Russian folkloric references to reanimated corpses

[William Ryan]

Eretik and eretun are regional, mostly as a synonym of koldun, and like 
several other words, including upyr', can be also be used for revenants, 
and more specifically for revenant vampires (vedun, ved’mak - from 
vèdati, ‘to know’, esp. in Belorussia and the Ukraine, can be both 
wizard and were-animal or revenant). In fact there is a long tradition 
among the East Slavs which associates vampires and were-animals with 
dead magicians because of the belief that the earth will not accept 
their bodies when they die. The main other category of revenant is 
suicides and other who have died 'unnaturally', who also cannot have 
Christian burial (on these see D. K. Zelenin, Izbrannye trudy. Ocherki 
russkoi mifologii: umershie neestvennoiu smert’iu i rusalki, Petrograd, 
1916/Moscow, 1995 ). Other words used to mean revenants, or 'living 
dead', are navy, nav' or simply mertvets/ mertviak or pokoinik in a 
narrow special sense. See all these words in M. Vlasova, Entsiklopedia 
russkikh sueverii, SPB 2008 and for the Slav world in general in 
Slavianskie drevnosti (e.g. under ved'ma and koldun). I have discussed 
some of these beliefs in my book The Bathhouse at Midnight (or Russian 
corrected version Bania v polnoch', Moscow 2006, which has a better 
index). The general history of vampirie beliefs is well discussed in P. 
Barber, Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality, New Haven and 
London, 1988. A good study of Russian vampire beliefs is Felix Oinas, 
‘Heretics as Vampires and Demons in Russia’, in Essays on Russian 
Folklore and Mythology, pp. 121–30.
Will Ryan

On 25/12/2010 23:21, Dorian Juric wrote:
> Could eretik/eretika be pertinent as well? The core meaning is dissimilar, but I know that it is often used for vampires and the like in areas where upir etc. are not, shall we say, fashionable.
>
> Dorian Juric
>
>> Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2010 10:26:15 -0700
>> From: olphilli at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russian folkloric references to reanimated corpses
>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>>
>> Maybe "оживший мертвец" or "нежить" will be more precise.
>>
>> Olena Phillips
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 25, 2010 at 7:43 AM, Leigh Kimmel<leighkimmel at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> I'm looking for terms a Russian in the middle of the 20th century might use
>>> to refer to a reanimated corpse. I'm writing a story set in besieged
>>> Leningrad for a horror anthology, and I'm trying to avoid the term "zombie,"
>>> which is specifically Afro-Caribbean in etymology and cultural association.
>>>
>>> It doesn't necessarily have to be traditional or "high" folklore -- even
>>> the sort of stories kids use to scare each other spitless on a dark night
>>> would do just as well. The biggest thing is to try to get a term that
>>> doesn't jar the reader with associations of voodoo and the like.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Leigh Kimmel -- writer, artist, historian and bookseller
>>> leighkimmel at yahoo.com     http://www.leighkimmel.com/
>>> http://www.billionlightyearbookshelf.com/
>>> http://www.amazon.com/shops/starshipcat/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>   Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>>                     http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Olena Phillips
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>   Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>    options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>                      http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>   		 	   		
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>   Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>    options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                      http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------