designating the Other in Bialowieza

[curt fredric woolhiser]

Dear SEELANGers:

I am on the thesis committee of a graduate student in Geography here at the
University of Texas who is writing on the relationship between human
populations and the puszcza in eastern Poland (focusing on communities
located within or on the edge of the Bialowieza forest). She has been
living in the town of Bialowieza all year and has been trying to get a
sense of the differing attitudes to issues of conservation and regional
development among the indigenous (i.e. Belarusian-speaking Orthodox)
population and ethnic Polish scientists, eco-activists and others who have
moved to the region over the years. She indicates that the local Belarusian
speakers use two (quite derogatory) terms for non-natives: "navalac^" for
those (mostly Polish scientists) who have moved to Bialowieza from outside,
as well as "matan," which is applied to people from other Orthodox villages
in the region who have settled in Bialowieza. "Navalac^" (from "na" (on,
onto) + "valac^y" (to drag)) in the sense of "outsider", "newcomer" (also:
"mold that grows on straw") is attested in the Belarusian dialects of west
and central Belarus (Mackevic^ et al. , in "Slounik belaruskix havorak
paunoc^na-zaxodnjaj Belarusi i jaje pahranic^c^a" cite "navalac^" in the
meaning of "non-native," "outsider" from dialects in the Baranavic^y region
of southwestern Belarus; further east, in the region northeast of Minsk,
the word "navalac^" has the meaning of "riff-raff," cf. Russian
"svoloc^'"). However, I haven't been able to find any sources for the word
"matan." Are there any speakers of Belarusian (or perhaps Polish or
Ukrainian) on this list who might be familiar with this word and its
etymology?  Two possibilities that have occurred to me are the verb
"matac'," which in the Belarusian dialects of the region can also have the
meaning of "to spin yarn/to weave" and the noun "mata" (in the Bialystok
region, a woven straw mat used by peasants to cover windows and doors
during the winter to keep out the cold). Perhaps, then, "matan" would
contain a reference to the alleged backwardness of neighboring villages;
the people of Bialowieza, including the Orthodox natives, like to think of
themselves as a cut above the rest. Any other ideas?
        Thanks in advance for your replies!

Curt Woolhiser

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Curt F. Woolhiser
Dept. of Slavic Languages
and Literatures
Calhoun 415
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78713-7217 USA

Tel. (512) 471-3607
Fax: (512) 471-6710
Email: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu
Slavic Department Home Page:
http://www.dla.utexas.edu/depts/slavic/
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