Bjarmian languages

Bjarmian languages
Bjarmian languages
Native speakers	0
Language family	Uralic Finno-Permic? Finnic Bjarmian languages; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

Bjarmian languages are a group of extinct Finnic languages once spoken in Bjarmia (Arkhangelsk), in the Dvina basin.^[1] Vocabulary of the languages in Bjarmia can be reconstructed from toponyms in the Arkhangelsk region, and a few words are documented by Norse travelers. However some Saamic toponyms can also be found in the Dvina basin.^[2]^[3]

Influence in Russian[]

Some Finnic substrate words can be found in Northern Russian dialects, for example the words: лахта (lahta) 'marsh, moist place, meadow', луда (luda) 'rocky islet', каска (kaska) ‘young woods’ and щелья (schelja) ‘hill or steep bank by a river’, can be found in the Russian dialects around Pinega, and come from Finnic languages.^[2]

Norse sagas[]

Gandvík[]

Gandvík is a name that appears in Norse poems, Gandvík was associated with Bjarmia, the word could have been a Norse translation of a Finnic word, which is "Kantalahti" in Finnish.

Vína[]

The word Vína appears in many Norse sagas, that refer to Bjarmia, it is likely related to the Finnish word "Vienanmeri" (White Sea).

Jómali[]

Norse sagas documented a Bjarmian word "Jómali", which is likely related to Finnish "Jumala" 'God'.^[3]

Reconstructions[]

Many toponyms in the Arkhangelsk oblast are of Finno–Ugric origin, together with the Vologda oblast, according to Matveev, there are up to 100,000 toponyms of Finno–Ugric origin.^[2]


Bjarmian	English
*kaski	burnt-over clearing
*hattara	bush
*lauta	board
*palttV	slope
*lima	slime
*kelta	yellow
*petra	wild reindeer
*pime	dark
*haina	hay
*leettek	fine sand
*varkas	thief
*kicca	narrow
*ruske	red
*kylmä	cold

Languages[]

There were likely many Finnic languages spoken in Bjarmia, the first one was an archaic Finnic language with the diphthong *ai instead of Finnic ei, lack of consonant gradation and the vowel /ɤ/.

Later a Karelian-like language started to be spoken in Bjarmia, which did not have the Karelian sound shift of /aa/ into /ua/. Some toponyms in Bjarmia also have the sound /ʃ/ instead of /s/.

However there were likely some Saamic languages spoken in Bjarmia, alongside Finnic languages.^[2]

References[]

^ Hauge, Arne (22 November 2018). "Kadonnut, Mystinen Bjarmia". Ruijan Kaiku (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Saarikivi, Janne. Substrata Uralica: Studies on Finno-Ugrian Substrate in Northern Russian Dialects (PhD). Helsinki, Finland: University of Helsinki. ISBN 978-952-10-4519-6.
^ ^a ^b Koskela Vasaru, Mervi (2016). Bjarmaland (PhD). Acta Universitatis Ouluensis B Humaniora 145. Oulu, Finland: University of Oulu. ISBN 978-952-62-1396-5.

[1] Hauge, Arne (22 November 2018). "Kadonnut, Mystinen Bjarmia". Ruijan Kaiku (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 1 October 2021.

[:0-2] Saarikivi, Janne. Substrata Uralica: Studies on Finno-Ugrian Substrate in Northern Russian Dialects (PhD). Helsinki, Finland: University of Helsinki. ISBN 978-952-10-4519-6.

[:1-3] Koskela Vasaru, Mervi (2016). Bjarmaland (PhD). Acta Universitatis Ouluensis B Humaniora 145. Oulu, Finland: University of Oulu. ISBN 978-952-62-1396-5.

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