, have diverged far from each other.

friend both in their grammatical structure and in the composition of the vocabulary; they also differ greatly in sound characteristics. Of the general grammatical features, the following can be noted: agglutinative grammatical structure, the use of postpositions (instead of the prepositions of the Indo-European languages), the absence of prefixes (the exception is the Hungarian language), the invariability of adjectives in the position before the word being defined (the exception is the Baltic-Finnish languages). Most Finno-Ugric languages ​​have vowel harmony. The vocabulary of individual languages ​​was influenced by various languages ​​of neighboring peoples, as a result of which the composition of foreign borrowings is not the same in different languages; so, for example, in the Hungarian language there are many Turkic and Slavic words, and in the Finnish language there are many Baltic, Germanic, Swedish and ancient Russian borrowings.

Modern Finns (suomalayset) speak Finnish, which belongs to the western, Baltic-Finnish group of Finno-Ugric languages. Anthropologically, they belong to the Baltic type of the Caucasoid race.

Arkhipova N.P. and Yastrebov E.V. in the book “How the Ural Mountains were discovered”, Chelyabinsk, 2nd ed., South Ural book publishing house, 1982, p. 146-149, tell about the journey of the Hungarian linguist and geographer Antal Reguli to the Northern Urals in the 40s. 19th century: “Even as a student, Reguli thought about the origin of the Hungarian language and the Hungarian people. Why does his country speak a language so different from the languages ​​of neighboring countries? Where are the origins of the Hungarian language, where did the ancestors of modern Hungarians come from in South-Eastern Europe? Reguli heard that the Hungarians allegedly come from the Urals. However, this had to be proven. Having visited Northern Finland, he was struck by the relationship between the Finnish and Sami (Lapland) languages, on the one hand, and Hungarian, on the other. To continue studying Finno-Ugric languages ​​and ethnic ties, Reguli decided to go to Russia. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences gave him 200 forints (which was equal to 200 gold rubles) for scientific research. In 1841, he arrived in St. Petersburg, where he quickly mastered the Russian language, and continued to improve his knowledge of the languages ​​of the northern peoples.

Reguli realized that in order to find out the position of the Hungarian language in the system of languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric group, its origin, it is necessary to penetrate into the central and eastern regions of European Russia, the Urals and the Trans-Urals. The mysterious Mansi people (Voguls), then little known in Europe, lived there. On October 9, 1843, the traveler left for the Urals through Moscow. On October 27 he arrived in Kazan. Along the way, Reguli collects material about the language and life of the Mari (Cheremis), Udmurts (Votiaks) and Chuvash. November 14, 1843 Reguli arrives in Perm, from where he began his wanderings through unexplored lands. Having left Solikamsk on November 20, 1843, Reguli crossed the watershed of the Ural Mountains, reached the upper reaches of the Tura River, from where he headed north along the eastern slope of the ridge to the upper reaches of the Lozva River. After living for about three months among the Mansi, he leaves for Verkhoturye, then to Irbit and further to the Tavda and Tobol rivers. In the spring of 1844, along the waterway, in places on horseback or on foot next to a loaded horse, Reguli headed up the Konda River, then up the Pelyma River. Following along the eastern slope of the Urals along the Severnaya Sosva River, it reaches the headwaters of the Lyapina River and its tributary Khulga in the Subpolar Urals. Along the way, Reguli collects valuable material about the way of life, life and language of the Mansi and Khanty. The fairy tales and songs recorded by him reveal the spiritual world of these peculiar northern peoples. Wandering through a sparsely populated area, almost unknown to geographers, Reguli draws up schematic maps indicating the names of mountains, rivers and settlements. On September 29, 1844, having reached the Arctic Circle, Reguli arrived in Obdorsk (now Salekhard), then a small village consisting of only 40 houses. By that time, the Ob had already frozen over, and Reguli on reindeer along the tundra was heading to the northern tip of the Ural Mountains, reaching on October 21, 1844, the coast of the Kara Sea and the Yugorsky Shar Strait. This was the northernmost point (69°45" N) of his journey. In November, he arrives in the basin of the Usa River, in the region inhabited by the Komi (Zyryans), and continues his research here. From there, having crossed the Ural Mountains, Reguli goes to the mountains. Berezovo, but does not linger here, and along the Northern Sosva it goes up to the mouth of the Kempage. Following further along the Northern Sosva, he reaches the sources of this river (at 62 ° N), inhabited by the Mansi, and only after that again goes to the mountains. Berezovo. Here Reguli winters, putting his diaries in order. Reguli's trip through the Urals and Trans-Urals took place in very difficult conditions: there was not enough equipment, there were no necessary instruments. The Hungarian scientist traveled by boat along turbulent rivers, on horseback along mountain steeps, in sleds pulled by deer or dogs, and often on foot. Usually he was accompanied by guides - Mansi, Khanty or Nenets. The inquisitive researcher was always close to the feelings and thoughts of ordinary people, he singled out and highly appreciated the noble features of their behavior and morals. Contrary to the prevailing ideas about “savages” at that time, Reguli argued: “There are features in the life of uncultured peoples that deserve universal recognition. In their social life there are such phenomena that indicate compassion and the absence of malevolence. From Berezovo, Reguli sends information about his research to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and to St. Petersburg. In a letter to K. M. Baer, ​​he reports that he has established an undoubted connection between the Mansi language and the Hungarian language. In the Mansi-Hungarian dictionary compiled by Reguli, there were 2600 Mansi words.

Routes of A. Reguli (compiled by N. P. Arkhipova): 1 - the first part; 2 - the second part; northern borders: 3 - agriculture; 4 - scaffolding established by Reguli

Reguli processed the most valuable material brought from the Urals throughout his subsequent life. He also prepared the main work "Vogulskaya country and its inhabitants", published in 1864 in Hungarian in Budapest after the death of the author. Reguli attached great importance to the study of the name of the area, in modern toponymy, which makes it possible to judge the settlement of peoples in the past. He also built his ideas about the origin and history of such settlement on the basis of a comparative analysis of languages, taking into account ethnographic data. Reguli established the genetic connection of the Finno-Ugric languages, which include the languages ​​of the Hungarians, Finns, Mansi, Khanty, Komi and Mari. He was particularly struck by the similarities between the Mansi and Hungarian languages. He came to the conclusion that the Hungarians descended from ancestors who lived long ago in the Northern Urals and in the Trans-Urals, in the territory now inhabited by the Mansi. These statements of Reguli are basically accepted by modern linguists. According to them, the ancestral home of the Ugrians was located in a wooded area in the Kama basin and somewhat to the south. In the first half of the first millennium BC, tribes emerged from the Ugric community, which later became the ancestors of the Hungarians. The rest of the Ugrians remained in this territory for a long time, and in the XII-XV centuries, part of the tribes moved beyond the Urals. In general, Reguli's journey through the Urals and the Urals lasted about a year and a half (arrival in Solikamsk - November 1843, departure from Berezovo - March 1845). The length of his path was 5.5 thousand km. Previously, not a single scientist has conducted such lengthy and detailed studies here, nor has he explored such a vast territory. Reguli's journey through the little-known territory aroused interest in the study of the nature and population of the Northern Urals and contributed to the development of the study of the Finno-Ugric peoples.

The Finns never "came" to Finland because the Finns, the Finnish identity or the Finnish language in the present sense, never existed anywhere outside of Finland. What is now considered "Finnish" has been formed here, over thousands of years, under the influence of many peoples, languages ​​and cultures.

Many Finns have learned in school that our ancestors arrived from the east (where languages ​​related to Finnish are still spoken) about 2000 years ago. It was a plausible theory in its time, but nothing more: contrary to what was believed in the first half of the 20th century, Finland has been continuously inhabited since the last Ice Age, i.e. our first ancestors lived here already about 9000 years ago. Very little is known about these first people of Finland: we do not know where they came from (from the south, of course...) and what language they spoke (it could have been Finno-Ugric or even some other language with a completely unknown ancestry ). Of course, since then, Finland has experienced many cultural and linguistic influences from many quarters.

Several decades ago, the family tree of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​was interpreted as a map showing how the Finno-Ugric peoples migrated to their current habitats. The data of modern archeology do not support such wide movements. In addition, a recent study of loanwords has shown the presence of very ancient Indo-European loanwords, especially in Finnish and the most western branch of the FU languages; this means that some "proto-form" of the Finnish language must have been functioning in the Baltic Sea area for a very long time.

On the other hand, the Finnish language is of course related to the languages ​​spoken in central Russia and Western Siberia. This means either that the area of ​​the Finno-Ugric (Uralic) proto-language was very extensive, perhaps extending from the Baltic Sea to the Urals, or that we must find alternative models to explain the spread of these languages.

Some scholars suggest that the Uralic languages ​​must have functioned much further west, even in what is now Northern Germany and Denmark. In particular, Kalevi Wiik, professor of phonetics, states that the Germanic languages ​​were originally "spoken by Indo-Europeans with a Uralic accent". However, Viik's hypothesis met with serious criticism from Finnish Indo-Europeanists. There is no hard data available to help us identify the languages ​​that were probably spoken in northern Europe before the emergence of modern Indo-European and Uralic languages.

One of the best ways to make Finn jump up to the ceiling is to inform him/her that Finns have slanted eyes and speak Russian or a similar language. In fact - almost any Finn will answer - English and almost all European languages, including Russian and other Slavic languages, belong to the great and powerful Indo-European family of languages ​​- but not Finnish. Finnish, together with Estonian, Hungarian, Sami ("Lapland") and many others (see below), belong to the Finno-Ugric (or Uralic) family of languages.

Of course, the Russians have been our eastern neighbors for a thousand years or so. Before the East Slavic tribes came to what is now Northern (Central) Russia, the area was probably inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes who spoke languages ​​now long extinct. Some names of these peoples and languages ​​are mentioned in old chronicles, but no other evidence remains. It has been established, for example, that Moscow is located on the ancient Finno-Ugric territory. Later Finnish-root languages ​​(Finnish and its closest relatives) clearly influenced neighboring northwestern Russian dialects. Eastern Finnish languages ​​(like Karelian) have also been deeply imbued with Russian loanwords and other influences. Finnish speakers, however, were mainly subject to Swedish influence (before 1809) and received most vocabulary and cultural influences from the West.

There are some Russian borrowings in Finnish, and somewhat later influences can be seen, for example, in Helsinki slang (words like place"place" or snaijata"know" was used on the streets of trilingual Helsinki in the 19th century), but generally speaking, the influence of Russian in Finnish was rather weak compared to that of Swedish. Even now, although Finland often claims to have been an important gateway between East and West, there are surprisingly few Finns who know Russian (in fact, far fewer than Finns who know, for example, German or French).

No, it's not. No serious researcher of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​has ever doubted their common origin. Of course, there are differing opinions as to how this common origin and relationship between FU languages ​​should be specifically explained and interpreted.

What was really wrong was probably the outdated idea of ​​Finno-Ugric cultural or even racial ties. In addition, there are people who are running around with more or less crazy ideas regarding the connection of their mother tongue with some very prestigious or exotic languages ​​(eg Hungarian with Sumerian). There may be political or nationalistic motives, like in 19th century Hungary, when some Hungarians, who did not want to be related to the "most primitive peoples of Eurasia", tried to prove that the Hungarian language was related to the Turkic languages ​​- which would make them descendants or relatives of the powerful warriors of the East.

FU languages ​​still share some central characteristics and vocabulary elements, which allows us to recover many of the features and details of a common parent language.

From this proto-language, the existing FU languages ​​have evolved in various directions, subject to both internal drifts and foreign influences. Traditionally this has been illustrated with a family tree model, which is of course a rough and simplified description. At present, many linguists draw a bush-like model, with the main branches (Finnish, Sami, Mordovian, Mari, Perm, Ugric, Samoyedic) as equal; their internal relationships cannot be satisfactorily described in terms of a family tree model.

The proto-language was spoken at least about six thousand years ago (about the same time as the Indo-European proto-language); this means that the most distant branches of the FU family of languages ​​are very distantly related. The relationship between Finnish and Hungarian can be compared to the relationship between English and Hindi. (This means that there is, at any rate, no more than a racial or cultural similarity between Finns and Hungarians...)

Languages ​​are genetically related if their common characteristics - words, affixes, features - can be explained by inheritance from a common parent language.

Finding such common characteristics is not easy. We must take into account:

• Random similarities. Since the sound systems of all languages ​​in the world use a relatively small number of sounds (usually about thirty) assembled on fairly universal principles, it is statistically very likely that different languages ​​have very similar words - especially if these languages ​​have similar sound systems and if these words descriptive in nature.
• Typological connections. The Turkic languages ​​have many structural features similar to, for example, Finnish, such as vowel harmony and suffix morphology (endings attached to the end of a word). However, this only shows that some features often coincide: Turkic and FU languages ​​(like some other languages ​​of the world) just happen to belong to the same type - agglunative.
• Later influences. Similar-sounding words are not necessarily a common heritage: for example vunukka"grandson" (in some East Finnish dialects) is not originally related to Hungarian unoka, but both are borrowings from Slavic languages.
• Changing the sound. For hundreds and thousands of years, words and sounds can change beyond recognition: would you notice that the Sanskrit chakra related to english wheel"wheel", or Finnish ydin"essence" with Hungarian velo? Or could you know that the Hungarian fiu"boy" and haz"home" is not related to Romanian fiu and German house, but related to Finnish poika and kota, respectively? (See more Indo-European examples: "Do the hippo have feathers?")

You can't prove genetic relationship just by looking up similarities in word lists and dictionaries. Instead, you must find systematic correspondences, recover common proto-forms, explain the course of their changes and relate all this to what is known about the history of the languages ​​in question and languages ​​in general. Also, word similarity is not enough, because words are changed and replaced: you have to find matches in grammar and affixes as well.

Most Finno-Ugric scholars would answer: we don't know, at least nothing has been proven yet. Some linguists have suggested links between Finno-Ugric and Indo-European language families, but it is more likely that Indo-Europeans are simply our old neighbors: FU languages ​​have some very ancient Indo-European borrowings.

Some other hypotheses were also proposed (Ural-Altaic, Ural-Dravidian, Finno-Basque, Hungarian-Sumerian, etc., etc.); as a rule, they are either based on outdated ideas or created without the expertise of one (or both) of the considered groups of languages. The Ural-Altaic hypothesis is still alive here and there as a common belief that "Finnish and Turkish are related". However, as stated earlier, the structural similarities between Finnish (or other Finno-Ugric languages) and Turkish (or other Turkic or "Altaic" languages) are typological: these languages ​​belong to the same type. The basic vocabularies in these languages ​​are very different and do not allow for the reconstruction of a common proto-language. In addition, the existence of an "Altaic" family of languages ​​(Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus languages, possibly also Korean) is also questioned by many scholars.

(Not being genetically related, Turkish has some ties to the Finno-Ugric languages. Some FU languages ​​spoken in Central Russia and Western Siberia have been influenced by neighboring Turkic languages, and Hungarian has many layers of borrowings from various Turkic-speaking tribes.)

Unfortunately, it is very likely that genetic relationships outside the language families known so far will never be proven. There have been some attempts, such as the Nostratic theory (a macro-family comprising many families of Old World languages), as well as the "Pramira" hypothesis, which, however, must be regarded as wild fantasy (more information is contained in the excellent FAQ sci.lang ).

This question, along with the eternal "Where did the Finns come from?", is the mother of all Finno-Ugric FAQs. After a number of years of studying etymological dictionaries and other exotic material, I have finally compiled a new page dedicated to this issue, along with a new bibliography ...

Finno-Ugric or Uralic (like Tapani Salminen "y, I use these two words as synonyms) the language family consists of the following branches:

• Finnish(Finnic), or "Baltic-Finnic" languages: Finnish and his closest relatives: Karelian, Lyudikovsky(in Russian-language sources it is considered as a dialect of Karelian, along with Livvikovsky - V.K.), Vepsian, Ingrian(in Russian-language sources it is not mentioned as a separate language, but refers to dialects of Finnish - V.K.), Vodsky, Estonian, Livsky.
• Saami("Laplandish"): approximately ten languages, the largest of which is North Sami("Norwegian-Lapland", "Fjell Lapp").
• Mordovian: two standard languages: Erzya and Moksha.
• Mari(language "Cheremis"): two standard languages, West(Mountain Mari) and Oriental(Meadow Marie). The Mordovian and Mari branches are sometimes grouped together as the "Volgaic" languages, although they are not particularly closely related.
• Perm languages:
• Komi("Zyryansky" and Permyatsky (Komi-Permyatsky)).
• Udmurt(The language of "Votyak", in the world literature this ethnonym (Votyak), unfortunately, is often confused with the Votsky (Votic or Votian) of the Finnish branch).
• Ugric languages:
• Hungarian
• Ob-Ugric languages ​​in Western Siberia: Khanty(language "Ostyakov") and Mansi(the language of the "Voguls"), both with very deep dialectal variations
• Samoyedic languages(in western Siberia):
• Northern: Nenets(language "Yurakov"), Enets(the language of the "Yenisei Samoyeds"), Nganasan(language of the people "Tavgi")
• Southern: Selkup(the language of "Ostyakov-Samoyeds"), some extinct languages ​​​​(the last representative of the national Camasin died in 1988).

(Names in brackets and quotation marks, like "Ostyak" or "Zyryansky", used predominantly in the Western world, as well as in pre-Soviet Russia, originally given by neighbors and often considered incorrect by the peoples themselves. Some scholars still use them, because the use of names, used by the peoples themselves, like "Khanty" or "Komi", is, in their opinion, only a "democratic" relic of Soviet hypocrisy. However, it seems that the use of their own ethnonyms, nevertheless, will become the standard. Some "exonyms" also have the danger of introducing misleading: the name "Ostyak" was used for three different peoples and languages, i.e., the Khanty of the Ugric branch, the Selkups of the Samoyed branch, and the Kets or "Yenisei Ostyaks" who speak one of the "Paleo-Siberian" languages ​​not included in Uralic language family, and this term still confuses local authorities and their statistics, and even the locals themselves!)

Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian are the official languages ​​of the majority in independent states and are thus relatively safe. Other FU languages ​​(like, in fact, most of the world's languages) are more or less endangered.

The Volga and Permian languages ​​have hundreds of thousands of speakers, but most of the people who speak them fluently are elderly and live in rural areas. Most city dwellers and young people tend to prefer Russian. These nations already had their own titular republics in the Soviet Union. However, these republics have a Russian-speaking majority, and Russian dominates most areas of language use. In addition, the territories of the titular republics do not cover all the regions inhabited by these peoples. In recent years, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the national awakening has generated some positive developments, especially in the Komi and Mari republics.

Of the less common FU languages, for example Votian, Liv and several of the smaller Sámi languages ​​are all but extinct. Even languages ​​spoken by thousands of people are in great danger, as no one helps children and young people to become full-fledged native speakers of their languages.

A lot depends on

• Financial realities: the possibilities of national education, the press and cultural events (local authorities and organizations are supported, for example, by the Society of M. A. Castrén), the people's own will and their endurance in difficult conditions;
• Environmental Policies: The future of Northern FU languages ​​lies in the preservation of the traditional way of life (reindeer herding, hunting, fishing). Particularly in Siberia and the Kola Peninsula, it is now threatened by environmental pollution caused by mining, oil and gas, and nuclear testing;
• Language policy and level of knowledge: do people themselves consider bilingualism a wealth, or do the authorities or even the parents themselves encourage children to renounce the language of their ancestors "for their own good"?

There is no such thing as "Finno-Ugric culture" or "Finno-Ugric way of life". FU languages ​​live on the lips of peoples living in different environments.

When referring to the Finno-Ugric languages, most Finns imagine exotic hunters and reindeer herders living in wigwam-like huts in the Arctic tundra. This picture, to some extent, corresponds to the northern Finno-Ugric peoples (Saami, Ob Ugrians, Samoyeds), whose history and way of life have many analogies with the (better known) fates of some indigenous peoples of North America.

However, the Finnish, Volga and Permian peoples do not fit in this picture: they have been farmers for thousands of years, and their lives were similar to those of their Russian-, Swedish-, Latvian- or Turkic-speaking neighbors. (Replace the hut with a log house, and the tundra with forests and fields; You can also imagine apple trees or beehives around the house.) The Hungarians, before settling in Hungary (according to the old chronicles, this happened exactly in 896 AD), , probably by nomadic riders in the steppes, where is now Ukraine or southern Russia.

In the last hundred years, urbanization and industrialization have also affected the Finno-Ugric countries. In some cases, this meant the loss of language and identity. In Russia, factories and growing cities also brought in a mostly Russian-speaking population, which is one reason (although by no means the only one) why Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia are a minority even in their titular areas.

Even such questions are sometimes asked. Of course, all languages ​​are constantly changing, but Finnish, in some respects (especially in the sound system), is quite conservative: it even retained some Indo-European borrowings in a form very close to the original. Finnish kuningas closer to old german kuningaz than modern "descendants": English king, German konig or Swedish k(on)ung(or Russian prince, a borrowing from the same Germanic root).

On the other hand, standard Finnish can be called a young language. The first books written in Finnish appeared in the 16th century, but modern standard Finnish was only created in the 19th century, as a mixture of words and properties from different dialects.

Because Finnish differs from the Indo-European languages ​​in many apparent ways, it seems even more exotic than it really is. In fact, the FU languages ​​are quite typical northern Eurasian languages. Especially the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​were deeply imbued with Indo-European (especially Baltic and Germanic, as well as Slavic) influences, both in vocabulary and grammar.

The Finns themselves often consider their language to be "exceptional" because all the foreign languages ​​they know are Indo-European, and they consider Indo-European features to be universal. Indeed, the absence of grammatical gender (FU languages ​​only have one word for "he" and "she"), the absence of the verb "to have" (Finnish uses structures like "book with me" to say "I have a book"), or the absence of grammatically the expressed future tense causes some tension - but in fact these are very common phenomena.

Standard Finnish, like most other written languages, has an "official" grammar and rules. These rules, of course, are not dictated by heavenly inspiration, but are formulated by people. These people try to make the rules as good as possible based on what is native and known to most Finns (traditions of the written Finnish language, dialects), or what they think is clear, logical, or even beautiful if possible. However, things can be controversial; sometimes they are simply a matter of taste. This means that forms that deviate from the standard are not necessarily "worse" or "more un-Finnish" than other forms.

The idea of ​​"good Finnish" is a matter of equality. Our traditions of Scandinavian democracy call for a neutral standard language that can serve all citizens equally well. (The situation in England, where - they say - a person's speech shows his social background and what school he graduated from, is often cited as a terrifying example in this regard ;-).) In Finland, the Center for the Study of the Languages ​​of Finland includes the Finnish Language Agency, which gives advice on issues of "correctness".

Of course, having a standard language does not mean that all Finns must use the standard language in all cases. Finnish, like all other languages, has many dialects. Although schools and the media have smoothed out many of the features of the original dialects spoken at the beginning of this century, local (areal) differences still remain - some scholars use the term "areal spoken languages". In everyday life, Standard Finnish, being a relatively artificial formation based on many different dialects, is gradually being replaced by colloquial Finnish, and they are being used in more and more official contexts.

Our oldest words, dating back to the Uralic (Finno-Ugric) proto-language, which was spoken at least 6000 years ago, are, for example, eläa"live", uida"to swim", kala"fish", nuoli"arrow", suksi"skis", numbers from 1 to 6: yksi, kaksi, kolme, nelja, viisi, kuusi(more examples on the new Finnish-Hungarian page.) Some of these may be ancient borrowings from an Indo-European parent language, such as nimi"title" ("name") or tehda"make". "Younger" words include descriptive formations and loanwords. Finnish has many means of deriving words from other words, and some loanwords have become completely independent. For example, no Finn (other than a linguist) would think that the word toinen"second, other" derived from tuo"This".

The Finnish language has many layers of Indo-European borrowings. The most ancient probably belong to the Proto-Indo-European stage. Later, Finnish received borrowings from the Baltics (for example, morsian"bride", silta"bridge", kirves"axe", harka"ox", etc.) and Germanic languages. Many Germanic borrowings are technical terms (for example, rauta"iron" and laiva"vessel") or associated with organized society and power (for example, kuningas"king", Ruhtinas"prince", hallita"manage", tuomita"judge"). The influx of Germanic loanwords continued from modern Swedish; until the last century, Swedish was the language of education and administration in Finland and gave us hundreds of loanwords. The influence of Russian was clearly more modest, although there are some (ancient) Russian loanwords common to all dialects of Finnish (and related languages), for example vapaa"free", risti"cross", pappi"Priest", lusikka"the spoon". Now, of course, English is an important source of loanwords.

The Saami languages ​​have borrowed mainly from Northern Finnish dialects (from Saami words, tundra and Mursu"walrus" also spread to other European languages). The Estonian language has received hundreds of Finnish borrowings, and has only given us a couple of neologisms: lavastaja"stage designer" Lennokki"airplane model".

Many Finnish words have no analogues in related languages ​​(outside the Finnish group). It has been suggested that they may be loanwords from an unknown language spoken here before the arrival of our linguistic ancestors, but it is also possible that they are ancient Uralic words whose counterparts simply did not survive in other Uralic languages, or that they are Indo-European loanwords. that are yet to be discovered.