Birch bark letter no. 292

The birch bark letter given the document number 292 is the oldest known document in any Finnic language. The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century. It was found in 1957 by a Soviet expedition led by Artemiy Artsikhovsky in the Nerevsky excavation on the left coast side of Novgorod. It is currently held at the Novgorod City Museum.

The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of Livvi-Karelian, the language spoken in Olonets Karelia, although the exact form is difficult to determine, as Finnic dialects were still developing during that period.

Transcription


The text is written in Cyrillic in the Karelian dialect of the archaic Finnic language. A transcription of the text is as follows:


 * юмолануолиїнимижи
 * ноулисѣханолиомобоу
 * юмоласоудьнииохови

By Yuri Yeliseyev
The text, as transliterated to the Latin alphabet by Yuri Yeliseyev in 1959 and interpreted in modern Finnish: "jumolanuoli ï nimizi nouli se han oli omo bou jumola soud'ni iohovi"

"Jumalannuoli, kymmenen [on] nimesi Tämä nuoli on Jumalan oma Tuomion-Jumala johtaa."

In English, this means roughly the following: "God's arrow, ten [is] your name This arrow is God's own The Doom-God leads."

Yeliseyev believes, that this is an invocation against lightning, as evidenced by "ten your names" construction. According to superstitious notions, knowledge of the name gives a human the magic power over an object or phenomenon.

By Martti Haavio
As the orthography used does not utilize spaces between words, the source text can be transcribed into words in different ways. Martti Haavio gives a different interpretation of the text in his 1964 article, suggesting, that this is a sort of an oath:

"jumolan nuoli inimizi nouli sekä n[u]oli omo bou jumola soud'nii okovy"

In modern Finnish, this means roughly the following:

"Jumalan nuoli, ihmisen nuoli sekä nuoli oma. Tuomion jumalan kahlittavaksi."

In modern Estonian, this means roughly the following:

"Jumala nool, inimese nool ja nool omaenda. Kohtujumala aheldatuks."

In English, this means roughly the following: "God's arrow, man's arrow, and (his) own arrow. [ To be chained by the Doom-God.]"

By Yevgeny Khelimsky
Professor Yevgeny Khelimsky in his 1986 work criticizes Haavio's interpretation and gives the third known scientific interpretation, believing the letter to be an invocation, like Yeliseyev:

"Jumalan nuoli 10 nimezi Nuoli säihä nuoli ambu Jumala suduni ohjavi (johavi?)"

A translation into Finnish of this interpretation would look something like this:

"Jumalan nuoli 10 nimesi Nuoli säihkyvä nuoli ampuu Suuto-Jumala (Syyttö-Jumala)† ohjaa (johtaa?)"

In English, it means roughly the following: "God's arrow, ten your name(s) Arrow sparkling, arrow shoots The Doom-God guides/directs (leads/rules?)"

†Syyttö-Jumala could also mean "Blaming God" or "God that blames"; modern Finnish syyttää = to blame or prosecute.