Vladimir Napolskikh | Ural Federal University (original) (raw)
Papers by Vladimir Napolskikh
Мари, меря, мурома – история этнонимов и реконструкция языков субстратной топонимии, 2023
The old hypothesis on the affinity of Meryan languages (we can speak today about a group of langu... more The old hypothesis on the affinity of Meryan languages (we can speak today about a group of languages or dialects reconstructed on the base of substrate toponymy of Central Russia: the one of the Merya of Rostov, the one of the Merya of Kostroma and the one of the Muroma or “Lower Klyaz’ma”) with the Mari (Cheremis) language has been nowadays reliably proven in the works of A. K. Matveev, O. V. Smirnov and others. The authors contribute the ongoing discussion in this area and argue that the new reconstruction of Proto-Mari vocalism based in particular on the history of Meri-Turkic contacts does certainly support this hypothesis. A version of the Stammbaum of Finno-Permian languages including the Mari-Meryan group and some other extinct Finno-Permian languages reconstructed on the substrate toponymic data. However, since the the results of the analysis of substrate toponymy are naturally doomed to be debatable to a certain extent, the authors propose to turn to the analysis of ethnonymy. The long ago (M. A. Castrén) noticed similarity of the ethnonyms Mari and Merya and also Muroma is considered, suggesting them to be self-names of the respective groups. Using reconstruction of the Mari historical vocalism and those features of the vocalism of the Meryan and Muroman languages that can be extracted from toponymic materials there are reconstructed proto-formsMari *märə, Meryan *märə, Muroman *mürə, coming up to the proto-form *märə, which as it is accepted in the Finno-Ugric studies may be explained as a borrowing from some derivate 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 – Muroman autoethnonym *märə must be considered as a strong argument not only for the affinity of these languages, but also for the close relations between these groups and their common origin.
Аннотация В ходе обсуждения диссертации А. Ю. Урманчиевой рассматриваются проблемы древней этниче... more Аннотация В ходе обсуждения диссертации А. Ю. Урманчиевой рассматриваются проблемы древней этнической истории Западной Сибири. В целом высоко оценивая лингвистическую часть работы, автор критикует многие предлагаемые в диссертации этимологии, предлагает уточнения, новые интерпретации и подходы. В палеоисторической интерпретации лингвистических данных со многими выводами диссертации трудно согласиться, в связи с чем обсуждаются методологические аспекты использования лингвистических данных в изучении предыстории: условность схемы родословного древа,; необходимость учета не только дивергентных, но и конвергентных и контактных языковых процессов и др. Ключевые слова Западная Сибирь, предыстория, этническая история, этимология, языковые контакты, генетическая классификация языков, самодийские языки, угорские языки, енисейские языки Для цитирования Напольских В. В. Самодийские языки и предыстория Западной Сибири (заметки на полях диссертации А. Ю. Урманчиевой) // Языки и фольклор коренных народов Сибири. 2023. № 4 (вып. 48). С. 71-88.
The Archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada (early 13th century), in his work «De rebus His... more The Archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada (early 13th century), in his work «De rebus Hispaniae» used Jordanes’ «Getica», but de Rada’s direct source had been probably a copy of «Getica» very different from those that form the basis of the modern reconstruction of the text («de Rada’s Jordanes»). First, de Rada, the only one of all the sources, refers to Jordanes as "the secretary (cancellarius) of the Holy Palace" which is consistent with the hypothesis of Jordanes being the bishop of Crotone who was together with Pope Vigilius in Constantinople in the 540-550s, and of identifying Pope Vigilius as the recipient of Jordane’s first work, the «Romana». The article argues in favor of this hypothesis and reconstructs the circumstances that led to writing the «Romana» and the «Getica». Secondly, de Rada’s information, going back to Jordan, contains dates for the events described in the «Getica» (where there are no dates), which are shifted by about twenty years compared to the real ones. In addition, some names taken by de Rada from Jordanes are rendered as if they had been transliterated from Greek. Finally, the content of «de Rada’s Jordanes» was apparently different from Mommsen’s reconstructed text of the «Getica». All these circumstances are interpreted as evidence of the existence of a special protograph of «de Rada’s Jordanes», different from the one which formed the basis of Mommsen’s reconstruction. This possibility is confirmed by Jordanes’ own reference to the existence of two copies of the «Getica» sent to Castalius and to Vigilius, which were not necessarily identical. It is possible that the «de Rada’s Jordanes» may still be found in Spanish archives.
Вопросы Ономастики
The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Si... more The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Siberia, since people often found tusks and whole skeletons of this animal. The understanding of the mammoth as a giant fish with horns is specific for central-western Siberia. This image is most characteristic of the culture of the Kets, Selkups, Ob-Ugrians and Evenks. In the epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas, as well as in their shamanic tradition, there is a notable image of a giant fish, ker balyq, often represented as a giant pike living underwater and underground (similarly to the mammoth-fish known among the peoples of the taiga zone). The term ker is applied in the Altai and Khakas traditions to some other mythological creatures, including mammoth bones found in the ground. The word ker is not explained from the Turkic languages and has no etymology. The epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas featuring ker balyq reveal very good parallels with the mythological texts of t...
Izvestia of the Ural federal university. Series 2. Humanities and Arts
The traditional etymology of the PU *waśke ‘metal, (? copper)’ is of great importance for the rec... more The traditional etymology of the PU *waśke ‘metal, (? copper)’ is of great importance for the reconstruction of Proto-Uralic culture and the time of the disintegration of Proto-Uralic. Continuing some older works and considering the results of the latest research, this etymology is considered as fictitious, breaking up into at least three etymological nests: Finnic-Mordv. *vaśa-kive ‘axe-stone’ (etymology of T.-R. Viitso, where *vaśa- denotes ‘axe, adze’, a borrowing from Aryan + PU *kive ‘stone’), Proto-Perm. *veś ‘non-ferrous metal; metal decoration’, Proto-Sam. *wesä ‘metal, metal decoration’. The last two words can be independent borrowings from a language close to Tocharian (*wəsa ‘gold’ < PIE). It is impossible to restore a Proto-Ugric word for metal associated with these etymologies, since Hung. vas ‘iron’ (s [љ] < *č), Khanty *waχ ‘metal; iron’ and Mansi *wes in *ǟϑ-wes ‘lead’ cannot be phonetically related to each other in any way. Mari βaћ ‘ore’ also cannot be consid...
Yearbook of Finno-Ugric Studies
The indigenous populations of Udmurtia (five populations of Udmurts and Besermyans) have been stu... more The indigenous populations of Udmurtia (five populations of Udmurts and Besermyans) have been studied for the first time by the genome-wide array. The populations were studied in the context of all Finno-Ugric and other surrounding ethnic groups. The total analyzed dataset included 728 individual genomes from 76 populations. The ADMIXTURE analysis of ancestral components identified the specific “Udmurt” component comprising nearby 100 % of genomes of all studied Udmurt individuals and the lion’s share of genomes of the studied Besermyans. The second component in Besermyan was the “White Sea” one predominating in Komi Zyryans and northernmost populations of ethnic Russians. The three independent methods - ADMIXTURE, F, and PCA - demonstrated that Udmurts and Besermyans are genetically closest to Komi-Permyaks, followed by Mari, Chuvash, Bashkirs, and Volga Tatars. We also characterized the pharmacogenetic status of Udmurtia population by estimating frequencies of 45 pharmacogenetic m...
Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, 1970
Вопросы Ономастики, 2021
The article compares the plots of the Ossetian Nart epic (the tale of Axsar and Axsartag, sons of... more The article compares the plots of the Ossetian Nart epic (the tale of Axsar and Axsartag, sons of Warxag, in which one of the brothers gets killed by a doubled or forked arrow due to a misunderstanding) and the Icelandic epic (the story of the accidental murder of Baldr by his blind brother Höd with a dart from a mistletoe shoot, in medieval illustrations to which the murder weapon is also depicted as forked sprout). The peculiarity of the plot (a strange, forked murder weapon), which was already incomprehensible to Ossetian storytellers and Icelandic medieval writers, is a typical example of “common oddity,” which can be a decisive argument when comparing folklore motifs for a common origin. In addition to the similarity of the plots, a commonality is found in the genealogy of the heroes of these legends, through which they fit into the mythological picture of the world of the corresponding traditions and in the mythological onomasticon: the parallelism of pairs Odin — Frigg / Frey...
Izvestia of the Ural federal university. Series 2. Humanities and Arts
In the Finno-Permian languages, the words denoting ‘salt’ are loans (from an Indo-European langua... more In the Finno-Permian languages, the words denoting ‘salt’ are loans (from an Indo-European language of the Proto-Baltic or Iranian groups), while in the North Samoyedic languages, they are later innovations (a word meaning ‘white’). Their appearance can be associated with the spread of cattle breeding and agriculture among the respective peoples. The situation is similar in the Ugric languages and in Selkup, but the sources of words for ‘salt’ are different there. The Khanty (*sФl-nк) and Northern Mansi (solwкl) words for ‘salt’ were borrowed from the Permian *sЫl ‘salt’, or, more precisely, from its derivatives (compare Udmurt s2lal), between the first half and mid-first millennium AD, which mainly reflects the hunting and fishing lifestyle of the Ob-Ugrians before and during the contact (the word was borrowed to denote salt as a preservative from the Permians who were familiar with agriculture and cattle breeding). In the Mansi dialects except for the Northern dialect and in the S...
Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology)
On the History of the Concepts 'salt' and 'salty' in Finno-Ugric Languages After reconsidering th... more On the History of the Concepts 'salt' and 'salty' in Finno-Ugric Languages After reconsidering the existing Finno-Ugric etymologies for taste and smell terms (such as 'salty', 'sour', 'bitter', 'spoiled', 'rancid' etc.), two FU etyma for taste (and smell) of food are reconstructed: *k É cɜ(rɜ/-kɜ) 'sour, salty, bitter' (in a positive sense), denoting, in its optimal sense, the sour-salty taste of fermented food, and in its maximum expression (mainly in derivatives) the taste of too sour or too salty (up to unpleasant) food (in modern Udmurt the meaning is 'salty'); and *kačke 'spoiled, rancid, uneatable' with derivatives (suffix *-mз) meaning 'smoke, burning' or 'mould'. Possibly, the two reconstructed roots could represent cases of Proto-Finno-Ugric palatal-velar alternation similar to the Hungarian döböz 'small box' ~ doboz 'box'. From the historical point of view it is important that these reconstructions demonstrate the absence of the use of salt in the dietary and food-preservation tradition among the speakers of Proto-Finno-Ugrian, which relates to hunting and fishing being the base of their economy and accounts for the later borrowings of words for salt from different sources.
Параллели в осетинском нартовском эпосе и исландским эддических сюжетах, свидетельствующие о ранн... more Параллели в осетинском нартовском эпосе и исландским эддических сюжетах, свидетельствующие о раннесредневековых германо-аланских контактах.
Удмуртский весенний обряд чувашского происхождения свидетельствующий о существовании до конца 16 ... more Удмуртский весенний обряд чувашского происхождения свидетельствующий о существовании до конца 16 века на территории Заказанья значительного населения с чувашским языком.
Collection of published and unpublished articles newly elaborated and composed in a sort of a mon... more Collection of published and unpublished articles newly elaborated and composed in a sort of a monograph devoted to the problems of prehistory of Uralic and North-Eurasiatic peoples. The book contains chapters: "Prehistory of the Uralic peoples", "Uralo-Indogermanica", "Onomastics and prehistory", Wörter und Sachen", Mythology and folklore", "History and etymology of the Udmurt language". MOst articles are in Russian, some in German.
Мари, меря, мурома – история этнонимов и реконструкция языков субстратной топонимии, 2023
The old hypothesis on the affinity of Meryan languages (we can speak today about a group of langu... more The old hypothesis on the affinity of Meryan languages (we can speak today about a group of languages or dialects reconstructed on the base of substrate toponymy of Central Russia: the one of the Merya of Rostov, the one of the Merya of Kostroma and the one of the Muroma or “Lower Klyaz’ma”) with the Mari (Cheremis) language has been nowadays reliably proven in the works of A. K. Matveev, O. V. Smirnov and others. The authors contribute the ongoing discussion in this area and argue that the new reconstruction of Proto-Mari vocalism based in particular on the history of Meri-Turkic contacts does certainly support this hypothesis. A version of the Stammbaum of Finno-Permian languages including the Mari-Meryan group and some other extinct Finno-Permian languages reconstructed on the substrate toponymic data. However, since the the results of the analysis of substrate toponymy are naturally doomed to be debatable to a certain extent, the authors propose to turn to the analysis of ethnonymy. The long ago (M. A. Castrén) noticed similarity of the ethnonyms Mari and Merya and also Muroma is considered, suggesting them to be self-names of the respective groups. Using reconstruction of the Mari historical vocalism and those features of the vocalism of the Meryan and Muroman languages that can be extracted from toponymic materials there are reconstructed proto-formsMari *märə, Meryan *märə, Muroman *mürə, coming up to the proto-form *märə, which as it is accepted in the Finno-Ugric studies may be explained as a borrowing from some derivate 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 – Muroman autoethnonym *märə must be considered as a strong argument not only for the affinity of these languages, but also for the close relations between these groups and their common origin.
Аннотация В ходе обсуждения диссертации А. Ю. Урманчиевой рассматриваются проблемы древней этниче... more Аннотация В ходе обсуждения диссертации А. Ю. Урманчиевой рассматриваются проблемы древней этнической истории Западной Сибири. В целом высоко оценивая лингвистическую часть работы, автор критикует многие предлагаемые в диссертации этимологии, предлагает уточнения, новые интерпретации и подходы. В палеоисторической интерпретации лингвистических данных со многими выводами диссертации трудно согласиться, в связи с чем обсуждаются методологические аспекты использования лингвистических данных в изучении предыстории: условность схемы родословного древа,; необходимость учета не только дивергентных, но и конвергентных и контактных языковых процессов и др. Ключевые слова Западная Сибирь, предыстория, этническая история, этимология, языковые контакты, генетическая классификация языков, самодийские языки, угорские языки, енисейские языки Для цитирования Напольских В. В. Самодийские языки и предыстория Западной Сибири (заметки на полях диссертации А. Ю. Урманчиевой) // Языки и фольклор коренных народов Сибири. 2023. № 4 (вып. 48). С. 71-88.
The Archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada (early 13th century), in his work «De rebus His... more The Archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada (early 13th century), in his work «De rebus Hispaniae» used Jordanes’ «Getica», but de Rada’s direct source had been probably a copy of «Getica» very different from those that form the basis of the modern reconstruction of the text («de Rada’s Jordanes»). First, de Rada, the only one of all the sources, refers to Jordanes as "the secretary (cancellarius) of the Holy Palace" which is consistent with the hypothesis of Jordanes being the bishop of Crotone who was together with Pope Vigilius in Constantinople in the 540-550s, and of identifying Pope Vigilius as the recipient of Jordane’s first work, the «Romana». The article argues in favor of this hypothesis and reconstructs the circumstances that led to writing the «Romana» and the «Getica». Secondly, de Rada’s information, going back to Jordan, contains dates for the events described in the «Getica» (where there are no dates), which are shifted by about twenty years compared to the real ones. In addition, some names taken by de Rada from Jordanes are rendered as if they had been transliterated from Greek. Finally, the content of «de Rada’s Jordanes» was apparently different from Mommsen’s reconstructed text of the «Getica». All these circumstances are interpreted as evidence of the existence of a special protograph of «de Rada’s Jordanes», different from the one which formed the basis of Mommsen’s reconstruction. This possibility is confirmed by Jordanes’ own reference to the existence of two copies of the «Getica» sent to Castalius and to Vigilius, which were not necessarily identical. It is possible that the «de Rada’s Jordanes» may still be found in Spanish archives.
Вопросы Ономастики
The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Si... more The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Siberia, since people often found tusks and whole skeletons of this animal. The understanding of the mammoth as a giant fish with horns is specific for central-western Siberia. This image is most characteristic of the culture of the Kets, Selkups, Ob-Ugrians and Evenks. In the epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas, as well as in their shamanic tradition, there is a notable image of a giant fish, ker balyq, often represented as a giant pike living underwater and underground (similarly to the mammoth-fish known among the peoples of the taiga zone). The term ker is applied in the Altai and Khakas traditions to some other mythological creatures, including mammoth bones found in the ground. The word ker is not explained from the Turkic languages and has no etymology. The epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas featuring ker balyq reveal very good parallels with the mythological texts of t...
Izvestia of the Ural federal university. Series 2. Humanities and Arts
The traditional etymology of the PU *waśke ‘metal, (? copper)’ is of great importance for the rec... more The traditional etymology of the PU *waśke ‘metal, (? copper)’ is of great importance for the reconstruction of Proto-Uralic culture and the time of the disintegration of Proto-Uralic. Continuing some older works and considering the results of the latest research, this etymology is considered as fictitious, breaking up into at least three etymological nests: Finnic-Mordv. *vaśa-kive ‘axe-stone’ (etymology of T.-R. Viitso, where *vaśa- denotes ‘axe, adze’, a borrowing from Aryan + PU *kive ‘stone’), Proto-Perm. *veś ‘non-ferrous metal; metal decoration’, Proto-Sam. *wesä ‘metal, metal decoration’. The last two words can be independent borrowings from a language close to Tocharian (*wəsa ‘gold’ < PIE). It is impossible to restore a Proto-Ugric word for metal associated with these etymologies, since Hung. vas ‘iron’ (s [љ] < *č), Khanty *waχ ‘metal; iron’ and Mansi *wes in *ǟϑ-wes ‘lead’ cannot be phonetically related to each other in any way. Mari βaћ ‘ore’ also cannot be consid...
Yearbook of Finno-Ugric Studies
The indigenous populations of Udmurtia (five populations of Udmurts and Besermyans) have been stu... more The indigenous populations of Udmurtia (five populations of Udmurts and Besermyans) have been studied for the first time by the genome-wide array. The populations were studied in the context of all Finno-Ugric and other surrounding ethnic groups. The total analyzed dataset included 728 individual genomes from 76 populations. The ADMIXTURE analysis of ancestral components identified the specific “Udmurt” component comprising nearby 100 % of genomes of all studied Udmurt individuals and the lion’s share of genomes of the studied Besermyans. The second component in Besermyan was the “White Sea” one predominating in Komi Zyryans and northernmost populations of ethnic Russians. The three independent methods - ADMIXTURE, F, and PCA - demonstrated that Udmurts and Besermyans are genetically closest to Komi-Permyaks, followed by Mari, Chuvash, Bashkirs, and Volga Tatars. We also characterized the pharmacogenetic status of Udmurtia population by estimating frequencies of 45 pharmacogenetic m...
Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, 1970
Вопросы Ономастики, 2021
The article compares the plots of the Ossetian Nart epic (the tale of Axsar and Axsartag, sons of... more The article compares the plots of the Ossetian Nart epic (the tale of Axsar and Axsartag, sons of Warxag, in which one of the brothers gets killed by a doubled or forked arrow due to a misunderstanding) and the Icelandic epic (the story of the accidental murder of Baldr by his blind brother Höd with a dart from a mistletoe shoot, in medieval illustrations to which the murder weapon is also depicted as forked sprout). The peculiarity of the plot (a strange, forked murder weapon), which was already incomprehensible to Ossetian storytellers and Icelandic medieval writers, is a typical example of “common oddity,” which can be a decisive argument when comparing folklore motifs for a common origin. In addition to the similarity of the plots, a commonality is found in the genealogy of the heroes of these legends, through which they fit into the mythological picture of the world of the corresponding traditions and in the mythological onomasticon: the parallelism of pairs Odin — Frigg / Frey...
Izvestia of the Ural federal university. Series 2. Humanities and Arts
In the Finno-Permian languages, the words denoting ‘salt’ are loans (from an Indo-European langua... more In the Finno-Permian languages, the words denoting ‘salt’ are loans (from an Indo-European language of the Proto-Baltic or Iranian groups), while in the North Samoyedic languages, they are later innovations (a word meaning ‘white’). Their appearance can be associated with the spread of cattle breeding and agriculture among the respective peoples. The situation is similar in the Ugric languages and in Selkup, but the sources of words for ‘salt’ are different there. The Khanty (*sФl-nк) and Northern Mansi (solwкl) words for ‘salt’ were borrowed from the Permian *sЫl ‘salt’, or, more precisely, from its derivatives (compare Udmurt s2lal), between the first half and mid-first millennium AD, which mainly reflects the hunting and fishing lifestyle of the Ob-Ugrians before and during the contact (the word was borrowed to denote salt as a preservative from the Permians who were familiar with agriculture and cattle breeding). In the Mansi dialects except for the Northern dialect and in the S...
Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology)
On the History of the Concepts 'salt' and 'salty' in Finno-Ugric Languages After reconsidering th... more On the History of the Concepts 'salt' and 'salty' in Finno-Ugric Languages After reconsidering the existing Finno-Ugric etymologies for taste and smell terms (such as 'salty', 'sour', 'bitter', 'spoiled', 'rancid' etc.), two FU etyma for taste (and smell) of food are reconstructed: *k É cɜ(rɜ/-kɜ) 'sour, salty, bitter' (in a positive sense), denoting, in its optimal sense, the sour-salty taste of fermented food, and in its maximum expression (mainly in derivatives) the taste of too sour or too salty (up to unpleasant) food (in modern Udmurt the meaning is 'salty'); and *kačke 'spoiled, rancid, uneatable' with derivatives (suffix *-mз) meaning 'smoke, burning' or 'mould'. Possibly, the two reconstructed roots could represent cases of Proto-Finno-Ugric palatal-velar alternation similar to the Hungarian döböz 'small box' ~ doboz 'box'. From the historical point of view it is important that these reconstructions demonstrate the absence of the use of salt in the dietary and food-preservation tradition among the speakers of Proto-Finno-Ugrian, which relates to hunting and fishing being the base of their economy and accounts for the later borrowings of words for salt from different sources.
Параллели в осетинском нартовском эпосе и исландским эддических сюжетах, свидетельствующие о ранн... more Параллели в осетинском нартовском эпосе и исландским эддических сюжетах, свидетельствующие о раннесредневековых германо-аланских контактах.
Удмуртский весенний обряд чувашского происхождения свидетельствующий о существовании до конца 16 ... more Удмуртский весенний обряд чувашского происхождения свидетельствующий о существовании до конца 16 века на территории Заказанья значительного населения с чувашским языком.
Collection of published and unpublished articles newly elaborated and composed in a sort of a mon... more Collection of published and unpublished articles newly elaborated and composed in a sort of a monograph devoted to the problems of prehistory of Uralic and North-Eurasiatic peoples. The book contains chapters: "Prehistory of the Uralic peoples", "Uralo-Indogermanica", "Onomastics and prehistory", Wörter und Sachen", Mythology and folklore", "History and etymology of the Udmurt language". MOst articles are in Russian, some in German.