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Meryans

Total population
assimilated, however some people have begun to identify as Meryan again
Languages
Meryan (reconstructed form), Russian
Related ethnic groups
Finnic peoples, Mari people

The Meryans (also Merya people; Russian: меряне, meryane or меря, marya) were an ancient Finnic people that lived in the Upper Volga region. The Primary Chronicle places them around the Nero and Pleshcheyevo lakes. They were assimilated to Russians around the 13th century, but there has been a modern revival of Meryan culture and language, termed Meryan ethnofuturism [ru].

History

Jordanes mentioned "Merens" as a nation paying tribute to the Gothic ruler Ermanarich. According to the Primary Chronicle, the Varangians also forced the Meryans to pay tribute. This event is dated to 859, although the chronology is not reliable. Oleg of Novgorod forced the Meryans to take part in his 882 campaigns against Smolensk and Kiev. They are also mentioned as the participants of Oleg's campaign against Constantinople in 907.

Merya began to be assimilated by East Slavs when their territory became incorporated into Kievan Rus' in the 10th century. Their assimilation in the Upper Volga region seems to have been complete by the 13th century. The Life of Abraham of Galich claims that, when arriving to the Lake Galich in the 14th century, he found there some "pagan people called Merya".

The Meryans were an important part of the development of the Russian nation. The sites of Sarskoye Gorodishche near Lake Nero and island Nero and Kleshchin near Lake Pleshcheyevo were formerly proposed as Meryan "capitals", although this notion has been largely abandoned. A large boulder supposedly venerated by the Merya survives near Kleshchin (see Blue Stone).

Language

Not a single word of the Merya language was documented. The Meryans mostly lived around rivers, and many river hydronyms are still of Meryan origin.

Based on toponyms, onomastics and words in Russian dialects some people have tried to reconstruct the key features of the Meryan language. The first reconstructions were done in 1985 by O. B. Tkachenko. The latest book about Merya reconstructions was published in 2019.

The Meryans are thought to have been closely connected with the Muroma people (whose language has even been suggested to have been a dialect of Meryan). Rahkonen claims that the eastern Volkhov Chudes were very close to Meryans, culturally and linguistically.

Today

Some people from the former Meryan territory have recently began to identify themselves as "Meryan", which is inspired by genetic links to the Meryan people. in 2010 a film was made about the Neo-Meryan people. In Moscow there exists a "Meryan society", and Meryan festivals have been done in Moscow. In 2010, the Neo-Meryans were featured in the award-winning film Silent Souls.

References

1. Меря // Отечественная история. История России с древнейших времен до 1917 года: Энциклопедия / Глав. ред. В. Л. Янин. — М.: Большая российская энциклопедия, 2000. — Т. 3. К—М. — С. 559—560.
2. Матвеев А. К. Субстратная топонимия русского Севера и мерянская проблема // Вопросы языкознания. — 1996. — № 1. — С. 3—23.
3. ^ Jukka, Mallinen. "UDMURTIAN VIHREÄT KUNNAAT" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. Janse, Mark; Sijmen Tol; Vincent Hendriks (2000). Language Death and Language Maintenance. John Benjaminsf Publishing Company. p. A108. ISBN 978-90-272-4752-0.
5. Smolitskaya, G.P. (2002). Toponimicheskyi slovar' Tsentral'noy Rossii Топонимический словарь Центральной России (in Russian). pp. 211–2017.
6. Mark, Janse. Language Death and Language Maintenance.
7. "Насон - История города Вологды - Озера".
8. Ahlqvist, Arja (1998-01-01). "Merjalaiset - suurten järvien kansaa". Virittäjä (in Finnish). 102 (1): 24. ISSN 2242-8828.
9. "Насон - История города Вологды - Озера".
10. Rahkonen, Pauli (2013). "Suomen etymologisesti läpinäkymätöntä vesistönimistöä [Etymologically opaque hydronyms of Finland]". Virittäjä (1).
11. ”Allikas: Ткаченко О. Б., Мерянский язык, Kiova 1985.”
12. "Насон - История города Вологды - Озера".
13. SOUTH-EASTERN CONTACT AREA OF FINNIC LANGUAGES IN THE LIGHT OF ONOMASTICS (helsinki.fi)
14. Rahkonen 2011: 255.
15. "Мерянское наследие России". www.merja.org. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
16. "Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь - НОВОСТИ". www.merjamaa.ru. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
17. "МЕРЯ МИР | Мерянское Искусство, Сакрум, История, Мифология, Будущее" (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-09-11.
18. "Hiljaiset sielut (16) | YLE Teema | yle.fi". vintti.yle.fi. Retrieved 2021-09-11.

• Historical ethnic groups of Russia
• History of Yaroslavl Oblast
• History of Ivanovo Oblast
• History of Vladimir Oblast
• History of Moscow Oblast
• History of Kostroma Oblast