Russian Folk-TalesAfanas'ev, A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich)
General
Russian Folk-Tales
Afanas'ev, A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich)
Folklore -- Russia
_Koshchéy the Deathless._ The meaning of this name is very hard to
determine. There are at least three disparate ideas involved. First of
all the most ancient is that which occurs in the Word of Igor’s
Armament, in which the word Koshchéy is used for a warrior of the
hostile Pólovtsy; and, when Igor is said to be put on a Koshchéy saddle,
it means he is taken into captivity. Hence the word _koshchéy_ came to
be used in Russian as meaning a slave, or a groom, originally a captive
slave from the Pólovtsy who fought the Russians for over two hundred
years. Consequently the word has a meaning in Russian folk-lore which
has a widespread Aryan notion, that of a fearful Enchanter who lives in
a mountain fastness far removed; runs away with the beautiful princess,
and can only be slain by the valiant lover, going through unfordable
streams, impenetrable forests and unpassable mountains, so as to catch
hold of his soul which is contained in a casket, or in some other manner
is always terribly enclosed. He takes this soul, which is as a rule
lastly contained in an egg, up to the Monster’s palace, scrunches it in
his hand, and the monster dies. Thirdly, the word became confused with
_kost’_, bone, and so came to mean a skeleton or miser, and a wandering
Jew. The epithet ‘deathless’ does not mean indestructible, but that he
can only be slain in an extraordinary manner and will not die in a
natural way.
_Kutúzovo._ The Kutúzovy are one of the most ancient of Russian
families; this particular village from which they derive their name must
be somewhere on the trade route of the Dniepr.
_Kvas._ A liquid made from various kinds of flour and fermented with
sour milk to which is added malt or yeast.
_Name-day._ The day of the patron Saint. In Russia Saints’ days are kept
in place of birthdays.
_Na-úm._ In this Russian name the two vowels are to be sounded
separately, _Na-úm_.
_Nightingale Robber._ His patronymics are Rakhmánovich, Odikhmantovich,
Rakhmánya, all of them very difficult of definition or explanation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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