The Meryans, also ''Merya'' (Russian: меря) were an ancient

Finnic people The Finnic or Fennic peoples, sometimes simply called Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic (now commonly '' Finno-Permic'') language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of ...

that lived in the Upper Volga region. The

Primary Chronicle The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...

places them around the

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

and Pleshcheyevo lakes. They were assimilated to Russians around the 13th century.

History

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Goths, Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (''Romana ...

mentioned "Merens" as a nation paying tribute to the Gothic ruler Ermanarich. According to the

, the

Varangians The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';Varangian
" Online Etymo ...

also forced the Meryans to pay tribute. This event is dated to 859, although the chronology is not reliable.

Oleg of Novgorod Oleg ( orv, Ѡлегъ, Ольгъ; non, Helgi; died 912), also known as Oleg the Wise (russian: Олег Вещий, lit=Oleg the Prophet; uk, Олег Віщий), was a Varangian prince of the Rus' who was ruler of Novgorod. He later con ...

forced the Meryans to take part in his 882 campaigns against

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest c ...

and

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. They are also mentioned as the participants of Oleg's campaign against Constantinople in 907. Merya began to be assimilated by

East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert H ...

when their territory became incorporated into

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

in the 10th century. Their assimilation in the Upper Volga region seems to have been complete by the 13th century. The ''Life of

Abraham of Galich Abraham Galitzki or Abramius of Galich (russian: Авраамий Галичский) or Chukhlomsky and Gorodetsky (died 20 July 1375) was an abbot of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh, and later went on to fo ...

'' claims that, when arriving to the

Lake Galich Lake Galichskoye (russian: Галичское) is a freshwater lake in the northern part of Kostroma Oblast, Russia that takes its name from the old town of Galich sitting on its south bank. It is situated at the height of 100 meters above mean s ...

in the 14th century, he found there some "pagan people called Merya". The Meryans were an important part of the development of the Russian nation. The sites of

Sarskoye Gorodishche Sarskoye Gorodishche or Sarsky fort (russian: Сарское городище, literally "Citadel on the Sara") was a medieval fortified settlement in present-day Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. It was situated on the bank of the Sara River, a short di ...

near Lake Nero and island Nero and

Kleshchin Kleshchin (Клещин) was a Meryan (and later Slavic) town on the eastern shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo in Zalesye. It is thought that the lake owes its name to the derelict town: the opening lines of the Primary Chronicle refer to the lake as Kl ...

near Lake Pleshcheyevo were formerly proposed as Meryan "capitals", although this notion has been largely abandoned. A large boulder supposedly venerated by the Merya survives near Kleshchin (see Blue Stone).

Language

Not a single word of the Merya language was documented. The Meryans mostly lived around rivers, and many river hydronyms are still of Meryan origin. meri sea in language of the veps fino-ugorian nation Based on

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' 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 a proper name of ...

onomastics Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...

and words in

Russian dialects Russian dialects are spoken variants of the Russian language. Russian dialects and territorial varieties are divided in two conceptual chronological and geographic categories: Kamusella, Tomasz. (2018). Russian: A Monocentric or Pluricentric Lan ...

some people have tried to reconstruct the key features of the Meryan language. The first reconstructions were done in 1985 by O. B. Tkachenko. The latest book about Merya reconstructions was published in 2019.”Allikas: Ткаченко О. Б., Мерянский язык, Kiova 1985.” The Meryans are thought to have been closely connected with the

Muroma people The Volga Finns (sometimes referred to as Eastern Finns) are a historical group of indigenous peoples of Russia living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and th ...

(whose language has even been suggested to have been a dialect of Meryan).SOUTH-EASTERN CONTACT AREA OF FINNIC LANGUAGES IN THE LIGHT OF ONOMASTICS (helsinki.fi) Rahkonen claims that the eastern

Volkhov Chudes Volkhov Chudes (волховская чудь) were a Finno-Ugric people living along the banks of the Volkhov River, who spoke a Finnic language. The Volkhov Chudes lived upstream from Staraya Ladoga. Rahkonen's studies of local toponyms confirm th ...

were very close to Meryans, culturally and linguistically.

Today

Some people from the former Meryan territory have recently began to identify themselves as "Meryan", which is inspired by genetic links to the Meryan people. in 2010 a film was made about the Neo-Meryan people. In Moscow there exists a "Meryan society", and Meryan festivals have been done in Moscow. In 2010, the Neo-Meryans were featured in the award-winning film ''

Silent Souls ''Silent Souls'' (Russian: Овся́нки, "The Buntings") is a 2010 Russian road drama film that was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice Film Festival. It is based on a 2008 novella by Denis Osokin. The film was awarded the Golden ...

''.

References

Historical ethnic groups of Russia {{Uralic peoples