Editing Askold and Dir (section)

== The name Askold ==

=== Askold ===
Also — ''Oskold'', ''Oskol'd'', ''Oskolod''. (''Осколд'', ''Оскольд'', ''Осколод'')

There are several versions of the origin of the name Askold. The most likely version interprets it as the [[Old Norse|Norse]] name Haskuldr or Höskuldr. However, the spelling Askold may only be a change in the Scandinavian manner (similar to Vytautas – Vitold)."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Шумило |first=Сергей |date=2 March 2010 |title=Киево-Русская миссия свв. Кирилла и Мефодия и первое (Аскольдово) крещение Руси (ч.1) |url=https://religions.unian.net/religinossociety/331172-kievo-russkaya-missiya-svv-kirilla-i-mefodiya-i-pervoe-askoldovo-kreschenie-rusi-ch1.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818071126/http://religions.unian.net/religinossociety/331172-kievo-russkaya-missiya-svv-kirilla-i-mefodiya-i-pervoe-askoldovo-kreschenie-rusi-ch1.html |archive-date=18 August 2016 |website=religions.unian.net}}</ref> According to professor [[Igor Danilevsky]], who is a specialist on the history of [[Kievan Rus'|Kievan Rus]], the [[Norsemen|Scandinavian]] origin of the name is certain and it has long been proved.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Danilevsky |first=Igor |url=https://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Danilievskii_Igor/Istoriia_Ukrainy_ros.pdf?PHPSESSID=710q3nl9qrubmem56f09go9jt4 |title=History of Ukraine |work=Алетейя |year=2015 |isbn=978-5-9906154-0-3 |location=Saint Petersburg |pages=25–26 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904143454/https://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Danilievskii_Igor/Istoriia_Ukrainy_ros.pdf?PHPSESSID=710q3nl9qrubmem56f09go9jt4 |archive-format=Wayback Machine |archive-date=4 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

G. Magner defended the theory of the Slavic origin of the name, deriving it from the word "skoldyryt" – to accumulate. Other supporters of the theory of Slavic origin saw in the word the [[Root (linguistics)|roots]] oskal (grin), sokol (falcon), kol (spike) and kolo (circle). It is also possible that the part -old is a contraction of -volod/-vlad (lord, ruler). This hypothesis does not contradict the data of modern historical grammar.<ref name=":3" />

[[Boris Rybakov]] expressed a conjecture that the appearance of the names of Askold and Dir in the annals is a consequence of an error of one of the early chroniclers. Allegedly, in fact, in the original text it was about one Kievan prince Askoldyr or more precisely Oskoldyr.<ref name=":02" /> In this case, Dir did not exist at all. But such a reading of the annalistic text is the result of an assumption that has no textual basis according to [[Igor Danilevsky]]'s assertion. It did, however, allow Rybakov to "establish" the Slavic etymology of the name Askold from the names of the rivers [[Oskil (river)|Oskil]] and [[Vorskla]] (in chronicle Voroskol). The name of the Oskil (Oskol) river, in turn, was associated by B. A. Rybakov with the Black Sea tribe of the "royal" Scythians, the [[Scythians|Scolots]], mentioned by [[Herodotus]]. Those were allegedly Slavs (contrary to Herodotus himself, who wrote that the Skolots called themselves Scythians), who later began to call themselves Rus'.<ref name=":02" />

"Askolt" may be a borrowed word from Iranian-speaking nomads and mean "Border ruler."<ref name=":3" />

=== Anti-Normanism ===
A direction in Russian pre-Soviet,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Клейн |first=Лев Самуилович |url=http://statehistory.ru/books/18/Lev-Kleyn_Spor-o-varyagakh/44 |title=Антинорманизм в сборнике Русского Исторического Общества |publisher=Евразия |year=2009 |isbn=978-5-93165-066-1 |location=Saint Petersburg |language=ru |chapter=Спор о варягах |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524001642/http://statehistory.ru/books/18/Lev-Kleyn_Spor-o-varyagakh/44 |archive-format=Wayback Machine |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Soviet and post-Soviet historiography, whose supporters deny the role of the Scandinavians in the creation of the Rus' state<ref>{{Cite book |last=Яценко |first=Николай Емельянович |url=http://www.slovarnik.ru/html_tsot/a/antinormanizm.html |title=Толковый словарь обществоведческих терминов. |year=1999 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408095319/https://www.slovarnik.ru/html_tsot/a/antinormanizm.html |archive-format=Wayback Machine |archive-date=8 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> or deny at all any participation of the Scandinavians (Normans) in the socio-political life of Rus'; reject and seek to refute the "Norman theory" of the creation of the Kievan Rus'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Мельникова |first=Елена Александровна |title=Большая российская энциклопедия: в 35 томах (The Big Russian Encyclopedia: in 35 volumes) |publisher=БРЭ |year=2004–2017 |isbn=5-85270-333-8 |editor-last=Осипов |editor-first=Юрий Сергеевич |volume=4, Большой Кавказ — Великий канал |location=Moscow |pages=621–622 |language=ru |orig-date=2006}}</ref> Anti-Normanist historians denied the Scandinavian (Old Norse) origin of the name Askold. [[Anti-Normanism]] includes a wide range of concepts and hypotheses, the common features of which are the denial of the essentiality of the influence of the Scandinavians on the political and economic processes of the formation of ancient Rus' and the advancement of alternative Norman hypotheses.

A number of late medieval sources, among them the ''[[Kievan Synopsis]]'' (1674), report that Oskold was the last representative of the local dynasty of [[Kyi|Prince Kyi]]. Referring to these annalistic evidences, [[Aleksey Shakhmatov]] considered the fact of the Slavic origin of Prince Oskold beyond doubt. Among the researchers of the 20th century this idea was shared by professor [[Mikhail Tikhomirov]], and professor Rybakov, in confirmation of the Slavic origin of the prince, the name Oskold derived from the name of the river [[Oskil (river)|Oskil]], and therefore in his opinion it would be correct to use not "Askold", but exactly "Oskold", as it is found in the Old Rus' chronicles (or "Oskolod" – as indicated in the [[Nikiforov Chronicle]] of the 15th century, [[Suprasl Chronicle]] of the 16th century or medieval Polish chronicle of [[Maciej Stryjkowski]]).<ref name=":3" /> But these conclusions are biased as they are part of the Anti-Normanism sentiment.

Historian [[F. Donald Logan]] wrote:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logan |first=F. Donald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7K2ywwGox6IC |title=The Vikings in History |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2005 |isbn=0415327563 |pages=184 |language=en}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=The controversies over the nature of the Rus and the origins of the Rus' state have bedevilled Viking studies, and indeed Russian history, for well over a century. It is historically certain that the Rus were Swedes. The evidence is incontrovertible, and that a debate still lingers at some levels of historical writing is clear evidence of the holding power of received notions. The debate over this issue – futile, embittered, tendentious, doctrinaire – served to obscure the most serious and genuine historical problem which remains: the assimilation of these Viking Rus into the Slavic people among whom they lived. The principal historical question is not whether the Rus were Scandinavians or Slavs, but, rather, how quickly these Scandinavian Rus became absorbed into Slavic life and culture… in 839, the Rus were Swedes; in 1043 the Rus were Slavs.}}
According to the historian and archaeologist [[Leo Klejn|L. S. Klein]], the "Norman theory" or "Normanism" never existed as a scientific concept, while Anti-Normanism exists, but is primarily an ideological platform based on an [[inferiority complex]]. Anti-Normanism is distinctive for Russia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Клейн |first=Лев Самуилович |title=Трудно быть Клейном: автобиография в монологах и диалогах |publisher=Нестор-История |year=2010 |isbn=9785981873683 |location=Saint Petersburg |language=ru}}</ref>