Вопросы ономастики (Jun 2019)
Toponyms in the Charms of the Russian North. III: Stones
Abstract
The third article in a series of publications on the toponymy in the charms of the Russian North discusses the proper names of stones attested in the texts from Eastern Slavia, primarily Russia and Belarus (for the Ukrainian tradition, distinctively, assigning proper names to stones is uncommon). Alatyr is the central name of this kind, known widely in the Russian and Belarusian folklore, mostly from spiritual poems, epics, and charms, where it is mentioned hundreds of times, including dozens of context variants and contaminated forms (e.g., Latyr, Latar, Oratir, Otlater, Zlatyr, and many others). The name’s coverage extends over the Russian North and North-West, West, South, and the central part of Russia, the Volga region, the territory of the secondary settlement — the Urals and Siberia; outside of Russia, the name is attested in Belarus and the territory of Belarusian settlements in Lithuania. The rest of the names used for stones (such as Aspid, Marmont, Kirbich, Bulat, Plast, Kip, Kupav, etc.) are rather singular. The article falls into three sections. The fi rst is devoted solely to the name Alatyr and includes an analysis of its usage in folkloric texts (genres and motifs); a review of different etymological theories since the 19th century; an analysis of the volume and structure of the fi eld constituted by the name’s contaminated associates; a list of variants and contaminated forms according to their frequency and distribution area; a study of the epithets of Alatyr and the their derivational potential. In the second section, proper names of stones unrelated to Alatyr are analyzed: the authors comment on their geography and the number of their attestations, produce some ideas on their motivation, as well as attempt to defi ne the characteristics of the folkloric image of the magic stone relevant for the mythological naming patterns. Finally, the third section, entitled “Instead of Conclusion. Where does the name Alatyr stem from, after all?” contains a detailed history of research on the name Alatyr, enlarged with a textological commentary on the dating and the sources of its appearance in written traditions. Thereby, the authors offer their own vision on the etymology of the famous folkloric proper name.
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