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The Besermyan, Biserman, Besermans or Besermens (, , ) are a numerically small
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...
people in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The Russian Empire Census of 1897 listed 10,800 Besermans. There were 10,000 Besermans in 1926, but the
Russian Census of 2002 The 2002 Russian census () was the first census of the Russian Federation since the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union, carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Goskomstat, Russian ...
found only 3,122 of them. The Besermyan live in the districts of Yukamenskoye,
Glazov Glazov ( rus, Глазов, p=ˈɡlazəf; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Udmurt Republic, Russia, located along the Trans-Siberian Railway, on the Cheptsa River. Population: History It was first mentioned in the 17t ...
, Balezino, and
Yar Yar, Yare or Yars may refer to: Geography * Yar, Russia, name of several inhabited localities in Russia * Babi Yar, a ravine in Kyiv where mass murders took place during World War II * Eastern Yar, a river on the Isle of Wight, England * Western ...
in the northwest of
Udmurtia Udmurtia, officially the Udmurt Republic, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is administratively part of the Volga Federal District. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russi ...
. There are ten villages of pure Besermyan ethnicity in Russia, and 41 villages with a partial Besermyan population.


History

The Besermyan are of Turkic origin, and are probably the result of a group of
Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...
who were assimilated by the
Udmurts The Udmurts (, ) are a Permian (Finno-Ugric) ethnic group in Eastern Europe, who speak the Udmurt language. They mainly live in the republic of Udmurtia in Russia. Etymology The name ''Udmurt'' comes from * 'meadow people,' where the first part ...
. In the 13th century during his travel to Mongolia, papal envoy Plano Carpini claimed that the Besermyan were subjects of the Mongols. Russian chronicles sometimes made mention of the Besermyan but it's unclear whether the term was meant to denote the modern group as it was a common derivation of the term "musulman" (Muslim). It is likely that the term had broader usage before it became an
ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
.


Culture

The language of the Besermyan is a
dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
of the
Udmurt language Udmurt (; Cyrillic: Удмурт) is a Permic languages, Permic language spoken by the Udmurt people who are native to Udmurtia. As a Uralic languages, Uralic language, it is distantly related to languages such as Finnish language, Finnish, Estonia ...
with
Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...
influences. Although they speak a dialect of Udmurt, the Besermyan consider themselves a distinct people. The Besermyan used to historically practice their own indigenous religion. According to scholar Shirin Akiner, most current Besermyan practice Sunni Islam. Some Besermyan also practice Christianity. The Russians began converting the Besermyan to Christianity around the middle of the 18th century.


Genetics

In a mtDNA research which was done on Besermyans there were 41 tested persons from the village of Yozhovo in Yukamenskovo raion of Udmurtia. The proportion of Eastern Eurasian haplogroups, primarily of haplogroup C, turned out to be significantly higher than that of the Udmurts. According to this indicator, the Besermyans genetically stand out against the background of the Volga-Ural region and are closer to the Turkic-speaking peoples of Southern Siberia. A study was conducted of the Y-chromosome haplogroups of 53 Besermyans from the villages of Yukamenskoye and Yozhevo, as well as the village of Shamardan, Yukamensky district of Udmurtia. It turned out that more than half of the samples belong to haplogroup N, which may indicate the predominance of the Finno-Ugric component in the formation of the Besermyans along their male line. Genetically, Besermayns seem to be descended mostly from Udmurts on their paternally and from the sub-group of Kazan Tatars - Chepetsk Tatars, maternally. The data from
lexicostatistics Lexicostatistics is a method of comparative linguistics that involves comparing the percentage of lexical cognates between languages to determine their relationship. Lexicostatistics is related to the comparative method but does not reconstruct a ...
also did not reveal a noticeable Bulgar ( Old Chuvash)
substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...
in the Besermyan dialect. Only
Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...
adstrate In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for 'layer') or strate is a historical layer of language that influences or is influenced by another language through contact. The notion of "strata" was first developed by the Italian linguist Graziadio Isaia A ...
, associated with the Chepetsk Tatars, can be traced. According to a 2019 study, the Besermyan's autosomal genetic admixture can be modeled as mostly Srubnaya-like and about 25 percent Nganasan-like.


References


kominarod.ru: Бесермяне
* {{authority control Udmurtia Udmurt people Indigenous peoples of Russia Permians