Finnish magic songs E-Book

John Abercromby

• Herausgeber: John Abercromby
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The Finns possess a considerable number of words and epithets for wizard, sorcerer, witch, seer, ecstatic and the like. Some of these are native words like noita 'a sorcerer,' tieto-mies or tietäjä 'the knower,' loitsija 'the reciter of a magic song (loitsu), arpoja 'a diviner,' näkijä 'a seer,' myrrys-mies or into-mies 'an ecstatic,' lumoja 'a stupefier,' lukija 'a reciter,' katselija 'an observer,' laulu-mies 'a song-man,' ampuja 'an archer,' kukkaro-mies a bag-man.' Others are of foreign origin like mahti-mies or mahtaja < Goth. mahts or Sw. magt 'might,' taikuri 'he that uses taika '< Goth. taikns 'a token, a wonder,' velho 'a witch,' is probably an early Slav loan, while a latter one is poppa-mies 'priest-man' from the Rus. pop. Though between these appellations no hard and fast line can be drawn, dividing them into good and bad categories, yet on the whole, injurious or black magic would generally be the work of the noita, the ampuja, the velho, and the kukkaro-mies. Beneficial or white magic, like the great bulk of the Magic Songs, was used for ejecting evil spirits of disease, etc., and would be practised by a loitsija, a tietäjä, a lukija, or a laulu-mies; in some instances by a lumoja, näkijä or an arpoja. Yet we have an example of an exorcist terming himself a noita and a Lapp (12 b). As a rule there is nothing in a Magic Song to show what sort of wizard the reciter of it might be; so as his function is to drive away disease, I shall term him the exorcist.

Leseprobe

John Abercromby

Finnish magic songs

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Table of contents

Preface

The Value Of Additional Letters Of The Alphabet

Chapter 1. Geographical Position And Craniology Of The Finns

Chapter 2. The Neolithic Age In Finland

Chapter 3. Historical Notices Of Classical Authors

Chapter 4. The Prehistoric Civilisation Of The Finns

Chapter 5. The Third Or Iranian Period

Chapter 6. Beliefs Of The West Finns As Exhibited In The Magic Songs

Preface

In this country the term Finn is generally restricted to the natives of Finland, with perhaps those of Esthonia thrown in. But besides these Western Finns there are other small nationalities in Central and Northern Russia, such as the Erza and Mokša Mordvins, the Čeremis, Votiaks, Permians, and Zịrians, to whom the term is very properly applied, though with the qualifying adjective—Eastern. Except by Folklorists, little attention is paid in Great Britain to these peoples, and much that is written of them abroad finds no response here, the 'silver streak' acting, it would seem, as a non-conductor to such unsensational and feeble vibrations.Although the languages of the Eastern and Western Finns differ as much perhaps among themselves as the various members of the Aryan group, the craniological and physical differences between any two Finnish groups is very much less than between the Latin and the Teutonic groups, for instance. All the Finns live nearly under the same latitudes, and in pre- and proto-historic times, which are not so very remote, the differences in customs, religious and other beliefs, could not have been very great. This is important; it allows us to supplement what is missing or defective in one Finnish group by what is more complete in another, with far greater certainty than when dealing under similar circumstances with the Aryan-speaking groups. In the first five chapters of the first volume I have tried, with the combined aid of craniology, archæology, ethnography, and philology, brought up to date, to sketch as succinctly as possible the pre- and proto-historic history of the Eastern and Western Finns, showing the various stages of civilisation to which they successively advanced after contact with higher civilisations, at different periods of their evolution from neolithic times to the middle ages. Chapters six and seven contain an analysis of the beliefs of the Western Finns, so far as they can be gathered from the text of the Magic Songs in the second volume; and a perusal of them will facilitate the comprehension of the Magic Songs themselves. The second volume, containing 639 magic songs, some of considerable length, classed under 233 headings, is a translation of a very large portion of the Suomen kansan muinaisia Loitsurunoja, edited and published by the late Dr. Lönnrot in 1880. As the translation was made for Folklorists it is as literal as possible, without additions, without subtractions, and the vocabulary employed is in conformity with the subject, with the humble social status and homely surroundings of the original composers. The metre of the original is the same as in the Kalevala, which cannot be reproduced in a language like English, where the ictus of the metre has to coincide with the natural stress-accent of the words. But where it could be done without loss of exactness a certain rhythm, generally three beats to a line, is given in the translation, though to save space the lines are printed in prose form.In the work of translating the Magic Songs I owe a debt of gratitude to Lektor Raitio, with whom I first began to study them a good many years ago, for much friendly assistance. Finally, I acknowledge with thanks the reproduction of four illustrations borrowed from Mr. J. R. Aspelin's Antiquités du Nord Finno-ougrien, four from Mr. Kudriavtsev, three from Mr. Inostrantsev, one from Mr. Spitsịn, and twelve from photographs given me by Mr. Novokreščennịkh. The six illustrations from sketches made by myself were made hurriedly, and are not absolutely correct, though adequate, I hope, for the purpose.

The Value Of Additional Letters Of The Alphabet

cts.č = Eng. ch in choose.ḷtl.ǰ = Eng. j in joke.ṅ, ñ̇ = Eng. ng in bring.š = Eng. sh in shall.ž = French j in jour.χkh or ch in Sc. loch.Consonants with a dash over or beside them, e.g.b´, c´, d´, are soft and followed by a slight y sound.ị is a thick guttural i, the Russian yerŭ.y in Finnish words= ü.iy in yam, yield.1. Finland2. The Baltic Provinces, showing where Crania have been discovered3. The Baltic Provinces, showing Archæological Finds.4. Russia in Europe.1. Silhouette of a Seal from Ladoga. Ĭnostrantsev, Table XI. No. 1.2. Muzzle of a Dog or Bear from Ladoga. Ĭnostrantsev, p. 210.3. A Carved Piece of Bone from Ladoga. Ĭnostrantsev, Table XI. No. 2.4. Human Silhouette in Flint from Volósovo. Kudriavtsev, Fig. 17.5. Human Silhouette in Flint from Volósovo. Kudriavtsev, Fig. 18.6. Silhouette of a Goose in Flint from Volósovo. Kudriavtsev, Fig. 19.7. Silhouette of a Badger in Flint from Volósovo. Kudriavtsev, Fig. 20.8. Modern Vogul Idol in Wood. From a Sketch by the Author.9. Copper Statuette of a Man from Galič. From Aspelin, No. 299.10. Copper Human Mask from Galič. From Aspelin, No. 299.11. Copper Statuette of a Man from the Government of Perm. Aspelin, No. 304.12. Bird-God from a Grave in the Government of Tomsk. Sketch by the Author.13. Ornamented Bronze Knife. From a Photograph.14. Bronze Button from Ananino. From a Sketch by the Author.15. Bronze Button from Koban. From a Sketch by the Author.16. Ornamented Stone Whorl. Spitsịn, Table X. No. 12.17. Bronze Cheek of a Bit from Ananino. From Aspelin, No. 474.18. Earring from Gliadénova. From a Photograph.19. Head of a Man in Bronze. From a Sketch by the Author.20. Two Human Figures in Bronze. From a Photograph.21. Head and Shoulders of a Bear.    „    „    22. Bird with Human Face on its Breast.    „    „    23. Bird with Human Face on its Breast.    „    „    24. Double Bird.    „    „    25. Three-headed Bird (7).    „    „    26. Upper Part of a Water-Bird. From a Photograph.27. Man on Horseback.    „    „    28. Man riding on an Animal.    „    „    29. Double Bronze Button    „    „    30. Circular Disc with Rings.    „    „    31. A Bear in Bronze. From a Sketch by the Author.32. Human Figure.33. Circular Bronze Disc, with incised Ornaments.

Chapter 1. Geographical Position And Craniology Of The Finns

As the main object of this work is an examination of the magic songs of the Finns, it may seem at first sight that most of the first volume is little more than a superfluity, unnecessarily heavy baggage that had better have been left behind. But from a point of view that may quite legitimately be held this is not the case. The Finns of Finland form only a large fraction of the Western Finns, and eastward of these live several groups that are commonly termed Eastern Finns, such as the Čeremis, Mordvins, Votiaks, and Zịrians. Philologists maintain, that to account for a certain community of structure and vocabulary, the different languages spoken by these peoples must originally derive from a common source; that once they must have lived much closer together than they do at present. But as community of speech does not necessarily carry with it community of race, it is necessary to give some of the craniological data that have accumulated during the last few years, not only to show how far race and language coincide, but also to help to determine whether certain prehistoric skulls, found in an area now inhabited by Finns, belonged to a Finnish or to a European race. It is a commonplace remark that to understand and appreciate the present we must know as much as possible about the past. Properly to understand the magic songs of the Firms, to be able to separate the contents into something like a chronological series, to be able to say for certain that such and such a portion is of genuine Finnish origin and growth, while another is merely a Finnish graft on a foreign stock, necessitates some general notion of the past history of the Eastern and Western Finns. In the narrower sense of the word history this is impossible. But with the help afforded by philology and archæology it is possible to distinguish certain broad phases in their past career. Merely with their aid we are enabled to discriminate seven epochs, each marking some advance in ideas and civilisation in the past history of the Eastern and Western Finns. The first of these epochs may take us back some three thousand years, whereas documentary history only accounts for about a quarter of that time, and for our purpose can almost be left out of consideration. In Folk-lore the Finns take an important place, and as I believe that in this country not very much is known about the Eastern groups and their exact relation to the Western, the first volume of this work may serve as a general introduction to a knowledge of all the pre- and proto-historic Finns in Europe, viewed as an organic whole, though now broken up into isolated groups. It need hardly be said that in trying to reconstruct the unrecorded history of a people on the basis of facts furnished by philology, archæology, and other branches of knowledge, there is nearly always an ill-starred vein of uncertainty traversing every conclusion at which we may arrive; and it affords only a modicum of comfort to remember that the same is true of nearly all documentary history that reposes on the evidence of only one or two witnesses. All that we can generally expect, then, is to reach conclusions that are probable from the present standpoint of knowledge, and to feel fortunate when that humble aim can be attained; for in the course of our inquiry many questions will present themselves that can only be answered, if at all, with many reserves. The only consolation is that it will not always be so. The work of the trained students now labouring in the fields of prehistoric archæology and Finnish philology will some day bear fruit, and to future generations much that is now obscure, or even quite dark, in the history of the past, will become distinct, or at least comparatively clear.