From: Nick Tchernikov
Date: 05/04/04 17:15:28
To: martin.dimnik@utoronto.ca; martin.dimnik@utoronto.ca
Subject: Chernikov
Dear Dr. Dimnik,
My name is Chernikov. I am an economist living in Luxembourg.
Recently I started a new project to discover the origin of my
family name and its derivatives. Please visit www.chernikov.com
to understand the idea.
Genealogical sites put the name - Michael of Tschernikov (your
first publication) with a K instead of a G. Can you please explain
why medieval Russians were changing letters so easily? Why do
you use the modern name of Chernigov instead of the original Chernikov?
Do you have some information on the origins of name?
Can you help me in finding out the origins of the Russian ship,
Tschernikoff, shipwrecked in 1746 near Trinity Island?
Please see http://www.famousamericans.net/gonzalolopezdeharo/
I think, above name was given either in the memory of town or
prince.
My e-mail is nick@tchernikov.com
Please send me a short mail with your thoughts on above subject.
All chernikovs around the globe will appreciate this.
Best Regards,
Nick
PS: Please inform me how to buy The Dynasty of Chernigov 1054-1146.
Does it exist in Russian language?
From: Martin Dimnik
Date: 05/04/04 23:24:27
To: nick@tchernikov.com
Subject: Chernigov.
Dear Mr. Tchernikov,
I was intrigued to receive your email with your spelling of Chernigov
or Chernihiv. You say that genealogical sites spell the name Chernigov
with a K rather than with a G. I am not familiar with the genealogical
sites, but I do know the medieval chronicles.
To my knowledge, no medieval chronicle or other medieval source
spells Chernigov with a K. Even Chernihiv, the modern Ukrainian
form of the name for the city, is a later form. The spelling originally
was not Chernikov, although your form, Tchernikov, is obviously
a variant and perhaps merely a Latinized transliteration of the
Cyrillic spelling of Chernigov.
As for the origins of the name, this is a mystery to historians.
Some historians have suggested that the settlement or town of
Chernigov (the root Chern as you know means black) may have obtained
its name from a local prince (Chern?) who may have belonged to
the local tribe of Severyane and whose grave may be the one that
was discovered in Chernigov. But there is no documented evidence
for the name Chernigov. It obviously came into use before written
records were kept.
As you may suspect, I know nothing about the shipwreck of the
"Tschernikoff" (the name is a very early Latinized form
of Chernigov; before Latinization became systematized), but it
would seem that the name refers to the city of Chernigov rather
than to a person.
My book "The Dynasty of Chernigov 1054-1146" was published
by our publications department and can be obtained from:
Publications Department
Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
59 Queen's Park Cr. E.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5S 2C4
Perhaps you are not aware that my latest book. "The Dynasty
of Chernigov 1146-1246" appeared last July and was published
by Cambridge University Press in England. It is available in academic
bookstores.
I do not know if these comments will be of any assistance, but
wishing to reply quickly to your email, (I noticed the stamp URGENT
on it) I have told you what I know from memory.
Best wishes
Martin Dimnik
From: Nick Tchernikov
Date: 05/05/04 02:26:10
To: martin.dimnik@utoronto.ca
Subject: Chernikov/Chernigov
Dear Dr. Dimnik,
Thank you very much for your prompt reply. Your comments are
very valuable to me. Do you mind if I put your letter on the chernikov.com
site, so all chernikovs can appreciate your input?
Your two main assumptions were:
1. Chernikov name is a derivative from original Chernigov. (Latinized
version of Cyrillic spelling).
2. Chernigov name origins has no documented evidence, and came
into use before written records were kept.
Re 1: If you are interested, I can ask an opinion of Russian
linguist, Olga Berelidze. She is sure about possibility of free
usage in 10th-11th centuries of the letters G and K in Russian
words. Although I appreciate your comment, that, contrary to internet
sites, you have never seen Tschernikov spelling in relation to
names of princes of Kiev.
Re 2. I liked very much your assumption and have found some evidence
of divine origins from pagan times:
1) Dolengo-Hodakovsky, beginning of xix century, muster of divine
toponymic (sakralnaya toponimika) was writhing that all geographical
sites having the root Chern were pagan sanctuaries;
2) Lomonosov, sited appreciation by Russian tribes of two Gods
- Chern God (kind by nature), and Bel (White) God (cruel by nature);
3) Chern'oknizhnik - reader of black books (magic, witchcraft,
sorcery, quackery); Chern'etz - monk. That is clear, that monks
robe were not of black color during pagan times. The Black Sea,
not far from Chernigov, bears the same root -Chern'oe.
Regarding Prince Chern, I have found some interesting things:
His name was also mentioned as Prince Cern, Tzern; his daughter
Tzarna, Cherna, Cerna. 1) Chara in Russian means divine; 2) The
word TZAR appeared in Russia in 10th-11th century. So I thought
that the origin of TZAR, originally meaning all-powerful ruler,
sent by God, came from those people! Maybe it's crazy, but looks
more convincing than Cezar, or Kaisar, sited in dictionaries as
origin for meaning Tzar. If so, that is additional proof of the
might and importance of the Principality of Chernigov.
Your Book The Dynasty of Chernigov 1146-1246 is already on my
desk. Wonderful reading! Now I will try to get the first one.
Can you please give me e-mail address of Publications Department?
Best Regards,
Nick Chernikov (Tchernikov is French spelling)
From: Martin Dimnik
Date: 05/06/04 14:10:28
To: Nick Tchernikov
Subject: Chernigov
Dear Mr. Tchernikov,
In reply to your email I can confirm that my two main assumptions
as you
put them are correct. As for placing my letter on your web page,
I have
no objection but please keep in mind that I made casual observations
and
not a formal statement.
I would also agree that the letters G and K were freely interchanged
in
the 10 and 11 century. More frequently, however, it was the vowels
that
were interchanged because in writing a word a person would often
write
mainly the consonants and leave out the vowels. Those were put
in while
the word was being pronounced orally.
You obviously know more about the gods Chern and Bel than I do.
However,
as you probably know and I can confirm, Chernigov was a pagan
sanctuary
because when the builders were digging the foundation for the
church of
SS Boris and Gleb on the detinets, they found a silver pagan idol.
That
had been the site of a pagan shrine. And as you also probably
know, the
town of Belgorod (named after Bel?) is located some 20 miles to
the
southwest of Kiev.
Finally, the European distributor for my book are Brepols Publishers
in
Belgium who can be contacted at: orders.publishers@brepols.com
Best wishes,
Martin Dimnik
If you would like to know where to find publications
from Martin Dimnik, look here.
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