The ethnonym is what? Definition

In translation from the Greek language, the ethnonym is literally "the name of the people". Since ancient times, the names of tribes carried a certain meaning. The science of ethnonym studies these names, finds their roots and explains their subtext.

The names given by the conquerors

Historically, the origin of ethnonyms can be very different. The names of some peoples were adopted from the conquerors of their country. For example, in the 7th century the Turkic-speaking horde of Bulgarians invaded the Balkan Peninsula. Khan aliens began to rule the South Slavic state. Gradually, small Turks dissolved among the local population.

The Slavs did not disappear anywhere, but they adopted the name of their own conquerors, becoming namesakes of Volga Bulgarians, as well as Caucasian balkars. This example clearly illustrates that an ethnonym is a changeable phenomenon, and its content can evolve.

In the same way as the Bulgarians, in the XIII century events developed in Central Asia. The territory of modern Uzbekistan was invaded by the Mongols. The names of their tribes and clans were reflected in the names of local population groups (so there were mangouts, barlasas, etc.). At the same time, the neighboring ethnonym "Kazakhs" is of exclusively Turkic origin. According to one version of the linguists, this word is related to the word "Cossacks" (both translated as "free, free people").

In the case of the conquerors and the conquered, there is also a reverse example. Sometimes conquered peoples themselves give names to their conquerors. An example is the history of the Hutts. This people lived in Anatolia at the turn of the third and second millennia BC. E. Later on the place of the Hutts came the Indo-Europeans, who became known as the Hittites.

Territories and people

Each ethnonym is a kind of chronicle. It concerns not only the people, but also the country in which they live. Ethnonymic studies show that in some cases the name of the territory gave the name to the newly arrived people.

The legendary commander Alexander of Macedon was born in Macedonia, a country north of Ancient Greece. In the Middle Ages, the southern Slavs settled in this region. They had nothing to do with ancient civilization and did not even conquer it, since it had long since disappeared. But the name of Macedonia continued to exist. It left an imprint on the southern Slavs. The case with the Baltic people of the Prussians is analogous. In the XIII century, their land was conquered by the Germans. Later, the German state in this territory was called Prussia, and its inhabitants-Germans were called Prussians.

Tribal unions

Often an ethnonym is the legacy of one tribe, the former head of an alliance or confederation. Until the 9th century the Czechs occupied not the largest territory. Around them there were many other West Slavic tribes. However, gradually the Czechs rallied around themselves neighbors.

The union of the Polabian Slavs of the Bodrichs received a name from one of the tribes of this union. Otherwise the situation was with their neighbors of the Lyutis. Those have acquired a new common name, not associated with any of the tribes. Ethnographic groups of the Tungus have a tradition to be called the main kind in the group.

The reverse examples are also known. Ethnic community can disintegrate, and the emergent isolated parts - to preserve the former name. However, it will no longer be the same as before (more general). Thus the name of the Turks (descended from the Turks), Slovenes, Slovaks and ilmen Slovaks (descended from the Slavs) appeared.

Erroneous ethnonyms

If the ethnonym "Slavs" always had one meaning, then other ethnonyms could change their content even if their object remained the same. In the XIX century, Moldovans were called Greeks and Gypsies. In pre-revolutionary Russia, the ethnonym "Kyrgyz" did not extend to the Kirghiz (they were called Karakirgiz), but to Turkmen and Kazakhs.

The name of one people can be extended to neighbors if knowledge about these communities is fragmentary and insufficient. For example, the ethnonym "Tatars" for a long time was used by the Russians in relation to any people of the East. This tradition has spread to Western Europe. So on the maps appeared the Tatar Strait (separating the mainland from Sakhalin), although not only Tatars, but even Mongols, did not live near it. Also in Russia before the 18th century the Germans could be called Danes or Dutch. For some African nationalities, "frang" is not only French, but in general all Europeans.

Evolution of names

Becoming an ethnonym, the word begins a new life independent of previous ties. Ukrainians are not marginal, even if this meaning is invested in it when it comes to this name. Thus, the names of peoples can have three levels of meanings. The first is the concept before the formation of the ethnonym itself, the second is the ethnonym itself, and the third is the one that arose from the ethnonym. Example: in pre-revolutionary Russia any wandering and swarthy person could be called a gypsy.

Among the ethnonyms, self-names constitute a smaller part. The name of the Germans was first used not by them, but by the Celts. The tribes themselves, which in the future laid the foundation of the German nation, opposed themselves to each other. They were not a single whole and did not have a common name. For the Celts, the Germans were an abstract mass, an internal division that played no role.

The European names of most of the Indian tribes were adopted from the neighbors. By giving a name that was not like its own, the natives counterposed themselves to others. Therefore, many tribes became known by their names, which they themselves never recognized. For example, the Navajo Indians themselves consider themselves "dine" - that is, "people". There are no proper names for the Papuans. These disparate tribes became known to Europeans along the surrounding rivers, mountains, islands, villages.

Territorial and totem names

One of the theories about the name of the Bashkir people says that the ethnonym "bashkort" is translated as "beekeeper". And although this version is far from basic, it demonstrates one of the types of the emergence of ethnic names. The basis of the ethnonym can be not only a phrase indicating the nature of the activity, but also a reference to religion. A significant number of ancient peoples received their name in honor of their own totem. A lot of such examples have been established. The Indian tribe of the Cheyenans bears the name of the totem of the snake. So did the names of the peoples of Africa and the aborigines of Australia.

Territorial ethnonyms are widespread. Buryats - "forest" (a name given to them by steppe neighbors). "Humans of shrubs" were called Bushmen. The name of the Slavic union of the Dregovichi is translated as "union of the swamps" (dregva - bog, swamp). Speaking name of Balkan Montenegrins.

Color and secondary ethnonyms

Color ethnonyms are found in all parts of the world. It is not known exactly how the word "Belarusians" appeared. There are several interpretations: the color of shirts, light eyes or hair has affected. Most of the color ethnonyms in the Turkic languages: yellow Uighurs, white nogai, black nogai. There is a version that the Kirghiz are "red Oguzes".

Secondary ethnonyms in addition to the already mentioned Macedonians and Prussians are also vitals, which gave the name of Italy and modern Italians. Before the emergence of the Bavarian people in their land settled ancient Bavaria, expelled from there the Celts of the battles. So the ethnonym of the former population becomes the ethnonym of the country, and then of the new population. Also known examples of Angles - England - the British, and francs - France - the French.

Names in appearance and occupation

The basis of the ethnonym may be external signs. The Indonesians gave the name to the Papuans ("curly"). Ethiopians are "people with singed faces", Lombards are "high". The Britons had a custom of coloring the body. Perhaps, it was for this that they were called "variegated".

Also the ethnonym appears as a reference to customs and traditions. The ancient inhabitants of Sicily are sycles - "farmers" or "reapers", Koryaks are "reindeer herders". The Arabian tribes of Dafir and Muntemix are "intertwined" or "united" (a reference to the integration process).

Ethnonym of the Russian

In the scientific community, there are several theories about the origin of the ethnonym "Rus". The Varangian version says that this word is Scandinavian, and translates as "oarsmen". There is also the Indo-Iranian theory (translated as "light") and the Proto-Slavic. One way or another, but in the Middle Ages the word "Rus" denoted both the people and the state. From it the modern name of the East Slavic people took place.

The ethnonym "Russians" was first used as "Russian people". At the turn of the XVIII and XIX centuries. With the emergence of modern literary language adjectively began to be used separately and evolved into a noun. Before the 1917 revolution, the word "Russians" could refer to all three East Slavic peoples (the division into Great Russians and Little Russians was also common).

Collective titles

Ethnonyms in Russian designate the set either as a collective form (chud) or as a plural (Germans). As a rule, words are formed with the help of suffixes. For example, -ta and i-ichi denote descendants of the same gender. In the Russian language even the borrowed ethnonyms received multiple endings: Italians, Germans, Estonians, Englishmen, Estonians, Egyptians. Such suffixes as -bodies and -ins are an example of building one suffix on another.

Word formation can have a geographical character. Ethnonyms of peoples to the southeast of the eastern Slavs ended in -ar: Avars, Tatars, Bulgarians, Khazars, etc. This phenomenon has Turkic or Indo-Iranian roots. The Finnish tribes to the north of the Slavs, on the contrary, received collective names: chud, vod, all, pits, samoyad, corn. These examples are not the only ones. Other collective ethnonyms: Erzya, Merya, Izhora, Meshchera, Mordva, Lithuania.

Distortions

When you transfer a word from a language into a language, it often changes its phonetics beyond recognition. In the Turkic languages, the ethnonym "Russians" sounds like "Urus" or "Oros", since for the Turkic group the use of the "p" sound at the beginning of the word is alien. Hungarians call themselves the Magyars. Their relatives are far from Siberia - Finno-Ugric people Mansi. A version is widely spread that both ethnonyms are one and the same word, which has changed greatly phonetically (the same group includes the mesh, mishar, majars).

Many of the names of the peoples of Africa were distorted by European colonizers and already appeared in the Russian language (Togolese, Congolese). The Cossack explorers, meeting the Buryats for the first time, mistakenly generalized the name of strangers with the word "brother". Because of this, a whole tradition has arisen. Buryats long called brothers (hence the name of the city of Bratsk). To determine the origin of the ethnonym, specialists "take off" all historical changes and try to find its original form.