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| Old Novgorodian | |
|---|---|
| Old Novgorod dialect | |
| Native to | Novgorod Republic |
| Era | 11th–15th centuries[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| Old Cyrillic,Glagolitic | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
TheOld Novgorod orOld Novgorodian dialect (Russian:древненовгородский диалект,romanized: drevnenovgorodskiy dialekt,lit. 'ancient Novgorodian dialect') was theEast Slavic variety used in the city ofVeliky Novgorod and its surrounding area. It is mainly known from medievalbirch bark writings dating to the 11th to 15th centuries.[2][3][4]Andrey Zaliznyak distinguished it from "supra-dialectal Old Russian".[5] Other manuscripts have also shown distinctnorth Russian dialect forms, in addition to the birch bark letters.[4][6]
Old Novgorodian is of particular interest in that it has retained some archaic features which were lost in other Slavic dialects. For example, the birch bark letters from theNovgorod-Pskov area attest that thesecond palatalization failed to reach this area.[7] Furthermore, the letters provide unique evidence of the Slavic vernacular, as opposed to theChurch Slavonic which dominated the written literature of the period. Most of the letters feature informal writing such as personal correspondence, instructions, complaints, news, and reminders. Such widespread usage indicates a high level of literacy, even among women and children. The preserved notes display the original spelling of the time; unlike some texts, they were not copied, rewritten or edited by later scribes.[2]
Today, the study of Novgorodian birch bark letters is an established scholarly field in Russianhistorical linguistics, with far-ranging historical and archaeological implications for the study of the Russian Middle Ages.
The mainstream view is that the Old Novgorod dialect is anEast Slavic variety that has some significant deviations from whatAndrey Zaliznyak called "supra-dialectal Old Russian", although there have been some attempts to classify it as a separate branch of the Slavic languages.[8]
AsChurch Slavonic was used in liturgical and religious writing, while a supra-regional variety was used for trade, it is unclear to what extent Novgorodians at the time would have considered them to have been separate languages or distinct registers of a single language.[9] In addition, there is some variation in birch bark letters due to a lack of standardization that is seen with modern literary languages.[10] Some texts are also written with a mixture of Church Slavonic and Old Novgorodian, but most are written in a pure vernacular.[10] The language found in the birch bark manuscripts represents the closest approximation to vernacular Old Russian language, as opposed to the formal language used in chronicles.[11][12]
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The first birch bark letter, calledN1,[a] was found in the city ofNovgorod on July 26, 1951, by Nina Fedorovna Akulova.[13] It was written in what is now called Old Novgorodian.[14] As of 2018, a total of 1,222 items have been discovered in 12 cities, of which 1,113 were found in Novgorod.[15] Nearly all others have been found in nearby cities, including 49 inStaraya Russa and 19 inTorzhok.[15] Among the most notable letters found isN202 discovered in 1956, which was written by a young boy calledOnfim who lived in Novgorod and is dated to the 13th century.[16]
In Russian, the study of birch bark letters is informally known asberestologiya.[16] It is unknown how many birch bark letters have gone undiscovered; less than three percent of the city of Novgorod has been systematically excavated.[17] V.L. Janin, the head of the Novgorod Archaeological Expedition, estimated that more than 20,000 remain to be discovered in Novgorod alone.[17] Although the birch bark letters do not contain explicit dates, archaeologists have been able to date them with an accuracy of 10 to 15 years using methods includingstratigraphy anddendrochronology.[18] They can be dated even more precisely if historical names or events are mentioned.[18]
Almost all of them were written withstyluses ofbronze andiron, and neverink. The letters were preserved due to theswampy soil which isolated them fromoxygen. Many letters are found buried amidst the layers under streets which were previously paved with logs.
The short birch-bark texts are written in a peculiar Slavicvernacular, reflecting living speech, and almost entirely free of the heavyChurch Slavonic influence seen in the literary language of the period. Some of the observed linguistic features are not found in any other Slavic dialect, representing importantProto-Slavic archaisms.
Zaliznyak differentiates the Old Novgorod features that were already known before the discovery of the birch bark letters and those that have been ascertained after their study during the last few decades such as the following:
Features of the Old Novgorod dialect ascertained by the philological study in the last decades are:
Often theorthography is domestic (as opposed to bookish), usingъ andо on the one hand andь andе on the other synonymously (about 50% of birchbark manuscripts from the mid-12th to the late 14th century).
The Novgorod material is divided by Zaliznyak into seven chronological groups:
| Class | Period |
|---|---|
| A | 11th century to approx. 1125 |
| B I | approx. 1125–1160 |
| B II | approx. 1125–1160 |
| C | 1220s–1290s |
| D I | approx. 1300–1360 |
| D II | approx. 1360–1400 |
| E | 15th century |
According toZaliznyak, the Old Novgorod linguistic features, instead of being merely isolated deviations, represent a bundle of peculiar isoglosses. The deviations are more abundant in older birch bark letters than in the more recent finds. This fact indicates, contrary to what may be expected, that the development was convergent rather than divergent, with regard to other northernEast Slavic dialects.
According to Zaliznyak, the discovery of Old Novgorod dialect suggests that earlier conceptions which held East Slavic as a relatively homogeneous linguistic grouping, have been dispelled by a view advancing it instead as an area of much greater dialectal diversity. Zaliznyak divides the East Slavic area into two dialectal groupings: Proto-Novgorodian-Pskovian on one side, singled out chiefly on the basis of two instances lacking second palatalization of velars and the ending-e in nominative singular of masculine o-stems, and all the remaining East Slavic dialects on the other.
Dated between the end of the 11th century and the 1110s; excavated 1954.[30]
Original text (with added word division):
грамота ѡтъ жизномира къ микоуле
коупилъ еси робоу плъскове а ныне мѧ
въ томъ ѧла кънѧгыни а ныне сѧ дроужина по мѧ пороучила а ныне ка посъли къ томоу моужеви грамотоу е ли
оу него роба а се ти хочоу коне коупивъ и кънѧжъ моужъ въсадивъ та на съводы а ты атче еси не възалъ коунъ
техъ а не емли ничъто же оу него
Transliteration:
gramota otŭ žiznomira kŭ mikule
kupilŭ esi robu plŭskove a nyne mę
vŭ tomŭ ęla kŭnęgyni a nyne sę družina po mę poručila a nyne ka posŭli kŭ tomu muževi gramotu e li
u nego roba a se ti xoču kone kupivŭ i kŭnęžŭ mužŭ vŭsadivŭ ta na sŭvody a ty atče esi ne vŭzalŭ kunŭ
texŭ a ne emli ničŭto že u nego
Translation (with added explanations not present in the original text in brackets):
Letter from Zhiznomir to Mikula: You have bought a female slave inPskov. And now the princess has arrested me for it. (Obviously she has recognized the slave as having been stolen from her, and Zhiznomir is somehow connected with the affair, maybe as Mikula's family member or business partner.) But nowdruzhina has guaranteed for me. And now send a letter to that man (whom you have bought the slave from) and ask him whether he has another female slave. (This other slave would have to be given to the princess for the time the stolen slave would be needed as "corpus delicti" in a lawsuit to find out who the thief was.) And I want to buy a horse and have themagistrate (the "prince's man") sit on it and initiate asvod (the legal procedure to trace a whole buying chain back to the original seller and ultimately the thief). And if you have not taken the money, do not take anything from him (i.e. the slave-trader, because otherwise the whole plan might leak out).
Dated between the 1340s and 1380s; excavated 1972.[31]
Original text (with added word division):
поколоно ѿ гаврили ѿ посени ко зати моемоу ко горигори жи коумоу ко сестори моеи ко оулите чо би есте поихали во городо ко радости моеи а нашего солова не ѡставили да бого вамо радосте ми вашего солова вохи не ѡсотавимо
Transliteration:
pokolono ot gavrili ot poseni ko zati mojemu ko gorigori ži kumu ko sestori mojei ko ulite čo bi este poixali vo gorodo ko radosti mojei a našego solova ne ostavili da bogo vamo radoste mi vašego solova voxi ne osotavimo
Translation:
Greeting from Gavrila Posenya to my brother-in-law, godfather Grigory, and my sister Ulita. Would you not like to give me the pleasure of riding into the city, not leaving our word? God give you happiness. We all do not leave your word.
the 11th century, to the end of the 15th century
