Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MORDVINIANS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 821 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MORDVINIANS , otherwise called MORDVA, MoRDVS, or MORDVINS, a See also:

people numbering about one million, belonging to the Ural-Altaic See also:family, who inhabit the See also:middle See also:Volga provinces of See also:Russia and spread in small detached communities to the See also:south and See also:east of these. Their See also:settlement in the See also:basin of the Volga is of high antiquity. One of the two See also:great branches into which they are divided, the Erzya, is perhaps the same as the Aorses mentioned by See also:Ptolemy as dwelling between the Baltic, See also:Sea and the Ural Mountains. See also:Strabo mentions also the Aorses as in-habitants of the See also:country between the See also:Don, the See also:Caspian Sea and the See also:Caucasus. The Russians made raids on the Mordvins in the 12th See also:century, and after the fall of Kazan rapidly invaded and colonized their country. The Mordvins are now foundin the governments of See also:Simbirsk, See also:Penza, See also:Samara and Nizhniy-See also:Novgorod, as well as See also:Saratov and See also:Tambov. But their villages are dispersed among those of the Russians, and they constitute only ro to i% of the See also:population in the four first-named governments, and from 5 to 6% in the last two. They are unequally distributed over this See also:area in ethnographical islands, and constitute as much as 23 to 44% of the population of several districts of the governments of Tambov, Simbirsk, Samara and Saratov, and only a or 3% in other districts of the same provinces. They are divided into two great laianches, the Erzya (Erza, or Ersa) and the Moksha, differing somewhat in their See also:physical features and See also:language. The See also:southern See also:branch, or the Moksha, have a darker skin and darker eyes and See also:hair than the See also:northern. A third branch, the Karatays, found in Kazan, appears to be mixed with See also:Tatars. The language is a branch of the Western Finnish family, and most nearly allied to the Cheremissian, though presenting many peculiarities (see FINNO-UGRIC).

The Mordvins have largely abandoned their own language for See also:

Russian; but they have maintained a See also:good See also:deal of their old See also:national See also:dress, especially the See also:women, whose profusely embroidered skirts, See also:original hair-dress large See also:ear-rings which sometimes are merely See also:hare-tails, and numerous necklaces covering all the See also:chest and consisting of all possible ornaments, easily distinguish them from Russian women. They have mostly dark hair, but See also:blue eyes, generally small and rather narrow. Their cephalic See also:index is very near to that of the Finns. They are brachycephalous or sub-brachycephalous, and a few are mesaticephalous. They are finely built, rather tall and strong, and broad-chested. Their See also:chief occupation is See also:agriculture; they See also:work harder and (in the basin of the Moksha) are more prosperous than their Russian neighbours. Their capacities as carpenters were well known in Old Russia, and See also:Ivan the Terrible used them to build See also:bridges and clear forests during his advance on Kazan. They now manufacture wooden See also:ware of -various sorts. They are also masters of See also:apiculture, and the See also:commonwealth of bees often appears in their See also:poetry and religious beliefs. They have a considerable literature of popular songs and legends, some of them recounting the doings of a See also:king Tushtyan who lived in the See also:time of Ivan the Terrible. Nearly all are Christians; they received See also:baptism in the reign of See also:Elizabeth, and the Nonconformists have made many proselytes among them. But they still preserve much of their own See also:mythology, which they have adapted to the See also:Christian See also:religion.

According to some authorities, they have preserved also, especially the less russified Moksha, the practice of See also:

kidnapping brides, with the usual battles between the party of the bridegroom and that of the family of the See also:bride. The See also:worship of trees; See also:water (especially of the water-divinity which favours See also:marriage), the See also:sun or Shkay, who is the chief divinity, the See also:moon, the See also:thunder and the See also:frost, and of the See also:home-divinity Kardazserko still exists among them; and a small See also:stone See also:altar or See also:flat stone covering a small See also:pit to receive the See also:blood of slaughtered animals can be found in many houses. Their See also:burial customs seem founded on ancestor-worship. On the fortieth See also:day after the See also:death of a kinsman the dead is not only supposed to return home but a member of his See also:household represents him, and, coming from the See also:grave, speaks in his name. The language is treated of in Ahlquist's Versuch einer Mokschamordwinischen Grammatik nebst Texten and Worter-Verzeichniss (St See also:Petersburg, x861), and their See also:history, customs and religion by Stnirnov (trans. by See also:Boyer), " See also:Les Populations finnoises de la Volga " (in Publications de l'ecole See also:des langues orientates, vivantes, 1898). Much valuable See also:information respecting customs, religion, language and folk-See also:lore will be found in papers by Paasonen, Heikel, Ahlquist, Mainof and others printed in the See also:Journal de la Societe Piano-Ougrienne and the Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen. (C.

End of Article: MORDVINIANS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MORDECAI BEN HILLEL 		[next]
MORE, HANNAH (1745-1833)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries