Part 4

There is some difference of opinion as to whether the _Samoyedes_ should be included among the Finno-Ugrian tribes or be given the rank of a separate division equivalent to Finno-Ugrian and Turkish. The linguistic question is discussed below. The Samoyedes are a nomad tribe who wander with their reindeer over the treeless plains which border on the White and Kara seas on either side of the Urals. In culture and habits they resemble the Finno-Ugrian tribes, and there seems to be no adequate reason for separating them.

Other inclusions.

Various other peoples have been referred to the Finno-Ugrian group, but some doubt must remain as to the propriety of the classification, either because they are now extinct, or because they are suspected of having changed their language.

The original Bulgarians, who had their home on the Volga before they invaded the country which now bears their name, were probably a tribe similar to the Magyars, though all record of their language is lost. It has been disputed whether the Khazars, who in the middle ages occupied parts of south Russia and the shores of the Caspian, were Finno-Ugrians or Turks, and there is the same doubt about the Avars and Pechenegs, which without linguistic evidence remains insoluble. Nor is the difference ethnographically important. The formation of hordes of warlike bodies, half tribes, half armies, composed of different races, was a characteristic of Central Asia, and it was probably often a matter of chance what language was adopted as the common speech.

At the present day the Bashkirs, Meshchers and Tepters, who speak Tatar languages, are thought to be Finnish in origin, as are also the Chuvashes, whose language is Tatar strongly modified by Finnish influence. The little known Soyots of the head-waters of the Yenisei are also said to be Finno-Ugrians.

The name Chude appears to be properly applied to the Vepsas and Votes but is extended by popular usage in Russia to all Finno-Ugrian tribes, and to all extinct tribes of whatever race who have left tombs, monuments or relics of mining operations in European Russia or Siberia. Some Russian archaeologists use it specifically of the Permian group. But its extension is so vague that it is better to discard it as a scientific term.

II. _Languages._--The Finno-Ugric languages are generally considered as a division of the Ural-Altaic group, which consists of four families: Turkish, Mongol, Manchu and Finno-Ugric, including Samoyede unless it is reckoned separately as a fifth. The chief character of the group is that agglutination, or the addition of suffixes, is the only method of word-formation, prefixes and significant change of vowels being unknown, as is also gender. This suggests an affinity with many other languages, such as the ancient Accadian or Sumerian, and Japanese. A connexion between the Finno-Ugric and Dravidian languages has also been suggested. On the other hand, the more highly developed agglutinative languages, such as Finnish, approach the inflected Aryan type, so that the Aryan languages may have been developed from an ancestor not unlike the Ural-Altaic group.

The Finno-Ugrian languages are distinguished from the other divisions of the Ural-Altaic group both in grammar and vocabulary. Compared with Mongol and Manchu they have a much greater wealth of forms, both in declension and conjugation; the suffixes form one word with the root and are not wholly or partially detachable postpositions; the pronominal element is freely represented in the suffixes added to both verbs and nouns. These features are also found in the Turkish languages, but Finno-Ugrian has a much greater variety of cases denoting position or motion, and the union of the case termination with the noun is more complete; in some languages the object can be incorporated in the verb, which does not occur in Turkish, but the negative is rarely (Cheremissian) thus incorporated after the Turkish fashion (e.g. _yazmak_, "to write"; _yazmamak_, "not to write"), and in some languages takes pronominal suffixes (Finnish _en tule_, _et tule_, _eivat tule_, "I, you, they do not come"). Vowel-harmony is completely observed in Finnish and Magyar, but in the other languages is imperfectly developed, or has been lost under Russian influence. Relative pronouns and particles exist and are fully developed in some languages. The tendency to form compounds, which is not characteristic of Turkish, is very marked in Finnish and Hungarian, and is said also to be found in Samoyede, Cheremissian and Syryenian. The original order in the sentence seems to be that the governing word follows the word governed, but there are many exceptions to this, particularly in Hungarian where the arrangement is very free.

In vocabulary the pronouns agree fairly well with those of Turkish, Mongol and Manchu, but there is little resemblance between the numbers. Many of the languages contain numerous Tatar and Turkish loan-words, but with this exception the resemblance of vocabulary is not striking and indicates an ancient separation. But the similarity in the process of word-building and of the elements used, even if they have not the same sense, as well as analogies in the general construction of sentences and in some details (e.g. the use of the infinitive or verbal substantive), seem to justify the hypothesis of an original relationship with the Turkish languages, which in their turn have connexions with the other groups.

Samoyede is classed by some as a separate group and by some among the Finno-Ugrian languages, but it at any rate displays a far closer resemblance to them in both grammar and vocabulary than do any of the Turkish languages. The numerals are different, but the personal and interrogative pronouns and many common words (e.g. _joha_, "river," Finn. _joki_; _sava_, "good," Finn, _hywa_; _kole_, "fish," Finn, _kala_) show a considerable resemblance. The inflection of nouns is very like that found in Finno-Ugrian but that of the verb differs, verb and noun being imperfectly differentiated. In detail, however, the verbal suffixes show analogies to those of Finno-Ugrian. Vowel-harmony and weakening of consonants occur as in Finnish.

Excluding Samoyede, the Finno-Ugrian languages may be divided into two sections: (1) Ugrian, comprising Ostiak, Vogul and Magyar; and (2) Finnish. The Permian languages (Syryenian, Permian and Votiak) form a distinct group within this latter section, and the remainder may be divided into the Volga group (Cheremissian and Mordvinian) and the West Finnish (Lappish, Esthonian and Finnish proper).

The Ugrian languages appear to have separated from the Finnish branch before the systems of declension or conjugation were developed. Their case suffixes seem to be later formations, though we find, _t_, _tl_ or _k_ for the plural and traces of _l_ as a local suffix. Ostiak and Vogul, like Samoyede, have a dual. Moods and tenses are less numerous but the number of verbal forms is increased by those in which the pronominal object is incorporated. Hungarian has naturally advanced enormously beyond the stage reached by Ostiak and Vogul, and shows marks of strong European influence, but also retains primitive features. Vowel-harmony is observed (_varok_, "I await," but _verek_, "I strike"). The verb has two sets of terminations, according as it is transitive or intransitive, and the pronominal object is sometimes incorporated. Alone among Finno-Ugrian languages it has developed an article, and the adjective is inflected when used as a predicate though not as an attribute (_Jo emberek_, "good men," but _Az emberek jok_, "the men are good"). There is great freedom in the order of words and, as in Finnish, a tendency to form long compounds.

The Finnish languages are not divided from the Ugrian by any striking differences, but show greater resemblances to one another in details. None of them have a dual and only Mordvinian an objective conjugation. The case system is elaborate and generally comprises twelve or fifteen forms. The negative conjugation is peculiar; there are negative adjectives ending in _tem_ or _tom_ and abessive cases (e.g. Finnish _syytta_, without a cause, _tiedotta_, without knowledge).

Permian, Syryenian and Votiak exhibit this common development less fully than the more western languages. They are less completely inflected than the Finnish languages and more thoroughly agglutinative in the strict sense. In vocabulary, e.g. the numerals, they show resemblances to the Ugrian division. Syryenian has older literary remains than any Finno-Ugrian language except Hungarian. In the latter part of the 14th century Russian missionaries composed in it various manuals and translations, using a special alphabet for the purpose.

Unlike the Finnish and Esthonian branch, the languages of the Volga Finns (Mordvinian and Cheremissian) have been influenced by Russian and Tatar rather than by Scandinavian, and hence show apparent differences. But Mordvinian has points of detailed resemblance to Finnish which seem to point to a comparatively late separation, e.g. the use of _kemen_ for ten, _-nza_ as the possessive suffix of the third personal pronoun, the regular formation of the imperfect with _i_, the infinitive with _ma_, and the participle with _f_ (Finnish _va_). On the other hand it has many peculiarities. It retains an objective conjugation like the Ugrian languages, and has developed two forms of declension, the definite and indefinite.

Cheremissian has affinities to both the Permian languages and Mordvinian. It resembles Syryenian in its case terminations and also in marking the plural by interposing a distinct syllable (Syry. _yas_, Cher. _vlya_) between the singular and the case suffixes. Most of the numerals are like Syryenian but _kandekhsye_, _indekhsye_, for eight and nine, recall Finnish forms (_kahdeksan_, _yhdeksan_), as do also the pronouns.

The connexion between the various West Finnish languages is more obvious than between those already discussed. Lappish (or Lapponic) forms a link between them and Mordvinian. Its pronouns are remarkably like the Mordvinian equivalents, but the general system of declension and conjugation, both positive and negative, is much as in Finnish. Superficially, however, the resemblance is somewhat obscured by the difference in phonetics, for Lappish has an extraordinary fondness for diphthongs and also an unusually ample provision of consonants.

The affinity of Esthonian (together with Votish, Vepsish and Livish) to Finnish is obvious not only to the philologist but to the casual learner. In a few cases it shows older forms than Finnish, but on the whole is less primitive and has assumed under foreign influence the features of a European language even more thoroughly. The vowel-harmony is found only in the Dorpat dialect and there imperfectly, the pronominal affixes are not used, and the negative has become an unvarying particle, though in Vepsish and Votish it takes suffixes as in Finnish. On the other hand, the laws for the change of consonants, the general system of phonetics, the declension, the pronouns and the positive conjugation of the verb all closely resemble Finnish. Esthonian has two chief dialects, those of Reval and Dorpat, and a certain amount of literary culture, the best-known work being the national epic or _Kalewi-poeg_.

Finnish proper is divided into two chief dialects, the Karelian or Eastern, and the Tavastland or Western. The spoken language of the Karelians is corrupt and mixed with Russian, but the _Kalewala_ and their other old songs are written in a pure Finnish dialect, which has come to be accepted as the ordinary language of poetry throughout modern Finland, just as the Homeric dialect was used by the Greeks for epic poetry. It is more archaic than the Tavastland dialect and preserves many old forms which have been lost elsewhere, but its utterance is softer and it sometimes rejects consonants which are retained in ordinary speech, e.g. _saa'a, kosen_ for _saada, kosken_.

The affinity of Finnish to the more eastern languages of the group is clear, but it has been profoundly influenced by Scandinavian and in its present form consists of non-Aryan material recast in an Aryan and European mould. Not only are some of the simplest words borrowed from Scandinavian, but the grammar has been radically modified. Un-Aryan peculiarities have been rejected, though perhaps less than in Esthonian. The various forms of nouns and verbs are not merely roots with a string of obvious suffixes attached, but the termination forms a whole with the root as in Greek and Latin inflections; the adjective is declined and compared and agrees with its substantive; compound tenses are formed with the aid of the auxiliary verb, and there is a full supply of relative pronouns and particles.

Finnish and Hungarian together with Turkish are interesting examples of non-Aryan languages trying to participate, by both translation and imitation, in the literary life of Europe, but it may be doubted if the experiment is successful. The sense of effort is felt less in Hungarian than in the other languages; though they are admirable instruments for terse conversation or popular poetry, there appears to be some deep-seated difference in the force of the verb and the structure of phrases which renders them clumsy and complicated when they attempt to express sentences of the type common in European literature.

III. _Civilization and Religion._--The Finno-Ugric tribes have not been equally progressive; some, such as the Finns and Magyars, have adopted, at least in towns, the ordinary civilization of Europe; others are agriculturists; others still nomadic. The wilder tribes, such as the Ostiaks, Voguls and Lapps, mostly consist of one section which is nomadic and another which is settling down. The following notes apply to traces of ancient conditions which survive sporadically but are nowhere universal. Few except the Hungarians have shown themselves warlike, though we read of conflicts with the Russians in the middle ages as they advanced among this older population. But most Finno-Ugrians are astute and persevering hunters, and the Ostiaks still shoot game with a bow. The tribes are divided into numerous small clans which are exogamous. Marriage by capture is said to survive among the Cheremiss, who are still polygamous in some districts, but purchase of the bride is the more general form. Women are treated as servants and often excluded from pagan religious ceremonies. The most primitive form of house consists of poles inclined towards one another and covered with skins or sods, so as to form a circular screen round a fire; winter houses are partly underground. Long snow-shoes are used in winter and boats are largely employed in summer. The Finns in particular are very good seamen. The Ostiaks and Samoyedes still cast tin ornaments in wooden moulds. The variation of the higher numerals in the different languages, which are sometimes obvious loan words, shows that the original system did not extend beyond seven, and the aptitude for calculating and trading is not great. Several thousands of the Ostiaks, Voguls and Cheremiss are still unbaptized, and much paganism lingers among the nominal Christians, and in poetry such as the _Kalewala_. The deities are chiefly nature spirits and the importance of the several gods varies as the tribes are hunters, fishermen, &c. Sun or sky worship is found among the Samoyedes and _Jumala_, the Finnish word for god, seems originally to mean sky. The Ostiaks worship a water-spirit of the river Obi and also a thunder-god. We hear of a forest-god among the Finns, Lapps and Cheremiss. There are also clan gods worshipped by each clan with special ceremonies. Traces of ancestor-worship are also found. The Samoyedes and Ostiaks are said to sacrifice to ghosts, and the Ostiaks to make images of the more important dead, which are tended and honoured, as if alive, for some years. Images are found in the tombs and barrows of most tribes, and the Samoyedes, Ostiaks and Voguls still use idols, generally of wood. Animal sacrifices are offered, and the lips of the idol sometimes smeared with blood. Quaint combinations of Christianity and paganism occur; thus the Cheremiss are said to sacrifice to the Virgin Mary. The idea that disease is due to possession by an evil spirit, and can be both caused and cured by spells, seems to prevail among all tribes, and in general extraordinary power is supposed to reside in incantations and magical formulae. This belief is conspicuous in the _Kalewala_, and almost every tribe has its own collection of prayers, healing charms and spells to be used on the most varied occasions. A knowledge of these formulae is possessed by wizards (Finnish noita) corresponding to the Shamans of the Altaic peoples. They are exorcists and also mediums who can ascertain the will of the gods; a magic drum plays a great part in their invocations, and their office is generally hereditary. The non-Buddhist elements of Chinese and Japanese religion present the same features as are found among the Finno-Ugrians--nature-worship, ancestor-worship and exorcism--but in a much more elaborate and developed form.

IV. _History._--Most of the Finno-Ugrian tribes have no history or written records, and little in the way of traditions of their past. In their later period the Hungarians and Finns enter to some extent the course of ordinary European history. For the earlier period we have no positive information, but the labours of investigators, especially in Finland, have collected a great number of archaeological and philological data from which an account of the ancient wanderings of these tribes may be constructed. Barrows containing skulls and ornaments may mark the advance of a special form of culture, and language may be of assistance; if we find, for instance, a language with loan words of an archaic type, we may conclude that it was in contact with the other language from which it borrowed at the time when such forms were current. But clearly all such deductions contain a large element of theory, and the following sketch is given with all reserve.

The Finno-Ugrian tribes originally lived together east of the Urals and spoke a common language. It is not certain if they were all of the same physical type, for the association of different races speaking one language is common in central Asia. They were hunters and fishermen, not agriculturists. At an unknown period the Finns, still undivided, moved into Europe and perhaps settled on the Volga and Oka. They had perhaps arrived there before 1500 B.C., learned some rudiments of agriculture, and developed their system of numbers up to ten. They were still in the neolithic stage. About 600 B.C. they came in contact with an Iranian people, from whom they learned the use of metals, and borrowed numerals for a hundred (Finnish _sata_, Ostiak _sat_, Magyar _szaz_; cf. Zend _sata_) and a thousand (Magyar _ezer_; cf. _hazanra_ and _hazar_). Magyar and some other languages also borrowed a word for ten (_tiz_, cf. _das_). This Iranian race may perhaps have been the Scythians, who are believed by many authorities to have been Iranians and to be represented by the Osetians of the Caucasus. There was probably a trade route up the Volga in the 4th century B.C. About that time the Western Finns must have broken away from the Mordvinians and wandered north-westwards. At a period not much later than the Christian era, they must have come in contact with Letto-Lithuanian peoples in the Baltic provinces, and also with Scandinavians. Whether they came in contact with the latter first in the Baltic provinces or in Finland itself is disputed, as there may have been Scandinavians in the Baltic provinces. But the distribution of tombs and barrows seems to indicate that they entered Finland not from the east through Karelia but from the Baltic provinces by sea to Satakunta and the south-east coast, whence they extended eastwards. From both Lithuanians and Scandinavians they borrowed an enormous quantity of culture-words and probably the ideas and materials they indicate. Thus the Finnish words for gold, king and everything concerned with government are of Scandinavian origin. Their migration to Finland was probably complete about A.D. 800. Meanwhile the Slav tribes known later as Russians were coming up from the south and pressed the Finns northwards, overwhelming but not annihilating them in the country between St Petersburg and Moscow. The same movement tended to drive the Eastern Finns and Ugrians backwards towards the east. The Finns know the Russians by the name of _Venaja_, or Wends, and as this name is not used by Slavs themselves but by Scandinavians and Teutons, it seems clear that they arrived among the Finns as greater strangers than the Scandinavians and known by a foreign name. Christianity was perhaps first preached to the Finns as early as A.D. 1000, but there was a long political and religious struggle with the Swedes. At the end of the 13th century Finland was definitely converted and annexed to Sweden, remaining a dependency of that country until 1809, when it was ceded to Russia.

The Ugrians and Eastern Finns took no part in the westward movement and did not fall under western influences but came into contact with Tatar tribes and were more or less Tatarized. In some cases this took the form of the adoption of a Tatar language, in others (Mordvin, Cheremis and Votiak) a large number of Tatar words were borrowed. We also know that there were considerable settlements of these tribes, perhaps amounting to states, on the Volga and in south-eastern Russia. Such was Great Bulgaria, which continued until destroyed by the Mongols in 1238. The pressure of tribes farther east acting on these settlements dislodged sections of them from time to time and created the series of invasions which devastated the East Roman empire from the 5th century onwards. But we do not know what were the languages spoken by the Huns, Bulgarians, Pechenegs and Avars, so that we cannot say whether they were Turks, Finns or Ugrians, nor does it follow that a horde speaking a Ugrian language were necessarily Ugrians by race. An inspection of the performances of the various tribes, as far as we can distinguish them, suggests that the Turks or Tatars were the warlike element. The names Hun and Hungarian may possibly be the same as Hiung-nu, but we cannot assume that this tribe passed across Asia unchanged in language and physique. The Hungarians entered on their present phase at the end of the 9th century of this era, when they crossed the Carpathians and conquered the old Pannonia and Dacia. For half a century or so before this invasion they are said to have inhabited Atelkuzu, probably a district between the Dnieper and the Danube. The isolated groups of Hungarians now found in Transylvania and called Szeklers are considered the purest descendants of the invading Magyars. Those who settled in the plains of Hungary probably mingled there with remnants of Huns, Avars and earlier invaders, and also with subsequent invaders, such as Pechenegs and Kumans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Among the older writers may be mentioned Strahlenberg (_Das nord- und ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia_, 1730), Johann Gottlieb Georgi (_Description de toutes les nations de l'empire de la Russie_, French tr., St Petersburg, 1777); but especially the various works of Matthias A. Castren (1852-1853) and W. Schott (1858). Modern scientific knowledge of the Finno-Ugrians and their languages was founded by these two authors. Among newer works some of the most important separate publications are: J.R. Aspelin, _Antiquites du nord finno-ougrien_ (1877-1884); J. Abercromby, _Pre- and Proto-historic Finns_ (1898); and A. Hackmann, _Die altere Eisenzeit in Finnland_ (1905).

The recent literature on the origin, customs, antiquities and languages of these races is voluminous, but is contained chiefly not in separate books but in special learned periodicals. Of these there are several: _Journal de la Societe Finno-ougrienne_ (Helsingfors) (_Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja_); _Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen_ (Helsingfors and Leipzig); _Mitteilungen der archaologischen, historischen und ethnographischen Gesellschaft der Kais. Universitat zu Kasan; Keleti Szemle or Revue orientale pour les etudes ouralo-altaiques_ (Budapest). In all of these will be found numerous valuable articles by such authors as Ahlqvist, Halevy, Heikel, Krohn, Muncacsi, Paasonen, Setala, Smurnow, Thomsen and Vambery.