Notes Upon Russia (1553)

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NOTES UPON RUSSIA:
BEING A TRANSLATION OF THE EARLIEST ACCOUNT OF THAT COUNTRY,
ENTITLED
RERUM MOSCOVITICARUM COMMENTARRII,
BY THE BARON
SIGISMUND VON HERBERSTEIN
translated and edited by R. H. Major
London: Hakluyt Society
1851

   OED went through this, the earliest account of Russia.  OED dates the book to 1553.  OED came away with five citations--aggle, high, kvass, morse, and train-oil.
   FIVE citations!

VOLUME ONE (1851)
Pg. CLIV:  The Cassacke...
(This introductory verse dates from 1568.  OED has 1598 for "Cossack"--ed.)

Pg. CLIV (1568 verse):  A cap aloft theyr heads they haue that standeth very hye, Which colpacke they do terme.
(I finally found OED's spelling.  OED has "calpac" from 1813, when it was coined by Lord Byron--ed.)

Pg. 33:  Czar in the Russian language signifies king, but in the common Slavonic dialect among the Poles, Bohemians, and all the rest, through a certain resemblance of sound in the last, which is the most important syllable, czar (or czeszar) would be understood as emperor or kaiser.
(OED has 1555 for "Czar."  OED has 1603 for "Bohemian."  OED has 1716 for "Russian" language--ed.)

Pg. 99:  ...salt pork...
(OED 1745?--ed.)

Pg. 109:  A hundred of them go to one Hungarian gold piece; six dengs make an altin; twenty a grifna; one hundred a poltin; and two hundred a ruble.
(OED has 1554 for "rouble."  Deng?  Altin?  Grifna?  Poltin?--ed.)

VOLUME TWO (1852)
Pg. 13:  It has, moreover, some kinds of fish peculiar to itself, which are called in their language Beluga,--a fish of a wonderful size without fins, with a large head and mouth,--(Pg. 14--ed.) Sterlet, Schevriga, Osseter,--the three last are a kind of sturgeon,--and Bielaribitza, which is a little white fish of most excellent flavour.
(OED has 1591 for "beluga."  OED has 1591 for "sterlet."  OED has 1887 for "osseter"--ed.)

Pg. 34:  He was so poor, that (as we know for a certainty) he borrowed clothes and a kolpack (which is a head-dress) of somebody else to travel in.
(A second "kolpack" cite in this book--ed.)

Pg. 36:  They have their own dialect, but more frequently speak Russian.
(A second "Russian" cite--ed.)

Pg. 45:  Journeys in that country are reckoned by _czunckhas_.
(Not "kibitka"?--ed.)

Pg. 74:  ...not unlike the seed of a melon, from which, when planted, grew up something very like a lamb, of the height of five palms, and that it was called in their language "boranetz," which signifies lambkin...
(OED has 1791 for "barometz"--ed.)

Pg. 95:  Lithuania possess other wild beasts, besides such as are found in Germany, namely, bisons, buffaloes, and alces, which are wild horses, called by some onagri (wil asses).  The Lithuanians call the bison, in their own language, "suber."  The Germans improperly call it "aurox" or "urox," which name better suits the buffalo, which manifestly has the form of an ox, while the bison is a very dissimilar kind of animal...
(OED has 1588 for "buffalo."  OED has 1607 for "ure-ox."  OED has 1776 for "aurox."  OED has 1839 for "urochs"--ed.)

Pg. 125:  ...his hat, called _kopack_...
(Lord Byron coined this?  No one could get Mark Twain?  TAD?  Hemingway?  Joyce?--ed.)

Pg. 130:  Various kinds of drink are placed on the table, namely, malmsey, Greek wine, and different kinds of mead.
(The revised OED has good coverage for "malmsey"--ed.)

Pg. 133:  He had on his head a cap called a "kolpack"...
(We almost have five KOLPACK cites in this book--ed.)

Pg. 138:  Lastly, he presented me with a great quantity of fish, belugae, ozetri, and sterled, enclosed in copper vessels, but unsalted, and dismissed me with extreme kindness.

Pg. 155:  Poloniza, on the river Czerna, in which are taken very splendid fish, which are commonly called "lachs."*
*A kind of salmon.