I ran across Letters of state written by Mr. John Milton, to most of the sovereign princes and republicks of Europe, from the year 1649, till the year 1659 and of course was particularly interested in the one to the ruler of Russia (presumably Aleksei Mikhailovich, since it’s dated 1657), which starts off resplendently:
Oliver Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, &c. To the most Serene aud Potent Prince and Lord, Emperor and great Duke of all Russia, sole Lord of Volodomaria, Moscow and Novograge, King of Cazan, Astracan and Syberia, Lord of Vobscow, great Duke of Smolensko, Tuerscoy, and other Places. Lord and great Duke of Novogrod, and the Lower Provinces of Chernigoy, Rezansco and others. Lord of all the Northern Climes; also Lord of Eversco, Cartalinsca, and many other Places.
Most of it was easy to decipher (Volodomaria = Vladimir, Novograge = Novgorod, etc.), but what on earth was “Vobscow”? Comparison with a similar but modernized list of titles gave me the key: it’s Pskov, which used to be Pleskov (Плѣсковъ) and “was historically known in English as Plescow.” I have no idea how Plescow turned up as Vobscow (bad handwriting?), but googling [Vobscow Pskov] gets no hits, so I’m guessing this is not commonly known, and I thought I’d put it out there for those who might be interested.
By the conventional order of the titles in Russian and by the word Lord, it must be Pskov:
…Московский, Киевский, Владимирский, Новгородский, царь Казанский, царь Астраханский, царь Сибирский, Государь Псковский и Великий князь Тверской, Югорский, Пермский, Вятский, Болгарский, и иных,
Exactly.
Of course. I just wanted to see how it looked in the original language, and for this specific Czar.
The original publication (1682) of these assembled letters (here) spells it Vobsco. There is a short note on the name under Plesco on p. 235 here, Allan H. Gilbert (1919) A geographical dictionary of Milton, with the remark that Vobsko, Vobsco, shows up in other English works of the era. Gilbert offers no explanation of the form or antecedents of Vobsco.
ѣ read as b?
The Vobskovians would be a great vaguely-comic name for a villainous-if-fictitious Slavic people, a little more subtle that the Pottsylvanians of Rocky and Bullwinkle or the Vulgarians of Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang.
It’s not metathesis exactly, but could some random Russian or pseudo-Russian preposition or particle have gotten attached to the difficult-for-Anglophones-to-grapple-with Pskov (or Bskov, if you like), thus rendering it more congruent with normal English phonotactics?
Vobsko, Vobsco, shows up in other English works of the era. Gilbert offers no explanation of the form or antecedents of Vobsco.
Curiouser and curiouser!
It’s not metathesis exactly, but could some random Russian or pseudo-Russian preposition or particle have gotten attached to the difficult-for-Anglophones-to-grapple-with Pskov (or Bskov, if you like), thus rendering it more congruent with normal English phonotactics?
But there was no “Pskov” back then — that was a later Russian simplification.
Hey, Xerîb, since you’re here, do you have any thoughts on tabby/tapia/tabique?
a later Russian simplification
are you sure? Russian wikipedia on the Pskov theory mentions that the simplified name is already attested in the 1300s, and became the literary norm in the 1400s.
Oh! No, I was obviously misremembering; thanks for the correction.
I am tempted to say that the weird English form came from geographic attribution “Vo Pskove”, but it’s a slippery slope of folk etymology of course
do you have any thoughts on tabby/tapia/tabique?
I just answered this..Or rather, I just sent a bunch of links to some useful reference works. So it has fallen into moderation. I hope they prove interesting. Maybe more later.
I am tempted to say that the weird English form came from geographic attribution “Vo Pskove”, but it’s a slippery slope of folk etymology of course
I’ll bet you’re right!
“Vo Pskove”
I thought about this explanation too, but the investigation began to take me into philological realms where I am not sure of my footing.
I also wonder, where are the intermediate forms like a German *Wobsko, or similar forms in Swedish, and Dutch, or in texts in Latin?
I hope someone follows up on this question.
The traditional German form was Pleskau. This may have been different in the 17th century, though.
Google Books snippet for ISBN:9788386726998 p.176 agrees with “Vo Pskove” and a similar story for Vo Tveri
Reprint of Onoma v.15 (1969) p.45
Опсков
Not sure how much value this has. What genre of folk poetry? What date?
@mollymooly, I spent 10 minutes trying to convince Google to show me this ISBN or Onoma v 15 and gave up for today:(
@LG, I read it exaclty as DP did.
Re: ISBN, just put the number into your search string, it’ll figure out
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80%9C9788386726998+%22+In+Horsey%27s+memoirs+%22&sca_esv=a88d17ea90427281&tbm=bks&sxsrf=ADLYWILOFudqbH5hzb0jFCYL9y0B5sOoTA%3A1727995652153&ei=BB__ZvWRCZbIkPIPm-O60QE&ved=0ahUKEwj1o5S4pfOIAxUWJEQIHZuxLhoQ4dUDCAk&uact=5&oq=%E2%80%9C9788386726998+%22+In+Horsey%27s+memoirs+%22&gs_lp=Eg1nd3Mtd2l6LWJvb2tzIijigJw5Nzg4Mzg2NzI2OTk4ICIgSW4gSG9yc2V5J3MgbWVtb2lycyAiMgUQIRirAkjmGFC4FVi4FXABeACQAQCYAUWgAYgBqgEBMrgBA8gBAPgBAvgBAZgCAqACS5gDAIgGAZIHATKgB7UD&sclient=gws-wiz-books
Prokofiev reworked his soundtrack score for Eisenstein’s _Alexander Nevsky_ movie* as a standalone cantata suitable for concert-hall performance (Op. 78), and the cantata’s seven movements include one titled Крестоносцы во Пскове and another titled Въезд Александра во Псков. I assume without knowing that in Russian as in Latin there are certain prepositions that can take more than one case, with some shade of semantic difference depending on the case of the following noun?
*Presumably if St. Alexander Nevsky could be artistically portrayed as Stalin-compatible he could also be portrayed as Milton-compatible although perhaps not via the exact same approach.*
@DP, (and mollymooly) thanks!
My mistake then:(
I did exactly that but after some superficial examination of “Historical and comparative lexicology…” decided -mistakenly – that it is a wrong book:(
@JWB, yes, “in” and “on” take accusative or prepositional case (which I in this case call “locative”, I don’t like its usual name “prepositional”), “behind/beyond” accusative or instrumental (again in locative meaning).
ACC is derictional: to, into, onto – and with “behind” it refers to movement to some place beyond an obstacle.
po, “along, across” is anomalous, I recently wrote about that.
v “in” becomes vo sometimes.
Formerly it is въ, with a short vowel which, depending on context become weaker (and was dropped) or stronger (and turned into o).
So: ь in Пьсков fell out because the next syllable contains a normal vowel (/o/).
ъ in въ became /о/ because in the next syllable of the same phonological word a short vowel was dropped.
The “most serene and potent” phrasing seems to have been reasonably common in the 17th century and was used by the Restoration regime after the usurper regime Milton served fell from power, e.g. “Articles of alliance and commerce between the most serene and potent prince Charles II, by the grace of God king of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith &c., and the most serene and potent prince Christian V, by the grace of God king of Denmark, Norway &c. / concluded at Copenhagen the 11th day of July, 1670.” It seems to become quite rare in new usage (as opposed to quotations or republications of old treaties etc.) after the decease of Good Queen Anne (on whose watch Peace of Utrecht was concluded, at least insofar as it related to the UK), although one can find a handful of uses in reference to George I. Interestingly enough, there’s a lack of symmetry in a 1718 Truce concluded between “the most serene and potent Prince George, King of Great Britain, &c. and the most powerful and noble Prince Muley Ismael, &c.,” the latter reference being to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Ibn_Sharif.
Do you mean to tell me that Queen Anne is dead? Great heavens!
“Despite 17 pregnancies, she died without surviving issue.”
She died trying.