Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy Languages
The old hypothesis on the relatedness of Merya languages (today we can speak about a group of languages or dialects reconstructed on the basis of substrate toponymy of Central Russia: Merya of Rostov, Merya of Kostroma, and Merya of Murom also known as “Lower Klyazma” Merya) with the Mari (Cheremis)...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Russian |
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Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Вопросы ономастики |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/doi/10.15826/vopr_onom.2023.20.3.029.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797398195104382976 |
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| author | Vladimir V. Napolskikh Alexander V. Savelyev |
| author_facet | Vladimir V. Napolskikh Alexander V. Savelyev |
| author_sort | Vladimir V. Napolskikh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The old hypothesis on the relatedness of Merya languages (today we can speak about a group of languages or dialects reconstructed on the basis of substrate toponymy of Central Russia: Merya of Rostov, Merya of Kostroma, and Merya of Murom also known as “Lower Klyazma” Merya) with the Mari (Cheremis) language has been reliably proven in the works of A. K. Matveyev, O. V. Smirnov and others. The authors contribute to the ongoing discussion in this area and argue that the new reconstruction of Proto-Mari vocalism based on the history of Mari-Turkic contacts undoubtedly supports this hypothesis. The article suggests a version of the Stammbaum of Finno-Permian languages, including the Mari-Merya group and some other extinct Finno-Permian languages, reconstructed on the basis of substrate toponymic data. However, since the results of the analysis of substrate toponymy are naturally debatable to a certain extent, the authors propose to turn to the analysis of ethnonymy. The long-noted (by M. A. Castrén) similarity of the ethnonyms Mari, Merya, and Muroma is considered, suggesting them to be self-names of the respective ethnic groups. The reconstruction of the Mari historical vocalism (as well as features of the vocalism of the Merya and Muromian languages that can be extracted from toponymic materials) delivers the proto-forms Mari *märə, Merya *märə, Muromian *mürə, going back to the proto-form *märə. The latter is proposed to regard (as it is now common in the Finno-Ugric studies) as some reflex of Aryan *marya- ‘young man, warrior, member of youth war community’ (the authors are going to devote a special article to the problem of the Aryan source of this ethnonym). The reconstruction of the common Mari–Meryan–Muromian auto-ethnonym *märə is not only a strong argument for the relatedness of these languages, but also indicates to close relations between the respective ethnic groups and their common origin. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:22:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-31004efbcccb4048b17b6c73be753fd5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1994-2400 1994-2451 |
| language | Russian |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:22:18Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Вопросы ономастики |
| spelling | doaj.art-31004efbcccb4048b17b6c73be753fd52023-12-10T10:32:36ZrusIzdatelstvo Uralskogo UniversitetaВопросы ономастики1994-24001994-24512023-12-0120393010.15826/vopr_onom.2023.20.3.029Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy LanguagesVladimir V. Napolskikh0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1549-9639Alexander V. Savelyev1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8343-2057Ural Federal University, Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian FederationUral Federal University, Institute of Linguistics of the RAS, National Research University Higher School of EconomicsThe old hypothesis on the relatedness of Merya languages (today we can speak about a group of languages or dialects reconstructed on the basis of substrate toponymy of Central Russia: Merya of Rostov, Merya of Kostroma, and Merya of Murom also known as “Lower Klyazma” Merya) with the Mari (Cheremis) language has been reliably proven in the works of A. K. Matveyev, O. V. Smirnov and others. The authors contribute to the ongoing discussion in this area and argue that the new reconstruction of Proto-Mari vocalism based on the history of Mari-Turkic contacts undoubtedly supports this hypothesis. The article suggests a version of the Stammbaum of Finno-Permian languages, including the Mari-Merya group and some other extinct Finno-Permian languages, reconstructed on the basis of substrate toponymic data. However, since the results of the analysis of substrate toponymy are naturally debatable to a certain extent, the authors propose to turn to the analysis of ethnonymy. The long-noted (by M. A. Castrén) similarity of the ethnonyms Mari, Merya, and Muroma is considered, suggesting them to be self-names of the respective ethnic groups. The reconstruction of the Mari historical vocalism (as well as features of the vocalism of the Merya and Muromian languages that can be extracted from toponymic materials) delivers the proto-forms Mari *märə, Merya *märə, Muromian *mürə, going back to the proto-form *märə. The latter is proposed to regard (as it is now common in the Finno-Ugric studies) as some reflex of Aryan *marya- ‘young man, warrior, member of youth war community’ (the authors are going to devote a special article to the problem of the Aryan source of this ethnonym). The reconstruction of the common Mari–Meryan–Muromian auto-ethnonym *märə is not only a strong argument for the relatedness of these languages, but also indicates to close relations between the respective ethnic groups and their common origin.http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/doi/10.15826/vopr_onom.2023.20.3.029.pdfethnonymyfinno-permian languagesmarimari (cheremis) languagemeryamerya languagemuromasubstrate toponymy |
| spellingShingle | Vladimir V. Napolskikh Alexander V. Savelyev Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy Languages Вопросы ономастики ethnonymy finno-permian languages mari mari (cheremis) language merya merya language muroma substrate toponymy |
| title | Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy Languages |
| title_full | Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy Languages |
| title_fullStr | Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy Languages |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy Languages |
| title_short | Mari, Merya, Muroma — History of the Ethnonyms and Reconstruction of the Substrate Toponymy Languages |
| title_sort | mari merya muroma history of the ethnonyms and reconstruction of the substrate toponymy languages |
| topic | ethnonymy finno-permian languages mari mari (cheremis) language merya merya language muroma substrate toponymy |
| url | http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/doi/10.15826/vopr_onom.2023.20.3.029.pdf |
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