[gothic-l] Re: boLyar

[Егоров Владимир]

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Hi Gazariah!



I agree the hypothesis, as you have it represented,
looks unlikely. But I'd like to correct your
representation slightly in a way that would make
the hypothesis a bit more realistic.



1. A Norse word [bo+jarl] (which we don't seem to
have attested) was borrowed into Russian very early.
Let us suppose somewhere in 9-10th centuries.

2. The word made its way into some Slavic territories,
in particular Bulgaria, by Svyatoslav who had conquered
Bulgaria in '70s of the 10th c. and occupied its
significant part several years. Note that, first,
Svyatoslav's high-rank commanders were Scandinavians
(Sfenkel, Ikmor, Sveneld), and, second, some groups
of Bulgarians supported Svyatoslav against the Byzantines
and served in his army.

3. The borrowed word changed its form under influence
of Danube Bulgarian. The Bulgarians had an earlier
Turkic word like [behler] or [bajlar] (the plural of
[bek] or [baj], I do not know what is more correct
for Danube Bulgarian). Two simile words, [bo-jarl] and
[bajlar], both alien to Slavic Bulgarians, merged into
Slavic [bol'ar] and acquired the marker /+in/ to give
/bol'arin/.
4. This merged word, reformed not as a native word
but as another kind of foreign word, was preserved with
the meaning of "nobleman" and appeared, in particular,
in texts translated from Greek.



I do not affirm this representation to be ideal.
But where are ideal hypotheses on [bojar'e]?



Regards,

Vladimir



-----Original Message-----
From: gazariah [mailto:brahmabull at hushmail.com]
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 5:36 PM
To: gothic-l at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [gothic-l] Re: boLyar


Hi Vladimir!

Let's look at what this hypothsis implies.

1. A Norse word, /bo+jarl/ (which we don't seem to have attested)was
borrowed into Russian very early.
2. The word made its way into Slavic territories where there was
never any Norse influence.
3. The borrowed word changed its form "under the influence" of Danube
Bulgarian. The Bulgarian Slavs thought /bojar/ was /bo/+/lar/ (the
Turkic plural suffix), and now they added the Slavic singular
marker /+in/ to give /boljarin/.
4. This borrowed word, reformed not as a native word but as another
kind of foreign word, was chosen to give the meaning of "nobleman" in
texts translated from Greek.

No "actual evidence" will ever be available to say that this is not
what happened, but it seems to me a pretty unlikely story.

Regards,
Gazariah



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