Latvian Poles Riding in the Sky

PublishedFebruary 11, 2021 Post authortorino

We’ve previously noted, as one of many mentions of Polish Gods, the following language:

“ysaya lado ylely ya ya…”

Ysaya, presumably refers to Yassa, Lado refers to Lado and Ylely to Leli. But what of the “ya ya”? A jajo is, of course, an “egg”. And an egg seems to fit the timeframe of Easter-Green Holidays with the celebration of the rebirth of nature. So is that the correct answer?

Perhaps. But remember that Jasień has in Polish folklore almost always been associated with a horse (koń or, diminutively, konik) and riding on that horse (jedzie meaning “he rides”). For example:

Oj niema sianka
tylko owsianka
na tém sérokiem polu
przyprowadź Boze
kogo ja kocham
na wroniusińskim koniu

Jedzie Jasieńko,
jedzie nadobny
po zielonej dąbrowie,
rozpuścił cugle
rozpuścił złote
konikowi na głowę.

or the following:

Wysła na pole,
stanęła w dole,
pod zielonym jaworem
i wyglądała
swego Jasieńka
oj z której strony jedzie

Oj jedzie, jedzie,
wesoło wsędzie
po zielonyj dąbrowie;
rozpuścił piórko
rozpuścił strusie
konikowi po głowie.

With all that in mind, let’s compare the Latvian Ūsiņš, who also rides a horse. As shown below (once again from Biezais’ Lichtgott der Alten Letten), rode a horse many a time. The Latvian “rode” is jāja.

So could we then have:

“ysa ya[ya] lado y lely yaya…”

“Yassa rode, Lado and Leli rode.”

As an added point of interest, if you want to know the Latvian for “horse”, it is zirgs. Now, “circus” is cognate with “circle” and the Romans named circular rings that served as arenas, circuses. If you want to know, however, what kind of a horse travels in a circle, an answer to that would undoubtedly have to acknowledge the sky horses of the Moon and the Sun.

Pekkanen’s Δουλοσπόροι

PublishedFebruary 3, 2021 Post authortorino

It is a well-known fact that Jordanes traced the origins of the Suavs to the people otherwise known as Veneti whereas Procopius indicated the older name to be Sporoi.

The Veneti have a history of being in history but the Sporoi seemed like a new thing. Some people thought that Procopius means the Serbs (Serboi) and others that he was referring to the Spali – a people found in Jordanes. None of this proved satisfactory.

Enter the Finnish Latinist Tuomo Pekkanen in 1968. Pekkanen’s theories are interesting in and of themselves but now is not the time for them. Suffice it to say here that he traces the Slavs/Suavs as well as Balts (Sudini) to a farmer population that gets enslaved by various nomads starting with the Scythians and then connects them to the Bastarnae – literally “bastards” (as compared with the “pure” Sciri) as well as with the Sarmates Limigantes (Sarmates Servi) or Limig (weak) Antes (as opposed to the Sarmates Arcaragantes or the strong Antes). He also believes that Slav can be traced to słaby meaning “weak”. This last suggestion seems odd as I am not aware of any group that called themselves “weak.” If the name is an exonym, given to the Slavs by others, then that suggests that the Slavic language itself is not a language that was originally spoken by the people that became Slavs. I will only note that Western Slavs call themselves Suavs not Slavs but, more importantly, słaby seems cognate rather with the Suavic name for Swabians, that is Szwaby (also used as a slur for all Germans).

In any event, what preoccupies us first is that Pekkanen noticed a few, previously ignored, references to a group called Sporoi. Or, to put it more precisely, to a group called Doulosporoi – Δουλοσπόροι. While that does not explain the meaning of Sporoi, it does supplement that name with the Greek word Δουλο. Δουλο, or more precisely, Δούλος, means “slave.” Were these people Slavs/Suavs? Who knows but it’s worth bringing them up here, particularly since researchers of Suavic antiquities have been aware of them at least as far back as Pekkanen’s book but have not discussed them at any great length that I know. The two sources cited by Pekkanen are Nonnus Abbas (not Nonnosus the ambassador/historian) and Cosmas Hierosolymitanus. Neither seems to predate Procopius but nevertheless they may be referring to the same group of people.

Pekkanen got these from Migne’s PG (Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Graeca) so here we give the same versions.

Nonnus Abbas
Nonnus the Abbot aka Pseudo-Nonnus
(6th century A.D.)

Cosmas of Jerusalem
Cosmas Hierosolymitanus aka Saint Cosmas of Maiuma aka Cosmas Hagiopolites aka Cosmas the Melodist aka Cosmas the Poet
(8th century A.D.)

Migne’s Latin translation gives “servis progenitos” and “servili semine” for the Δουλοσπόροι from Pseudo-Nonnus and Cosmas, respectively.

There is no reason to translate these passages as the story comes from Herodotus so we might just give that original version. Note that Herodotus uses the word δούλοι (“slaves”, incidentally this is the root for many other words such as, for example, doula – meaning “female servant) but, of course, does not use the words σπόροι (“seeds” or “offspring”).

After the taking of Babylon, Darius himself marched against the Scythians. For seeing that Asia abounded in men and that he gathered from it a great revenue, he became desirous of punishing the Scythians for the unprovoked wrong they had done him when they invaded Asia and defeated those who encountered them. For the Scythians, as I have before shown, ruled the upper country of Asia for twenty-eight years; they invaded Asia in their pursuit of the Cimmerians, and made an end of the power of the Medes, who were the rulers of Asia before the coming of the Scythians. But when the Scythians had been away from their homes for eight and twenty years and returned to their country after so long a time, there awaited them another task as hard as their Median war. They found themselves encountered by a great host; for their husbands being now long away, the Scythian women consorted with their slaves.

Now the Scythians blind all their slaves, by reason of the milk whereof they drink; and this is the way of their getting it: taking pipes of bone very like flutes, they thrust these into the secret parts of the mares and blow into them, some blowing and others milking. By what they say, their reason for so doing is that the blowing makes the mare’s veins to swell and her udder to be let down. When milking is done, they pour the milk into deep wooden buckets, and make their slaves to stand about the buckets and shake the milk; the surface part of it they draw off, and this they most value; what lies at the bottom is less esteemed. It is for this cause that the Scythians blind all prisoners whom they take; for they are not tillers of the soil, but wandering graziers.

So it came about that a younger race grew up, born of these slaves and the women; and when the youths learnt of their lineage, they came out to do battle with the Scythians in their return from Media. First they barred the way to their country by digging a wide trench from the Tauric mountains to the broadest part of the Maeetian lake; and presently when the Scythians tried to force a passage they encamped over against them and met them in battle. Many fights there were, and the Scythians could gain no advantage thereby; at last one of them said, “Men of Scythia, see what we are about! We are fighting our own slaves; they slay us, and we grow fewer; we slay them, and thereafter shall have fewer slaves. Now therefore my counsel is that we drop our spears and bows, and go to meet them each with his horsewhip in hand. As long as they saw us armed, they thought themselves to be our peers and the sons of our peers; let them see us with whips and no weapons of war, and they will perceive that they are our slaves; and taking this to heart they will not abide our attack.”

This the Scythians heard, and acted thereon; and their enemies, amazed by what they saw, had no more thought of fighting, and fled. Thus the Scythians ruled Asia and were driven out again by the Medes, and by such means they won their return to their own land. Desiring to punish them for what they did, Darius mustered an army against them.

The above translation is from Rawlinson (Loeb Classics) who observes that the word “blind” is likely a Greek mistranslation:

“Herodotus means that the slaves are blinded to prevent them stealing the best of the milk. Probably the story of blind slaves arises from some Scythian name for slaves, misunderstood by the Greeks.”

This was already the view of Heinrich Stein and Pekkanen follows Stein’s idea. To link this purported misunderstanding with the Slavs Pekkanen looks for an Iranian word that sounds similar to the Greek οι τυφλόί (oi tyflóί) meaning “the blind”. He then finds it in the Sankskrit andha- and the Avestani anda- meaning “blind” but also “dark.” From there it’s a straightline rush to the Slavic Antae and the Scythian slaves thus becozye “the dark”.

Of course the connection to the Slavs does not depend on the story of the “blinding” of the Scythian slaves being false. Whether the slaves were really “blinded” or just referred to as “dark”, either way they well may have been called Anda- by their Scythian overlords. Of course, if they were not in fact blinded but were just called “the dark”, we then would have to figure out why this was the case and whether the slaves had indeed been dark or whether this was some sort of a metaphorical name for a lower caste.

The story could explain why the Romans then saw the Servi living in the Black Sea vicinity. Though that name is also reported by Ptolemy, he was writing in the era of the Roman Empire and his informers could, in theory, have been Romans. If, in fact, these Servi were speakers of Slavic and if the word Serb is of Slavic origin (Polish pasierb indicates kinship, that is, it means a “stepson”) then could such a word, ironically, also have been the source for the Latin servus itself? That’d be wacky to say the least.

On the other hand, the source of servus may be something like hero – or rent a hero (perhaps one that takes over as in one to whom you pay for protection). That is another meaning of serb (a “protector” – see the title of the Nonnus passage above). Crazily enough, the Croats may have a similar (though Avestani) etymology for their name which may suggest that the Serbs were the “self-help” team that kicked out the (Scythian?) Croats or the other way around or that, insanely enough, these were the same people. Were Sarmatians – the Sauromatae – Serbmatae? Of “Serb mothers” – is that why they moved away (?) from the Scythians beyond the Tanais? Herodotus does not make that connection but he writes:

“When one crosses the Tanais, one is no longer in Scythia; the first region on crossing is that of the Sauromatae, who, beginning at the upper end of the Palus Maeotis, stretch northward a distance of fifteen days’ journey, inhabiting a country which is entirely bare of trees, whether wild or cultivated. Above them, possessing the second region, dwell the Budini, whose territory is thickly wooded with trees of every kind… The eighth river is the Tanais, a stream which has its source, far up the country, in a lake of vast size, and which empties itself into another still larger lake, the Palus Maeotis, whereby the country of the Royal Scythians is divided from that of the Sauromatae.”

Of course, the Sarmatians eventually threw out the Scythians.

Also of course, all of this is several degrees beyond “highly speculative”. For example, the Sarmatians at least judging by their names – very likely spoke an Iranian language

In any event, it seems to me that, creative as Pekkanen’s theory may be it hinges to a large extent on oi tyflóί sounding like antae which seems highly improbable (at least to my ears).

Moreover, what Pekkanen has done is help Procopius create – albeit in a more convoluted manner – an “antiquity” for the Slavs/Suavs that is no different than the “Venetic” antiquity that was already provided explicitly for the Slavs/Suavs by Jordanes. While the story of the Scythian slaves may have been well known, Byzantine calling Slavs Δουλοσπόροι (if in fact those are the people that Δουλοσπόροι refers to) may have been similar to calling Eastern barbarians Scythian which label had, of course, also been applied to the Slavs. (Ironically, another story of the same ilk is given by Fredegar with Avars who now slept with Slavs’ wives and daughters – this was likely a common occurrence given the roving bands of lawless nomads – recall the Huns as being the offspring of Gothic witches).

No less relevant, the sources used likely postdate Procopius. Cosmas (8th century) certainly does but Nonnus also likely wrote after the famous historian. If so, each would have been aware of the new Slavic threat at the Byzantine’s borders and yet neither makes a connection between their Δουλοσπόροι and their very present day Sclavi or Sclavenes. While not fatal to Pekkanen’s argument, this fact seems to weigh against it.

Be that all as it may, Pekkanen’s theory while interesting is no better than this theory which also is based on etymologies. Maybe the civilized nations called all the barbarians by some name like “seeds” aka “locust”. They view certainly would have been justified to a people sitting behind Constantinople’s walls while awaiting a savage horde’s arrival.

The Suavs of Abu Hamid al-Gharnati

PublishedFebruary 2, 2021 Post authortorino

Abu Hamid al-Gharnati (or Abu Hamid al-Andalusi al-Gharnati or Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman ibn Rabi al-Māzinī al-Qaysi) (circa 1080 – 1170) wrote a number of works, one of which – “Praise of Some of the Wonders of North Africa” (al–Mu’rib ‘an ba’d ‘aja’ib al-Maghreb) contains some information about Suavs. The following comes from the C.E. Dubler edition via Urszula Lewicka-Rajewska and Barbara Ostafin):

“The Suavs govern themselves in accordance with severe customs. If one of them dares to touch a female slave of another or the other’s son or horse or if he in any manner breaks the law, then all his possessions are taken away. If he does not have any, then they sell his sons, daughters and his wife to pay for his transgression. If the lawbreaker does not have a family or children, then he himself is sold and remains a slave serving his master till death or till such time as when he has returned that which he owes. And his slave services to his master do not count towards what he needs to return to free himself. Their land [of the Suavs] is peaceful. Should a Muslim do business with a Suav and should this counterpart of the Muslim trader go bankrupt then he, his children and his house are sold so that the debt to the trader is paid off.”

Of Adrana and Wisera

PublishedFebruary 1, 2021 Post authortorino

We are told that the name of the River Oder – Odra – is cognate with the name of the Adriatic and both are considered to be “Venetic” or “Illyrian/Old European” in literature.

It is, of course, curious that these names appear where the Suavs appear and, as pointed out years ago on this site, there is even another Odra in Croatia (as well as a village by the same name, now, it appears, within the city of Zagreb).

But there are other Odras.

Tacitus’ Annals Book I, 56 says the following:

“Actually, his descent was so complete a surprise to the Chatti that all who suffered from the disabilities of age or sex were immediately taken or slaughtered. The able-bodied males had swum the Eder, and, as the Romans began to bridge it, made an effort to force them back.” (Loeb edition)

Now, what is this river Eder? According to the same Loeb translation, it is a “stream falling into the Fulda (the tributary of the Weser on which Cassel stands).”

This may well be though the Latin version of the text (you know, the actual original text) suggests a different prior name:

And indeed the Latin text is as follows:

“Igitur Germanicus quattuor legiones, quinque auxiliarium milia et tumultuarias catervas Germanorum cis Rhenum colentium Caecinae tradit; totidem legiones, duplicem sociorum numerum ipse ducit, positoque castello super vestigia paterni praesidii in monte Tauno expeditum exercitum in Chattos rapit, L. Apronio ad munitiones viarum et fluminum relicto. nam (rarum illi caelo) siccitate et amnibus modicis inoffensum iter properaverat, imbresque et fluminum auctus regredienti metuebantur. sed Chattis adeo inprovisus advenit, ut quod imbecillum aetate ac sexu statim captum aut trucidatum sit. iuventus flumen Adranam nando tramiserat, Romanosque pontem coeptantis arcebant. dein tormentis sagittisque pulsi, temptatis frustra condicionibus pacis, cum quidam ad Germanicum perfugissent, reliqui omissis pagis vicisque in silvas disperguntur. Caesar incenso Mattio (id genti caput) aperta populatus vertit ad Rhenum, non auso hoste terga abeuntium lacessere, quod illi moris, quotiens astu magis quam per formidinem cessit. fuerat animus Cheruscis iuvare Chattos, sed exterruit Caecina huc illuc ferens arma; et Marsos congredi ausos prospero proelio cohibuit.”

Here is another version from an older translation (Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb):

“But so suddenly did he come on the Chatti that all the helpless from age or sex were at once captured or slaughtered. Their able-bodied men had swum across the river Adrana, and were trying to keep back the Romans as they were commencing a bridge”

That this is cognate with the Odra and may be cognate with Ptolemy’s tribe of the Adrabaecampi or Adrabaikampoi (Ἀδραβαίκαμποι or, as some call them, Kampoi or Kampen – because that Adra seems to be irrelevant you know) ought to be obvious. The similarity with Obotrites and Abdera is also curious.

Now, as mentioned above, this river has been identified with the Eder. Nevertheless, the river appears as above with an “a” for quite a long time (following Greule):

Adrana (Tacitus, Annals I. 51)
super fluvium Adernam, usque ad flumen Adernam (Frankish Annals, A.D. 778)
super fluvium Adarna (same)
Adrina (about A.D. 800 from a 12th century copy)
Adara (1028)

Only in the 13th century does the name begin to develop an “E” at the beginning though even then it is Eddera, Ederna or Ederina.

Staying in Germany, we have another stream Eder (an eight mile long tributary of the River Diemel in East Westphalia):

in villa Nadri (887)
Uuestnetri (958)
Astnederi (1015-1025)
in villa Nederi, in Westnederi (1015-1036 written down around 1160)
in villa Nedere (1017 in a copy of the 11th century
curtem Nederi (1018, written around 1160)
Nedere (1183)

But why focus on Adras or Edras when we have more Odras? And in Germany no less. This is the Oder whose source is in the Harz (by Oderbrück):

inter Oderam et Sevenam (1287)
partem unam aque … Odera (1321)

All this before you even get to the Polish Odra.

The fact that the Suavic languages have retained the -adr stem with an H2O connection (or with a potential connection to a descriptive meaning of a river) I’ve mentioned many times before:

wiadro (bucket)
wydra (otter!)
modra (very blue)
szczodra (bountiful – compare this with wylewny – effusive; thus audr or uber as in fruchtbar)
wydzierać (to rip out)
wydzierać się (to be loud)
maybe even wyżerać (to eat out but also to erode)

I also go back to the point that the suffix -a is fully appropriate for a language, such as Suavic, that views rivers as of female gender – rzeka (or reka/rega – for more on that see here). While the German languages have the feminine article die for die Fluss, this is hardly reflected in the river names themselves (hence the need for the article). And that’s true both in Germany and in the Scandinavian countries. The only exception, to some extent, is in the NW (for example, Leda).

Could this be a Teutonic word? What are other similar “wet” names? Otter (see above)? Maybe the “other” river (Via-dua) as compared to the? Vistula? Maybe but this is harder to see.

That being said, it is clear that all these words are cognates with IE stem uord found in such words as hydra (hydor).Some people have tied this to an Old Suavic name Vjord but if you do that you might just as well rope in fjords too. And then there is the word “word”. Do rivers speak? Or, in Polish do rzeki rzekają? And what’s the word for a bad smell? Odor, of course. Now just connect “reek” with “rzeka” / “reka”.

To add to that even further all we have to do is reach for Ptolemy. Here is a list (not necessarily exhaustive) featuring the stem –dr and similar stems:

island Adru east of Ireland (2, 1, Hibernia)
river Druentia (2, 9, Gallia Narbonensis)
river Vidrus (2, 10, Germania)
river Drave (2, 14, lower Pannonia)
Adra town (2, 15, Illyria/Liburnia & Dalmatia
Adria, town of the Piceni (3, 1 Italy)
Idrae, people of Western Sarmatia (3, 5, European Sarmatia)
Scydra, town in Macedonia (3, 12, Macedonia)
Syedra town in Pamphylia (5, 5, Pamphylia)
Bedoro, town in Palestina/Juadea (5, 15)
Adru, town in Arabia Petraea (3, 16, Arabia Petraea)
Adra, another town in Arabia Petraea (3, 16, Arabia Petraea)
Addara, town in Arabia Deserta (5, 18, Arabia Deserta)
Adrapsa, town in Hyrcania (6, 9, Hyrcania)
Acadrae, people of Sinae (7, 3, Sinae)

Of course, I am not claiming these are all cognates (or for that matter that they have either been written down correctly by the original scribes or have been delivered to us correctly throughout the ages.

For other appearances of Odra see here and here.

Incidentally, even names that have traditionally been regarded as Teutonic are a bit more complicated in their origins. Take, for example, the above mentioned verbs wydzierać or wyżerać. This is pronounced (roughly), in the first case, vydserat and the third person singular – vydsera; and in the second case vyzherat and the third person singular – vyzhera. I leave aside wysrać though you can look it up and yes it also is a cognate.

Now in West Germany we have the Weser which the Romans reported as Visurgis but the Carolingian chronicler and annalists later showed as Wisera. This is a low-German form apparently. Let’s turn to the infamous Pripyet Marshes. If the Suavs/Slavs originated in that area of Polesie then they should be responsible for the names of rivers there. So then we have (apparently):

Wizara (somewhere in Polesie region) “Wizara, Woroteć, Plesa, Losze, Kupa, Zaliska” (from a guide about Polesie so not a perfect source but feel free to try to verify)

In any event, separately we also have:

Wys, Wysia, Wisia (on the border of the former Kiev and Cherson government)
Wissa, Wyssa (near Warzno lake)

Could these be Gothic? I suppose but are there similar river names in Scandinavia? Honest question.

(I leave it as a separate matter that the names of Visurgis (Weser proper) and Vistula had been switched around on occasion by various writers at least since the Middle Ages).

Obviously these Old Europeans must have covered a huge land stretch. The only question remaining must be the question of their dramatically complete extinction.

Semones

PublishedJanuary 26, 2021 Post authortorino

An interesting question arises as to why the lands previously occupied by the Suevi (but later Suavi) were subsequently occupied by the “Sclavi”. Some people think this is just a coincidence. And yet it is a curious coincidence.

For example, we know that one of the tribes of the Suevi was the Semnones. As per Tacitus, it was that tribe that claimed to have been the most ancient of the Suevi. Some historians of the 19th century identified some of the Suevi with the later Slavs. To explain the tribal name Semnones, they pointed to the Slavic words for the “Earth”:

zem (Slovak)
země (Czech)
zemia/zima (Polabian)
zemyata (Bulgarian)
ziemia (Polish)
zemlya (Russian, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian)
ziamlia (Belarussian)

But it says Semnones not Semones comes the objection. Not to worry. Apparently, the manuscripts of Germania are not agreed upon the correct spelling and Semones (as well as Senones) does indeed appear more than once (see here).

To support this view, those historians invoked the same Semnonian passage in Tacitus and its preoccupation with the Earth (or, more to the point, with lying on the ground):

“Of all the Suevians, the Semnones recount themselves to be the most ancient and most noble. The belief of their antiquity is confirmed by religious mysteries. At a stated time of the year, all the several people descended from the same stock, assemble by their deputies in a wood; consecrated by the idolatries of their forefathers, and by superstitious awe in times of old. There by publicly sacrificing a man, they begin the horrible solemnity of their barbarous worship. To this grove another sort of reverence is also paid. No one enters it otherwise than bound with ligatures, thence professing his subordination and meanness, and power of the Deity there. If he fall down, he is not permitted to rise or be raised, but grovels along upon the ground. And of all their superstition, this is the drift and tendency; that from this place the nation drew their original, that here God, the supreme Governor of the world, resides, and that all things else whatsoever are subject to him and bound to obey him. The potent condition of the Semnones has increased their influence and authority, as they inhabit an hundred towns; and from the largeness of their community it comes, that they hold themselves for the head of the Suevians.”

Or in another version:

“The oldest and most famous ofthe Suevi, it is said, are the Semnones, and their antiquity is confirmed by a religious observance. At a set time, deputations from all the tribes of the same stock gather in a grove hallowed by the auguries of their ancestors and by immemorial awe. The sacrifice of a human victim in the name of all marks the grisly opening of their savage ritual. Another observance shows their reverence for this grove. No one may enter it unless he is bound with a cord, by which he acknowledges his own inferiority and the power of the deity. Should he chance to fall, he may not raise himself or get up again, but must roll out over the ground. The grove is the centre of their whole religion. It is regarded as the cradle of the race and the dwelling-place of the supreme god to whom all things are subject and obedient. The Semnones gain prestige from their prosperity. The districts they inhabit number a hundred, and their multitude makes them believe that they are the principal people of the Suebi.”

Whether there is enough here to suggest that the Semnones viewed themselves as born of “the Earth” is debatable.

However, another interesting confluence of facts comes to light when we take a look at the seats of the Semnones. Here is a map that, more or less describes where scholarship locates the Semnones (from a Brockhaus map):

Fast forward eight hundred years and we find the following tribe in the same area:

Zemcici

Here is another German map:

We have the following reports of their existence – or, at least, of the name of a local province that refers to a tribe (plural Slavic indicated by the -ici suffix).

May 9th, 946
(A land grant by Otto I to the Bishopric Havelberg)

“in castro Havelberg episcopalem constituimus sedem – Donamus eidem – in provincia Zemcici duas villas in Malinga Buni et Drogaviz et dimidium silve que dicitur Porei cum vilas in ea cultos et colendis.”

December 3rd, 1150
(Conrad III confirming church possessions)

“In provincia Zemzici duas villas in Mellinga Bum Drogawizi, et dimidium silve, que vocatur Poregi, cum villis ex vel in ea cultis“

June, 29th, 1179
(Frederic I confirming church possessions; much the same as the piece immediately above)

“in provincia Zemzizi duas villas in Mellinga Bum, Drogawizi, et dimidium silve, que dicitur Poregi, cum villis ex ea vel in ea cultis“

The word is, of course, clearly Slavic (as opposed to Latin that was derived via Teutonic intermediaries). Did the Slavs merely “repurpose” by translating, as best as they thought, a locally known Teutonic name which then became the name of a small province as the Franks stumbled into it? Did they turn it, in other words, into a Slavic sounding name?

Possibly but, if so, why not repurpose the names of the Burgundians, Goths and others with a Teutonic or Scandinavian origin that may have at some point occupied what was later clearly Slavic territory?

Also Malinga Buni et Drogaviz sound awfully Slavic. If there were other – Teutonic – names in the area, can we find those?

We’ll likely never know the answer but the above is suggestive to say the least.

All we can say is:

“We must now speak of the Suevi, who do not, like the Chatti or the Tencteri, constitute a single nation. They occupy more than half Germany, and are divided into a number of separate tribes under different names, though all are called by the generic title of ‘Suevi’.”

Incidentally , seeds go in the Earth and so it should not be surprising that another cognate offers itself as well here (from Rick Derksen’s “Inherited Slavic Lexicon”):

For more on that see here and, spoiler alert, here.

On the Origin of the Name Mieszko

PublishedJanuary 16, 2021 Post authortorino

The meaning of the name of the Poles’ first historically-attested ruler – Mieszko (pronounced Mieshko) – has been a source of confusion, so to speak, for quite some time.

Jan Długosz concluded that this was a diminutive of Mieczysław as in “he who obtains fame by means of a sword” (miecz). Various academics mocked this because they claimed such a name was an invention of Długosz’s. However, this strictly speaking is not true. Długosz did not invent the name Mieczysław.

We have no idea what early Polish names sounded because the rules of spelling were nonexistent back then and the correct pronunciation today of such names is based on guessing. Some have hypothesized names such as Miecisław, Miecsław, Miesław, Miecław, Masław (the alleged Mazovian rebel against Casimir the Restorer), Mojsław or Miesław but those are mostly just guesses.

We do know that the Meczslaus, Meczzlaus or Meslaus are attested in the written source material. Here is an example (Meczslaus de Comeczsko dapifer Brestensis) from the court records relating to the lawsuits between Poland and the Teutonic Knights:

Note too that the Polish Brześć appears as was usual as Brest (much like the Brest in the “Venetic” Bretagne – take that for what you will).

In any event, Długosz did not invent the name Meczslaus. What Długosz did instead was twofold. First, he linked Mieszko to Meczslaus (claiming the former was a diminutive of the latter). Second, he provided an etymology of Mieczysław (claiming it was a name that had something to do with “swords”.

Mieszko may or may not have been diminutive. Certainly, names ending with an -o did exist in Poland, for example, Lesko, Jasco, Hanko. Now, maybe these were diminutives of Lech (?), Jan (?), Henry (?) but, if so, they were used in official records (which is how we know they existed) rather than the “full” names. Of course, further west, Germanic names also commonly ended with an -o: Bodo, Gero, Tassilo and so weiter. Were those too dimunitives? Who knows but likely not.

Let’s focus on the second claim made by Długosz, that Mieszko was connected to miecz – meaning “sword.” Is that likely? It’s possible.

On the other hand, Długosz’s predecessors Wincenty Kadłubek and the writer of the Greater Poland Chronicle seemed to connect the name to someone who miesza – meaning “mixes things up” or “stirs things up” in the sense of, in Mieszko’s case, introducing great changes such as the assertion of Polish claims against the Germans and others and introduction of Christianity. Interestingly, “mix” may be a cognate here of mieszać much as “mess” (though I will leave that to others).

Are there others etymologies? Sure. Some have connected the name to the diminutive name for a bear – miś or miśko. This is the same process as the Russian name Misha which refers to a bear but is a diminutive of Michael. This has served some to claim that Mieszko was a viking after all because Scandinavians have the name Björn which means the same thing – bear; the idea being that this was just a translation into Suavic.

Another suggestion was that the name has something to do with a mouse – mysz/mysza/mycha. So something like Myszko. This would have somehow connected Mieszko with the legendary King Popiel (Pompillius) who had the misfortune of being eaten by mice (how exactly though, the proponents of this theory do not tell us).

Ok, so now we have the following suggested etymologies:

sword (miecz);
mixing or stirring up (mieszać);
bear (miś or miśko); as well as
mouse (mysz/mysza/mycha);

Are there other possible etymologies?

How about a diminutive of the Polish word for “moon” – miesiąc (the Czech miesic or the OCS měsęc).

Of course, these etymologies are not entirely exclusive. Thus, for example, Saskia Pronk-Tiethoff, in discussing the etymology of the Suavic miecz – sword, muses (following Kiparsky) whether the word may have derived (in the case of both the Suavic and the Gothic meki/Crimean Gothic mycha (!)) from a Caucasian language. Kiparsky, it seems brought up Georgian, Lezgian and Udi words with a similar meaning to “sword”. The Georgian word – maχνα – refers to something “sharp” or a “sword.” The Lezgian word – maχ – is a word for “iron” Most interestingly, we have the Udi word – meχ – which stands for “sickle.”

So perhaps when the moon is out, the mice and bears and the roving bands of Suavic warriors with their crescent-shaped swords really mess/mix things up before order/harmony – ład -I s restored once again by the rising Sun (Łado?).

Whether the Germanic messer has some connection is another question. It seems to go back to a “food” (or “meat”?) knife. Somehow it all may have something to do with some IE tale of the body (Boda?) of Moon being cut up and eaten. If this sounds too a bit like the tale of Osiris, Isis and Set (sunset? 🙂 ), that is not surprising given Osiris’s lunar connections. Of course, the sword and scabbard have obvious sexual connotations as well (though the Polish po mieczu, though used in a genealogical context, refers rather to the fact that the sword was associated with men; what the story is with the English “rod” and the Suavic narod is another matter – suffice it to say that people have reconstructed a PIE *reudh- meaning “to clear land” and uncultivated land in Suavic is lada which, of course, is a term used for a female “beloved”. In any event there maybe be a rather good reason why “ploughing” may mean so many things).

Curiously, “knife” and gniew (“anger”) may well be cognates as well – whether these have something to do with Niya (Set?) is another question.

As a final interesting point, Udi speaking villages included such places as Vartashen in Georgia and Mihlikuvah in Azerbaijan. These – those not some of the other Udi placenames – appear IE in origin. Most interestingly, the primary remaining Udi village is nowadays Nij in Azerbaijan…

Getting back to the subject of this post. Perhaps those kinds of lunar, pagan overtones were why Mieszko had to quickly get himself a new Christian name. Whether Dagome was that name is another matter (Dzigoma is attested as a Polish name so a Scandinavian origin is not at all certain even if the scribe did get it right). Curiously, the Norse Dag – dagr – means “day”. (The moon-knife messer at night and the day-knife dagger for the day? Likely not, as the etymology of each suggests other origins but who really knows). Nevertheless, there is that tale of Mieszko having been born blind and then having miraculously recovered his sight – the mind (Mund, myśl, musli, Moon) runs wild with possibilities!

Poloni

PublishedJanuary 10, 2021 Post authortorino

It has become fashionable for certain elitist circles to try to denigrate Polish nationalism by pointing out that the idea of the “Polish nation” was for years restricted to the upper classes. The transparent intent is to take the air out of the nationalist balloon that had pumped up the rather overly pleased egos of some nationalists hailing from the plebeian classes – whether “worker” of “farmer” (though the former, if you look back a couple of generations, almost always leads to the latter). (An analogous mechanism is at work where similar elites throw various Jesus quotes at self-professed Christians with the putative aim of exposing hypocrisy and teaching Christians how to be better Christians but, where one suspects, the more immediately satisfying goal is that of deflating – by means of a “burn” – some bloated evangelical egos).

There is no doubt that Poland, for many years, was quite an inequitable place. On the one hand, the gentry was much larger than the Western European aristocracy and benefitted from privileges not accorded its western counterpart. On the other hand, the serf class existed in what became increasingly a slave-like system of land management.

Yet, is the above-cited claim correct? Were these serfs really not Poles in the full sense of the word? This writer would beg to differ.

One could point to the fact that, whatever the definition of the “nation” was in the 16-18th centuries, if we look back further in time we see that matters were initially different. Thus, for example, we could note that the peasant enjoyed more freedoms under the Piasts than under the Jagiellons and elective kings and more still under the earlier Piasts.

But aside from substance, there are other, symbolic, indications that the serfs were in fact seen as part of the nation no less than the non-landed Americans were seen as American by the U.S.’ Founding Fathers. The mistake here is to regard the right to vote as determinative of whether someone belongs to the Nation. That kind of an approach would redefine Nation to mean no more than the upper class (or caste).

For one thing, we have the foundation stories of the Poles (and the Czechs) which take great care to speak of the founders of the first dynasty such as Piast (and Premysl) as tillers, farmers. Even in the PVL’s take on the history of Kievan Rus, the indigenous Kievan Polans’ leaders – Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv and their sister Lybid – appear to have had no great claim of an aristocratic heritage.

But there is another reason to think that Poles – in the sense of a Nation – were, well, just Poles. When the sermon speaks of Nos, enim Poloni, tres deos habemus, scilicet Lada, Nya, Iassa – we note that these “Poloni” that the writer is referring to were not the writer’s own social niveau. They could not have been because the royal, priestly, warrior, bureaucrat and, likely also townsperson, classes, must have been, by the 15th century, mostly Christianized.

The people that the writer is referring to as the “Poloni” were the peasants with whose serious Christianization the Church was becoming concerned first in the 14th/15th century. And, indeed, the reports of the Polish Gods – Yassa, Lado and others (incidentally, Deos – not Deas – whether that interpretation was right is another matter) – come from the countryside. What is surprising about this is that – even in the 19th century – Polish ethnographers were recording the Names – Jasień and Łado – in peasant songs. In other words, even half a millennium later, the Church, in substance, failed to persuade the masses of the attractiveness of the “original sin” / “repentance” theology.

Polabian Suavic Names

PublishedJanuary 3, 2021 Post authortorino

An interesting listing of Polabian names from the Hannover “Wendland” comes from a work by Paul Rost. Here is that list:

The Rock-Tossing, Mountain-Dwelling, First Parent Jasień

PublishedJanuary 2, 2021 Post authortorino

As I have repeatedly argued, piorun is not the real name of the Polish Sky God. It is likely not even the name of any other Suavic Sky Deity though, in the Kievan Run and Novgorod only, that sobriquet appears to have superseded (perhaps under Baltic influence with its Perkunos (or Perkun-Os?)) the original which was some form of Iasion/Jasień/Usins.

That being said, there is the question of what does piorun really refer to? Obviously, in Polish the word means “thunder” but the question arises about the etymology of the word. Here Leszek Kolankiewicz provides a useful hint. He cites the Gothic fairguni – meaning hill covered with a forest – as well as the Hindu Parvati – referring to the mountain goddess – and, finally, the Hittite goddess Perunas (referring to sal-li-lis pi-ru-nas) who, according to him, was the mother of the stone giant Ullikummi.

This last claim is, to me, based on unclear sourcing. The University of Chicago Hittite Dictionary does have various – perun including words for “rocks” or “mountains” as well as a reference to a horse-associated Deity that is named Pirwa.

Thus, for example, Pirwan par-ha-an-d[a-an ausdu] is supposed to mean “[let him see] Pirwa galloping.” (for more check out an article by Ahmet Ünal).

A few things may be worth adding to the above. Kolankiewicz refers to the above Perunas as the Rock Goddess – bogini skała. As noted above, the real Deity is likely to have been Pirwa. Yet, curiously, a version of reconstructed “Friday” in Gothic is pareinsdags. That itself is, of course, interesting, as has already been noted. However, more curious for purposes of this post, another version is paraskaiwe which is a borrowing from the Greek παρασκευή (paraskeuḗ), in turn, perhaps, from παρασκευάζω (paraskeuázō, “to prepare”). Is this related to the Polish skała – meaning “big rock”? Brueckner does not connect these, giving, instead, the Greek skallŏ (“to dig”) and the Lithuanian skelti, skilti, skaldyti (“to split” and “broken”) but is he right? (BTW is that the exonym of the Celts?)

Of course, even here Brueckner’s own etymologies can be intriguing. The Baltic skylē he mentions may mean a “hole” but it is a hole in a rock such as a szczelina. He also brings up the Gothic skilja, “butcher” and the Anglo-Saxon scelian, “to split” as well as Anglo-Saxon scalu and Nordic skel referring to a sea shell (presumably a clam-type). A lightning bolt can and of course does sometimes split and melt rocks. Whether skel is connected with strzała (“arrow”) and strzelać (“to shoot”) or are those words rather connected with the German strāla or Strahl meaning “ray” (strahlen, meaning “radiate”, “Strahlung meaning “radiation” and similar) instead is another question. Maybe they are all related. Compare too, the seemingly opposite meaning of scalać that is “to combine” or “to make whole” (“whole” = cało also appear cognates). Of course, without hopefully being too nonchalant with these etymologies, lightning could also fuse rocks.

I have previously discussed that fulgurites (of course, the Latin fulgur itself meaning “lightning” and also likely cognate with piorun) are commonly known as “piorun arrows” among many Suavs (a point also noted by Kolankiewicz). Incidentally, already the Slovenian trio authors of the “Veneti” pointed out that the Strela Mountain in the Plessur Alps in Switzerland likely also refers to an arrow. Probably, Piorun’s, of course if Suavs were indeed to be found there which is a strong possibility.

This “rock” and “mountain” etymology is likely why we have the Pyrenees and the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria and, for that matter, the many names of hills and mountains among the South Suavs. This makes the distinction between the mountain named for a Perun as in a deity and a mountain named for, well, a “mountain” or “rock mountain” perhaps, difficult to make. Perhaps where Suavs were present, the mountains are deemed to go back to piorun (but in reference to the deity or just the thunderbolt?) but where Suavs are not attested, other etymologies are sought. The same etymology quests might nevertheless point to an IE “rock” or “mountain”.

Parvati discussed above goes back to parvata a Sanskrit word for “mountain”. Indeed, the “father” of Parvati is Parvat (aka Himavat – hence Himalayas). Alternatively, Parvati is simply “she of the mountain.”

In any event, this Parvati, like the Hittite Pirwa mentioned above, ought to suggest another meaning for Piorun that is the meaning of pirwy or pierwszy or “first” (“first” being cognate with pirwy, of course – compare too piorun/Piorun or Perkunas with Fjörgyn or Fjörgynn). And this may well be the reason for why Piorun is merely, again, a nickname of Jasień’s.

Curiously, the Polish penny (?) today called grosz (German Groschen, both from the Italian grosso?) was referred to in the early 16th century by the name piorunek while the as or assarius was the name of a coin used in the Roman days. Also, curiously, the Republic as featured the head of Janus which also happens to be cognate with Jason and Iasion. Probably a coincidence… though the below (from Derksen) may suggest that Ja–sień is the pathway (foyer, entrance) into Ja? Note too the Latvian cognate signifies “face”. (On yaya in that Polish gloss we’ll have more later – suffice it say that Latvian suggests a riding etymology).

Also curiously, the Lithuanian name for lightning is a perko-like word but rather žaibas (but zibens in Latvian) which is obviously cognate with the Polish vulgarism zajebać, itself meaning “to kill” and a derivative of jebać meaning “to hit” but also “to plow” (sexually) which also brings up the agricultural aspects of Piorun/Jasień.

Finally, note that the above etymologies might also loop in the word “father” or, at least (and more in tune with today’s times), “parent”.

Of course, none of these observations about mountains, rocks, being first or parents exclude the “fork” etymology of piorun‘s found most obviously in Greek (πηρούνι, that is piroúni) and Venetic (piron). And, as already observed previously, the word “fork” itself likely shares the same etymology.

In fact, while we’re at it, let’s mention something else. Zeus apparently has been pictured on a few occasions with a trident (or a three-pronged thunderbolt) and yet he was Zeus not Poseidon (also the reason why if the trident were found to fit the Artemision Bronze, the sculpture could still be of Zeus). A Zeus with a trident might explain why Iasion and Demeter’s field was “thrice-ploughed” (see above for the ploughing concept in the words for lightning), that is, Zeus was identical with Iasion until the Greeks for whatever reason (old Gods versus new?) decided to elevate Zeus over Iasion.

Incidentally, Zeus has on other occasions been pictured with an axe. Such a Zeus while also holding a lotus scepter (for example, Zeus Labaundos) makes you think of the image of Esus with an axe (or really thunderbolt?) next to a tree.

But let’s get back to the stones to conclude. Another connection of Iasion’s “stony aspect” comes from Latvian mythology. I have little doubt that Iasion is Jasień is Ūsiņš. If you look at Haralds Biezais’ “The Lighgod of the Old Latvians” (Der Lichgott der alten Letten), you will note that the Latvian Ūsiņš rides auf einem steinernen Pferd. That is, on a “stone horse.” Incidentally, this is also true of another figure in Latvian mythology that is likely identical to Ūsiņš – the Latvian Dievinš. Of course, Dievinš is cognate with Deus Pater and hence Zeus. Thus, Ūsiņš brings us full circle to the stone-tossing and rock-breaking Jasień. As an aside, I think, as previously mentioned, Jasień is also reflected in the Greek Jason myth.Further, the Iranian word for “stone” is -asan (*garta means “cave” – “guard,” “protect – and hence your Assgard or “stone cave”). That -asan is cognate with Jasień and Jason is unlikely to need an explanation. Thus, we can say that Jasień and Piorun/Perun are likely the same Being.

I will close with a final observation that suggests that this Divinity is also connected with Mars – the warrior and Janus. Specifically, on the 15th of March, celebrations took place to the Anna Perenna. Anna Perenna (I can’t help it but: Marz-anna or Marsa żona?) had been connected with Mars. Mars too was seen as an agricultural deity initially (before he had “to go to war” – much as Gerovit/Iarovit/Iarilo was both an agricultural and war Deity). Curiously, these Anna Perenna celebrations took place in front of town gates. If this suggests a God of Passages, it should not be surprising. Janus certainly filled that role but so does Jasień (remember Jasieńczyk coat of arms consists of a key and compare the passage of winter – entry into “Jasień-time” or w jesna or vest/wiosna – with the entry into winter time – jesień). I will only note further that brama means “gate” in Polish).

Of the Goddess Devanna

PublishedJanuary 1, 2021 Post authortorino

An interesting question arises in the context of the Goddess Dziewanna or Devana. This is a question of proof. Unlike Jassa, Lada, Nia or Leli, this Goddess appears first in Dlugosz (as the Polish version of Diana) and has not been attested earlier. Thus, we must ask, is there any evidence outside of Dlugosz for Her existence? Certainly, sources subsequent to Dlugosz mention Her but they are derivatives of the earlier chronicler. So we must ask what is the proof, if any?

Well, there is circumstantial evidence. The word dziewczyna means a “girl” or a “young woman”. Dziewka carries the meaning of a “girl”, sometimes “daughter”, as well. Dziewica refers to a “virgin” or, more generally, to a “maiden”. But what about just Dziewa? That name has not been attested in Polish. Of course, the fact that it has not been attested does not prove that it did not exist but, then again, you cannot establish a negative.

Leszek Kolankiewicz in his Dziady observes that the word dziewanna does appear in the Old Polish Dictionary (Slownik Staropolski) but not as the name of a goddess but rather as the name of a plant (so also marzanna). Apparently, dziewanna refers to the Verbascum plant or mullein. This meaning of the word has been attested as of 1419 by the said dictionary.

Kolankiewicz also observes that there is a Div in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” where it seems to be a bird of some sort. Further, he notes that Diva is mentioned in the Russian Sermon of Saint Gregory. He further throws a diva from Bulgarian folklore where the name seems to refer to a nymph or a demonness. Naturally, he also mentions the Lithuanian divas, Old Prussian deyvis or deivas and the Latvian dievs. From there he takes it to the Irish dia, Old Norse tivar, the Latin deus and earlier deivos and to the overall IE terms for the Sky God. Dutifully, he notes also brings up the Indian deva.

Finally, he notes that in the Iranian language daeva began to mean a “demon” presumably as a result of the theological dominance of the followers of Zarathustra. He also brings up an observation bay Zygmunt Krzak to the effect that the various -annas seem to collate to the pre-Zarathustrian Deities (maybe As & Anna?).

So much for the comparative material.

It might be worth noting that in Polish there is no necessarily pejorative meaning associated with the word dziw. That word means really “wonder”. Now, dziwny means “strange” but this too projects a neutral rather than a negative meaning. Overall, it would be silly to suggest that Zarathustra’s reforms resulted in a pejorative meaning of related words in Latin, Norse and even Irish (!) languages. I am not aware of any such meaning in Baltic and, as for, Suavic no such meaning is present at least in Polish.

But there are hints of the meaning of such names and they have been mentioned on this website.

First of all, as again noted above, the div compounds refer to the “female” in various iterations.

Second, so to speak, that female may well be at the root of the IE word for “two”. For example, dwa in Polish. The first, if you forgive a male centric view, would have been the male God – Iasion, As, Janus, eins or even possibly Lado or Odin or jeden.

Third, there is clearly a forest connection. If you want, you can just think of the “maiden/virgin” or dziewica and think of the “virgin forest.” Indeed, there may be a connection with a certain “wildness” – thus you can see the word for “wild” – dziki or indeed for a boar – dzik.

Dziwy – meaning wonders may, however, also refer to strange creatures of the forest more generally. These would be beings other than animals. In this context, it may be worth noting that the etymology for the Russian medved – that is “bear” – being of one who knows honey – strikes me as rather fanciful. A kind of a folk etymology. As already discussed, the Polish version – niedźwiedź – seems, to me at least, to contain a more convincing etymology right in the word itself. That is nie dziwiec or nie dziw, meaning “not a div” or not a forest deity.

As previously mentioned, there is also – in some manuscripts of Tacitus’ “Annals” (I, 51) – Tafanna (or Tanfana or Tamfana) – who is an actual deity:

Perhaps related given the geography, also discussed previously, in the Gesta Abbatum Fontanellensium (Deeds of the Abbots of Fontenelle) we also have the name Devenna. Given the interesting potential connections of these lands with the – of course – wild Vilti or Veletae (see the many articles on Suavs in Holland on this site) and the alleged rulership of the same over all the Suavs, as reported by Muslims, this connection is not to be discounted in the quest for the Polish Devanna.

Speaking of placenames, Kolankiewicz cites Karol Potkański for some related names such as mount Děvín in the Moravian Pavlov Hills and Dziewin, being the Suavic name for Magdeburg. With respect to this last name, it’s more likely that the word Magdeburg is a translation of the Suavic Dziewin with a -burg suffix thrown in. Specifically, rather than *magaþ (“great” with “mighty” being a cognate), the name probably comes from Magd (meaning “young woman”), likely a translation of Dziewin. From this we can draw connection to the Maegdeland or Mazovia of Alfred’s Orosius and all the way to the Amazons. Certainly, a fitting affiliation for the Goddess of the Hunt!

Of course, we can continue this list with many other names. In the West, for example, we have such placenames as:

Devon, England (though probably from Dumnonia – Latin version of the “deep valley” dwellers Celtic tribe name; from proto-Celtic root word *dubno-, meaning both “deep” and “world”… on the other hand, there are a few Dubnos in Suavic lands)
Deventer in the Netherlands

In the East of Europe, the more likely candidates for a connection include:

Devin in Bulgaria
Dziewin in Poland (near Cracow)

There is also the personal name Devon from the French devin meaning “divine” (occasionally from Ó Damháin).

Anyway, all of this is more or less well known. Anything else that may be worthwhile adding here?

Well, in fact, the answer is yes. Michał Muszyński discovered a Polish manuscript from the Kórnik Library which contains a gloss dzÿewana as a translation of the Lapus barbarus (probably Lapis – rock) with another annotation of zÿwÿcza which is naturally today’s Polish żywica or tree resin (Harz in German). Of course, Suavs are known to have worshipped trees. Was thus Devanna, the deified life blood of the trees?

Curiously, there are some sellers online that offer figurines of Devanna which happen to be made of… resin.

Separately, as is well known, Dlugosz also mentions Żywie but as a different Deity. Was there a connection?