Revisiting the History of the Ural Mineral Industry and its Terminology: Who are тальяны (talians) Dedicated to?

Abstract

The authors study the history behind the development of mineral deposits in the Ural Gemstone Belt (near Murzinka village, Gornouralsky Urban District, Sverdlovsk Oblast), as well as mineralogical and toponymical terminology connected to this history. The analysis focuses on the following issues: how the deposits were discovered; what role in it belonged to visiting Italian masters (the Tortori brothers); how their activities are connected to the popular term тальян (тальянчик, тальяшка) ‘any precious (crystal) stone’, ‘amethyst’, ‘pure quartz’, ‘smoky quartz’, and the name of the mountain (mine) Тальян. The authors conclude that, although this version is widespread in popular literature, the Tortori brothers were not the first to discover gemstones near Murzinka settlement. The mountain name Тальян is a metonymic transfer from the name of a mine near Murzinka. In this mine, crystal gemstones were mined — mostly amethysts that were called тальяны. In any case, the word тальян derives from the stem (и)тальян- meaning “Italian” but is not connected to the discovery of the deposit. Most probably, the word conveys a naïve impression of coloured transparent stones that resemble Italian glass. Thus, it is a motivational parallel to the word вениса ‘garnet’ (lit. ‘Venetian stone’). The term тальян appeared no later than the eighteenth century; it already existed near Murzinka before the Tortori arrived. After their arrival, the word could gain a new motivational impetus — and started to be perceived as a result of dedicatory nomination.

Keywords

• история россии xvii–xviii вв.
• самоцветная полоса урала
• добыча минералов
• русская диалектная лексика
• минералогическая номенклатура
• этимология