Russian folkloric references to reanimated corpses

[Dorian Juric]

I think that the responses to this question heading into Vampire territory is quite natural. If you're avoiding the connotation of zombies and trying to keep this ethnically Slavic then the revenants will end up with a vampiric name. That said, I think that the vlkodlak terms are shared evenly between vampires and werewolves and might not cover a zombie-type so well. I think Dr. Kononenko's mertvec, or Will Ryan's suggestions are the most sound. I would think that avoiding the words with too much 'sorceror' or 'werewolf' links would be the best, but vampire connotations are most likely unavoidable. Jan Machal also gives the name 'Oboroten' (probably another derivative of the upir/obir variants) for Russian vampires although I'm not sure how wide-spread that word is either.
 
good luck with your story
  Dorian Juric  
 
> Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2010 06:43:13 -0800
> From: leighkimmel at YAHOO.COM
> Subject: [SEELANGS] Russian folkloric references to reanimated corpses
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> 
> 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
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