An approximate map of the non-Varangian cultures in European Russia, in the 9th century. The Muromian area is shown in bright green.
Muromian is an extinctUralic[1] language formerly spoken by theMuromian tribe, in what is today theMurom region inRussia.[2] They are mentioned byJordanes asMordens and in thePrimary Chronicle. Very little is known about the language, but it was probably either closely related to theMordvinic languages,[3] or a language closely related toMeryan.[4] Muromian probably became extinct in the Middle Ages around the 10th century,[3][5] as the Muromians were assimilated by the Slavs.[6] The Muromian language[7] is unattested, but is assumed to have been Uralic, and has frequently been placed in the Volga-Finnic category.[8][9][10]
A. K. Matveyev identified thetoponymic area upon LowerOka and LowerKlyazma, which corresponds with Muroma. According to the toponymy, the Muroma language was close to theMerya language.[11] A few words have been reconstructed in the Muroma language, based on toponyms, such as:*juga 'river',*vi̮ksa ‘river connecting two bodies of water', and*voht(V) ‘neck of land between two bodies of water’.[4]
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