|
Lokis (novel)
''Lokis. A Manuscript of Professor Wittembach '' (french: Lokis - Le manuscrit du professeur Wittembach) is an 1869 Prosper Mérimée horror fantasy novella. It was one of the last stories by Mérimée, started in July 1868 and published in the ''Revue des deux Mondes'' in September 1869. The title is a misspelling of the Lithuanian word ''lokys'' for "bear". The plot revolves around a young man who is suspected to be half-human half-bear. Robin MacKenzie from University of St Andrews classifies the plot into a werewolf theme with some elements of vampirism (the motif of drinking blood repeats through the work). The novella primarily deals with the dual nature of human–beast. It also contrasts Western education and Christianity with pagan Lithuanian rituals and beliefs, on more broadly – cultured civilization with primordial wilderness. Plot The story is told from the point of view of an observer – professor Wittembach, a pastor and an amateur ethnographer - who comes to a S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and an important figure in the history of architectural preservation. He is best known for his novella ''Carmen'', which became the basis of Bizet's opera ''Carmen''. He learned Russian, a language for which he had great affection, and translated the work of several important Russian writers, including Pushkin and Gogol, into French. From 1830 until 1860 he was the inspector of French historical monuments, and was responsible for the protection of many historic sites, including the medieval citadel of Carcassonne and the restoration of the façade of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Along with the writer George Sand, he discovered the series of tapestries called ''The Lady and the Unicorn'', and arranged for their preservation. He was instr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann
Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann (February 14, 1811 in Fürstenau, near Tiegenhof, West Prussia (now Kmiecin, within Nowy Dwór Gdański) – January 7, 1881 in Königsberg) was a German orientalist, a philologist with interests in Baltic languages, and a mathematics historian. At the University of Königsberg he studied mathematics under Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi and Friedrich Julius Richelot, and oriental philology under Peter von Bohlen. In 1837 he received his PhD at Königsberg, where in 1859 he became a full professor of Arabic and Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late .... In his book "''Die Sprache der alten Preußen''" (The language of the Old Prussians, 1845), he suggested the term " Baltic languages". [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Marriage Of The Bear
''The Marriage of the Bear'' (russian: Медвежья свадьба, Medvezhya svadba) (aka ''The Bear's Wedding'') is a 1925 Soviet silent horror-fantasy drama film directed by Konstantin Eggert and Vladimir Gardin. It is based on the play with the same name by Anatoli Lunacharsky, which in turn was based on Prosper Mérimée's novella '' Lokis'' (Lithuanian for "bear"). Prosper Mérimée wrote many short stories of which ''Lokis'' is one. He was also the author of '' La Venus d'Ille'' which Italian horror director Mario Bava adapted to film in 1978. The Russian silent film with its lycanthropic theme predates Universal's later werewolf films, such as ''The Werewolf of London'' (1935) and ''The Wolf Man'' (1941). But with prints of this film almost impossible to view (although it is said to still exist in a couple of archives), it's difficult to determine if the "man-into-beast" scenes of the film refers to a literal shapeshifter, or if it's just a psychological condition th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preferans
Preferans ( rus, преферанс, p=prʲɪfʲɪˈrans) or Russian Preference is a 10-card plain-trick game with bidding, played by three or four players with a 32-card Piquet deck. It is a sophisticated variant of the Austrian game Préférence, which in turn descends from Spanish Ombre and French Boston. It is renowned in the card game world for its many complicated rules and insistence on strategical approaches. Popular in Russia since approximately the 1830s, Preferans quickly became the country's national card game. Although superseded in this role by Durak, it is still one of the most popular games in Russia. Similar games are played in various other European countries, from Lithuania to Greece, where an earlier form of Russian Preferans is known as Prefa ( gr, Πρέφα). Compared to Austrian Préférence, Russian Preferans and Greek Prefa are distinguished by the greater number of possible contracts, which allows for almost any combination of trumps and numbers of tricks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durak
Durak ( rus, дурак, p=dʊˈrak, a=Ru-дурак.ogg, ''"fool"'') is a traditional Russian card game that is popular in many post-Soviet states. It is Russia's most popular card game, having displaced Preferans. It has since become known in other parts of the world. The objective of the game is to shed all one's cards when there are no more cards left in the deck. At the end of the game, the last player with cards in their hand is the ''durak'' or 'fool'. The game is attributed to have appeared in late 18th century Russian Empire and was popularized by Imperial Army conscripts during the 1812 Russo-French war. Initially a social pastime of uneducated peasants and industrial workers, after the October Revolution Durak has spread to numerous social levels by mid-20th century to soon become the most popular Soviet card game. Setup The game is typically played with two to five people, with six players if desired, using a deck of 36 cards, for example a standard 52-card deck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rusalka
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalky/rusalki; ; pl, rusałka}) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melusine and the Germanic Nixie (water spirit), Nixie. Folklorists have proposed a variety of origins for the entity, including that they may originally stem from Slavic paganism, where they may have been seen as benevolent spirits. Rusalki appear in a variety of media in modern popular culture, particularly in Slavic language-speaking countries, where they frequently resemble the concept of the mermaid. In northern Russia, the rusalka was also known by various names such as the Vodyanoy #Vodyanitsa, vodyanitsa (or vodyaniha/vodyantikha; russian: водяни́ца, водяни́ха, водянти́ха ; Literal meaning, lit. "she from the water" or "the water maiden"), kupalka (russian: купа́лка; "bather"), shutovka (russian: шу ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to be growing Criticism of the Catholic Church, errors, abuses, and discrepancies within it. Protestantism emphasizes the Christian believer's justification by God in faith alone (') rather than by a combination of faith with good works as in Catholicism; the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by Grace in Christianity, divine grace or "unmerited favor" only ('); the Universal priesthood, priesthood of all faithful believers in the Church; and the ''sola scriptura'' ("scripture alone") that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. Most Protestants, with the exception of Anglo-Papalism, reject the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prussian Language
Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid confusion with the German dialects of Low Prussian and High Prussian and with the adjective ''Prussian'' as it relates to the later German state. Old Prussian began to be written down in the Latin alphabet in about the 13th century, and a small amount of literature in the language survives. Classification and relation to other languages Old Prussian is an Indo-European language belonging to the Baltic branch. It is considered to be a Western Baltic language. Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct Western Baltic languages, namely Sudovian, West Galindian and possibly Skalvian and Old Curonian. Other linguists consider Western Galindian and Skalvian to be Prussian dialects. It is related to the Eastern Baltic languages suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
January Uprising
The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at the restoration of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last insurgents were captured by the Russian forces in 1864. It was the longest-lasting insurgency in partitioned Poland. The conflict engaged all levels of society and arguably had profound repercussions on contemporary international relations and ultimately provoked a social and ideological paradigm shift in national events that went on to have a decisive influence on the subsequent development of Polish society. A confluence of factors rendered the uprising inevitable in early 1863. The Polish nobility and urban bourgeois circles longed for the semi-autonomous status they had enjoyed in Congress Poland before the previous insur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
žaltys
A žaltys (, literally: ''grass snake'') is a household spirit in Lithuanian mythology. As sacred animal of the sun goddess Saulė, it is a guardian of the home and a symbol of fertility. People used to keep it as a pet by the stove or other special area of the house, believing that it would bring good harvest and wealth. Killing žaltys was said to bring great misfortunes upon the household. If žaltys was found in the field, people gave it milk attempting to befriend the creature and make it a sacred household pet. See also * Eglė the Queen of Serpents * Proto-Indo-European mythology * Indo-European cosmogony * Baltic mythology * Prussian mythology The Prussian mythology was a polytheistic religion of the Old Prussians, indigenous peoples of Prussia before the Prussian Crusade waged by the Teutonic Knights. It was closely related to other Baltic faiths, the Lithuanian and Latvian mythol ... References Fertility gods Lithuanian gods Lithuanian folklore characters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perkūnas
Perkūnas ( lt, Perkūnas, lv, Pērkons, Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic god of thunder, and the second most important deity in the Baltic pantheon after Dievas. In both Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, he is documented as the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, fire, war, law, order, fertility, mountains, and oak trees. Etymology The name continues PIE ''*'', cognate to ''*'', a word for "oak", " fir" or "wooded mountain". The Proto-Baltic name *''Perkūnas'' can be reconstructed with certainty. Slavic Perun is a related god, but not an etymologically precise match. Finnish Perkele, a name of Ukko, is considered a loan from Baltic. Another connection is that of ''terpikeraunos'', an epithet of Zeus meaning "''who enjoys lightning''". Perkūnas in written sources Most information about Perkūnas comes from folklore songs, legends, and fairy tales. Because most of them were c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypocoristic
A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for Isabel or ''Bob'' for Robert, or it may be unrelated. In linguistics, the term can be used more specifically to refer to the morphological process by which the standard form of the word is transformed into a form denoting affection, or to words resulting from this process. In English, a word is often clipped down to a closed monosyllable and then suffixed with ''-y/-ie'' (phonologically /i/). Sometimes the suffix ''-o'' is included as well as other forms or templates. Hypocoristics are often affective in meaning and are particularly common in Australian English, but can be used for various purposes in different semantic fields, including personal names, place names and nouns. Hypocorisms are usually considered distinct from diminutives, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_-_1909.jpg "Click for more on -> Perkūnas")