Dziewanna

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Δηουόνα
was allegedly a Celtic Goddess. Ausonius writes, apparently talking of the modern city of Burdigala (Bordeaux), France (The Order of Famous Cities):

Salve, fons ignote ortu, sacer, alme, perennis,vitree, glauce, profunde, sonore, inlimis, opace. Salve, urbis genius, medico potabilis haustu, Divona Celtarum lingua, fons addite divis.

“Hail, fountain of source unknown, holy, gracious, unfailing, crystal-clear, azure, deep, murmurous, shady, and unsullied! Hail, guardian deity of our city, of whom we may drink health-giving draughts, named by the Celts Divona,—a fountain added to the roll divine! Not Aponus in taste, not Nemausus in azure sheen is more clear, nor Timavus’ sea-like flood more brimming-full.”

So this was a Goddess of springs. And yet, how can this Name appear in Jan Długosz list of Polish Gods and Goddesses as Dziewanna, a Goddess of the Wild, the Polish Diana? Did Długosz simply read Ausonius? Or was something else at play here?

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December 26, 2023

Suavic Rabbits Aplenty

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It is a frequent assertion that Suavs were not only late to the game when it comes to appearing on the historical stage but also that their appearance was astounding in its sudden geographic reach and its ethnolinguistic consequences for all of previously Germanics, Sarmatians and, in parts, even Celtic Europe. At the same the frequently mentioned Veneti are dismissed as ancestors of the Suavs (following a suggestion made most durably by Gustaf Kossina though he was not the first to have made the same) and are supposedly some other “Old European” peoples whose lands the Suavs migrated to and whose name they then inherited in the German tongue (much like the Germans became Prussians). To make this work, of course, you have to create a hypothetical Veneti (that survived the Vandals and the Goths long enough to then have their name transferred to the incoming Suavs). And then you have to assume that, out of nowhere, a mass of Suavs reproducing faster than rabbits swarmed the ancient Veneti seats.

And yes, what’s interesting is that whenever the Veneti are mentioned, they are invariably mentioned as inhabiting or roaming vast territories (irrespective the exact location of those territories) or being a “large” people.

Thus we have Pliny:

“Some writers state that these regions, as far as the river Vistula, are inhabited by the Sarmati, the Venedi, the Sciri, and the Hirri…”

We have Tacitus:

“The Venedi have adopted many Sarmatian habits; for their plundering forays take them over all the wooded and mountainous highlands that lie between the Peucini and the Fenni.”

We have Ptolemy:

The greater Venedae races inhabit Sarmatia along the entire Venedicus bay; and above Dacia are the Peucini and the Basternae; and along the entire coast of Maeotis are the Iazyges and the Rhoxolani; more toward the interior from these are the Amaxobi and the Scythian Alani.  Lesser races inhabit Sarmatia near the Vistula river.  Below the Venedae are the Gythones, then the Finni, the the Sulones”

And, of course, we have Jordanes, now speaking clearly of the Suavs:

Near their left ridge [the Carpathians], which inclines toward the north, and beginning at the source of the Vistula, the populous race of the Veneti dwell, occupying a great expanses of land.  Though their names are now dispersed amid various clans and places, yet they are chiefly called the Sclaveni and Antes.  The abode of the Sclaveni extends from the city of Noviodunum and the lake called Mursianus to the Danaster, and northward as far as the [Vistula?].  They have swamps and forests for their cities.  The Antes, who are the bravest of these peoples dwelling in the curve of the sea of Pontus, spread from the Danaster to the Danaper, rivers that are many days’ journey apart. But on the shore of Ocean, where the floods of the river Vistula empty from three mouths, the Vidivarii dwell, a people gathered out of various tribes.”

And, again, in a similar vein:

“After the slaughter of the Heruli, Hermanaric also took arms against the Venethi. This people, though despised in war, was strong in numbers and tried to resist him. But a multitude of cowards is of no avail, particularly when God permits an armed multitude to attack them. These people, as we started to say at the beginning of our account or catalogue of nations, though off-shoots from one stock, have now three names, that is, Venethi, Antes and Sclaveni. Though they now rage in war far and wide, in punishment for our sins, yet at that time they were all obedient to Hermanaric’s commands.”

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November 26, 2023

Christianus

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The following comes from the Anonymous Christian Monk‘s Vita et passio sancti Wenceslai et sanctae Ludmilae avae eius that is “The Life and Passion of Saint Wenceslaus and His Grandmother Saint Ludmilla” aka Legenda Christiani aka Kristiánova legenda. The monk claimed to be the uncle of St. Vojtech (Adalbert) which would make this work significantly older than Cosmas’ “Chronicle of the Czechs”. There isn’t much new here but since Meyer threw this in into his compilation of Suav religious sources, we give it here as well.

Chapter 2

“At vero Sclavi Boemi, ipso sub Arcturo positi, cultibus ydolatrie dediti, velut equus infrenis sine lege, sine ullo principe vel rectore vel urbe, uti bruta animalia sparsim vagantes, terram solam incolebant. Tandem pestilencie cladibus attriti, quandam phitonissam, ut fama fertur, adeunt, postulantes spiritum consilii responsumque divinacionis. Quo accepto civitatem statuunt, nomenque inponunt Pragam. Post hinc invento quodam sagacissimo atque prudentissimo viro, cui tantum agriculture officium erat, responsione phitonisse principem seu gubernatorem sibi statuunt, vocitatum cognomine Premizl, iuncta ei in matrimonio supramemorata phitonissa virgine.”

“But indeed the Bohemian Slavs, placed under Arcturus himself, devoted to idolatrous worship, like hellish horses without law, without any duke or governor or city, like brute animals roaming about scattered, inhabited the Earth alone. Finally, worn down by pestilence, they went to a certain soothsayer witch [this is a reference to Libuše, daughter of Krok], as the story goes, demanding the counsel of spirits and the answers of divination. After receiving this, they set up a city, and gave it the name Prague. Having found there a certain most shrewd and prudent man called by the name of Premizl, whose only vocation was agriculture; they set him up as a prince or governor over them and had him unite in marriage with the aforesaid soothsayer maiden.”

“Sicque a clade et multiplici peste tandem eruti, dehinc a supra memorato principe ex sobole eius rectores seu duces preposuere sibi, servientes demoniorum simulacris et prophanis sacrificiorum ritibus bachantes, donec ad extremum dominatus eiusdem regni pervenit ad unum ex eisdem principibus ortum, vocitatum Borivoi.”

“And thus finally rescued from the disaster and the manifold pestilence, thenceforth the above-mentioned prince appointed from among his sons governors or leaders, serving demon idols and profane sacrificial rites, until at last dominion of the same kingdom came to one of the same princes, called Borivoi.”

“Hic cum excellentissime forme et egregie iuventutis flore nitesceret, quodam tempore negocii sui populique sibi commissi causa ducem suum vel regem Zuentepulc Moravie adiit, a quo benigne suscipitur et ad convivium pariter cum reliquis adsciscitur. Verum sessionis ei locus inter Christicolas minime conceditur, sed ritu paganorum ante mensam pavimento iubetur insidere. Cuius presul Metudius iniurie condolens, fertur dixisse ad eum: Ve, inquit, quod tu talis tantusque haut erubescis a principalibus repelli sedibus, cum et ipse in fascibus ducatum obtineas, sed magis cupias ob nefandam ydolorum culturam cum subulcis humotenus incubare. At ille: Quid, inquit, ob huiuscemodi rem pericli pacior vel quid boni michi conferet Christianitatis ritus? Si, inquit presul Metudius, abrenunciaveris ydolis et inhabitantibus in eis demonibus, dominus dominorum tuorum efficieris, cunctique hostes tui subicientur dicioni tue et progenies tua cottidie augmentabitur velut fluvius maximus, in quo diversorum confluunt fluenta rivulorum. Et si, inquit Borivoi, res se ita habet, que mora est baptizandi? Nulla, inquit pontifex, tantum paratus esto ex integro corde credere in Deum patrem omnipotentem eiusque unigenitum, dominum nostrum Iesum Christum et in Spiritum paraclitum, illuminatorem omnium fidelium, non tantum mundialis causa substancie, verum eciam capessende salutis tue anime pro aquirenda perhennitatis gloriosa palma atque percipienda societate sanctorum ineffabili leticia.”

“[Bořivoj I of Bohemia], in the most excellent shape and in the splendid bloom of his youth, at a certain time went to his ruler Svatopluk I King of Moravia, on account of the business committed to him and his people by whom he was kindly received and he went to a banquet together with the others. But he was not allowed a place among the Christians but ordered to sit on the floor by the table according to pagan custom [similar story in the Conversion of the Carantanians]. The Bishop Methodius, sympathizing with him, is reported to have said: ‘Alas, that you sit with scum and being a man of importance you are embarassed at not being given a place at the table, [simply] because you prefer the unholy rites of idolatry.’ And he [Bořivoj] said: ‘Why would I brave the danger [of renouncing pagan rites], or what good will the rite of Christianity confer on me?’ Bishop Methodius answered: ‘If you destroy the idols and the demons that dwell in them, you will become the master of your masters, and all your enemies will be subject to your rule, and your descendants will multiply daily like a great river in which the streams of different streams converge.’ To which Bořivoj answered ‘If, this be so, what [then] prevents me from being baptized?’ ‘Nothing at all’ said the bishop. ‘Be ready only to believe with all your heart in God the Almighty Father and His only begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ and [too] in the Holy Spirit, the enlightener of all the faithful, and not as exchange for [earthly] things but rather to achieve the salvation of your soul, to acquire the glorious palm of eternity and to perceive the company of the saints in an ineffable joy.'”

“Populum cunctum Boemorum in furorem principis accendit, eo quod paternos mores relinqueret et novam atque inauditam sanctitatis legem Christianorum arriperet. Surgunt adversus eum uno animo eademque sentencia suisque eum a finibus perturbare conantur, seu eciam vitam auferre moliuntur. Quo agnito princeps sese ab eis removit rursusque regem zuentepulc seu pontificem Metudium Moravie repetivit.”

“The Czechs believed that he [Bořivoj I of Bohemia] abandoned the old customs of [their] fathers and accepted the unknown customs of Christainity so they rioted against him, […] and hounded him abroad and even intended to kill him; and thus, [when] the prince learned [about it], he left them and returned to the king Świętopełk, or Bishop Methodius in Moravia.”

From chapter 5

Chapter 6

“Quia vero radicitus necdum avulsi fuerant paganorum supersticiosi ritus, dum plurimi ad immolandum demoniis nefanda properarent sacrificia, cibisque ex ipsis potibusque simul inquinarentur, verum in cunctis se subtraxit, occasione facta qualibet. Carceres destruxit, patibula suppliciaque, que usque adhuc inerant ad excruciandos homines, funditus sua pietate evulsit fanaque profanorum terre coequavit.”

“But because the superstitious rites of the pagans had not yet been rooted out, while many hurried to perform evil sacrifices to demons, and their food and drink were polluted at the same time, he [Saint Wenceslaus] himself was never defiled by following these, but he withdrew himself from all, on every occasion. He destroyed the prisons, the gallows, [ended?] the executions, which up to this time had been used to torture men, completely uprooted by his piety, and razed the profane to the ground.”

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August 9, 2023

The Suavs of the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian

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Michael the Syrian (circa 1126 – 1199) was Syrian Orthodox Church patriarch for over 30 years (1166 – 1199). He is the author of a giant, medieval world chronicle found in a single Syriac manuscript (dated to 1598) last located in Aleppo, though portions of the chronicle (some earlier than the Syriac language manuscript) exist in other languages.

The Chronicle contains several mentions of the Suavs, though much of this material comes from earlier, already known sources (for example, John of Ephesus). Nevertheless, the Chronicle version may be of interest so here are the Suavic passages.

This comes from the French translation by Jean-Baptiste Chabot who first had the Syriac manuscript copied in 1888. Note that there is an English translation (“The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great)” by Matti Moosa, previously a professor at Gannon University but the below does not come from that.

Book IX
Chapter 33
(On the time of the end of the life of Justinian I, on the church which he built, on the bones of the martyrs which were discovered in his time, and on the other heretics which appeared in this time)

“In the 27th year of the reign of Justinianus… then came the armies of the Huns [Avars] and Slavs who besieged the imperial city. The broke through the exterior wall. They pillaged and burned all the suburbs, took captive all those they found there, and departed.”

“They came back a second and a third time. So the Romans [Byzantines] prevailed against them. They destroyed them and killed them all in battle. The small number of those who had fled was no longer seen anywhere. —And so they were delivered from them.”

Book X
Chapter 18
(On the time of Tiberius and on that which happened between the kings and in the churches)

“Then the Romans experienced new difficulties from this barbaric people, with uncultivated hair, who were called the Avars. They moved and came out of the confines of the East. Then, the western peoples of the Slavs, and others who were called Longobards, having all passed under the domination of Khagan, king of the Avars, they threw another bridge over the Danube.” 

“In the 3rd year of Tiberius’ reign, the cursed people of the Slavs came out and traveled through Hellade, the region of the Thessalonians, and Thrace, which they ravaged and set on fire. They invaded the region and spread there, they seized the troops of horses of the emperor: these barbarian men who (until then) could not show themselves outside the forests and the remote places, and who did not know armor, aside from [carrying] two or three small spears or javelins, learned the art of war. They dominated for a long time in the countries of the Romans [Byzantines].”

“The people of the Avars sent word to Tiberius saying, ‘Give us the city of Sirmium peacefully so that we may protect its people and their riches; or else we will take the city by war and we will destroy the population.’ Then Tiberius set about delaying them day by day with promises, because he thought of bringing the people of the Longobards against them from behind. But when these did not come, (the Romans) were compelled to deliver the city to them [the Avars], after it had suffered for two years from famine, so that the city people had eaten cats and other animals as a result of the shortages which were as great as those of the Samaritans.”

“When the Barbarians entered the city, they took pity on the unfortunate tormented by hunger: which should serve as an example and a reprimand to Christians who have no pity on their fellows. They [Avars] gave them bread and wine. But these, because of the ravages of a two-year famine, they ate greedily and died quickly. Those who survived took all they could and left the city, which now these barbarians came to inhabit.”

“After a year a fire fell on her [the city of Sirmium] and she was completely consumed. The barbarians fled naked and it remained deserted. Then the Romans [Byzantines] moderated their wrath a little, seeing what had happened to Sirmium.”

Book X
Chapter 20
(On the time of the death of Tiberius and on the wars of the Persians and Barbarians)

At that time, while the Roman armies were moving into Persia, the barbarian peoples of the Avars and the Slavs were ravaging the countries of the Romans; and while the Romans were fighting in Persia, the marzbān [or marzpān, literally ‘marchwarden’] Adarmôn [Adarmahān] again invaded the territory of the Romans and reached Edessa. He set fire to the eastern region of the city and burned the churches, monasteries and villages up to the distance of 15 miles, He camped north of the city and burned all that side, and the church of the Confessors. On the fourth day, the Persians killed all the prisoners and burned the corpses. They made such dust and smoke that (the brightness) of the sun was darkened.”

Book X
Chapter 21
(On the time of the beginning of the reign of Marcianus, the second Emperor of the Greeks)

“The people of the Slavs took captives everywhere. They removed objects of worship from the churches. Using great chariots they took a large ciborium from a church in Corinth and their king caused it to be fixed in place and used it lieu of a tent, and he sat underneath it. Then the Romans [Byzantines] paid off the people of the Antes, who then threw themselves on the country of the Slavs, which country they seized and plundered. They took away its riches  and set it on fire. Their country was west of the river called the Danube.”

“When the Slavs learned that their country was devastated, they roared like a lion over its prey. They gathered together by the thousands, and began to plunder without end. They could not advance so far as to besiege the imperial city. Instead they turned to the city of Anchiales and to the baths there. Many of them had been slain by the army there. In the end, they knocked down the walls. There they found the purple vestments which Anastasia, wife of Tiberius, had given as a vow to the church, when she went to the baths. The Khagan put then on, saying: ‘Whether the Emperor of the Romans wishes it or not, the kingdom has been given to me.’ Soon afterwards though he was frightened by the news that the people of the Turks were pursuing him. They retreated to Sirmium, fearing that (the Turks) would pillage the inhabitants and all its wealth. After 8 tons of gold were sent (by the Emperor Mauricius) to the Khagan, they withdrew.”

Book XI
Chapter 15
(On the time of the death of Mo’avia, the king of the Arabs, whose empire was divided again; on that of the Romans. On the ordination of Athanasius of Antioch)

“Justinian II, emperor of the Romans, who was full of insolent pride, did not allow Cyprus to be shared between the Romans and the Taiyaye [Arabs]; he removed its inhabitants in the 7th year of his reign. On learning this, Abd el-Malik [ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam] strongly reproached him for having broken the peace and for not having waited until the end of the (ten) years. This is why Mohammed, emir of Jezireh, invaded the Beit Roumaye. The Romans gave him battle near Caesarea in Cappadocia [Battle of Sebastopolis]. The Slavs took the side of the Taiyayê [Arabs] and went with them to Syria, to the number of about seven thousand. These [Arabs] established them at Antioch and at Cyrrhus, gave them wives, and shared with them tribute and provisions.”

Book XI
Chapter 16
(On the age of Justinian II, the Emperor of the Romans who was deposed. On Athanasius bar Gumayye, who was honored during this time by ‘Abd al-Malik, the king of the Ṭayyaye. On the ecclesiastical matters which were addressed during this time by the Pontiffs)

“This Apsimar was a general, surnamed Tiberius [Byzantine Emperor Tiberius III]. When the Slavs revolted against the Romans [Byzantines], as Leontius [previous Emperor] paid no attention to them, they pillaged and laid waste the country of the Romans [Byzantines]; then Apsimar marched against them, overcame them, and subdued them. This is why he became powerful, revolted and dethroned Leontius [Byzantine Emperor after Justinian II], saying: ‘Justinian II, because of his bad conduct towards the empire of the Romans, especially for having plundered Cyprus and broken the peace with the Taiyayê [Arabs] and having thus caused the ruin of a great number of countries of the Romans [Byzantines], and for other similar reasons, was deprived of the empire; likewise Leontius, who was one of his great men who was made to rule [Leontius overthrew Justinian II after first having been imprisoned (then released) as a result of Leontius’ defeat at the Battle of Sebastopolis], having fallen in his turn into the same madness, was driven out because of it.’”

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August 9, 2023

Figle & Witze

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After a decade long effort, the Marek Figlerowicz (whose fame is being rapidly outshined by his progeny – all, like the parents, featuring M- names) group finally released its genetic study of medieval and pre-medieval (read: Roman times) remains found in Poland (“Genetic history of East-Central Europe in the first millennium CE“). This has set the blogosphere on fire but, frankly, the results (putting aside the 10 year wait worthy of Communist-era project timeframes) are underwhelming and the authors’ accompanying conclusions untethered from these meager results.

The project was supposed to – at least in the minds of those that followed its odyssey – firmly establish whether Suavs were present in Poland before, say 500 A.D., that is the study was supposed to resolve the age-old question of the origin of the Polish Suavic population. Were the Suavs “always” in Poland or did they arrive in the early Middle Ages from an original Suavic homeland somewhere in the “East”.

As a side note, at least the question in the above posited form was thought to have been the age-old question. But human folly knows no bounds so another Polish geneticist, Piotr Węgleński, recently restated the problem as follows: “as concerns the origin of us Poles, we have two theories. One says that we come from the marshes of the Pripyat river. The other states that when Genghis Chan moved West with the Mongols conquering Europe, he captured various peoples along the way and he picked up our forbears somewhere between the Don and Dniepr and, heading West, dropped them off in the lands of today’s Poland.” The Overton window was thus shifted from “between the Odra and the Vistula OR Polesie/Western Ukraine” to “Pripyat Marshes OR something, something, Genghis Khan.” Appropriately enough, a few years ago Węgleński gave a lecture entitled “The Newest Developments in the History of Stupidity in Poland.” Now, with the claim that Poles arrived in Poland first in the thirteenth century, Węgleński will be able to boast that he is not only a passive reporter of this alleged process but also a contributor to its development.

The Suavs were an important source of protein in a Mongol warrior’s diet

So what did Figlerowicz and his team find?

Well, it seems that the Iron Age (Roman Era, or IA) cemeteries contain graves of people who look like older Scandinavian populations and the Middle Ages (or MA) cemeteries contain graves of people who look like Suavs.

Take this chart where the more dark blue the samples are the more “Scandinavian” they are and the more red, the more Suavic. The top right hand corner represents IA samples and the lower right represents MA samples.

Or take this next chart where on the right you have female mtDNA haplogroups. The two columns (second from right IA and furthest right MA) are almost the same between IA and MA. On the other hand, the two left columns show male Y-DNA haplogroups. The furthest left column shows males from IA and the second from left shows males from MA. Although there are some Suavic haplogroups on the very left (though the color scheme is somewhat misleading – only about half of the red on the left is from haplogroup R1a), they are relatively few as a percentage of the overall.

Given that Scandinavian Y-DNA haplogroups dominate the IA samples and Suav Y-DNA haplogroups dominate the MA samples, if you were to try to answer the above query using this data the only reasonable conclusion is that male Suavs, one way or another, displaced male Scandinavians in Poland between IA and MA. 

This makes the authors’ conclusions puzzling:

“The above results are consistent with the hypothesis assuming migration from north and genetic continuity in the region of contemporary Poland from the IA to the MA…However, high genetic contribution of the IA populations to the MA populations suggests not only the continuation of the common north European ancestry but also genetic continuation of the autochthon IA population which mixed with the incomers.”

And with respect to Y-DNA in particular:

“We found that all IA group individuals with Y-hg R1a belonged to the R1a-M458 lineage. These results, together with the earlier report on R1a-S204 lineage detection in an individual associated with the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture (Haak 2015), strengthen the evidence that R1a-S204 Y-hg lineages, which are dominant in present-day East-Central European populations (Polish, Czech, Belarusian, Ukrainian) (Underhill aka Podgórski 2015), were already present in East-Central Europe, at least since the Late Bronze period.”

Then comes this nugget:

“There are many examples in history showing that a relatively small group of male immigrants can subjugate a local community (e.g. the history of the colonization of North and South America). Thus, a small number of individuals with Y-hg R1a in the IA group does not necessarily mean a low frequency of this haplogroup in the autochthonous IA population.”

I’m sorry but this is pure speculation relying on results from other older papers. The current Figlerowicz study is, shall we say, unambiguous.

What’s particularly perplexing are the statements of the group that apparently were made at the time of or right after the publication. They are a jumbled mess at best (they may have made these statements in the paper itself – can’t recall at the moment). Apparently, a conclusion of the team is that (paraphrasing) “it is not necessary to postulate further genetic infusion after IA to form the MA population.” In other words, Suavs have likely developed from the existing IA populations. I am not a geneticist and assume that this is certainly possible but the question – looking at the above charts – is how likely that is. If these are the representative samples for the time period (see below as to why they may not be), then surely – at least on the male side – things changed between IA to MA. Could the population have changed from IA to MA in exactly the way that is postulated? Maybe. But, again, how likely is that? Essentially, the people who had disproportionately large Scandinavian genetics must have departed and the population remaining must have been characterized by fewer “Scandinavian” features. Such a selection in who left and who stayed requires an explanation. You could say that the Goths left and the Wends (?) stayed I suppose. Even if this were the case, the majority of the population in the settlements studied by the Figlerowicz team would have shown itself as Gothic. Figlerowicz also said that he does not agree with Jozef Kostrzewski’s theories (Kostrzewski claimed that the Suavs lived in Poland since the Bronze Age at least, then the Goths came and then the Goths left and Suavs remained). But he seems to be saying exactly what Kostrzewski claimed. Except that this is based on evidence that can only support Kostrzewski under some very specific circumstances.

But there is more. Apparently, Figlerowicz’s team has claimed that basically the same people lived in Poland during the IA as the kinds of people that lived in northern Germany, Lithuania or Latvia at the time.  This can be read to mean that you can’t really distinguish between such populations because they are all basically the same. But if the writers really believe that then the above claim of population continuity in the sense that most people took it to mean evaporates since the researchers and the general public are not in agreement on the meaning of the the underlying concepts. In other words, by claiming these populations are interchangeable (they are not), the Figlerowicz team really denies the point of the whole exercise. I guess they did not find evidence of Amerindians, Asians or Africans being present in Poland at the time but we kind of knew that they wouldn’t. Moreover, if Figlerowicz’s team can’t tell the difference between a Latvian, a Suav and a German then how can it confidently claim that an entirely new population from amongst those three groups did not appear in Poland sometime between IA and MA to replace or at least dwarf most of the Rest-whatever population that was left after Gothic departure?

There are ways of preserving Kostrzewski’s claims but they are not laid out by this paper nor are they supported by the paper’s data. Let’s take a more sober view of what we actually know.

The most level-headed part of the paper is the following (adding emphasis to a very relevant point):

“Here, we provide several pieces of evidence that the ancestors of the medieval populations lived in the region of present-day Poland during the IA. There are, however, several aspects that need further elucidation. Firstly, how and when the ancestors of the MA populations with Y-hg R1a appeared. The times when Y-hg R1a-M417 dominated in this territory are associated with the spread of the Corded Ware culture (from 3000 to 2300 BC) (Papac 2021). Later, it was replaced by the Unetice culture (from 2300 to 1600 BC) (Papac 2021) that was associated with the populations in which Y-hg R1a was very rare. From then until the IA, there were many archaeological cultures in this region from which no genetic data is available as cremation became the dominant burial practice. Here, we showed that the IA and MA populations inherited only a small percentage of genetic ancestry from the people associated with the Unetice culture. Therefore, the ancestors of the autochthonous IA populations with Y-hg R1a would have either had to be revived in the BA period or come from east during the BA or IA period. At this point, it should be noted that based on our results, one cannot explicitly rule out additional waves of migration after the IA. Thus, one of the reasons for the increase in the frequency of Y-hg R1a could also be migrations from Eastern Europe after the Migration Period. Although they seem less likely one cannot exclude the alternative scenarios that do not assume the presence of the ancestors of the medieval populations in the region of contemporary Poland during the IA. One possibility is the numerous waves of migration from northern Europe in both IA and medieval times.”

It may be true (apparently) that there have been no samples pre-dating Wielbark but post-dating Unetice. But the problem with this study is deeper.

The issue is the sample selection even for the period supposedly under study, that is, the Roman Era Iron Age.

The vast bulk of the samples collected appear instead to have been gathered from medieval Poland such that, Węgleński’s pioneering suggestions notwithstanding, there does not seem to be any reason to doubt that those would turn out to be Suavic – as indeed they have.

However, when we turn to the “Roman era” samples (IA) studied, they are either from a very small geographic area in Greater Poland/Kuyavia (three places total, including – the previously designated as Gothic – Kowalewko) or from two places in the Gdańsk region on the Baltic coast – areas where, it is entirely likely, Scandinavian peoples (e.g., Goths) may well be expected to have had a foothold. The only exception to this is Masłomęcz on the Ukraine border which, however, was already thought to be Gothic years before. (Somewhat notably, though, at least the maternal lines found in both Masłomęcz and Kowalewko appear to be the same as those found in Poland currently).

The only “new” (as in not previously leaked) Roman era samples are from:

  • Gąski, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship – this consists of 2 samples – neither of which has any Y-DNA
  • Czarnówko, West Pomeranian Voivodeship – same as above: 2 samples and none have Y-DNA
  • Pruszcz Gdański, Pomeranian Voivodeship –  this has a smattering of I1s, R1bs but also I2s

Take a look at this map. The MA samples are in red, the IA Roman Era samples are in blue.

Altogether there were only five Roman-era sites studied it seems. The analyzed medieval sites and samples outnumber the Roman-era ones in the study by about 4:1.

In the Roman-era samples, we have nothing from Western Pomerania, nothing from Mazovia, nothing from large swaths of Greater Poland, nothing from Lesser Poland (save Masłomęcz if you count it as such), nothing from Silesia, nothing from ancient Prussia and nothing from Polesia.

Compare the above blue Wielbark samples with this map from Henryk Machajewski’s paper (1992):

The green sites have been connected with Przeworsk. The red are supposed to represent Wielbark. Pruszcz Gdański is 91, Masłomęcz is 71, the other Figlerowicz Wielbark sites don’t seem to be shown.

In other words, Figlerowicz’s team knew there had been Goths in Poland around the same time, it looked for Goths and it found something that looks like Scandinavian, possibly Gothic, DNA.

The team does not appear to have figured out how to deal with the lack of body parts necessary for DNA studies (presumably given the prevalence of cremation in most of Poland prior to the introduction of Christianity). This means all of the Przeworsk culture is simply excluded from the study. Naturally too, this is not unexpected but is nevertheless disappointing given the fanfare that surrounded this effort.

In fact, take a look at this graph from the same paper. Strictly speaking, if you were to analyze the results of only this study, not only isn’t there any evidence of Suavs in Poland during the IA but also there really isn’t any evidence for them during the period from about 450 A.D. to about 950 A.D. They just have no samples for that period.

Plus, as pointed out already above, the samples for the Y-DNA portion of the study include only three sites: Pruszcz Gdański and two sites which were known to be Gothic before – Kowalewko plus Masłomęcz (and Kowalewko does have someone with an R1a haplogroup though it’s not obvious whether its subclade is “Suavic”). Many more Wielbark sites could have been part of this study (see map above), most notably from Mazovia and Polesie but they were not. So while the conclusions above seems unambiguous, the sample size on which they are based is sparse to say the least. In fact, to be honest, we can’t even draw full conclusions about the Wielbark sites either just based on this study. This too is disappointing and, frankly, I don’t see a reason for such a narrow scope of the Wielbark sample size.

To put the project’s IA range in some perspective take a look at this map. The yellow area is the area of Poland from which Roman Era Iron Age Y-DNA samples have been recovered and analyzed. The area in red is the portion of Poland that archaeologists and geneticists still have some work to do on:

Now this took about a decade. Someone with better math skills can figure out when we will be done at this rate but I worry that by then future geneticists will need another DNA study just to figure out what ethnic group actually started this project.

Figlerowicz and his team may be commended for undertaking this project but they really should have kept expectations far lower. It’s not that their results are equivocal. It’s more that they simply don’t have enough results to derive any definitive conclusions.

Anyway, when and if a broader study is done at some point, covering all Roman Era sites in Poland as well as the pre-Roman period we will know whether Suavs (in the sense of the typically Polish Y-DNA haplogroups) lived in Poland during or prior to Gothic migrations.

It seems the answer to this question may be ‘yes’ – at least for southeast Poland – albeit here too the Y-DNA haplogroup frequency split does not correspond to current percentages (more I2a than R1a) as per a new Maciej Chyleński & others article (“Patrilocality and hunter-gatherer-related ancestry of populations in East-Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age“).

Here are the results from that paper:

As can be seen there are plenty of R1a’s, particularly in the Strzyżów culture but also in the Mierzanowice culture plus the Komarów culture which is in Ukraine including:

  • R1a1a1b1a2a aka Z280>Z92 in Komarów
  • R1a1a1b1a2b aka Z280>CTS1211 in Strzyżów and Trzciniec
  • R1a1a1b1a1a aka M458>L260/S222 in Trzciniec

In fact the R1a percentages run as follows:

  • Iwno – 0%
  • Komarów – 50%
  • Mierzanowice – ~67%
  • Strzyżów – 80%
  • Trzciniec – 16%

Here you can see the geography of the samples:

Now are these the specific Suavic downstream clades? We will probably never know as you’d have to dig deeper in the DNA and these samples are what they are. Nevertheless, if you asked for Western Suavic DNA at this level today, it seems that you would get this. (There seems to be some confusion with their Mokrzec site which the dataset shows as R1b but the supplementary data paper claims is R1a.)

Incidentally, after R1a, the biggest Y-DNA haplogroups in Poland are I1 and R1b. Maybe these are from former Gothic tribes (or Celts or even Germanic tribes) but they might as well be remnants of R1b (and perhaps I1) wanderers who never made it to Scandinavia (or maybe who wondered back out years before the times of the Roman Empire).

It is curious that Trzciniec is mostly I2a and, particularly, more southern and western form of it but even here in Trzciniec you see two I2a1b2a’s aka CTS10936 which has been found all over the continent but its preponderance is in eastern/southern Europe.  

In any event, if the answer were ‘no,’ then the next question will have to be where did they come from? To answer that you would need samples from southern Swabia around the Bodensee, the Elbe country, Pannonia, Denmark, Sweden, Ukraine, Belarus and, perhaps even the territories from Lake Lacha to Lake Pihkva.

Note that the same Figlerowicz group is also going after the origins of the Piast dynasty – Polish, Scandinavian, Czech, Hungarian  or, maybe Ukrainian (probably hg N BTW)? This seems like it ought to be an  “easier” project but here too the team seems to have hit a stumbling block as the Church and local antiquities authorities apparently refused to allow the researchers to access some of the few known graves of actual Polish kings. Given the alleged importance of this project, this refusal seems absurd but, of course, the monarchs aren’t, hopefully, going anywhere so there is always potential for someone changing their mind given, perhaps, some future less invasive method of analysis.

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August 8, 2023

Wadas in the Sky

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Incidentally, speaking of bracteates, here is a picture of another one from Poland. This one comes from Karlino, Białogard county. It is classified as IK 367.

An inscription on it has been deciphered as:

ᚹᚫᛁᚷᚫ or “waiga

The picture is supposed to be of Odin.

However, whether this Antonsen read is correct is, too, uncertain. If you look at the bracteate it seems to say:

ᚹᚫᛞᚫ or “wada

or, maybe, ᚹᚫᛁᛞᚫ, that is, “waida

And the alleged Odin, has no beard and rather long-hair (a common depiction of bracteate riders which also raises questions).

The Polish surname “Wajda” is, incidentally, also of uncertain origin with Hungarian, Polish and German origin possible. Vaidila was an Old Prussian name for an “magician.” However, these words are pronounced with a “v” sound rather than a “w”.

This was part of a hoard discovered in 1839 or 1840 which contained six other bracteates – all the same and without runes and this particular bracteate. They were brought to the Museum Vaterländischer Alterthümer (number MVF, II 5868) which was subsequently bombed to the ground but not before it was reorganized as part of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin Charlottenburg, after which one of the six sister bracteates disappeared and then, post-WWII, the rest were carried away by the Soviets as war booty to be deposited at the Puskin Museum in Moscow (like the SABAR bracteate). Other items part of the same hoard included a bunch of rings with one containing further runes in two rows (picture from Rozalia Tybulewicz, “A Hoard from the Migration Period from Karlino (North-Western Poland)”).

The runes, if read the same way – left to right – as the above ring may read:

ᛇ (or ᚫ?)
ᚢᛚᚫ

or “ï ula

This is not entirely clear and some have read the “bottom” row as “alu” reading right to left. Note that the bottom row may have to be mirrored since, as is, it has no recognizable runes. Further the “top” row itself may be “upside down” relative to the bottom row.

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July 6, 2023

Belgrad on the Bodensee

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We previously mentioned Belgrad on the coast of the Bodensee (Lacus Veneticus aka Lacus Moesius or Mursianus?). Here is a 19th century map showing the same. Now, the Serbian Belgrad came under the Habsburgs in the 18th century so could this be related? It seems the earliest mention of the town is from 1794.

As one of the commenters below notes, Belgrad (White Town) on the above map is next to Schönengardt (Pretty Town) which has a, strikingly corresponding – though not exactly the same – meaning.

Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that Belgrad could be read to have the same meaning as another “White Town”, that is, Vindobona. Vindobona was, of course, supposedly the Celtic town whose name in Suavic would be Belgrad/Białogród and which refers to Vienna (Czech Wídeń, supposedly itself from Vindobona). Of course, the area in question is not exactly close to Vienna but it was the site of the Roman war with Vindelici.

Of course, Belgrad is not the only Suavic sounding name in the area. We have:

  • Grod
  • Kremle, originally, Cremln
  • Bettnau, originally, Betnów
  • Hattnau, originally Hattenów
  • the regional center Lindau was first registered as Lintowa
  • Schreckenmanklitz, Ruppenmanklitz, earlier Manklitz or Mantlis
  • Reutenen, earlier Rútinen (compare Ruciane)
  • Reutin, but earlier Rúti but too Rúty
  • likewise Oberreutin, earlier Obrarútinen as well as Obrorúty and Unterreute, earlier Niderruti or Niderreuttin
  • Köchlin, earlier Kechli but elsewhere by Beuron you have a similar Koechlin in a land register
  • Scheffau, earlier Scheffów
  • Schmallenberger, earlier Smalinberg
  • Schönau, earlier Schönnowe
  • Edelitz, earlier Medelitz
  • Itzlings, earlier Izilinz, Yczlins, Nytzlis but also Mitzlitz, Mytzlis
  • Menzen, earlier Menzin
  • Scharfentöbele, earlier Töbelin
  • Schache, earlier Birscachin
  • Rehlings, earlier Röwlin
  • Schweinebach, earlier Swinobach, Swinibach

Of course, most or even all of these may not be of Suavic origin. Nevertheless, it would seem that serious study of the matter might be worthwhile here.

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July 5, 2023

Turkic Scandinavians

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An interesting thing about the various bracteates found in Poland is how quickly people are ready to ascribe them to various Scandinavian cultures. This is so even in instances where you have runic writing on them which fails to at least is hard to square with any known Germanic language.

We have the runes of Soschychne written SDIRALIT (compare Russian сдира́ли, Polish zdzierać, etc.) which has been read backwards (right to left) to produce TILARIDS and invent a Germanic word not attested anywhere else. The possibility of the Suavic is ignored.

As Oskar Bandle, ‎Lennart Elmevik, ‎Gun Widmark note in “The Nordic Languages”:

“tilarids has been taken to be an East Germanic form and is etymologically more obscure. Its meaning is supposed to be ‘goal-rider’ or ‘attacker’, hence containing the same verbal root as ON rida ‘ride’, or less probably tilraedi n. ‘attack, assault (cf. Lehmann 1986, 345).'”

We have the rune on the spear from Dahmsdorf-Müncheberg which supposedly reads RANJA where the possibility of a connection with the Suavic ranić (to wound) or the Suavic tribe Rani are each ignored.

We have the Rozwadów spear where something that may read RPAs has been read as KRLAS or IK ERULS.

However, my personal favorite is the writing on a bracteate from Wapno, Wągrowiec district, Greater Poland Voivodeship:

What does that say? Well, reading right to left it says SABAR. Now what does that mean? This has been interpreted by Elmer Antonsen (a rather controversial runologist) as “SABA” which, apparently, could be force read to refer to the “Wise One” in some language or other so that must mean Odin. There are a number of issues with this, not the least of which is that the writing (if, indeed, reading it right-to-left is the correct way) is SABAR not SABA.

So what could SABAR mean?

Assuming you eliminate the Sabar people of Indian Bengal (Odisha though earlier Udra and Odra), a reference to a follower of Rāma from Ramayana and the idea that this refers to a Senegalese drum, you have one very interesting possibility that this is a reference to the Sabir (Σάβιροι) people, a Turkic group that lived north of the Caucasus between the 5th and 7th century – perhaps later absorbed by the Khazars. They are mentioned by Priscus as well as by a bunch of Byzantine authors. The Syriac translation of Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor’s Ecclesiastical History refers to them as people who “live in tents, earn their living on the meat of livestock and fish, of wild animals and by their weapons (i.e., who plunder).”

But this is a problem because the rider here is typically interpreted as Odin (note the popular swastika that is found on many bracteates and, incidentally, on the very first attested Polish coin). Of course, we know that Odin came from the East… Of course this raises the question of who the Scandinavians really worshipped in Roman times. After all the earliest mention of Odin – if that is the sane person as Wadon or Wodan – is in Jonas of Bobbio’s “The Life of Columban“.

As a side note, the Suavic zbir refers to a “ruffian” but… supposedly comes from the Italian sbirro (same meaning, compare with Spanish esbirro – “henchman”. Of course, there is the question of how these words came to Italian (Spanish) – perhaps from Latin birrus (a cloak that a ruffian would wear) but were there any Sabirs in the Hunnic horde? Is there any attestation of this word prior to the Hunnic invasion? Honestly, we do not know. Was the word borrowed from Gaulish as some claim?

The bracteate was found in 1850 in a clay urn together with three other bracteates (one like the SABAR bracteate and two others made from another stamp) and a bunch of rings. They “found their way” to Berlin’s Charlottenburg Museum from which they “disappeared” after WWII only to magically “reappear” in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. One of the SABAR bracteates was then reacquired by the Germans.

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July 4, 2023

Galician Lelia Doura

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An interesting Divine Name appearing in Długosz’s Pantheon is Dzidzilela (a mispronounciation of a Baltic Didis Lela?). Indeed, in addition to Yassa, Lado and Nia, we frequently see in the earliest sources the Name Lela or Leli. Długosz characterized Dzidzilela as the Polish Venus. And indeed, it appears that Venus in its function as the Moon’s (Jasień’s) companion may be connected with Lela. As discussed, the Polish Leliwa coat of arms features the crescent moon and what appears to be a star but is likely Venus. More broadly, in European (and not only) languages, the leli sound is frequently associated with the night (for example, think of a lullaby).  Curiously, layl in Arabic and layla in Hebrew each mean “night”.

Of course, the Alcis are the Lugian Castor and Pollux as per Tacitus (the alleged Polish Lel and Polel) while elkas in Latvian and alkas in Lithuanian may refer to an idol. Then, we have the Polish lalki for puppets/dolls (though lala may also mean a young, attractive woman). All these have been connected with the supposed IE Horse Twins.

We’ve discussed some of this before.

Who is Lela? In Suavic vocabulary the name most frequently refers to an aunt or an older female relation.  Although Lada has been identified as the mother of Lel and Polel (supposedly being the same with the Greek Leda) a question arises: could the Horse Twins be the children of Lela instead in her function as the, well, Mother of the Gods (meaning the Horse Twins)?

Plenty of ink may be happily spilled answering that question (likely to no avail) but, in the meantime, let us note something strange. A curious refrain from a 13th century Galician poem by Pedro Eanes Solaz speaks these very same names in much the same way as the words Leli, Leli or Lado, Lado were sang by Suavic peasant farmers.

The poem has been preserved in three copies written down sometime in the 16th century as part of a compendium of other early Portuguese poetic works.

The Portuguese text is as follows (generally following Cohen and Corriente) in eight strophes:

Eu velida non dormia
lelia doura
e meu amigo venia
edoy lelia doura.

Non dormia e cuidava
lelia doura
e meu amigo chegava
edoy lelia doura.

O meu amigo venia
lelia doura
e d’amor tan ben dizia
edoy lelia doura.

O meu amigo chegava
lelia doura
e d’amor tan ben cantava
edoi lelia doura.

Muito desejei, amigo,
lelia doura
que vos tevesse comigo
edoy lelia doura.

Muito desejei, amado,
lelia doura
que vos tevess’a meu lado
edoy lelia doura.

Leli, leli, par Deus, lely
Lelia doura
Ben sei eu que<n> non diz leli
Edoy lelia doura

Ben sei eu qu<n> non diz lely
Lelia doura
Demo x’ é quen non diz leli
Edoy lelia doura

Here is a copy from the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional aka the Cancioneiro Colocci-Brancuti (codex 10991, number 829).

An English translation of the text is as follows (from 2005’s Songs of a Friend: Love Lyrics of Medieval Portugal: Selections from Cantigas de Amigo):

I the lovely one, didn’t sleep,
lelia doura,
but my friend was wont to come to me,
e doi lelia doura.

I didn’t sleep and was always grieved,
lelia doura,
but my friend was wont to arrive for me,
e doi lelia doura.

My friend was wont to come to me,
lelia doura,
and he’d speak so beautifully of love,
e doi lelia doura.

And my friend was wont to arrive for me,
lelia doura,
and he’d sing so beautifully of love,
e doi lelia doura.

I ardently desired, my friend,
lelia doura,
that you would be together with me,
e doi lelia doura.

I ardently desired, my love,
lelia doura,
that you would be close at my side,
e doi lelia doura.

Leli, leli, by God, leli,
lelia doura,
I know very well who doesn’t say leli,
e doi lelia doura.

I know very well who doesn’t say leli,
lelia doura.
A demon is he who doesn’t say leli,
e doi lelia doura.

And here is the same in the Cancionerio Vaticano (codex Latinus 4803, number 415).

 

The refrain was not intelligible to those who discovered these manuscripts in the 19th centuries and so much has been written about its meaning. Two theories  prevail. First, that the refrain is onomatopeic or, in this case, basically meaningless singalong gibberish. However, more recently, a theory has been put forward that it is of Arabic origin. This was suggested in 1964 by Brian Dutton (“Lelia Doura, Edo y Lelia Doura, An Arabic Refrain in a Thirteenth-Century Galician Poem?”) and reproposed in 2002 by Rip Cohen and Federico Corriente (“Lelia Doura Revisited”). Lelia Doura would mean something like the “night turns”. Why Arabic? Well, as mentioned above, layl refers to night or nighttime and we know that Muslims had conquered portions of the Iberian peninsula at some point.

But this is rather strange. The poet in question is Galician and Galicia had never been conquered by the Muslims. The local Muslim population was nonexistent save for Muslim serfs captured by Galician rulers raiding parts of Al-Andalus to the south (serfs who may well have been Christian in any event). Perhaps most well-known was Alfonso II who more or less successfully fought off both Muslim marauders only to succumb for a time to Charlemagne.

It is safe to say that of all parts of the Iberian Peninsula the Asturian Kingdom of Galicia seems the oddest choice for preserving fragments of the Arabic language. And this is even more so if we are talking about the 13th century when the poem was composed by Pedro.

Galicia, however, had been, the home of:

  • Celtic Luggones
  • briefly of the Hasdingi Vandals (of whom the Lugii are suspected to have been a part), and
  • Suevi 

In the south Al-Andalus was also a major site of Suavic slave trade and, later, integrated many of the imported Suavic slaves into the local polity.

So a Central European connection seems better suited as an explanation of this refrain. Leli may not refer to “my night” but rather to either the Great Lela or, perhaps, Her Divine Twins.

Why Great Lela? Well, Didis Lado was supposed to mean Great Lado in Lithuanian but we also have Dzidzilela, perhaps a rendition of Didis Lela. It is interesting that the Polish word for “large” , “great” or “big” is durzy or, feminine, durza (see here, for example). This might be an explanation for the word doura. An alternative may be dobra meaning the “good”. And, frankly, these words may themselves bear a mutual relation.

Curiously, Cohen and Corriente use another poem by Pedro Eanes Solaz to conclude that the whole song has to do with a competition between two different women for the affections of a man. The other poem reads as follows:

Dizia la ben talhada:
“Agor’ a viss’ eu penada
Ond’ eu amor ei!”

A ben talhada dizia:
“Penad’ a ciss’ eu un dia
Ond’ eu amor ei!”

Ca, se a viss’ eu penada,
Non seria tan coitada
Ond’ eu amor ei!

Penada se a eu visse,
non á mal que eu sentisse
Ond’ eu amor ei!

Quen lh’ oje por mi dissesse
Que non tardass’ e veesse
Ond’ eu amor ei!

Quen lh’ oje por mi rogasse
Que non tardass’ e chegasse
Ond’ eu amor ei!

Thus, they render the following translation of both of these poems:

So sang the lovely girl:
“Now may I see her tormented
Whence I feel love!”

The lovely girl was singing:
“May I see her tormented one day
Whence I feel love!

For if I saw he tormented
I wouldn’t be so saddened
Whence I feel love.

If I saw her tormented
I wouldn’t be so saddened
Whence I feel love.

I wish someone would tell him for me
Not to tarry but to come
Whence I feel love.

I wish someone would beg him for me
Not to tarry but to arrive
Whence I feel love.”

Then the object of our discussion is translated thusly:

I, lovely girl, was not sleeping
(It’s my turn)
And my boyfriend was coming
(And today it’s my turn).

I wasn’t sleeping and was longing
(It’s my turn)
And my boyfriend was arriving
(And today it’s my turn).

My boyfriend was coming
(It’s my turn)
Any my boyfriend was arriving
(And today’s my turn).

My boyfriend was arriving
(It’s my turn)
And chanting so well of love
(And today’s my turn).

I really wanted, friend,
(It’s my turn)
To have you with me
(And today’s my turn).

I really wanted, beloved,
(It’s my turn)
To have you at my side
(And today’s my turn).

My night! My night! Bt God, my night!
(It’s my turn)
I know well who won’t say “my night!”
(And today’s my turn).

I know well who won’t say “my night!”
(It’s my turn)
She’s the devil who won’t say “my night!”
(And today’s my turn).

No this is curious because this love story (triangle?) is very similar to folk songs of Suavic lands where the name Leli as well as the word Lado come up. There is Queen Lela in Croatian and Serbian songs (see for example Vuk Stefanović Karadžić’s “Serbian National Songs” in Milan Milićević’s ethnological writings). We have “leliy, leliy, my lado” in Russian songs as per Karol PotkańskiOr “Łado, my Lelu” (Chronicle of Stryjkowski). Similar songs were sung in Ukraine. Finally Leliwa may have been a reference to the planet Venus itself (the Star of Leli, as per Kazimierz Perkowski).

Beyond Suavic lands we have the Hittite Lelwani (eventually a female) whose name features the suffix -vani which may mean “desire” (comparable with Venus) and which was like Persephone/Proserpina connected with the underworld (Stanisław of Skalbmierz mentions the cults of Venus and Proserpina in Poland). Or, for that matter, we may also mention the Hindu Lalita.

In fact, a recent work on the Polish Dzidzilela concludes that the whole story of Lado and Leli may be summarized as a love affair whereby a God arrives (often a Moon God) and falls in love with a Goddess, betrays her with another and then is punished (either by the brothers of his love or by someone else). He is later reborn. While this myth has a clear connection to the vegetation cycle, it is also reminiscent of the myth of Jason and Medea (miedza?) or Iasion and Demeter that we have written so often about here. Did the Moon God betray his love with another celestial? If so was it Lela? Or was Lela, as the Name itself indicates perhaps an older sister or an aunt? Did the God of the Moon tarry on Earth as Łado/Mars and seduce Marzanna? Only then to return to His true love, the celestial Łada/Lela?

As an aside, it is worth noting that the word lada in Spanish also refers to a side. It is tempting to speculate that that meaning arose from the function (my dear) of one of the Divine Twins in relation to the latter, especially, since Lada and Jasień may have been responsible for different “sides” of the Year divided in two by Midsummer’s Eve. Lela may then have been the Mother of Both (and they, the Lelki or, in Lithuanian, Alcis).

For other discussions of pottential Suavic connections to the Iberian Peninsula see here, here, here, here, here and here.

And if you want a real mindtwister, recall that wyspa – earlier yspa – is the Polish word for an island. The etymology of Hispania is not fully understood so throw this possibility into the mix as well.

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December 26, 2022

Green Holiday Celebrations From the Collection of Piotr from Miłosław

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Here are some quotes from the Sermones dominicales et festivales cum glossis Polonicis (from the so-called Collection of Piotr from Miłosław)

Aleksander Brueckner brought this to the scholarly world’s attention finding cantica lascivia wherein ladies “saltant ad sonum chori et cytharae concinnando swathky lyecze” (Archiv für slavische Philologie,14, 481 at 505),

Here are different versions of the same:

Jasna Góra Monastery Manuscript

“Sed quid locusta nisi fatuas virgines et mulieres signat, saltatrices, cantatrices et coreatrices, que hodie adinstar locuste saltant ad sonitum cytare concinantes szwanthki lecze, sed sunt immemores future hiemis vernis et dire, si quando dira mors eos.”

Polish National Library

“Sed quid locusta nisi fatuos viros  et mulieres signat, saltatrices, cantatrices et coreatrices, que hodie adinstar locuste saltant ad sonitum cytare concinantes, sed sunt immemores future hiemis vernis et dire, si quando dira mors eos constriget.”

Another Manuscript
(as per Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego)

“Sed quid locusta nisi fatuas virgines et mulieres significat saltatrices, cantatrices…, que hodie adinstar locuste saltant ad sonitum cithare concinantes wszytky latą [wszytki lata], sed sunt immemores future hiemis et dure, scilicest quando mors constringet swyaze [zwiąże]

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December 26, 2022