Editing Merya language

{{Short description|Extinct Finno-Ugric language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Merya
| extinct          = at latest 18th century
| ref              = 
| familycolor      = Uralic
| fam2             = [[Finnic languages|Finnic]]?/[[Mari language|Mari]]?
| map              = File:Finno-ugrian-map-en.svg
| ethnicity        = [[Meryans]]
| linglist         = 0tw
| altname          = Meryanic
| states           = [[Russia]]
| region           = Upper [[Volga]]
| mapcaption       = {{legend|#91cab1|Merya}}
| iso3             = none
| revived          = 2000s (reconstructed)
| acceptance       = unattested
}}
'''Merya''' or '''Meryanic''' ({{Langx|orv|мєр(ь)скъıї}}) is an extinct [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] language, which was spoken by the [[Meryans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article114382.html|title=Уральские языки|website=bse.sci-lib.com}}</ref><ref name="Helimski" /> Merya began to be assimilated by [[East Slavs]] when their territory became incorporated into [[Kievan Rus']] in the 10th century.<ref name="Janse 2000 A108">{{cite book|last=Janse|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdzVePSApMgC&pg=PA108|title=Language Death and Language Maintenance|author2=Sijmen Tol|author3=Vincent Hendriks|publisher=John Benjaminsf Publishing Company|year=2000|isbn=978-90-272-4752-0|page=A108}}</ref><ref name="Smol">{{cite book|last1=Smolitskaya|first1=G.P.|title=Toponimicheskyi slovar' Tsentral'noy Rossii|date=2002|pages=211–2017|language=ru|script-title=ru:Топонимический словарь Центральной России}}</ref> However some Merya speakers might have even lived in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pauli|first=Rahkonen|date=2013|title=Itämerensuomalaisten kielten kaakkoinen kontaktialue nimistöntutkimuksen valossa|journal=Virittäjä|issue=2|url=https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/8316}}</ref> There is also a theory that the word for "[[Moscow]]" originates from the Merya language.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tarkiainen|first=Kari|title=Ruotsin itämaa|publisher=Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland|year=2010|isbn=978-951-583-212-2|location=Helsinki|page=19}}</ref> The Meryan language stretched to the western parts of [[Vologda Oblast]] and [[Moscow]].<ref name="Rahkonen">{{cite thesis|first=Pauli|last=Rahkonen|year=2013|title=The South-Eastern Contact Area of Finnic Languages in the Light of Onomastics|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Helsinki|hdl=10138/38908|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10138/38908}}</ref>

== Classification ==
There is no general agreement on the relationship of Merya with its neighboring Uralic languages.

* A traditional account places Merya as a member of the [[Volga Finns|Volga-Finnic]] group, comprising also the [[Mordvinic languages|Mordvinic]] and [[Mari language|Mari]] languages.<ref name="Janse 2000 A108" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Wieczynski|first=Joseph|url=https://books.google.com/books?q=%22Merian+and+Muromian%2C+belong+to+the+so-called+Volga+branch+of+the+Finno-Ugric+languages%22&btnG=Search+Books|title=The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History|publisher=Academic International Press|year=1976|isbn=978-0-87569-064-3}}</ref> However, Volga Finnic is today considered obsolete.
* T. Semenov and [[Max Vasmer]] believed Merya to be a close relative of [[Mari language|Mari]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь - Мерянский язык |url=http://www.merjamaa.ru/index/merjanskij_jazyk/0-10 |website=Merjamaa}}</ref> Vasmer saw that many Merya toponyms have [[Mari language|Mari]] parallels.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Матвеев |first1=А. К. |year=1997 |title=К проблеме расселения летописной мери |url=https://elar.urfu.ru/handle/10995/23523 |journal=Известия Уральского Государственного Университета. 1997. № 7}}</ref>
*One hypothesis classifies the Merya as a western branch of the [[Mari people]] rather than as a separate tribe. Their ethnonyms are basically identical, ''Merya'' being a [[Russian language|Russian]] transcription of the Mari self-designation, ''Мäрӹ (Märӛ)''.<ref>Petrov A., KUGARNYA, Marij kalykyn ertymgornyzho, #12 (850), 2006, March, the 24th.</ref> According to {{Ill|Stepan Kuznetsov (ethnographer)|lt=Stepan Kuznetsov|ru|Кузнецов, Стефан Кирович}}, the ethnonym ''Merya'' in toponyms becomes ''Mari'' moving to the east.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Анализ хорографических (топонимических) названий Мерянской земли - 19 Января 2011 - Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь |url=https://www.merjamaa.ru/news/analiz_khorograficheskikh_toponimicheskikh_nazvanij_merjanskoj_zemli/2011-01-19-156 |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=www.merjamaa.ru}}</ref>
* [[Eugene Helimski]] supposed that the Merya language was part of a [[Finno-Samic languages|"northwest" group]] of Finno-Ugric, including also [[Finnic languages|Balto-Finnic]] and [[Sami languages|Sami]]. Helimski argued that even though there are [[Mari language|Mari]] parallels, they do not justify a close relationship with Mari and could be due to adjacency of the language areas.<ref name="Helimski">{{cite book |last=Helimski |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene Helimski |url=http://www.helsinki.fi/venaja/nwrussia/eng/Conference/pdf/Helimski.pdf |title=The Slavicization of the Russian North (Slavica Helsingiensia 27) |publisher=Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures |year=2006 |isbn=978-952-10-2852-6 |editor-last=Nuorluoto |editor-first=Juhani |location=Helsinki |pages=109–127 |chapter=The «Northwestern» group of Finno-Ugric languages and its heritage in the place names and substratum vocabulary of the Russian North |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20170830213526/http://www.helsinki.fi/venaja/nwrussia/eng/Conference/pdf/Helimski.pdf |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Gábor Bereczki]] supposed that the Merya language was a part of the Balto-Finnic group.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bereczki|first=Gábor|title=Contacts de languages et de cultures dans l'aire baltique / Contacts of Languages and Cultures in the Baltic Area|year=1996|editor1-last=Fernandez|editor1-first=M.M. Jocelyne|series=Uppsala Multiethnic Papers|pages=69–76|chapter=Le méria, une language balto-finnoise disparue|editor2-last=Raag|editor2-first=Raimo}}</ref>
*Mordvinian author [[Aleksandr Sharonov]] claimed that Merya is an [[Erzya language|Erzyan]] dialect; however this is not well supported.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://erzan.ru/news/narod-erzja-i-rus-v-fokuse-russkogo-neslavjanina-aleksandr-sharonov|title=Народ Эрзя и Русь: в фокусе русского неславянина. Александр Шаронов &#124; Эрзянь ки. Культурно-образовательный портал|access-date=2021-03-25|archive-date=2010-05-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508145003/http://erzan.ru/news/narod-erzja-i-rus-v-fokuse-russkogo-neslavjanina-aleksandr-sharonov|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Rahkonen (2013)<ref name="Rahkonen" /> argues that the likewise unattested and unclassified-within-Uralic [[Muromian language]] was a close relative of Merya, perhaps even a dialect of Meryan.

A probable characteristic of the Merya language, which some researchers have noted, is the plural ''-k'', as in Hungarian, while most [[Uralic languages]] use ''-t'' for the plural.<ref name=":4" />

== Reconstruction ==
{{Infobox language
| name             = Reconstructed Merya
| familycolor      = conlang
| created          = 1985
| creator          = various
| posteriori       = Merya (toponyms), [[Mari language|Mari]], [[Veps language|Veps]]
| iso3             = none
| glotto           = none
| states           = [[Russia]]
| ethnicity        = {{ill|Meryan ethnofuturism|lt=Meryan ethnofuturists|ru|Мерянский этнофутуризм}}
| nativename       = {{lang|mis|мерян елма}} {{tlit|mis|merjan jelma}}
}}

There have been attempts to re-construct Merya based on [[Toponymy|toponyms]], [[onomastics]] and words in [[Russian dialects]] by O. B. Tkachenko, Arja Ahlqvist and A. K. Matveev among others. The first reconstructions were done in 1985 by O. B. Tkachenko. The latest book about Merya reconstructions was published in 2019.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Andrey |first=Malyšev |url=https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/922083/Maket_-_Meryanskiy_yazyk_1.pdf |title=Merjanskij jazyk |year=2019 |publisher=Izdatelʹstvo "Inbelkulʹt" |isbn=978-5-00076-049-9 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Мерянский язык |trans-title=Meryan language}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite journal|first=Pauli|last=Rahkonen|title=Suomen etymologisesti läpinäkymätöntä vesistönimistöä [Etymologically opaque hydronyms of Finland]|journal=Virittäjä |date=2013|issue=1|url=https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/7843}}</ref><ref name=":4">”Allikas: Ткаченко О. Б., Мерянский язык, Kiova 1985.”</ref> As an example: in Russian toponyms around where Merya was spoken, an ending {{lang|mis|-яхр}} ({{tlit|mis|-jaxr}}) is regularly seen in names relating to lakes. This also resembles, but does not exactly match, the words for 'lake' in western Uralic languages, such as Finnish {{lang|fi|järvi}}, Northern Sami {{lang|se|jávri}}, Erzya {{Lang|myv|эрьке}} ({{tlit|myv|eŕke}}'), Meadow Mari {{lang|mhr|ер}} ({{tlit|mhr|jer}}) (from a common proto-form {{lang|urj|[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/jäwrä|*jäwrä]]}}). From these it can be inferred that {{lang|mis|-яхр}} likely continues the Meryan word for 'lake', which may have had a shape such as {{Transliteration|mis|*jäkrä, *jähr(e)}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=О.Б.|first=Ткаченко|title=исследованиа по мерянскому языку|year=2007|location=kostroma}}</ref>

According to Rahkonen, in Merya areas there is a word {{lang|mis|*veks}}, which is probably cognate with the Komi word {{lang|kpv|вис}} ({{tlit|kpv|vis}}) 'middle river', and similar also to an element {{lang|fi|vieksi}} which appears in Finnish toponyms. From Merya toponyms it can also be seen that words such as {{lang|mis|volo}} 'down' (Finnish: {{lang|fi|ala}}), {{lang|mis|vondo}} 'give' (Finnish: {{lang|fi|antaa}}) existed in the Merya language.<ref name="Rahkonen" /><ref name="auto" /> From this it can be concluded that Finnish {{lang|fi|a-}} corresponds to {{lang|mis|*vo-}} or {{lang|mis|*o-}} in the Merya language. Another thing that can be observed is the Finnish sound "a" corresponding to a Merya "o", for example a hydronym {{Transliteration|mis|kol(o)}} can be seen, which can be compared to Finnish {{lang|fi|kala}} 'fish'. In the Muroma-Merya territory a word {{Transliteration|mis|il(e)}} can be observed, which can be compared to Finnic *ülä ‘upper’.<ref name="Rahkonen" /><ref name="auto" />
<!--
 However some others have constructed the word 'give' as ''*ando'' in Merya.<ref name=":1" /> Other words reconstructed directly from toponyms are ''*šun'' 'clay', {{Transliteration|mis|vyj}} 'head', {{Transliteration|mis|vur}} 'cow', {{Transliteration|mis|kuvar}} 'bridge'.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Andrey|first=Malyšev|title=Merjan jelma Мерянский язык|year=2013|location=Moscow}}</ref> Some words have also been constructed from proper names, such as the words {{Transliteration|mis|*kolyzo}} 'fisher' and {{Transliteration|mis|*tujba}} 'hope'.<ref name=":2" /> The reconstructed native name for Merya is ''*merjan jelma'' (''*мерян елма'')<ref name=":1" />
{| class="wikitable"
|+Reconstructions from Malyshev 2013
!Word
!Meaning
!Source of the word
|-
|jähre
|lake
|Toponym, Tkachenko
|-
|ila
|live
|Tkachenko
|-
|jole
|be
|Tkachenko
|-
|jon'
|is
|Tkachenko
|-
|palo
|village
|Tkachenko
|-
|tul
|fire
|Tkachenko
|-
|uhtoma
|connection
|Toponym
|-
|at'a
|father
|Tkachenko
|-
|tup
|back
|Matveev 
|-
|pelyš
|fear
|Tkachenko
|-
|tohte
|want
|Tkachenko
|-
|kuu/kuv
|moon
|Matveev 
|-
|ner
|nose
|Tkachenko
|-
|juk/jug
|river
|Tkachenko
|-
|voj
|butter
|Tkachenko
|-
|pu
|tree
|Toponym
|-
|kil'm
|frozen
|Matveev 
|-
|n'orga
|young
|Matveev 
|-
|kolema
|death
|Tkachenko
|-
|kol
|fish
|Toponym, Tkachenko
|-
|jokšo
|swan
|Matveev
|-
|ando
|give
|Tkachenko
|-
|tudo
|know
|Tkachenko
|-
|il(e)
|upper
|Toponym
|}
== Grammar ==
This grammar section is the reconstructed grammar of Merya, based on linguistic evidence, while not being attested facts about the Merya language:<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Andrey |first=Malyšev |title=Merjanskij jazyk |year=2019}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Andrey |first=Malyšev |title=Merjan jelma Мерянский язык |year=2013 |location=Moscow}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web |date= |title=Info |url=http://costroma.k156.ru/tk/066-125.pdf |accessdate=2021-03-03 |publisher=costroma.k156.ru}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Cases
|Case
|Case ending
|-
|nominative
| -
|-
|Genetive
| -n/-an
|-
|Partitive
| -ta/da
|-
|Inessive
| -sna/ssa/ššo
|-
|Illative
| -s
|-
|ellative
|sta
|-
|adessive
| -lna/lla
|-
|allative
| -l'/le
|-
|ablative
| -lta
|-
|translative
| -kš
|-
|vokative
| -aj
|-
|abessive
| -to/do
|-
|dative
| -lan/len
|-
|accusative
| -m/-am/-ym
|-
|comitative
| -ge
|-
|prolative
| -te
|-
|subessive
| -nna
|-
|delative
| -lta/-lda
|-
|plural
| -k/-ak
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Possessive suffixes
!Person
!Singular
!Plural
|-
|1sg
| -em
| -en
|-
|2sg
| -et
| -ent
|-
|3sg
| -eš
| -enže
|-
|1pl
| -amo
| -ano
|-
|2pl
| -ato
| -anto
|-
|3pl
| -ašto
| -ažno
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Present tense conjugation
!Person
!Ending
|-
|1sg
| -am
|-
|2sg
| -at
|-
|3sg
| -a/-as
|-
|1pl
|em/ama
|-
|2pl
|et/ata
|-
|3pl
|es
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Past tense
!Person
!Ending
|-
|1sg
|ym
|-
|2sg
|yt
|-
|3sg
|yš/ys
|-
|1pl
|yma/im/ym
|-
|2pl
|yta/yt/it
|-
|3pl
|iš/is
|}-->

== Phonology ==
Meryan phonology has been studied only in general terms, relying on [[Russian dialects]] in the [[Kostroma Oblast|Kostroma]] and [[Yaroslavl Oblast|Yaroslavl]] regions. Helimski suggests<ref name="Helimski"/> that Merya likely developed massive reduction of word-final syllables. The Merya language only allowed one consonant at the beginning of words, and likely placed stress on the first syllable of the word. It likely did not feature [[vowel harmony]]. The vowels /ö/, /ä/ and /y/ likely existed in the Merya language.<ref name=":4" />

== See also ==
*[[Volga Finns]]
*[[Mari language]]

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
* [http://costroma.k156.ru/tk/066-125.pdf Grammar of Merya]
* [http://www.merjamaa.ru/ Merjamaa]
{{Uralic languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merya Language}}
[[Category:Extinct languages of Europe]]
[[Category:Uralic languages]]
[[Category:Medieval languages]]
[[Category:Reconstructed languages]]