View source for Old Novgorod dialect

{{Short description|Extinct Slavic language spoken in medieval Novgorod}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date=September 2024}}
{{expand Russian|date=December 2022}}
}}

{{Infobox language
| name             = Old Novgorodian
| altname          = Old Novgorod dialect
| states           = [[Novgorod Republic]]
| era              = 11th–15th centuries
| ref              = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/db53a5b7cff24839278d5c0b11b31873/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar&parentSessionId=Iy4r%2FVspDoQlcsXFs2PCtRg0yTESRpnpPRW%2BYG52q8g%3D|title=A HISTORY OF THE PRONOMINAL DECLENSION IN THE NOVGOROD DIALECT OF OLD RUSSIAN FROM THE ELEVENTH-CENTURY TO THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY.|website=[[ProQuest]] |access-date=2025-06-11|quote=the 11th century, to the end of the 15th century}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
| fam3             = [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
| fam4             = [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Balto-Slavic language|Proto-Balto-Slavic]]
| ancestor3        = [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]]
| script           = [[Early Cyrillic alphabet|Old Cyrillic]], [[Glagolitic script|Glagolitic]]
| isoexception = historical
| glotto       = none
}}
The '''Old Novgorod''' or '''Old Novgorodian dialect''' ({{langx|ru|древненовгородский диалект|drevnenovgorodskiy dialekt}}, {{lit|ancient Novgorodian dialect}}) was the [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]] variety used in the city of [[Veliky Novgorod]] and its surrounding area. It is mainly known from medieval [[birch bark writing]]s dating to the 11th to 15th centuries.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Зализняк - Значение берестяных грамот для истории русского языка|url=http://philology.ru/linguistics2/zaliznyak-03.htm|access-date=2020-07-18|website=philology.ru}}</ref>{{sfn|Schallert|2024|p=604}}{{sfn|Vinokur|1971|p=36}} [[Andrey Zaliznyak]] distinguished it from "supra-dialectal Old Russian".{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=11|loc=Chapter 1.5}} Other manuscripts have also shown distinct [[Northern Russian dialects|north Russian dialect]] forms, in addition to the birch bark letters.{{sfn|Vinokur|1971|p=36}}{{sfn|Greenberg|2017|p=519}}

Old Novgorodian is of particular interest in that it has retained some archaic features which were lost in other Slavic dialects. For example, the birch bark letters from the [[Novgorod]]-[[Pskov]] area attest that the [[Slavic second palatalization|second palatalization]] failed to reach this area.{{sfn|Greenberg|2017|p=531}} Furthermore, the letters provide unique evidence of the Slavic vernacular, as opposed to the [[Church Slavonic]] which dominated the written literature of the period. Most of the letters feature informal writing such as personal correspondence, instructions, complaints, news, and reminders. Such widespread usage indicates a high level of literacy, even among women and children. The preserved notes display the original spelling of the time; unlike some texts, they were not copied, rewritten or edited by later scribes.<ref name=":0" />

Today, the study of Novgorodian birch bark letters is an established scholarly field in Russian [[historical linguistics]], with far-ranging historical and archaeological implications for the study of the Russian Middle Ages.

==Classification==
[[File:Rus-1389-lg.png|thumb|280px|East Slavic languages in 1389. Colors represent spoken dialects. Dashed lines represent written languages: 
{{legend-line|YellowGreen dashed 5px|Written [[Ruthenian language|Early Ruthenian]]}}
{{legend-line|gold dashed 5px|Written [[Middle Russian|Old/Middle Russian]]}}
{{legend-line|dodgerblue dashed 5px|Written Old Novgorodian}}]]
The mainstream view is that the Old Novgorod dialect is an [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]] variety that has some significant deviations from what [[Andrey Zaliznyak]] called "supra-dialectal Old Russian", although there have been some attempts to classify it as a separate branch of the Slavic languages.{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=11|loc="Zaliznjak... calls this 'supra-dialectal Old Russian'... Some attempts have been made to classify Old Novgorodian as a separate Northern branch of the Slavic languages. The mainstream view is still that it is an East Slavic variety, though it has some significant deviations from the 'supra-regional' variety of Old Russian..."}}

As [[Church Slavonic]] was used in liturgical and religious writing, while a supra-regional variety was used for trade, it is unclear to what extent Novgorodians at the time would have considered them to have been separate languages or distinct registers of a single language.{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=11}} In addition, there is some variation in birch bark letters due to a lack of standardization that is seen with modern literary languages.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=52}} Some texts are also written with a mixture of Church Slavonic and Old Novgorodian, but most are written in a pure vernacular.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=52}} The language found in the birch bark manuscripts represents the closest approximation to vernacular Old Russian language, as opposed to the formal language used in chronicles.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sussex |first1=Roland |author1-link=Roland Sussex |last2=Cubberley |first2=Paul |title=The Slavic languages |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2006 | location=Cambridge | isbn=978-0-521-22315-7 |page=81}}</ref><ref name="Drinka">{{cite book |last1=Drinka |first1=Bridget |title=Language Contact in Europe: The Periphrastic Perfect through History |date=16 February 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-51493-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r53cDQAAQBAJ |language=en |page=329}}</ref>

==Development==
{{expand section|date=June 2025}}

==Research history==
The first birch bark letter, called ''N1'',{{efn|The ''N'' stands for Novgorod}} was found in the city of [[Veliky Novgorod|Novgorod]] on July 26, 1951, by Nina Fedorovna Akulova.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xi}} It was written in what is now called Old Novgorodian.{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=ix}} As of 2018, a total of 1,222 items have been discovered in 12 cities, of which 1,113 were found in Novgorod.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|pp=19–20}} Nearly all others have been found in nearby cities, including 49 in [[Staraya Russa]] and 19 in [[Torzhok]].{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|pp=19–20}} Among the most notable letters found is ''N202'' discovered in 1956, which was written by a young boy called [[Onfim]] who lived in Novgorod and is dated to the 13th century.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xii}}

In Russian, the study of birch bark letters is informally known as ''berestologiya''.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xii}} It is unknown how many birch bark letters have gone undiscovered; less than three percent of the city of Novgorod has been systematically excavated.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=22}} V.L. Janin, the head of the Novgorod Archaeological Expedition, estimated that more than 20,000 remain to be discovered in Novgorod alone.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=22}} Although the birch bark letters do not contain explicit dates, archaeologists have been able to date them with an accuracy of 10 to 15 years using methods including [[stratigraphy]] and [[dendrochronology]].{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=27}} They can be dated even more precisely if historical names or events are mentioned.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=27}}

Almost all of them were written with [[stylus]]es of [[bronze]] and [[iron]], and never [[ink]]. The letters were preserved due to the [[swamp]]y soil which isolated them from [[oxygen]]. Many letters are found buried amidst the layers under streets which were previously paved with logs.

==Linguistic features==
The short birch-bark texts are written in a peculiar Slavic [[vernacular]], reflecting living speech, and almost entirely free of the heavy [[Church Slavonic]] influence seen in the literary language of the period. Some of the observed linguistic features are not found in any other Slavic dialect, representing important [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]] archaisms.

Zaliznyak differentiates the Old Novgorod features that were already known before the discovery of the birch bark letters and those that have been ascertained after their study during the last few decades such as the following:

# [[Ts–ch merger]] (''tsokanye'')
# secondary [[Slavic liquid metathesis and pleophony|pleophony]], e.g. мълъвити as opposed to мълвити
# retention of stem-final *x in Proto-Slavic *vьx- "all" (spelled вехь) whereas other Slavic languages have undergone the third progressive palatalization, e.g. вьхо<ref>I.e. the progressive palatalization did not take place; cf. ''vьx-'' "all" as opposed to modern Russian ''vs-''</ref> ({{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=38–39}})
# lack of the [[Slavic second palatalization]] in root-final position,<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=37–38}}</ref> e.g. рукѣ, моги<ref>E.g. Proto-Slavic *rěka "river" was in dative singular *rěk-ě which was not reflected as **rěcě in Old Novgorod dialect but has been retained as ''rěkě''.</ref>
# the change ''vl’'' > ''l’'', e.g. Яколь, Яковлев{{clarify|reason=Did Яковлев transform to Яколь? If not, what was the original form?|date=July 2017}}
# nominative singular masculine of o-stems ''-e'',<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=82–87}}</ref> e.g. Иване, посаднике, хлѣбе{{efn|Instead of ''-ъ'' found in all the other Slavic dialects and reconstructed for Late Proto-Slavic, and that has been subsequently lost in a [[Havlík's law|weak]] word-final position,; e.g. Old Novgorod dialect ''brate'' "brother" : modern Russian ''brat''.}}
# genitive singular of а-stems in "soft" ''-ě'', instead of the "hard" ''-y'',<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=81–82}}</ref> e.g. бес кунѣ. The same substitution is found in the accusative plural of o-stems and a-stems.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=92}}</ref>
# replacement of "hard" и by their "soft" counterparts in other non-nominal cases, such as the dual and plural of the imperative,<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=122}}</ref> nominative singular masculine of the present active participle,<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=122–123}}</ref> and pronominal endings (e.g. тиxъ instead of *тѣxъ)<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Zaliznyak|1995|pp=111–112}}</ref>
# absence of palatalization of the stem with the new -ѣ and -и desinences, as in [[Old East Slavic]]
# nominative-accusative plural of а-stems in ''-ě'', e.g. кобылѣ, сиротѣ

Features of the Old Novgorod dialect ascertained by the philological study in the last decades are:
# lack of the Slavic second palatalization in root-initial position, e.g. кѣл-, хѣр-<ref>Cf. also ''kьrky'' "church" which has remained ''kьrky'' : modern Russian ''cerkov''.</ref>
# a particular reflex of Proto-Slavic *TьRT, *TъRT clusters, yielding TьRьT, TъRъT. However, in some dialects these yielded TroT, TreT.
# West-Slavic-like reflex of *TоRT clusters, e.g. погродье versus погородие
# the change ''ml’'' > ''n’'', e.g. емлючи > енючи
# no merger of nominative and accusative singular of masculines regardless of animacy, e.g. Nom. sg. погосте : Acc. sg. на погостъ
# Proto-Slavic ''*kv, *gv'' clusters were retained as in [[West Slavic languages]] instead of being transformed to ''cv, zv'' before front vowels as in other East Slavic dialects<ref>E.g. ''květ-'' "flower" : modern Russian ''cvet'', ''gvězda'' "star" : modern Russian ''zvezda''.</ref>

Often the [[orthography]] is domestic (as opposed to bookish), using ''[[Yer|ъ]]'' and ''[[O (Cyrillic)|о]]'' on the one hand and ''[[Soft sign|ь]]'' and ''[[Ye (Cyrillic)|е]]'' on the other synonymously (about 50% of birchbark manuscripts from the mid-12th to the late 14th century).

The Novgorod material is divided by Zaliznyak into seven chronological groups:

{| class="wikitable"
|+Periodization of Old Novgorod birchbark letters by A. Zaliznyak
|-
!Class
!Period
|-
|A
|11th century to approx. 1125
|-
|B I
|approx. 1125–1160
|-
|B II
|approx. 1125–1160
|-
|C
|1220s–1290s
|-
|D I
|approx. 1300–1360
|-
|D II
|approx. 1360–1400
|-
|E
| 15th century
|}

==Implications of Old Novgorod findings==
According to [[Andrey Zaliznyak|Zaliznyak]], the Old Novgorod linguistic features, instead of being merely isolated deviations, represent a bundle of peculiar isoglosses. The deviations are more abundant in older birch bark letters than in the more recent finds. This fact indicates, contrary to what may be expected, that the development was convergent rather than divergent, with regard to other northern [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic dialects]].

According to Zaliznyak, the discovery of Old Novgorod dialect suggests that earlier conceptions which held East Slavic as a relatively homogeneous linguistic grouping, have been dispelled by a view advancing it instead as an area of much greater dialectal diversity. Zaliznyak divides the East Slavic area into two dialectal groupings: Proto-Novgorodian-Pskovian on one side, singled out chiefly on the basis of two instances lacking second palatalization of velars and the ending ''-e'' in nominative singular of masculine o-stems, and all the remaining East Slavic dialects on the other.

==Examples==

===A criminal case: Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 109===
Dated between the end of the 11th century and the 1110s; excavated 1954.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Грамота №109 – Древнерусские берестяные грамоты|url=http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/109/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=gramoty.ru}}</ref>

[[Image:Russian Birch Bark Inscription.PNG|thumb|Birch-bark letter no.&nbsp;109, c.&nbsp;1100, Novgorod; outline]]
Original text (with added word division):

<poem>
{{lang|sla-RU|грамота ѡтъ жизномира къ микоуле
коупилъ еси робоу плъскове а ныне мѧ
въ томъ ѧла кънѧгыни а ныне сѧ дроужина по мѧ пороучила а ныне ка посъли къ томоу моужеви грамотоу е ли
оу него роба а се ти хочоу коне коупивъ и кънѧжъ моужъ въсадивъ та на съводы а ты атче еси не възалъ коунъ
техъ а не емли ничъто же оу него}}
</poem>

Transliteration:

<poem>
{{Transliteration|sla|gramota otŭ žiznomira kŭ mikule
kupilŭ esi robu plŭskove a nyne mę
vŭ tomŭ ęla kŭnęgyni a nyne sę družina po mę poručila a nyne ka posŭli kŭ tomu muževi gramotu e li
u nego roba a se ti xoču kone kupivŭ i kŭnęžŭ mužŭ vŭsadivŭ ta na sŭvody a ty atče esi ne vŭzalŭ kunŭ
texŭ a ne emli ničŭto že u nego}}
</poem>

Translation (with added explanations not present in the original text in brackets):

<blockquote>
Letter from Zhiznomir to Mikula: You have bought a female slave in [[Pskov]]. And now the princess has arrested me for it. (''Obviously she has recognized the slave as having been stolen from her, and Zhiznomir is somehow connected with the affair, maybe as Mikula's family member or business partner.'') But now [[druzhina]] has guaranteed for me. And now send a letter to that man (whom you have bought the slave from) and ask him whether he has another female slave. (''This other slave would have to be given to the princess for the time the stolen slave would be needed as "[[corpus delicti]]" in a lawsuit to find out who the thief was.'') And I want to buy a horse and have the [[magistrate]] (the "prince's man") sit on it and initiate a ''svod'' (''the legal procedure to trace a whole buying chain back to the original seller and ultimately the thief''). And if you have not taken the money, do not take anything from him (''i.e. the slave-trader, because otherwise the whole plan might leak out'').
</blockquote>

===An invitation: Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 497===
Dated between the 1340s and 1380s; excavated 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Грамота №497 – Древнерусские берестяные грамоты|url=http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/497/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=gramoty.ru}}</ref>

[[Image:beresta.jpg|thumb|Birch-bark letter no.&nbsp;497, c.&nbsp;1340-90, Novgorod; photograph]]
Original text (with added word division):

<blockquote>
{{lang|sla-RU|поколоно ѿ гаврили ѿ посени ко зати моемоу ко горигори жи коумоу ко сестори моеи ко оулите чо би есте поихали во городо ко радости моеи а нашего солова не ѡставили да бого вамо радосте ми вашего солова вохи не ѡсотавимо}}
</blockquote>

Transliteration:

<blockquote>
{{Transliteration|sla|pokolono ot gavrili ot poseni ko zati mojemu ko gorigori ži kumu ko sestori mojei ko ulite čo bi este poixali vo gorodo ko radosti mojei a našego solova ne ostavili da bogo vamo radoste mi vašego solova voxi ne osotavimo}}
</blockquote>

Translation:

<blockquote>
Greeting from Gavrila Posenya to my brother-in-law, godfather Grigory, and my sister Ulita. Would you not like to give me the pleasure of riding into the city, not leaving our word? God give you happiness. We all do not leave your word.
</blockquote>

== See also ==
* [[Novgorod Codex]]
* [[Onfim]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last1=Dekker |first1=Simeon |title=Old Russian Birchbark Letters: A Pragmatic Approach |date=2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-36238-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AV1cswEACAAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=Marc L. |editor1-last=Kapović |editor1-first=Mate |chapter=Slavic |title=The Indo-European Languages |date=20 January 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-39153-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i0lDwAAQBAJ |language=en | pages=519–551}}
*{{cite book |last=Savignac |first=David |year=1974 |title=A History of the Pronominal Declension in the Novgorod Dialect of Old Russian from the 11th to the 16th Centuries |url=https://www.academia.edu/5239472}}
*{{cite book |last=Savignac |first=David |year=1975 |title= Common Slavic *vьx- in Northern Old Russian.|url=https://www.academia.edu/5433010}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schaeken |first1=Jos |title=Voices on Birchbark: Everyday Communication in Medieval Russia |date=5 November 2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-38942-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W5GFDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schallert |first1=Joseph |editor1-last=Šipka |editor1-first=Danko |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Slavic Linguistics |date=2024 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-83267-0 |pages=595–625 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-slavic-linguistics/7A9A2BDBB2BA794A15C9D05EBF3FB190}}
* {{cite book |last1=Vinokur |first1=Grigory O. |title=The Russian Language: A Brief History |date=2 April 1971 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-07944-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qi232E66QbQC |language=en}}
* [[Valentin Yanin|Yanin, Valentin Lavrentyevich]]. ''Ja poslal tebe berestu...'' ("I've Sent a Birch Bark to You...") 3rd ed., with an afterword by A.A.&nbsp;Zaliznyak. Moscow 1998.
* {{citation|last=Zaliznyak |first=Andrey Anatolyevich |author-link=Andrey Zaliznyak| script-title=ru:Древненовгородский диалект |trans-title=Old Novgorodian dialect |year=2004 |url=http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/library/book/53/ |isbn=5-94457-165-9 |language=Russian |publisher=Языки славянской культуры |location=Moscow}}
* {{citation|last=Zaliznyak |first=Andrey Anatolyevich |author-link=Andrey Zaliznyak| script-title=ru:Древненовгородский диалект |trans-title=Old Novgorodian dialect |year=1995|url=http://gramoty.ru/?id=dnd |isbn=5-94457-165-9 |language=Russian |publisher=Языки славянской культуры |location=Moscow}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Gvozdanović |first1=Jadranka |editor1-last=Reenen |editor1-first=Pieter |editor2-last=Herring |editor2-first=Lene |editor3-last=Schøsler |editor3-first=Lene |chapter=Parameters Underlying Punctuation in Older Russian Texts |title=Textual Parameters in Older Languages |date=23 January 2001 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-272-9960-4 |pages=331–352 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZc9AAAAQBAJ |language=en}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novgorod dialect, Old}}
[[Category:East Slavic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Russia]]
[[Category:Novgorod Republic]]
[[Category:Medieval languages]]
[[Category:Russian dialects]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Europe]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 15th century]]