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Chud orChude (Old East Slavic:чудь,romanized: čudǐ,Finnish:tšuudi,Northern Sami:čuhti) is a term historically applied in the earlyEast Slavic annals to severalBaltic Finnic peoples in the area of what is nowEstonia,Karelia[1] andNorthwestern Russia.[2] It has also been used to refer to otherFinno-Ugric peoples.[3][4]
There are a number of hypotheses as to the origin of the term.Chud could be derived from the Slavic wordtjudjo ('foreign' or 'strange'). Another hypothesis is that the term was derived from a transformation of the Finno-Ugric name for thewood grouse. Yet another hypothesis contends that it is derived from theSami wordtshudde orčuđđe, meaning an enemy or adversary (Finnish:vainolainen).[5][6] This, however, would have required prominent Sami presence in trading centers aroundLake Ladoga.[6]
Arguably, the earliest attested written use of the word "Chuds" to describe Baltic Finnic peoples (presumably earlyEstonians) wasc. 1100, in the earliestRus' chronicles in theOld East Slavic language.[7] According to thePrimary Chronicle, the Chud lived along the "Varangian Sea" (Baltic Sea), next to theLyakhs (Poles) andOld Prussians.[8] It goes on to narrate that the Chud were among the founders of theKievan Rus' state.[7] along withKrivichs,Veps,Ilmen Slavs andVarangians.[citation needed] The invading troops ofYaroslav I the Wise are said to have defeated "Chuds" in a battle in 1030 and then established the fort of "Yuryev" (in what is nowTartu,Estonia).[9]
In other Old East Slavic chronicles,[which?] the term "Chuds" refers to several Finnic tribes, early Estonian groups in particular. Kievan rulers then collected tribute from the Chuds of the surrounding ancient Estonian county ofUgaunia,[citation needed] possibly until 1061, when, according to the chronicles, Yuryev was burned down by an Estonian tribe calledSosols (probablySackalians,Oeselians orHarionenses).[10] Most of the raids against Chuds described in medieval East Slavic chronicles occur in present-day Estonia. The border lake between Estonia and theRussian Federation is still calledChudskoye (Chud Lake) inmodern Russian. However, many ancient[citation needed] references to Chuds talk of peoples very far from Estonia, likeZavoloshka Chuds betweenMordovians andKomis.[citation needed]
Chuds have traditionally been believed to belong to the group of Baltic-Finnic peoples, though there have been some debate as to which specific group. After the first encounter with the Chuds,Slavic people tended to call other Finnic-speaking peoples Chuds, and thus became a collective name for the Finno-Ugric neighbours inRussian cultural tradition. Many writers contend that the Chuds wereVepsians, Fasmer posits them inKarelia while Smirnov suggests theSetos are descendants of the Chuds.[5] In recent research ontoponymy of theLuga andVolkhov river catchment areas Finnish fennougrist Pauli Rahkonen has come to the conclusion, that the language spoken in the area has been Finnic only in the vicinity of the southern coasts of Lake Ladoga and theGulf of Finland, but more upstream of the two rivers, the language, as based on the evidence ofhydronyms in the area, has represented otherFinno-Ugric languages than Finnic.[11] However, theZavoloshka Chuds in theWhite Sea catchment area seem to have spoken Finnic languages based on the evidence ofsubstrate toponymy in northern Russia carried out recently by Finnish Finno-Ugrist Janne Saarikivi.[12]
InRussian folk legends, the Chuds were described as exalted and beautiful. One characteristic of the Chuds was 'white-eyed', which means lightly colored eyes.
Russianbylinas reminisce about the destruction of the Chuds when the Slavs were occupying their territories. When a Chud township was attacked, Chud women drowned themselves, along with their jewels and children, in order to avoid robbery or rape.[citation needed]
In the chronicles which narrate about the founding of Russia, the Chuds are mentioned as one of the founder races, with the Slav and the Varyags (Varangians).
Folk etymology derives the word from Old East Slavic language (chuzhoi, 'foreign'; orchudnoi 'odd'; orchud 'weird'), or alternatively fromchudnyi, wonderful, miraculous, excellent, attractive.
Chuds or Tchuds are traditional generic villains in some Sami legends[citation needed], as well as in the Sami-language moviePathfinder from 1987, which is loosely based on such legends.[13]
Later, the wordChuds was more often used for more eastern Finnic peoples,Veps andVotes in particular, while some derivatives ofchud likechukhna orchukhonets were applied to more westernFinns andEstonians. Following the Russian conquests of Finland 1714–1809, and increasing contacts between Finns andSaint Petersburg, Finns perceived the wordChud to be disparaging and hinting at theserfdom that the Russians were believed to find fit for the Finns. However, as adisparaging word, it was ratherchukhna that was applied also to Finns and Estonians as late as during theWinter War, 1939–1940, between theSoviet Union andFinland.[citation needed]
In present-day Russian vernacular, the wordchukhna is often used to denote the Veps. The name Chuds (or Northern Chuds) has been used for Veps people also by some anthropologists.[citation needed]
In the mytho-poetical tradition of the Komi, the wordchud can also designate Komi heroes and heathens; Old Believers; another people different from the Komi; or robbers—the latter two are the typical legends inSámi folklore. In fact, the legends about Chuds (Čuđit) cover a large area in northern Europe from Scandinavia to the Urals, bounded byLake Ladoga in the south, the northern and eastern districts of theVologda province, and passing by theKirov region, further intoKomi-Permyak Okrug. It has from this area spread to Trans-Ural region through mediation of migrants from European North.[citation needed]
Chud has become a swear word in theArkhangelsk region. As late as 1920, people of that region used legends of the Chuds to scare small naughty children.[5]
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| Dvina-Dnieper trade route | ||
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