WhileRobert G. Latham had identifiedMordva as a self-designation, identifying it as a variant of the nameMari,[4][anachronism]Aleksey Shakhmatov in the early 20th century noted thatMordva was not used as a self-designation by the two Mordvinictribes of the Erzya and Moksha. Nikolai Mokshin again states that the term has been used by the people as an internal self-defining term[dubious –discuss] to constitute their common origin.[5][anachronism] The linguistGábor Zaicz [hu] underlines that the Mordvins do not use the name 'Mordvins' as a self-designation.[6] Feoktistov wrote "So-called Tengushev Mordvins are Erzyans who speak the Erzyan dialect with Mokshan substratum and in fact they are an ethnic group of Erzyans usually referred to asShokshas. It was the Erzyans who historically were referred to as Mordvins, and Mokshas usually were mentioned separately as "Mokshas". There is no evidence Mokshas and Erzyas were an ethnic unity in prehistory".[7] Isabelle T. Keindler writes:
Gradually major differences developed in customs, language and even physical appearance (until their conversion to Christianity the Erzia and Moksha did not intermarry and even today intermarriage is rare.) The two subdivisions of Mordvinians share no folk heroes in common – their old folksongs sing only of local heroes. Neither language has a common term to designate either themselves or their language. When a speaker wishes to refer to Mordvinians as a whole, he must use the term "Erzia and Moksha"[8]
The ethnonymMordva is possibly attested inJordanes'Getica in the form ofMordens who, he claims, were among the subjects of the Gothic kingErmanaric.[9] A land calledMordia at a distance of ten days journey from thePetchenegs is mentioned inConstantine VII'sDe administrando imperio.[10]
In medieval European sources, the namesMerdas, Merdinis, Merdium, Mordani, Mordua, Morduinos have appeared. In the RussianPrimary Chronicle, the ethnonymsMordva andmordvichi first appeared in the 11th century. After theMongol invasion of Rus', the name Mordvin rarely gets mentioned in Russian annals, and is only quoted after the Primary Chronicle up until the 15th–17th centuries.[11][12]
The nameMordva is thought to originate from anIranian (Scythian) word,mard, meaning "man" (Persian مرد). The Mordvin wordmirde denoting a husband or spouse is traced to the same origin. This word is also probably related to the final syllable of "Udmurt", and also inKomi:mort and perhaps even inMari:marij.[13][14]
The first written mention ofErzya is considered to be in a letter dated to 968 AD, byJoseph, theKhazar khagan, in the form ofarisa. More controversially, it is sometimes linked to theAorsy andAlanorsi mentioned in the works ofStrabo andPtolemy. (However, the consensus view is that theAlans, a nomadic Iranian tribe from east Central Asia, were also known as theAorsi/Alanorsi.)Estakhri, from the 10th century, has recorded among the three groups of theRus people theal-arsanija, whose king lived in the town ofArsa. The people have sometimes been identified by scholars as Erzya, sometimes as thearu people, and also asUdmurts. It has been suggested by historians that the townArsa may refer to either the modernRyazan orArsk[10] In the 14th century, the name Erzya is considered to have been mentioned in the form ofardzhani byRashid-al-Din Hamadani,[15] and asrzjan by Jusuf, the Nogaj khan[16] In Russian sources, the ethnonym Erza first appears in the 18th century.[17]
The authors of a letter sent toLiteraturnaia Gazeta from the Moksha Alkino,Mordovia, call this ethnonym "a very nonsensical parasite-word," "a slur," "an awkward nickname" that can be blamed for the fact that "people have come to renounce their true origin, and have rushed in droves (especially the young people) to become Russians. And perhaps history may soon witness that sorry time when the world's civilization, in an instant, will lose forever two remarkable nationalities, and Mordovia will be nothing more than the term for an administrative territory.…"[18]
On the First Erzya and Moksha Peoples' Congress in 1989 the first point of the Congress Declaration was renamingMordovia to the Erzya and Moksha Autonomous Republic and banning the termMordva.[19]
Researchers have distinguished the ancestors of the Erzya and the Moksha from the mid-1st century AD by the different orientations of their burials and by elements of their costumes and by the variety of bronze jewelry found by archaeologists in their ancient cemeteries. The Erzya graves from this era were oriented north–south, while the Moksha graves were found to be oriented south–north.[10]
The ancient Mordvins encountered theBulgars around the 7th century and later on came under the influence ofVolga Bulgaria, paying them tribute.[20] In the 13th century, the Mongols conquered the region and the Mordvins were incorporated into theGolden Horde. In the late 14th century, thePrincipality of Moscow conquered much of the western Mordvin lands while the eastern portion was under the control of theKazan Khanate. After Russia conquered the Kazan Khanate in 1552, all the Mordvins became Russian subjects. During Russian rule, the Mordvins experienced forced conversions to Christianity, displacement, migration out the region and the influx of Russian settlers to Mordvin lands, a process that led to them becoming a minority in the area.[20]
In the 17th century, the Mordvins,Chuvash, andMari staged a rebellion against Russian rule. After being suppressed, many Mordvins fled out of the area to escape reprisal and headed eastward past the Volga to more remote areas with weak Russian influence. Meanwhile the Mordvins that stayed eventually became serfs under the Russians, with the local economy being tied to agriculture. Failed rebellions would sporadically occur due to the working conditions the Mordvins were under. The Mordvins began rapidly assimilating to Russian culture until the emergence of Mordvin nationalism in the late 19th century.[20]
Although the Mordvins were given an autonomous territory as atitular nation within theSoviet Union in 1928,Russification intensified during the 1930s, and knowledge of the Mordvin languages by the 1950s was in rapid decline.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Mordvins, like otherindigenous peoples of Russia, experienced a rise in national consciousness.Aleksandr Sharonov compiled the Erzya national epic calledMastorava, which stands for "Mother Earth", first published in 1994 in the Erzya language (it has since been translated into Moksha and Russian).Mastorava is also the name of a movement of Mordvinnational revival founded byDmitri Nadkin [ru] of the Mordovian State University and others.[21]
The first All-Russian Congress of the Mordvins (March 1992) demanded, among other things, constitutional recognition of Erzya and Moksha languages as the state ones, as well as the restoration of these languages as language of instruction, first, in primary schools, and then expanded into secondary schools. The congress elected the Revival Council. The Council was split due to various contradictions, one of them being whether the Mordvin language should be unified or Moksha and Erzya must continue their development separately.[22]
Erzya is spoken in the northern and eastern and north-western parts of Mordovia, as well as in the adjacent oblasts of Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Samara, Saratov, Orenburg, and Ulyanovsk, and in the republics of Chuvashia, Tatarstan, and Bashkortostan. Moksha is the majority language in the western part of Mordovia.
Due to differences inphonology,lexicon, andgrammar, Erzya and Moksha are not mutually intelligible, to the extent that the Russian language is often used for intergroup communications. The two Mordvinic languages also have separate literary forms. The Erzyaliterary language was standardised in 1922 and the Mokshan in 1923.[23] Both are currently written using the standardRussian alphabet.
The Moksha and Erzya languages are closely related, therefore they are thought to share a common ancestry. As to the degree of the languages' proximity, Arnaud Fournet presumes that if Moksha and Erzya had been a single language, they started to diverge 1500 years ago—the same time as French and Italian divided.[24] Serebrenikov proves that Moksha preserves more archaic forms than those existing in Erzya.[25]
Until ca. 2010s most Finnic linguists considered Mordvinic andMari languages as a single subdivision of the so-called Volga-Finnic branch of the Uralic family. Currently, this approach is rejected by most scholars,[26] and Mordvinic and Mari are considered distinct from each other: Mordvinic languages are believed to have a common ancestor withBalto-Finnic languages (Estonian andFinnish), while the Mari languages are closer to thePermic languages.[citation needed]
theShoksha or Tengushevo Mordvins constitute a transitional group between the Erzya and Moksha people and live in theTengushevsky andTorbeevsky districts of Republic of Mordovia.
the Karatai Mordvins orQaratays live in the Republic ofTatarstan. They no longer speak a Volga-Finnic language but have assimilated withTatars.
the Teryukhan Mordvins live nearNizhny Novgorod had been completely Russified by 1900 and today unambiguously identify as ethnic Russians.
Mokshin concludes that the above grouping does not represent subdivisions of equal ethnotaxonomic order, and discounts Shoksha, Karatai and Teryukhan as ethnonyms, identifying two Mordvin sub-ethnicities, theErzya and theMoksha, and two "ethnographic groups", the Shoksha and the Karatai.[30][obsolete source]
Two further formerly Mordvinic groups have assimilated to (Slavic and Turkic) superstrate influence:
TheMishars are believed to be Mordvins who came under Tatar influence and adopted the language (Mishar Tatar dialect) and theSunni Muslim religion.[31] This however is only one theory; there is no consensus on the subject of Mishar ethnogenesis and some have heavily criticized given version.[32]
Mordvins in the Volga-Urals region (2010 Russian census)
Latham (1854) quoted a total population of 480,000.[4] The1979 Soviet census reported 1.2 million.[33] Mastyugina (1996) quotes 1.15 million.[34] The 2002 Russian census reports 0.84 million.
According to Tatiana Deviatkina, although sharing some similarities, no common Mordvin mythology has emerged, and therefore the Erza and Moksha mythologies are defined separately.[35]
In the Erzya mythology, the superior deities were hatched from an egg. The mother of gods is calledAnge Patiai, followed by the Sun God,Chipaz, who gave birth toNishkepaz; to the earth god,Mastoron kirdi; and to the wind god,Varmanpaz. From the union ofChipaz and the Harvest Mother,Norovava, was born the god of the underworld,Mastorpaz. The thunder god,Pur'ginepaz, was born fromNiskende Teitert, (the daughter of the mother of gods,Ange Patiai).The creation of the Earth is followed by the creation of the Sun, the Moon, humankind, and the Erza. Humans were created byChipaz, the sun god, who, in one version, molded humankind from clay, while in another version, from soil.
In Moksha mythology, the Supreme God is calledViarde Skai. According to the legends, the creation of the world went through several stages: first the Devil moistened the building material in his mouth and spat it out. The piece that was spat out grew into a plain, which was modeled unevenly, creating the chasms and the mountains. The first humans created byViarde Skai could live for 700–800 years and were giants of 99archinnes. The underworld in Mokshan mythology was ruled byMastoratia.
Latham reported strong pagan elements surviving Christianization.[4] The 1911Britannica noted how the Mordvins:
… still preserve much of their own mythology, which they have adapted to the Christian religion. According to some authorities, they have preserved also, especially the less russified Moksha, the practice ofkidnapping brides, with the usual battles between the party of the bridegroom and that of the family of the bride. The worship oftrees,water (especially of the water-divinity which favours marriage), thesun orShkay, who is the chief divinity, themoon, thethunder and thefrost, and of thehome-divinityKardaz-scrko[dubious –discuss] still exists among them; and a small stone altar or flat stone covering a small pit to receive the blood ofslaughtered animals can be found in many houses. Their burial customs seem founded onancestor-worship. On the fortieth day after the death of a kinsman the dead [one] is not only supposed to return home, but a member of his household represents him, and, coming from the grave, speaks in his name...They are also masters ofapiculture, and the commonwealth of bees often appears in their poetry and religious beliefs. They have a considerable literature of popular songs and legends, some of them recounting the doings of a kingTushtyan who lived in the time of Ivan the Terrible[obsolete source].[36]
On 1 May 2020 the Aťań Eźem approved new system of national representative bodies. Statute on creation and functioning of national representative bodies of Erzya people consists of six chapters, describing aims and tasks of Erzya national movement, its governing bodies, their plenary powers and structure. According to the document, national movement directed by Promks – convention of delegates from Erzya political parties and public organizations. Convention forms Aťań Eźem, that is operative between Promks sessions and elects Inyazor, who presents Erzya people and speaks on behalf of all the nation. In the event that there are any legal limitations for creation and operation of national parties (such prohibition exists in Russian Federation nowadays), then plenary powers of Promks are carried by Aťań Eźem. The main objective of Promks, Aťań Eźem and Inyazor, is to provide and defend national, political, economic and cultural rights of Erzya, including right to nationalself-determination within national Erzya territories.[37]
Autosomally, Mokshas and Erzyas show homogeneity.[38] About 11% of their ancestry isNganasan-like.[39][38] This East Eurasian component is typical for Uralic-speaking populations.[38] They also have high level ofSteppe-related admixture, as it can be modelled to be about half of their ancestry.[40]
Erzya women ofPenza Oblast dressed in traditional costumes
The1911Encyclopædia Britannica[36] noted that the Mordvins, although they had largely abandoned their language, had "maintained a good deal of theirold national dress, especially the women, whose profusely embroidered skirts, original hair-dress large ear-rings which sometimes are merely hare-tails, and numerous necklaces covering all the chest and consisting of all possible ornaments, easily distinguish them from Russian women."
Britannica described the Mordvins as having mostly dark hair and blue eyes, with a rather small and narrow build. The Moksha were described as having darker skin and darker eyes than the Erzya, while the Qaratays were described as "mixed with Tatars".
Latham described the Mordvins as taller than the Mari, with thin beards, flat faces and brown or red hair, red hair being more frequent among the Ersad than the Mokshad.[4]
James Bryce described "the peculiar Finnish physiognomy" of the Mordvin diaspora in Armenia, "transplanted hither from theMiddle Volga at their own wish", as characterised by "broad and smooth faces, long eyes, a rather flattish nose".[41]
^(Getica XIII, 116) "Among the tribes he [Ermanarich] conquered were the Golthescytha, Thiudos, Inaunxis, Vasinabroncae, Merens, Mordens, Imniscaris, Rogas, Tadzans, Athaul, Navego, Bubegenae and Coldae" —The Origin and Deeds of the Goths (116).
^abcWilliams, Victoria R. (2020)."Mordvin".Indigenous Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture, History, and Threats to Survival [4 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN979-8-216-10219-9.
^Tatiana Mastyugina, Lev Perepelkin, Vitaliĭ Vyacheslavovich Naumkin, Irina Zviagelskaia,An Ethnic History of Russia: Pre-revolutionary Times to the Present, Greenwood Publishing Group (1996),ISBN0-313-29315-5, p. 133; Timur Muzaev,Ėtnicheskiĭ separatizm v Rossii (1999), p. 166ff.
^Piispanen, Peter S. Statistical Dating of Finno-Mordvinic Languages through Comparative Linguistics and Sound Laws: Fenno-Ugrica Suecana Nova Series. 15 (2016). P. 1-18
^Mokshin (1995), p. 43. Latham in his account of the "Native Races of the Russian Empire" (1854) divided the Mordvins into three groups, viz. theErsad, on theOka River, theMokshad, on theSura River and theKaratai, in the neighbourhood ofKazan.
^"the ethnic structure of the Mordva people at present reveals two subethnoses – Erzia and Moksha – and two ethnographic groups – so-called Shoksha and Karatai" Mokshin (1995), p. 43
^«Мы процентов на 90 - мордва...» [We are 90% Mordvin] - Vecherniy Saransk, 29 April 2016. Quote from Shukshin's daughter:«Почему Саранск? Мы мордва. Предки Василия Макаровича из Мордовии, мы знаем, что сначала они переселились в Самарскую область, а затем в Алтайский край.»["WhySaransk? Because we are Mordvin. The ancestors of Vasily Shukshin came from Mordovia; we know they first settled inSamara Oblast and then inAltai Krai"]
Fournet, Arnaud (6 January 2011),Le moksha, une langue ouralienne: Présentation, Idiolectes, Phonologie, Attestations et Textes anciens, Glossaire (in French), Saarbrücken: Editions Universitaires Européennes,ISBN978-613-1-55751-4
Vasilyev, Timofey (2007).Mordovia(PDF) (in Russian). Saransk: Mordovian Research Institute of Language, Literature, History and Economics.
Zamyatin, Konstantin (2022)."Mordovia". In Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena (eds.).The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford Guides to the World's Languages.Oxford University Press. p. 88.ISBN978-0-19-108028-9.
Petrukhin, Vladimir. Mordvins Mythology // Myths of Finno-Ugric Peoples. Moscow, 2005. p. 292 - 335. (Russian:Петрухин В. Я. Мордовская мифология // Мифы финно-угров. М., 2005. С. 292 - 335.)
Akchurin, Maksum; Isheev, Mullanur (2017), "Temnikov: The Town of a Tümen Commander. The History of Towns of The "Mordovian Peripheries" In The 15th–16th centuries",Golden Horde Review,5 (3), Kazan:629–658,doi:10.22378/2313-6197.2017-5-3.629-658
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