The Finno-Ugrians are one of the largest ethno-linguistic communities in Europe. In Russia alone there are 17 peoples of Finno-Ugric origin. The Finnish "Kalevala" inspired Tolkien, and the Izhorian tales inspired Alexander Pushkin.
Who are the Finno-Ugric peoples?
Finno-Ugrians are one of the largest ethno-linguistic communities in Europe. It includes 24 nations, 17 of which live in Russia. The Saami, Ingrian Finns and Setos live both in Russia and abroad.
Finno-Ugric peoples are divided into two groups: Finnish and Ugric. Their total number today is estimated at 25 million people. Of these, about 19 million Hungarians, 5 million Finns, about a million Estonians, 843 thousand Mordovians, 647 thousand Udmurts and 604 thousand Mari.
Where do Finno-Ugric peoples live in Russia?
Given the current labor migration, we can say that everywhere, however, the most numerous Finno-Ugric peoples have their own republics in Russia. These are such peoples as Mordvins, Udmurts, Karelians and Mari. There are also autonomous okrugs of Khanty, Mansi and Nenets.
The Komi-Perm Autonomous Okrug, where the Komi-Permyaks were in the majority, was merged with the Perm Region into the Perm Territory. The Finno-Ugric Veps in Karelia have their own national parish. Ingrian Finns, Izhora and Selkups do not have an autonomous territory.
Moscow - Finno-Ugric name?
According to one hypothesis, the oikonym Moscow is of Finno-Ugric origin. From the Komi language, “mosk”, “moska” is translated into Russian as “cow, heifer”, and “va” is translated as “water”, “river”. Moscow in this case is translated as "cow river". The popularity of this hypothesis was brought by its support by Klyuchevsky.
The Russian historian of the 19th-20th century Stefan Kuznetsov also believed that the word "Moscow" was of Finno-Ugric origin, but assumed that it comes from the Meryan words "mask" (bear) and "ava" (mother, female). According to this version, the word "Moscow" is translated as "bear".
Today, these versions, however, are refuted, since they do not take into account the most ancient form of the oikonym "Moscow". Stefan Kuznetsov, on the other hand, used the data of the Erzya and Mari languages, while the word “mask” appeared in the Mari language only in the XIV-XV centuries.
Such different Finno-Ugrians
The Finno-Ugric peoples are far from homogeneous either linguistically or anthropologically. On the basis of language, they are divided into several subgroups. The Permian-Finnish subgroup includes Komi, Udmurts and Besermyans. The Volga-Finnish group is Mordovians (Erzyans and Mokshans) and Mari. The Balto-Finns include: Finns, Ingrian Finns, Estonians, Setos, Kvens in Norway, Vods, Izhors, Karelians, Vepsians and descendants of Mary. The Khanty, Mansi and Hungarians also belong to a separate Ugric group. The descendants of the medieval Meshchera and Muroma most likely belong to the Volga Finns.
The peoples of the Finno-Ugric group are characterized by both Caucasoid and Mongoloid features. The Ob Ugrians (Khanty and Mansi), part of the Mari, Mordovians have more pronounced Mongoloid features. The rest of these traits are either equally divided, or the Caucasoid component dominates.
What are haplogroups talking about?
Genetic studies show that every second Russian Y-chromosome belongs to the haplogroup R1a. It is characteristic of all the Baltic and Slavic peoples (except for the southern Slavs and northern Russians).
However, among the inhabitants of the North of Russia, the haplogroup N3, characteristic of the Finnish group of peoples, is clearly represented. In the very north of Russia, its percentage reaches 35 (the Finns have an average of 40 percent), but the further south, the lower this percentage. In Western Siberia, the related N3 haplogroup N2 is also common. This suggests that in the Russian North there was not a mixture of peoples, but a transition of the local Finno-Ugric population to the Russian language and Orthodox culture.
What fairy tales were read to us
The famous Arina Rodionovna, Pushkin's nanny, as you know, had a strong influence on the poet. It is noteworthy that she was of Finno-Ugric origin. She was born in the village of Lampovo in Ingermanland.
This explains a lot in understanding Pushkin's fairy tales. We have known them since childhood and believe that they are primordially Russian, but their analysis suggests that the plot lines of some of Pushkin's fairy tales go back to Finno-Ugric folklore. For example, "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" is based on the fairy tale "Wonderful Children" from the Vepsian tradition (Vepsians are a small Finno-Ugric people).
The first great work of Pushkin, the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila". One of its main characters is the elder Finn, a wizard and sorcerer. The name, as they say, speaking. Philologist Tatyana Tikhmeneva, the compiler of the book "Finnish Album" also noted that the connection of the Finns with witchcraft and clairvoyance was recognized by all peoples. The Finns themselves recognized the ability to magic above strength and courage and revered as wisdom. It is no coincidence that the main character of Kalevala Väinemöinen is not a warrior, but a prophet and a poet.
Naina, another character in the poem, also bears traces of Finno-Ugric influence. The Finnish word for woman is "nainen".
Another interesting fact. Pushkin, in a letter to Delvig in 1828, wrote: "By the new year, I will probably return to you in Chukhland." So Pushkin called Petersburg, obviously recognizing the originality of the Finno-Ugric peoples on this land.
1. Title
The Finno-Ugric peoples were an autochthonous population of the Oka-Volga interfluve, their tribes were Ests, all, Merya, Mordvins, Cheremis were part of the Gothic kingdom of Germanarich in the 4th century. The chronicler Nestor in the Ipatiev Chronicle indicates about twenty tribes of the Ural group (Ugrofiniv): Chud, Livs, waters, yam (Ӕm), all (even North of them on the White Lake sit Vѣt Vѣs), Karelians, Yugra, caves, Samoyeds, Perm ), cheremis, casting, zimgola, kors, nerom, mordvinians, measuring (and on Rostov ѡzere Merѧ and on Kleshchin and ѣzer sѣdѧt mѣrzh same), murom (and Ѡtsѣ rѣtsѣ where to flow into the Volga ҕzyk Svoi Murom) and Meshchery. The Muscovites called all the local tribes Chud from the indigenous Chud, and accompanied this name with irony, explaining it through Moscow weird, weird, strange. Now these peoples are completely assimilated by Russians, they have disappeared from the ethnic map of modern Russia forever, having replenished the number of Russians and leaving only a wide range of their ethnic place names.
These are all the names of the rivers with ending-va: Moscow, Protva, Kosva, Silva, Sosva, Izva, etc. The Kama River has about 20 tributaries whose names end with na-va, means "water" in Finnish. Muscovite tribes from the very beginning felt their superiority over the local Finno-Ugric peoples. However, Finno-Ugric toponyms are found not only where these peoples today make up a significant part of the population, form autonomous republics and national districts. Their distribution area is much larger, for example, Moscow.
According to archaeological data, the settlement area of the Chud tribes in Eastern Europe remained unchanged for 2 thousand years. Beginning in the 9th century, the Finno-Ugric tribes of the European part of present-day Russia were gradually assimilated by Slavic colonists who came from Kievan Rus. This process formed the basis for the formation of modern Russian nation.
The Finno-Ugric tribes belong to the Ural-Altai group and a thousand years ago they were close to the Pechenegs, Polovtsians and Khazars, but were at a much lower level of social development than the rest, in fact, the ancestors of the Russians were the same Pechenegs, only forest. At that time, these were the primitive and culturally most backward tribes of Europe. Not only in the distant past, but even at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, they were cannibals. The Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC) called them androphagi (devourers of people), and Nestor the chronicler already in the period of the Russian state - Samoyeds (Samoyed) .
The Finno-Ugric tribes of a primitive gathering and hunting culture were the ancestors of the Russians. Scientists argue that the Muscovite people received the greatest admixture of the Mongoloid race through the assimilation of Finno-Ugric peoples who came to Europe from Asia and partially absorbed Caucasoid admixture even before the arrival of the Slavs. A mixture of Finno-Ugric, Mongolian and Tatar ethnic components led to the ethnogenesis of Russians, which was formed with the participation of the Slavic tribes Radimichi and Vyatichi. Due to ethnic mixing with the Finns, and later the Tatars and partly with the Mongols, the Russians have an anthropological type that is different from the Kievan-Russian (Ukrainian). The Ukrainian diaspora jokes about this: "The eye is narrow, the nose is plush - completely Russian." Under the influence of the Finno-Ugric language environment, the formation of the Russian phonetic system (akanye, gekanya, ticking) took place. Today, "Ural" features are inherent to one degree or another in all the peoples of Russia: medium height, broad face, snub-nosed nose, and a sparse beard. The Mari and Udmurts often have eyes with the so-called Mongolian fold - epicanthus, they have very wide cheekbones, a thin beard. But at the same time blond and red hair, blue and gray eyes. The Mongolian fold is sometimes found among Estonians and Karelians. Komi are different: in those places where there are mixed marriages with grow up, they are dark-haired and braced, others are more like Scandinavians, but with a slightly wider face.
According to the studies of the Meryanist Orest Tkachenko, "In the Russian people, on the maternal side associated with the Slavic ancestral home, the father was a Finn. On the paternal side, the Russians descended from the Finno-Ugric peoples." It should be noted that according to modern studies of the Y-chromosome halotypes, in fact, the situation was the opposite - Slavic men married women of the local Finno-Ugric population. According to Mikhail Pokrovsky, the Russians are an ethnic mixture, in which the Finns belong to 4/5, and the Slavs - 1/5. , men's shirt-kosovorotka, bast shoes (bast shoes) in the national costume, dumplings in dishes, the style of folk architecture (tented buildings, porch), Russian bath, sacred animal - bear, 5-tone scale of singing, a-touch and vowel reduction, pair words like stitches, paths, arms and legs, alive and well, such and such, turnover I have(instead of I, characteristic of other Slavs) a fabulous beginning "once upon a time", the absence of a mermaid cycle, carols, the cult of Perun, the presence of a cult of birch, not oak.
Not everyone knows that there is nothing Slavic in the surnames Shukshin, Vedenyapin, Piyashev, but they come from the name of the Shuksha tribe, the name of the goddess of war Vedeno Ala, the pre-Christian name Piyash. So a significant part of the Finno-Ugric peoples was assimilated by the Slavs, and some, having adopted Islam, mixed with the Turks. Therefore, today ugrofins do not make up the majority of the population, even in the republics to which they gave their name. But, having dissolved in the mass of Russians (Rus. Russians), the Ugrofins have retained their anthropological type, which is now perceived as typically Russian (Rus. Russian ) .
According to the overwhelming majority of historians, the Finnish tribes had an extremely peaceful and meek disposition. By this, the Muscovites themselves explain the peaceful nature of the colonization, stating that there were no military clashes, because written sources do not remember anything like that. However, as the same V.O. Klyuchevsky notes, "in the legends of Great Russia, some vague memories of the struggle that flared up in some places survived."
3. Toponymy
Toponyms of Meryan-Yerzyans origin in Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Ivanovo, Vologda, Tver, Vladimir, Moscow regions account for 70-80% (Veksa, Voksenga, Elenga, Kovonga, Koloksa, Kukoboy, lekht, Meleksa, Nadoksa, Nero (Inero), Nuks, Nuksha, Palenga, Peleng, Pelenda, Peksoma, Puzhbol, Pulokhta, Sara, Seleksha, Sonohta, Tolgobol, otherwise, Sheksheboy, Shehroma, Shileksha, Shoksha, Shopsha, Yakhrenga, Yahrobol(Yaroslavl region, 70-80%), Andoba, Vandoga, Vokhma, Vokhtoga, Voroksa, Lynger, Mezenda, Meremsha, Monza, Nerekhta (flicker), Neya, Notelga, Onga, Pechegda, Picherga, Poksha, Pong, Simonga, Sudolga, Toyehta, Urma, Shunga, Yakshanga(Kostroma region, 90-100%), Vazopol, Vichuga, Kineshma, Kistega, Kokhma, Ksty, Landeh, Nodoga, Paksh, Palekh, Scab, Pokshenga, Reshma, Sarokhta, Ukhtoma, Ukhtokhma, Shacha, Shizhegda, Shileksa, Shuya, Yukhma etc. (Ivanovsk region), Vokhtoga, Selma, Senga, Solokhta, Sot, Tolshmy, Shuya and others. (Vologda region), "" Valdai, Koi, Koksha, Koivushka, Lama, Maksatikha, Palenga, Palenka, Raida, Seliger, Siksha, Syshko, Talalga, Udomlya, Urdoma, Shomushka, Shosha, Yakhroma etc. (Tver region), Arsemaky, Velga, Voininga, Vorsha, Ineksha, Kirzhach, Klyazma, Koloksha, Mstera, Moloksha, Motra, Nerl, Peksha, Pichegino, Soima, Sudogda, Suzdal, Tumonga, Undol etc. (Vladimir region), Vereya, Vorya, Volgusha, Lama,
- Toponym (from the Greek "topos" - "place" and "onyma" - "name") - a geographical name.
- Russian historian of the 18th 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 ... ".
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 in translation from their languages "va" and "ga" mean "river", "moisture", "wet place", "water". However, Finno-Ugric toponyms 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.
WHO ARE THE FINNO-UGRI
The Finns are the people inhabiting Finland, neighboring Russia (in Finnish, "Suomi"), and the Hungarians were called Ugrians in ancient Russian chronicles. 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 the Finno-Ugric into five subgroups. The first, Baltic-Finnish, includes Finns, Izhors, Vods, Vepsians, Karelians, Estonians and Livs. The two largest peoples of this subgroup - Finns and Estonians - live mainly outside our country. In Russia, Finns can be found in Karelia, the Leningrad region and in St. Petersburg; Estonians - in Siberia, the Volga region and in the Leningrad region. A small group of Estonians - Setos - lives in the Pechora district of the Pskov region. By religion, many Finns and Estonians are Protestants (usually Lutherans), Setos are Orthodox. The small people of the Veps live in small groups in Karelia, the Leningrad region and in the north-west of the Vologda region, and the Vod (there are less than 100 people left!) - in the Leningrad region. Both Vepsians and Vods are Orthodox. Orthodoxy is also practiced by the Izhors. There are 449 of them in Russia (in the Leningrad region), and about the same number in Estonia. The Vepsians and Izhors have preserved their languages (they even have dialects) and use them in everyday communication. The Votic language has disappeared.
The largest Baltic-Finnish people of Russia are the Karelians. They live in the Republic of Karelia, as well as in the Tver, Leningrad, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions. In everyday life, Karelians speak three dialects: Karelian proper, Ludikov and Livvik, 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 is made up of the Saami, or Lapps. Their main part is settled in Northern Scandinavia, and in Russia the Saami are the inhabitants of the 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.
The third, Volga-Finnish, subgroup includes the Mari and Mordovians. Mordva is the indigenous population of the Republic of Mordovia, but a significant part of this people lives throughout Russia - in the Samara, Penza, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Ulyanovsk regions, in the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, in Chuvashia, etc. Even before joining in the 16th century. Mordovian lands to Russia, the Mordovians got their own nobility - "inyazors", "otsyazors", i.e. "masters of the land". The Inyazors were the first to be baptized, quickly became 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. Mordovians are Orthodox by religion; they have always been considered the most Christianized people of the Volga region.
Mari live mainly in the 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.
The fourth, Permian, subgroup includes the Komi proper, the Komi-Permyaks and the Udmurts. Komi (in the past they were called Zyryans) form the indigenous population of the Komi Republic, but also live in the 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 the 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 (partly Old Believers).
Komi-Permyaks are very close in language to the Zyryans. More than half of these people live in the 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, the Komi-Permyaks are Orthodox.
Udmurts are mostly concentrated in the 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 are Orthodox, but many of them (including the baptized) adhere to traditional beliefs - they worship pagan gods, deities, spirits.
The fifth, Ugric, subgroup includes Hungarians, Khanty and Mansi. "Ugrs" in Russian chronicles were called Hungarians, and "Ugra" - Ob Ugrians, i.e. Khanty and Mansi. Although the 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. The Mansi live mainly in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, and the Khanty live in the 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, but they have not forgotten 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 1st millennium AD. 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. Modern researchers consider the Finnish tribes who lived in antiquity along the banks of the Onega and the Northern Dvina to be a miracle. It is possible that they are the ancestors of the Estonians.
WHERE THE FINNO-UGRIANS LIVED AND WHERE THEY LIVE
Most researchers agree that the ancestral home of the Finno-Ugric peoples was located 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. KI millennium AD 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 the Uralic race: their appearance has mixed Caucasoid and Mongoloid features (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 the "Ural" features are characteristic to one degree or another of all the Finnish peoples of Russia: medium height, broad face, nose, called "snub-nosed", very blond hair, a sparse beard. But in different peoples, these features manifest themselves in different ways. For example, the Mordvin-Erzya are tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, and the Mordvin-Moksha are both shorter in stature and have a wider face, and their hair is darker. The Mari and Udmurts often have eyes with the so-called Mongolian fold - epicanthus, very wide cheekbones, and a thin 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 are different: in those places where there are mixed marriages with the Nenets, they are black-haired and braced; others are more like Scandinavians, with slightly wider faces.
The Finno-Ugric peoples were engaged in agriculture (in order 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 "she-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.
5 170
The beginning of the classification of the Finno-Ugric languages was laid in the 17th century, when the German scientist Martin Vogel proved the relationship of the Finnish, Sami and Hungarian languages. This classification was substantiated more fully and in detail in the 18th century. In the writings of the Swedish scientist Philipp Johann von Stralenberg, a former Poltava captive officer.
Having described in detail the peoples known in Western Europe from a number of works under the common name "Tatars", F. Stralenberg showed that some of them living in Eastern Europe and North Asia should not be considered Tatars. He attached a table to the book, grouping all these peoples, including the Tatar, into six language classes according to the linguistic principle: 1) Finno-Ugric; 2) Turkic; 3) Samoyed; 4) Kalmyk, Manchu and Tangut; 5) Tungus; 6) Caucasian. Stralenberg attributed Finnish, Hungarian, Mordovian, Mari, Permyak, Udmurt, Khanty and Mansi to the class of Finno-Ugric languages, noting that the ancestors of the peoples who speak these languages and live partly in Europe, partly in Asia (in Siberia), in antiquity lived in one place and were one people.
The conclusions of M. Fogel and F. Stralenberg about the kinship of the Finno-Ugric languages, their origin from the "universal beginning", "one beginning" were supported and developed further in the works of Russian scientists of the 18th century. V. N. Tatishcheva, P. I. Rychkova, M. V. Lomonosov and others.
A very interesting conclusion about the origin of the Finno-Ugric peoples was made by Professor of the University of Helsingfors I.R. Aspelin based on the results of expeditions of the Finnish Archaeological Society to Orkhon. Below I provide a brief overview of these studies.
According to Chinese sources, the Usun people (they are also Turks) are known - blue-eyed (green-eyed) red-bearded cattle breeders of the Country of the Turks, similar in life and blood to the khans (huns, Huns).
Turk and Ugor mean "highlander" in the modern sense.
These are the Aryan pastoral peoples of the Afanasiev culture. At the same time, the “Turk” should be considered a derivative of the branch of the Aryan people Turan, mentioned in the Avesta (academic history considers the Turans less cultured than the original branch of the RACE, the Mongols from Skitia proper).
Academics from history also talk about the State of the Turks of the 61st (6th) century from China to Byzantium.
After the departure of the khans (Huns) to Skitia in the warm period of Years 6023-6323 (515-815), in the Summer of 6060 (552) the Turkic Khaganate (state) was created.
In Summer 6253 (745) the Ugrian Khaganate was formed.
After 25 years, fair-haired blue-eyed Kirghiz came and settled from the North to Orkhon.
The Kirghiz is a Slavic-Aryan paramilitary estate of pastoralists, / moreover, settled, raising mainly cows and pigs /. That is, like the Cossacks - who were a paramilitary estate of tillers, who were actually Ases - they are also khans (Huns), they are also sketes, they are Russians….
With the arrival of the Kirghiz in Summer 6348 (840), the Turks (Ugric peoples) living in the Orkhon region began to move due to overpopulation:
* to the South, to the Chinese wall (they were completely destroyed in the 71-72 (16-17) centuries by the Kalmyks who came from China);
* to the southwest (they were ethnically destroyed - partly in the 71-72 (16-17) centuries by the Kalmyks who came from behind the Chinese wall, who created Dzungaria from Myanmar to modern Kalmykia, and finally after the occupation by the Chinese in Summer 7225-7266 (1717-1758) .), immediately after climate warming);
* not the west, those Ugric peoples who today have survived in their birthright left for the Kola Peninsula - these Ugric people today call themselves Finns.
The official story tells of wild khans (Huns) who tormented Venia (Europe.)
In fact, on the contrary, the Ases (from Asia, Asia) who settled in Vienna gave Europe a modern culture based on “Odinism” (God Odin).
It is also possible to draw a conclusion about ethnic roots on the example of the most numerous Finno-Ugric people - the Hungarians.
According to legend, the Hungarians are a union of seven tribes, of which two were Ugric, and the rest were Turks and Indo-Iranians.
Despite the fact that the Hungarian language belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, the Hungarians themselves consider themselves Magyars, and prefer to call their country Magyaristan. That is, the Hungarians believe that in terms of culture they are closer to the ancient Hunno-Turkic tribes of Central Asia. And since both the Sarmatians, and the Huns, and the Magyars, and the Kipchaks come from the Kazakh steppes, the Hungarians half-jokingly call themselves the westernmost of the Kazakhs, and the Kazakhs - the easternmost of the Hungarians. Hence the craving of the Magyars for everything nomadic, for the Turkic in particular, and for their ancestral home - Kazakhstan. The public organization "Turan-Hungary" regularly organizes the traditional Kurultai of the Hunno-Turkic peoples in the camp:
Modern linguists pay attention to the fact that there are a lot of ancient Turkic borrowings in the Hungarian language. This is evidenced by the phonetic and morphological similarities of these languages. Linguists believe that the Turkic influence on the Hungarian language dates back to ancient times, when at the beginning of our era the ancestors of the Hungarians lived in the vicinity of the middle reaches of the Volga and Kama.
In the IV century. n. e. part of the Ugric tribes moved to the south of Eastern Europe, while part of the more western tribes remained and gradually dissolved into the Turkic tribes. At the end of the IX century. n. e. Ugro-Hungarians entered the territory of their current homeland, occupied mainly by the Slavs and the remnants of the Avar tribes, where they managed to firmly establish themselves.
Hungarian ethnologist András Biro, who studies Bashkir-Hungarian and Turkic-Hungarian ties, claims that the ancient Magyars and Bashkirs lived together in the Southern Urals. More than a thousand years ago, the Magyars went to the West, to Central Europe, but they are still united by the ancient culture of nomads, the grammar of languages and even the national cuisine.
Many researchers are amazed at the similarity of the northern Altaians with the Finns. So, in the notes of the traveler G.P. von Gelmersen, who visited Altai in 1834, we read about the similarity between the Kumandins and the Finns that struck him. Their appearance and culture are so close that the author of the notes sometimes forgot which lake is located - Teletskoye or Ladyzhskoye. In the Kumandin clothes, he saw a resemblance to the Mordovian and Cheremis costumes, and in appearance, a resemblance to the Chukhons: beardless high cheekbones with straight blond hair and half-closed eyes.
It is very interesting that the well-known onomastic scientist V. A. Nikonov comes to the same conclusions, but already on the basis of ... cosmonyms. “Cosmonims,” he writes, are the names of space objects ... They can tell a lot about the previous movements of peoples and their connections.
How different peoples saw the same cosmic object in different ways is shown by the names of the Milky Way. For some, it is the Ski Trail, for others, the Silver River ... With such a variety of names (even within the same language they call it differently), the coincidence of its names among neighboring peoples is incredible.
And in the Volga region, not two or three, but the majority of neighboring peoples, the names of the Milky Way are semantically homogeneous.
Turkic: Tatar Kiek kaz yuly ‘wild geese way’, Bashkir Kaz yuly and Chuvash Hurkainak sule – with the same etymological meaning; Finno-Ugric; Mari Kaiykkombo Korno is the same, Erzya and Moksha Kargon ki ‘crane way’, Moksha also has Narmon ki ‘bird way’.
It is easy to assume that the neighbors adopted cosmonyms from each other.
To determine which of them has it originally, you need to find out what the Milky Way is called in their related languages. Here a surprise awaits. Among Finns-Suomi Linnunrata, among Estonians Linnunree also meant "bird path"; it was preserved among the Komi and in the dialects of the Mansi language; among the Hungarians, after their resettlement to the Danube, it still held on for several centuries.
In the Turkic languages, names with the same meaning are known among the Kazakhs, Kirghiz, and Turkmens. A striking unity was revealed from the Finns of the Baltic to the Kirghiz of the Tien Shan, who did not touch anywhere. This means that the distant ancestors of both the Turkic and the Finno-Ugric peoples either descended from the same source, or lived side by side in close long-term contact.
The point on the question of the origin of the Finno-Ugric peoples is put today by scientists of the modern science of DNA genealogy, whose conclusions are confirmed by the studies of other scientists cited above.
The fact is that human DNA has a label of an ancient clan, called "snip", which determines the haplogroup, which is the definition of an ancient clan.
Moreover, unlike the nationality recorded in the passport, which can always be changed, unlike the language, which eventually adapts to the environment, unlike ethnographic factors that are subject to fairly rapid changes, the haplogroup does not assimilate. It is determined by the "pattern" of mutations in the male Y-chromosome DNA, which is passed from father to son for hundreds and thousands of generations.
As a result of fairly simple and reliable tests, it is possible to determine to which genus any person belongs. So: The family of all Finno-Ugric and Slavic peoples is one, but the tribes are different.
.jpg)
Finno-Ugric peoples who came from Siberia to the Russian north-west 3500 - 2700 BC
(?? here the archaeological dating is given earlier than the dating of geneticists)
Unfortunately, scientists find it difficult to accurately determine the age of the common ancestral ethnic group of the Finno-Ugric peoples and Slavic tribes. Presumably, this age should be of the order of 10-12 thousand years or more. It takes us far beyond the boundaries of written history.
But it turned out to be more accurate to determine that the Slavic ancestor of the Eastern Slavs lived 5000 ± 200 years ago, and the common ancestor of the Slavic Finno-Ugric haplotypes lived about 3700 ± 200 years ago (a thousand years later). Other genealogical lines later went from him (Finns, Estonians, Hungarians, Komi, Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts, Chuvashs).
What are the genetic differences between these tribes?
Today's genetics can easily determine the history of the descendants of one chromosome - the one in which a rare point mutation once occurred. So, among the Finns - the closest relatives of some ethnic groups of the Urals - a high frequency of Y-chromosomes containing the replacement of thymidine (T-allele) with cytosine (C-allele) in a certain place of the chromosome was found. This replacement is not found in other countries of Western Europe, nor in North America, nor in Australia.
On the other hand, chromosomes with the C allele are found in some other Asian ethnic groups, for example, among the Buryats. The common Y-chromosome, which occurs with noticeable frequency in both peoples, indicates an obvious genetic relationship. Is it possible? It turns out that there is a lot of evidence for this, which we find in cultural and territorial factors. For example, between Finland and Buryatia, one can find territories inhabited by various peoples related to the Finns and Buryats.
The presence of a significant proportion of Y-chromosomes carrying the C-allele was also shown by a genetic study of the Ural populations belonging to the Finno-Ugric ethnic groups. But perhaps the most unexpected fact was that the proportion of this chromosome was unusually high in the Yakuts - about 80 percent!
And this means that somewhere at the base of the branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples there were not only Slavs, but also the ancestors of the Yakuts and Buryats, whose roots stretch to Southeast Asia.
Geneticists have also established the path of movement of the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes to their common place of residence - to the Central Russian plain: the Slavs moved from the west - from the Danube, from the Balkans, from the Carpathians, and the Finno-Ugric peoples, they are the Urals, they are the Altaians, moved along their arc from the northeast, and earlier - from the south of Siberia.
Thus, converging in the northeast, in the region of the future Novgorod-Ivanovo-Vologda, these tribes formed an alliance that became Ugro-Slavic, and then Russian (Russian is a definition meaning belonging to the same genus of Rus, that is, light), in the first half of the first millennium of our era, and possibly much earlier.
It is estimated that at that time there were four times more Eastern Slavs than Finno-Ugric peoples.
One way or another, there was no particular enmity between them, there was peaceful assimilation. Peaceful existence.
The Finno-Ugric languages are related to modern Finnish and Hungarian. The peoples who speak them make up the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group. Their origin, territory of settlement, commonality and difference in external features, culture, religion and traditions are the subjects of global research in the field of history, anthropology, geography, linguistics and a number of other sciences. This review article will briefly cover this topic.
The peoples included in the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group
Based on the degree of proximity of languages, researchers divide the Finno-Ugric peoples into five subgroups.
The basis of the first, the Baltic-Finnish, are the Finns and Estonians - peoples with their own states. They also live in Russia. Setu - a small group of Estonians - settled in the Pskov region. The most numerous of the Baltic-Finnish peoples of Russia are the Karelians. In everyday life they use three autochthonous dialects, while Finnish is considered their literary language. In addition, the same subgroup includes Veps and Izhors - small peoples who have retained their languages, as well as Vods (there are less than a hundred of them left, their own language has been lost) and Livs.
The second is the Sami (or Lappish) subgroup. The main part of the peoples who gave it its name is settled in Scandinavia. In Russia, the Saami live on the Kola Peninsula. Researchers suggest that in ancient times these peoples occupied a larger territory, but were subsequently pushed back to the north. At the same time, their own language was replaced by one of the Finnish dialects.
The third subgroup that makes up the Finno-Ugric peoples - the Volga-Finnish - includes the Mari and Mordovians. The Mari are the main part of Mari El, they also live in Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Udmurtia and a number of other Russian regions. They distinguish two literary languages (with which, however, not all researchers agree). Mordva - the autochthonous population of the Republic of Mordovia; at the same time, a significant part of the Mordvins settled throughout Russia. This people includes two ethnographic groups, each with its own literary written language.
The fourth subgroup is called the Permian. It includes as well as the Udmurts. Even before October 1917, in terms of literacy (albeit in Russian), the Komi were approaching the most educated peoples of Russia - Jews and Russian Germans. As for the Udmurts, their dialect has been preserved for the most part in the villages of the Udmurt Republic. Residents of cities, as a rule, forget both the indigenous language and customs.
The fifth, Ugric, subgroup includes Hungarians, Khanty and Mansi. Although many kilometers separate the lower reaches of the Ob and the northern Urals from the Hungarian state on the Danube, these peoples are actually the closest relatives. Khanty and Mansi belong to the small peoples of the North.
Disappeared Finno-Ugric tribes
The Finno-Ugric peoples also included tribes, the mention of which is currently preserved only in the annals. So, the Merya people lived in the interfluve of the Volga and Oka in the first millennium of our era - there is a theory that they later merged with the Eastern Slavs.
The same thing happened with Muroma. This is an even more ancient people of the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group, who once inhabited the Oka basin.
The long-disappeared Finnish tribes that lived along the Northern Dvina are called Chud by researchers (according to one of the hypotheses, they were the ancestors of modern Estonians).
Commonality of languages and culture
By declaring the Finno-Ugric languages as a single group, the researchers emphasize this commonality as the main factor that unites the peoples who speak them. However, the Uralic ethnic groups, despite the similarity in the structure of their languages, still do not always understand each other. So, a Finn, of course, will be able to communicate with an Estonian, an Erzya resident with a Moksha resident, and an Udmurt with a Komi. However, the peoples of this group, geographically distant from each other, should make quite a lot of effort to identify common features in their languages that would help them to carry on a conversation.
The linguistic relationship of the Finno-Ugric peoples is primarily traced in the similarity of linguistic structures. This significantly affects the formation of thinking and worldview of peoples. Despite the difference in cultures, this circumstance contributes to the emergence of mutual understanding between these ethnic groups.
At the same time, a peculiar psychology, conditioned by the thought process in these languages, enriches the universal culture with their unique vision of the world. So, unlike the Indo-European, the representative of the Finno-Ugric people is inclined to treat nature with exceptional respect. The Finno-Ugric culture in many ways also contributed to the desire of these peoples to peacefully adapt to their neighbors - as a rule, they preferred not to fight, but to migrate, preserving their identity.
Also, a characteristic feature of the peoples of this group is their openness to ethno-cultural interchange. In search of ways to strengthen relationships with kindred peoples, they maintain cultural contacts with all those around them. Basically, the Finno-Ugric peoples managed to preserve their languages, the main cultural elements. The connection with ethnic traditions in this area can be traced in their national songs, dances, music, traditional dishes, and clothes. Also, many elements of their ancient rituals have survived to this day: wedding, funeral, memorial.
A Brief History of the Finno-Ugric Peoples
The origin and early history of the Finno-Ugric peoples are still the subject of scientific discussions. Among researchers, the most common opinion is that in ancient times there was a single group of people who spoke a common Finno-Ugric proto-language. The ancestors of the current Finno-Ugric peoples until the end of the third millennium BC. e. maintained relative unity. They were settled in the Urals and the western Urals, and possibly also in some areas adjacent to them.
In that era, called the Finno-Ugric, their tribes were in contact with the Indo-Iranians, which was reflected in myths and languages. Between the third and second millennium BC. e. the Ugric and Finno-Permian branches separated from each other. Among the peoples of the latter, who settled in a western direction, independent subgroups of languages (Baltic-Finnish, Volga-Finnish, Permian) gradually stood out and became isolated. As a result of the transition of the autochthonous population of the Far North to one of the Finno-Ugric dialects, the Saami were formed.
The Ugric group of languages fell apart by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. The separation of the Baltic-Finnish occurred at the beginning of our era. Perm existed a little longer - until the eighth century. The contacts of the Finno-Ugric tribes with the Baltic, Iranian, Slavic, Turkic, and Germanic peoples played an important role in the course of the separate development of these languages.
Territory of settlement
Finno-Ugric peoples today mainly live in North-Western Europe. Geographically, they are settled on a vast territory from Scandinavia to the Urals, the Volga-Kama, the lower and middle Tobol region. The Hungarians are the only people of the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group that formed their own state away from other related tribes - in the Carpatho-Danube region.
The number of Finno-Ugric peoples
The total number of peoples speaking the Uralic languages (these include Finno-Ugric along with Samoyed) is 23-24 million people. The most numerous representatives are Hungarians. There are more than 15 million of them in the world. They are followed by Finns and Estonians (5 and 1 million people, respectively). Most of the other Finno-Ugric ethnic groups live in modern Russia.
Finno-Ugric ethnic groups in Russia
Russian settlers massively rushed to the lands of the Finno-Ugric peoples in the 16th-18th centuries. Most often, the process of their settlement in these parts took place peacefully, however, some indigenous peoples (for example, the Mari) long and fiercely resisted the annexation of their region to the Russian state.
The Christian religion, writing, urban culture, introduced by the Russians, eventually began to displace local beliefs and dialects. People moved to the cities, moved to the Siberian and Altai lands - where the main and common language was Russian. However, he (especially his northern dialect) absorbed a lot of Finno-Ugric words - this is most noticeable in the field of toponyms and names of natural phenomena.
In places, the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia mixed with the Turks, adopting Islam. However, a significant part of them were still assimilated by the Russians. Therefore, these peoples do not constitute a majority anywhere - even in those republics that bear their name.
However, according to the 2002 census, there are very significant Finno-Ugric groups in Russia. These are Mordovians (843 thousand people), Udmurts (almost 637 thousand), Mari (604 thousand), Komi-Zyryans (293 thousand), Komi-Permyaks (125 thousand), Karelians (93 thousand). The number of some peoples does not exceed thirty thousand people: Khanty, Mansi, Veps. The Izhors number 327 people, and the Vod people - only 73 people. Hungarians, Finns, Estonians, Saami also live in Russia.
Development of Finno-Ugric culture in Russia
In total, sixteen Finno-Ugric peoples live in Russia. Five of them have their own national-state formations, and two - national-territorial. Others are dispersed throughout the country.
In Russia, considerable attention is paid to the preservation of the original cultural traditions of its inhabitants. Programs are being developed at the national and local levels, with the support of which the culture of the Finno-Ugric peoples, their customs and dialects are studied.
Thus, Sami, Khanty, Mansi are taught in primary grades, and Komi, Mari, Udmurt, Mordovian languages are taught in secondary schools in those regions where large groups of the respective ethnic groups live. There are special laws on culture, on languages (Mari El, Komi). Thus, in the Republic of Karelia, there is a law on education that secures the right of Vepsians and Karelians to study in their native language. The priority of the development of the cultural traditions of these peoples is determined by the Law on Culture.
Also in the republics of Mari El, Udmurtia, Komi, Mordovia, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, there are their own concepts and programs of national development. The Foundation for the Development of the Cultures of the Finno-Ugric Peoples (on the territory of the Republic of Mari El) has been created and is operating.
Finno-Ugric peoples: appearance
The ancestors of the current Finno-Ugric peoples occurred as a result of a mixture of Paleo-European and Paleo-Asiatic tribes. Therefore, in the appearance of all the peoples of this group, there are both Caucasoid and Mongoloid features. Some scientists even put forward a theory about the existence of an independent race - the Urals, which is "intermediate" between Europeans and Asians, but this version has few supporters.
The Finno-Ugric peoples are anthropologically heterogeneous. However, any representative of the Finno-Ugric people possesses characteristic "Ural" features to one degree or another. This, as a rule, is of medium height, very light hair color, wide face, sparse beard. But these features manifest themselves in different ways. So, Erzya Mordvins are tall, owners of blond hair and blue eyes. Moksha Mordvins - on the contrary, shorter, broad-cheeked, with darker hair. The Udmurts and Mari often have characteristic "Mongolian" eyes with a special fold at the inner corner of the eye - the epicanthus, very wide faces, and a thin beard. But at the same time, their hair, as a rule, is blond and red, and their eyes are blue or gray, which is typical for Europeans, but not Mongoloids. The "Mongolian fold" is also found among the Izhors, Vodi, Karelians and even Estonians. Komi look different. Where there are mixed marriages with the Nenets, the representatives of this people are slanted and black-haired. Other Komi, on the contrary, are more like Scandinavians, but more broad-faced.
Finno-Ugric traditional cuisine in Russia
Most of the dishes of the traditional cuisines of the Finno-Ugric and Trans-Urals, in fact, have not been preserved or have been significantly distorted. However, ethnographers manage to trace some general patterns.
The main food product of the Finno-Ugric peoples was fish. It was not only processed in different ways (fried, dried, boiled, fermented, dried, eaten raw), but each type was prepared in its own way, which would better convey the taste.
Before the advent of firearms, snares were the main method of hunting in the forest. They caught mainly forest birds (black grouse, capercaillie) and small animals, mainly a hare. Meat and poultry were stewed, boiled and baked, much less often - fried.
From vegetables, they used turnips and radishes, from spicy herbs - watercress growing in the forest, cow parsnip, horseradish, onions, and young goatweed. Western Finno-Ugric peoples practically did not consume mushrooms; at the same time, for the Orientals, they constituted an essential part of the diet. The oldest types of grain known to these peoples are barley and wheat (spelt). They prepared porridges, hot kissels, as well as stuffing for homemade sausages.
The modern culinary repertoire of the Finno-Ugric peoples contains very few national features, as it has been strongly influenced by Russian, Bashkir, Tatar, Chuvash and other cuisines. However, almost every nation has preserved one or two traditional, ritual or festive dishes that have survived to this day. In sum, they allow you to get a general idea of \u200b\u200bFinno-Ugric cooking.
Finno-Ugric peoples: religion
Most Finno-Ugric peoples profess the Christian faith. Finns, Estonians and Western Sami are Lutherans. Catholics predominate among Hungarians, although Calvinists and Lutherans can also be found.
The Finno-Ugric peoples living in are predominantly Orthodox Christians. However, the Udmurts and Mari in some places managed to preserve the ancient (animistic) religion, and the Samoyed peoples and inhabitants of Siberia - shamanism.
