ВОПРОСЫ ОНОМАСТИКИ | PROBLEMS OF ONOMASTICS

Sergey L. Nikolaev
Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow, Russia

Etymology and Comparative Phonology of North Germanic Personal Names in the Primary Chronicle

Voprosy onomastiki, 2017, Volume 14, Issue 2, pp. 7–54
DOI: 10.15826/vopr_onom.2017.14.2.009

Received 9 January 2017

Abstract: The paper presents comparative analysis of the names of North Germanic origin in the Primary Chronicle. In Section 1, the author analyses the spelling of the names of the ambassadors who participated in the conclusion of the Treaty of Prince Igor with Byzantium (944) as attested in several copies of the Chronicle and suggests approximate reconstructions of the names’ Cyrillic spellings. Section 2 deals with the “Varangian” names from the Chronicle which have sound reflexes different from the known Scandinavian ones. In addition to the names of the ambassadors of 944, the author involves other North Germanic names found in the Primary Chronicle. The author argues that such deviations may reflect phonetical peculiarities of the North Germanic dialect spoken by the northern Germans who served in the “Scandinavian” druzhina of the Southern (Kievan) Russian princes until the 12th century. Table 2 includes the “Varangian” names with the features of the postulated “Russian Varangian” dialect as compared to the Proto-Norse reconstructions and the known North Germanic names. Section 3 provides comparative analysis of phonetics of the “Varangian” names. The author concludes that most of these names do not belong to any of the known North Germanic languages. The phonology of the “Varangian” names indicates an early separation of the “Russian Varangian” dialect from the Proto-Norse stem. Table 4 presents regular reflexes of the Proto-North Germanic vowels in the “Russian Varangian” dialect. Section 4 is devoted to the annalistic names of Scandinavian origin that have vocalic reflexes different from the “Russian Varangian” ones. The author provides comparative analysis of this group of names as attested in the Primary Chronicle and Novgorod birchbark manuscripts (Tables 5 and 6). Finally, Table 7 represents an index “From Proto-North Germanic reconstructions to the ‘Varangian’ names” which includes both “Russian Varangian” names and annalistic names reflecting the phonology of other North Germanic languages and dialects of the 10th–12th centuries.

Keywords: Primary Chronicle, Scandinavian names, Old North Germanic personal names, Old North Germanic dialects, “Russian Varangian” dialect, comparative phonology of the North Germanic languages

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