Etymology of Khlyst

[William Ryan]

I don't know if Khlysty in fact indulged in flagellation. The fairly 
detailed but under-documented article in Russian Wikipedia says they 
did, and certainly the practice is not uncommon in Christianity and 
Shi'a Islam. The etymology from Khristos requires the change of a 
consonant (or a lisp) and a vowel, and loss of final syllable, none of 
which are very likely, in particular in a nomen sacrum.  Vasmer accepts 
the khlystat' derivation, but does not question the absence of any kind 
of agentive suffix which one might have expected. The other Russian 
etymological dictionaries do not have entries for the word. However, the 
Wikipedia article cites Mel'nikov Peshcherskii as saying that the word 
was a deliberate distortion invented by unnamed clerics to avoid using 
the name of Christ to apply to the sect. If this is true it could 
explain the poor etymological derivation, but not why they chose such a 
strange procedure. It would be worth knowing if the Khlysty called 
themselves by this name, as well as 'liudi bozhii'.

Will Ryan

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
> I have come across conflicting reports on the Russian word "Khlyst," 
> referring to the sectarian movement.  Some speak of a derivation from 
> "Khristos," or from some related word such as "khristovshchina."  
> Others relate the word to "khlestat'" or "khlyst" (in the meaning of 
> whip or switch).  Obviously the problem has something to do with 
> whether or not these sectarians actually practiced self-flagellation.  
> Al. Etkind's lengthy treatise KHLYST (1998) has little to say about 
> the actual rituals practiced by Khlysty.  Apparently there were 
> ecstatic "radeniia" in which participants danced, sang, shook, etc, 
> and were infused with the Holy Spirit (think of Pentecostals).  Some 
> of the Khlysty were understood to be "Christs," literally, not by mere 
> imitation in the sense of Thomas a Kempis.  But was flagellation part 
> of the process of achieving that status?  I am looking for both a true 
> etymology and a plain ethnographic description - something like the 
> following passage from work in progress:
>
>> From the Penitentes of nineteenth- and twentieth-century New Mexico a 
>> similar picture emerges, as in this description by Michael P. Carroll 
>> of a procedure performed by a junior member of the Brothers of Blood 
>> (Hermanos de Sangre):
>>
>>
>>
>>             The most common form of penitential mortification 
>> practiced during Holy Week was flagellation.  Dressed only in white 
>> trousers, and if in public, with his face covered by a hood or 
>> kerchief, a Brother of Blood would whip himself over the shoulders 
>> with a disciplina made from plaited yucca fibre or be whipped by 
>> another Brother.  Other forms of penitential activity common during 
>> Holy Week included: the carrying of large crosses made of rough 
>> timber, wrapping the torso tightly with chains, strapping pieces of 
>> cactus to various parts of their bodies, and kneeling on sharp 
>> stones.[1]
>>
>>
>>
>> The crosses these penitentes carried gives away their imitation of 
>> Christ.  When the ritual was public, as in the Good Friday procession 
>> to the Calvario (usually a cemetery or three crosses on a hilltop � a 
>> place of skulls, a Golgotha [cf. �]) where one of the Brothers, the 
>> Cristo, would be lashed to a cross in a mock-crucifixion, then the 
>> element of imitation of Nuestro Padre Jes�s Nazareno became extreme: 
>> �The Cristo was only allowed to hang on the cross for a brief time, 
>> no more than thirty minutes, and was removed immediately if he lost 
>> consciousness.�[2]
>>
>>
>> [1]   Carroll 2001, 175.
>>
>> [2]   Carroll 2001, 177.
>>
>
>
> Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
>
> With regards to the list -
>
> Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
>
> http://Rancour-Laferriere.com
>
>
>
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