Alexander Pustyakov

This article analyses the Mari traditional pre-Christian baby-naming practices in the past. The following questions are considered in this article: the meaning of the name among the Mari, the period of the name bestowing, name givers, methods of selecting names, and the occurrence or absence of naming ceremonies.
The main part of the article is preceded by brief information about the Mari. The Mari are the indigenous inhabitants of the Middle Volga Region in Russia. Nowadays nearly half of all Mari live in the Republic of Mari El, with significant populations in the Kama river catchment area.
There are regional and temporary variables in the naming practices of the Mari. A name in the Mari culture had great significance. On the whole, according to Mari tradition, a child was ordinarily named twice. The first name would be given immediately after birth, while the second (permanent) name would be given after one to three days or more had passed. A permanent name could be changed if the child cried often or was very sick. The parents, midwife or priest were usually the name givers. Ways of choosing a name varied greatly. The choice of a name was determined by beliefs (e.g. meaningful names, magic rituals for correct name choosing), traditions (e.g. patronymic linkage names) and for other reasons.

This article analyses the male personal names of the Volzhsk Mari in the Bol’shoy Karamas Volost (nowadays territory of the Karamas and Sotnur rural settlements). The research was carried out on the basis of the census book of the Galitskiy doroga, 1678. The structure of anthroponymic formulas in the census book and linguistic origin of names of the inhabitants of Bol’shoy Karamas are examined in the article. The author also explores how the principle of naming children with the initial or final element identical to a parent’s name is reflected in the anthroponymy of Bol’shoy Karamas Volost.

The aim of this study is to analyse and describe the formation and development of the Mari anthroponymic system and to reveal its specifics in the past and present. The sources used for this study include various lists of personal names and archive documents. Anthroponymy has a long history among the Mari, but in documents, names are only mentioned from the 16th century onwards.
At present, there are very few original Mari names given in available materials. Original Mari names are divided into several groups according to the principles of naming. Most common among the structurally simple anthroponyms are names based on words describing features of the person, and in compounds there are names that include the component -cora ʻboyʼ. From ancient times the Mari people have adhered to traditional customs when naming their children. In some places, ceremonies have accompanied the naming of children even as late as the end of the twentieth century.
The stratification of Mari anthroponyms is explained by different extralinguistic factors: active and longterm contacts between the Mari and Chuvash (Bulgar), Tatars and Russians, as well as the spread of new religious beliefs (Islam among parts of the Mari population and the Russian Orthodox faith). The influence of Tatar anthroponymy on the Maris before Christianization was very considerable. The group of names borrowed from Tatar also include Arabic, Persian and Mongolian names, since these were borrowed via Turkic languages. Russian Orthodox names entered the Mari language during Christianization of the Mari people and through contacts with the Russian speaking population. Nowadays, the Mari, for the most part, give their children
names that can be traced to the Russian language, but among the
modern borrowed names one can also find traditional Mari names.

В статье осуществляется анализ фонетической и морфологической адаптации христианских личных имен в марийском языке. К анализу в работе привлекаются личные имена, зафиксированные на разных территориях проживания мари. Объем анализируемого материала не является исчерпывающим, но позволяет выявить общие особенности усвоения христианских имен. Основная часть статьи предварена краткими сведениями о христианизации Марийского края и контактах мари с русскоязычным населением, а также об особенностях местных говоров русского языка. В марийский антропонимикон вошло значительное количество русских имен. Источником заимствований послужили не только церковные формы имен, но и развившиеся в русских говорах многочисленные варианты. В ходе исследования выявлены фонетические, морфологические изменения христианских имен в марийском языке, установлены причины большинства этих преобразований. Автор также обращает внимание на роль соседних тюркских языков в проникновении русских имен в марийский язык. Изменения в заимствованных именах произошли под влиянием внутренних законов марийского языка, а также диалектных черт местных русских говоров. Выявление системных фонетических и словообразовательных трансформаций помогает установить происхождение ряда антропонимов.

This article analyses the phonetic and morphological adaptation of Christian personal
names in the Mari language. The work examines personal names recorded in different regions among the Mari. The composition of the presented data is not exhaustive; it does, however, allow one to observe some general patterns of the adaptation process. The main part of the article is preceded by a brief overview of the Christianization of the Mari region and the contacts between the Mari and the Russian-speaking population; the features of the local dialects of the Russian language are briefly stated. The Mari language incorporated a significant number of Russian names. The source of loans included, besides the standard church name forms, also the numerous varieties found in the Russian dialects. As part of the study, phonetic, structural changes of Christian names in the Mari language are revealed and the reasons for the majority of these transformations are identified. The author also pays attention to the intermediary role of the neighboring Turkic languages in the penetration of Russian names into the Mari language. Changes in borrowed names were induced by internal Mari linguistic rules, as well as dialectal features of the local Russian dialects. The identification of systematic phonetic and structural transformations helps to determine the origin of obscure anthroponyms.

В статье представлен анализ топонимов Ветлужско-Вятского междуречья, имеющих в своем составе лексемы, которые могут быть соотнесены как с ма-рийскими, так и с пермскими языковыми данными. В работе рассматриваются продуктивные в топонимии региона лексемы шVр, важ ~ вож, а также анализи-руются некоторые названия с компонентом вад / вод / вот. В ходе исследования выявляется языковая принадлежность топонимов с указанными компонентами, предлагаются возможные этимологии основ, детерминантов и названий в целом. одновременно с этимологическим анализом в публикации демонстрируется значимость некоторых общих и частных принципов топономастики для разгра-ничения марийских и пермских топонимических фактов в Ветлужско-Вятском междуречье. согласно результатам исследования, среди топонимов с компо-нентом шVр обнаруживаются названия как с марийскими, так и с удмуртскими истоками, последние сконцентрированы на северо-востоке Республики марий Эл и в сопредельных районах кировской области. Тополексема вож, как пока-зано в статье, не была активна в удмуртской топонимии в период пребывания удмуртских родоплеменных групп в правобережье Вятки. для ряда топонимов с компонентом вад / вод / вот, которые традиционно объяснялись на основе коми языка, автором установлены другие возможные языковые источники.

The article presents an analysis of place names of the Vetluga-Vyatka interfluve area
containing lexemes that can be of either Mari or Permic origin. The paper focuses on the roots shVr, vazh ~ vozh which are frequent in the toponymy of the area, and some names including the lexical component vad / vod / vot. The author establishes the linguistic attribution of the place names in question and suggests possible etymologies for the roots, determiners and names on the whole. In addition to the etymological analysis, the author shows the importance of some general and special principles of toponymic studies as applied to the differentiation of Mari and Permic place names of the Vetluga-Vyatka interfluve area. The author concludes that among
the place names containing the component shVr there are those of both Mari and Permic origin, the latter being concentrated in the North-East of the Republic of Mari El and in the adjacent districts of Kirov region. The author argues that the root vozh was not active in Udmurt toponymy when Udmurt clan groups lived on the right bank of the Vyatka. The article also suggests new hypotheses concerning the origin of some place names containing vad / vod / vot which used to be explained referring to the Komi language.

This research focuses on an analysis of the place names of localities that have ceased to exist in the Republic of Mari El. The number of such localities that have been recorded to date is 1383. Many of them have popular names in addition to official ones. In the analysis, the previous names of the localities are also taken into consideration. The total number of the official, popular and historical names treated in the work is 2370. The material of the place names is approached from both the synchronic and diachronic points of view. This multi-faceted analysis reveals the way the Mari names can have been adapted in Russian. Phonetic, morphological and semantic change has been the major source. In the work, an analysis of the form of the names is carried out. The place names in the Republic of Mari El mainly include entities in Mari and Russian with numerous elements of a substrate nature, which together constitute the specificity of the names. It has been established that there is homogeneity in the structural typology of place names in related languages – in the majority of the Finno-Ugric languages, place names are composed of two words. Russian place names contain suffixes or are compounds. Results that are interesting from the point of view of linguistics and the study of extra-linguistic phenomena have been obtained in the analysis of the lexis and semantics of the place names of localities that are no longer found in the Republic of Mari El. The analyses show that there are general principles underlying the naming of localities and a productivity of lexemes within certain semantic fields. Terms that are directly or indirectly associated with the types of activities developed by people constitute part of the place names. The lexical-semantic analysis of the place names aims to establish information pertaining to the ethnic culture of the Maris. Attention is also paid to the use of male and female names and words expressing spatial relations for the formation of place names in Mari. An appendix to the work provides a dictionary of 1300 place names of localities no longer existing in the Republic of Mari El. The results of the research can be used for university courses and in further research of the toponymy, phonetics and lexicology of Finno-Ugric languages.