[gothic-l] Re: Boyar

[Ingemar Nordgren]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "gazariah" <brahmabull at h...> wrote:
Hi Gazariah!

I will try to give the answer I can right now.

The landscapes Västergötland and Dalsland at least were divided into
several bo's in the early Middle Ages. It is  mentioned in the  Codex
Iuri Westrogothi which was written down some time before 1250 but is
based on oral tradition.It is  the oldest known  law codex in Sweden.
We also have the so called  bosgårdar who most probably were
established in cooperation with the king and the Cistercienses in the
12th c. The bosgårdar were the last to have thralls and they have been
compared both with Polish Boz meaning god, meaning they belonged to
the see, and also with with royal tax-collectors in Holstein ,former
Denmark. If you shall read it as a genitive 's' after bo or as a whole
word is unsure since we know that little of them. If it is a genitive
they could be connected with 'bo' but that is a pure chance to
interpret  them so. The kings-yards were however not the same as
Bosgårdar but they were inded centers in a 'bo'. I think we had 13 bon
- the Swedish plural form - in Västergötland, and Dalsland was
incorporated administratively with Västergötland. The earliest point
of time I imagine could be around year 1000 but maybe it is older or
even younger. The problem is that we lack sufficient source material.
In any case these institutions were vital for the administration and
hence important. Since the highest chieftains under the king had the
title  'jarl'it is quite logical to call such a chieftain a 'bo-jarl'.
Since the Norwegians were more generous with that title in the Viking
period than the Swedes it does not contradict a Norwegian use of this
system but it is not known as far as I know but Västergötland was in
many ways influenced from Denmark and Norway. Possibly the titles of a
leader of a bo could have been fluent with 'jarl' just as one of
several possibilities. If in Russia there were more vast areas
included in a 'bo' it could call for a more responsible and reliable
person - a jarl. The title also could jave been more general in early
Middle Ages than we know today. The equivalent to the prime minister
in any case was called Jarl in the 13th century and so had a very high
status. Bo-jarl in this case indicates a less important chieftain and
so could fit in the picture. Pick your choice!
Best
Ingemar

> This is exciting, and makes the etymology look a lot better. There 
> are still problems I would like to see addressed:
> 
> 1. When did the term 'bo' come to be used this way? It would be nice 
> to have it dated no later than the time from which the Russian word 
> is attested.
> 
> 2. How about a Norse/Swedish attestation of the compound 'bojarl'? It 
> would be more comfortable than supposing this was somehow specially 
> invented in Russia.
> 
> 3. How will we account for the earlier form 'bol'ar-'? Vladimir's 
> idea about "instability" here won't really work. The appearance of 
> palatalized /l'/ in /spl'u/ ("I sleep") and the like is a regular 
> alternation appearing for older: labial consonant + /j/: 
> i.e. /spl'u/< /sp+j+u/. We don't have alternations of /j/ and /l'/ 
> between vowels in Russian, so far as I know.
> 
> Answers to a couple (need not be all) of these would put this idea on 
> a sound footing. As I wrote before, the etymology of 'boyar' has been 
> much discussed among scholars in the past, who were well aware of 
> Norse influences. Still it's fun to try our hand on this tough nut.
> 
> Best greetings,
> Gazariah


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