Udmurt people
Encyclopedia
The Udmurts are a people who speak the Udmurt language
. Through history they have been known in Russian
as Chud
Otyatskaya (чудь отяцкая), Otyaks, or Votyaks (most known name), and in Tatar
as Ar.
The name Udmurt probably comes from *odo-mort 'meadow people,' where the first part represents the Permic root *od(o) 'meadow, glade, turf, greenery' (related to Finnish itää 'to germinate, sprout') and the second part (Udmurt murt 'person'; cf. Komi
mort, Mari
mari) is an early borrowing from Indo-Iranian *mertā or *martiya 'person, man' (cf. Persian mard). This is supported by a document dated Feb. 25, 1557, in which alongside the traditional Russian name otyaki the Udmurts are referred to as lugovye lyudi 'meadow people'. On the other hand, in the Russian tradition, the name 'meadow people' refers to the inhabitants of the left bank of river general. Recently, the most relevant is the version of V. V. Napolskikh
and S. K. Belykh. They suppose that ethnonym was borrowed from the Iranian entirely: *anta-marta 'resident of outskirts, border zone' (cf. Antes) → Proto-Permic *odə-mort → Udmurt
udmurt.
Most Udmurt people live in Udmurtia
. Small groups live in the neighboring areas: Kirov Oblast
and Perm Krai
of Russia, Bashkortostan
, Tatarstan
, and Mari El
.
The Udmurt language
belongs to the Uralic
family.
The Udmurt population is shrinking; the Russian census
reported 637,000 of them in 2002, compared to 746,562 in 1989.
The Udmurts have often been described as an extremely red-haired and light-eyed people, and there have been claims that they are the "most red-headed" people in the world. Additionally, the ancient Budini
tribe, which is speculated to be an ancestor of the modern Udmurts, were described by Herodotus as being predominantly red-headed.
The Udmurts have a national epic called Dorvyzhy
.
Udmurt language
Udmurt is an Uralic language, part of the Permic subgroup, spoken by the Udmurt natives of the Russian constituent republic of Udmurtia, where it is coofficial with Russian. It is written in the Cyrillic script with five additional characters. Together with Komi and Komi-Permyak languages, it...
. Through history they have been known in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
as Chud
Chud
Chud or Chude is a term historically applied in the early Russian annals to several Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Finland, Estonia and Northwestern Russia....
Otyatskaya (чудь отяцкая), Otyaks, or Votyaks (most known name), and in Tatar
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
as Ar.
The name Udmurt probably comes from *odo-mort 'meadow people,' where the first part represents the Permic root *od(o) 'meadow, glade, turf, greenery' (related to Finnish itää 'to germinate, sprout') and the second part (Udmurt murt 'person'; cf. Komi
Komi language
The Komi language is a Finno-Permic language spoken by the Komi peoples in the northeastern European part of Russia. Komi is one of the two members of the Permic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric branch...
mort, Mari
Mari language
The Mari language , spoken by more than 600,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka river basin and eastwards to the Urals...
mari) is an early borrowing from Indo-Iranian *mertā or *martiya 'person, man' (cf. Persian mard). This is supported by a document dated Feb. 25, 1557, in which alongside the traditional Russian name otyaki the Udmurts are referred to as lugovye lyudi 'meadow people'. On the other hand, in the Russian tradition, the name 'meadow people' refers to the inhabitants of the left bank of river general. Recently, the most relevant is the version of V. V. Napolskikh
Vladimir Napolskikh
Vladimir Vladimirovich Napolskikh — a Russian ethnographer, ethnologist, ethnohistorian, Finno-Ugrist, linguist. Doctor of Historical Sciences , Professor at Udmurt State University. Member of the «Societas Uralo-Altaica» since 2000....
and S. K. Belykh. They suppose that ethnonym was borrowed from the Iranian entirely: *anta-marta 'resident of outskirts, border zone' (cf. Antes) → Proto-Permic *odə-mort → Udmurt
Udmurt language
Udmurt is an Uralic language, part of the Permic subgroup, spoken by the Udmurt natives of the Russian constituent republic of Udmurtia, where it is coofficial with Russian. It is written in the Cyrillic script with five additional characters. Together with Komi and Komi-Permyak languages, it...
udmurt.
Most Udmurt people live in Udmurtia
Udmurtia
The Udmurt Republic , or Udmurtia is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Izhevsk. Population: -History:...
. Small groups live in the neighboring areas: Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. Population: -History:In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vyatka remained a place of exile for opponents of the tsarist regime, including many prominent revolutionary figures.In 1920, a number of...
and Perm Krai
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
of Russia, Bashkortostan
Bashkortostan
The Republic of Bashkortostan , also known as Bashkiria is a federal subject of Russia . It is located between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. Its capital is the city of Ufa...
, Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
, and Mari El
Mari El
The Mari El Republic is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Yoshkar-Ola. Population: -Geography:The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic...
.
The Udmurt language
Udmurt language
Udmurt is an Uralic language, part of the Permic subgroup, spoken by the Udmurt natives of the Russian constituent republic of Udmurtia, where it is coofficial with Russian. It is written in the Cyrillic script with five additional characters. Together with Komi and Komi-Permyak languages, it...
belongs to the Uralic
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
family.
The Udmurt population is shrinking; the Russian census
Russian Census
Russian Census may refer to:*Russian Empire Census , the only complete population census conducted in the Russian Empire*Russian Census *Russian Census , the first population census conducted in the post-Soviet Russia...
reported 637,000 of them in 2002, compared to 746,562 in 1989.
The Udmurts have often been described as an extremely red-haired and light-eyed people, and there have been claims that they are the "most red-headed" people in the world. Additionally, the ancient Budini
Budini
The Budini were an ancient people who lived in Scythia, in what is today Ukraine.Herodotus wrote in his Histories :...
tribe, which is speculated to be an ancestor of the modern Udmurts, were described by Herodotus as being predominantly red-headed.
The Udmurts have a national epic called Dorvyzhy
Dorvyzhy
Dorvyzhy is the Udmurt literary national epic. It was originally compiled and written in Russian by Mikhail Khudiakov in the 1920s with the title Песнь об удмуртских батырах . The original was based on the folklore works of N. Pervuhin, G. Potanin, B. Gavrilov, B. Munkácsi, K. Chainikov and A....
.
External links
- Udmurtology (Russian), a site devoted to the Udmurt language and Udmurt resources on the internet
- Udmurt Wikipedia