Meshchera is an extinct
Uralic language
The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers ab ...
. It was spoken around the left bank of the Middle
Oka. Meshchera was either a
Mordvinic or a
Permic
The Permic or Permian languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. They are spoken in several regions to the west of the Ural Mountains within the Russian Federation. The total number of speakers is around 950,000, of which around 550,00 ...
language. Pauli Rahkonen has suggested on the basis of
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
ic evidence that it was a
Permic
The Permic or Permian languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. They are spoken in several regions to the west of the Ural Mountains within the Russian Federation. The total number of speakers is around 950,000, of which around 550,00 ...
or closely related language.
Rahkonen's speculation has been criticized by
Vladimir Napolskikh
Vladimir Vladimirovich Napolskikh (, born 1 April 1963, Izhevsk, USSR) is a Russian ethnographer, ethnologist, ethnohistorian, Finno-Ugrist and linguist. Doctor of Historical Sciences (1992), corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Scienc ...
. Some Meshchera speaking people possibly assimilated into
Mishar Tatars
The Mishar Tatars (endonyms: мишәрләр, мишәр татарлары, ''mişärlär, mişär tatarları''), previously known as the Meshcheryaki (мещеряки), are the second largest subgroup of the Volga Tatars, after the Kazan Tat ...
(Meshcheryaki).
However this theory is disputed.
The first Russian written source which mentions them is the ''
Tolkovaya Paleya'', from the 13th century. They are also mentioned in several later Russian chronicles from the period before the 16th century, and even later, in one of the letters by
Andrey Kurbsky
Prince Andrey Mikhailovich Kurbsky (1528?–1583) was a Russian political figure, military leader, and political philosopher, known as an intimate friend and then a leading political opponent of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible (). He defected ...
written in the second half of the 16th century, where he claimed the language spoken in the Meshchera region to be Mordvinic.
Reconstruction
Some words have been reconstructed from Meshchera based on
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
ic data, for example: Meshchera
hydronym
A hydronym (from , , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of top ...
ic stems un-, ič-, vil- and ul, which can be compared to
Udmurt uno 'big', ič́i 'little', vi̮l 'upper' and ulo 'lower'.
See also
*
Meryans
The Meryans () or Merya people () were an ancient Finnic people that lived in the Upper Volga region. The '' Primary Chronicle'' places them around the Nero and Pleshcheyevo lakes. They were assimilated by the Russians by the 17th century, but ...
*
Meryan language
*
Volga Finns
The Volga Finns are a historical group of peoples living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the Moksha (commonly grouped together as Mordvins) as well as ...
References
{{Uralic languages
Extinct languages of Europe
Uralic languages
Medieval languages