Psuedo-Slaven language

“**Pseudo-Slaven**” is a fake language which is used in most Slavic forgeries. It can be split into early, middle, and late forms, and is implied to be the direct predecessor to Old East Slavic. In reality, the direct predecessor to Old East Slavic was an eastern dialect of Late Proto Slavic.

## Early Pseudo-Slaven

Early Pseudo-Slaven, according to Slavic forgery lore, is supposed to have evolved from a Roxalani dialect of the Scythian language in the 200s AD and is supposed to have been spoken until at least the 370s AD, but is implied to have lasted until the 700s AD.

#### Writing

The scripts this language used are typically Runes, specifically Novgorod and Elder Futhark ones.

#### Characteristics

Generally, this language is most similar to modern Bulgarian and Ukrainian. The “a” vowel is especially prominent.

For example: Gimn (Hymn, RU) - Gam (Hymn, EPS).

#### Sample

This language appears almost exclusively in the forgeries of Sulakadzev, the most famous being the “Hymn of Boyan”, however it also appears in “the Book of Yarillo“, “the White Book of Poetry”, the inscription on the monument to Bus Beloyar, and (although it consists mainly of proper names) the Prillwitz idols.

Here is an excerpt from the Hymn of Boyan, a sample text:

“Гамъ послоухсі Бояні: староу Словеноу і младоу, оумерлоу і оужілу, і Златогороу вълхвоу Сварогоу.”

Transcription:

”Gam posluhsi Boyaniy: staru Slovenu iy mladu, umerlu iy ydjilu, iy Zlatogoru vlhvu Svarogu.”

Modern Russian interpretation:

“Гимн послушца Бояна: старому Словену и молодому, умершему и живому, и Златогору - волхву Сварога.”

Transcription:

”Gimn posluštsa Boyana: staromu Slovenu iy molodomu, umeršemy iy djivomu, iy Zlatogoru - volhvu Svaroga.”

English translation:

“The Hymn of Boyan the observer: [dedicated] to the elder Sloven and to the younger, to the dead [one] and to the living [one], and also to Zlatogor, the shaman-priest of Svarog.”

## Middle Pseudo-Slaven

Middle Pseudo-Slaven was, according to the Slavic forgery lore, a (mostly) literary language used in the early Kievan Rus. It evolved from Early Pseudo-Slaven in the 700s or 800s AD and was popular mostly in Novgorod.

#### Writing

The only script which this language seemed to use was a primitive version of the Cyrillic script which some call “Khorshun Runes”, while others call it the “Veles script”. However, it is theorized by believers in the Slavic Forgeries that it also may have used Novgorod Runes, as in Early Pseudo Slavic, and also the Glagolitic script.

#### Characteristics

This language is remarkably similar to Early Pseudo Slaven, being distinguished mainly by its strong Polish and Slovenian influence. Therefore, Middle Pseudo Slaven seems to have a Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Slovenian base mixed with distinctly Polish elements, such as the replacement of vowels with an “en” sound.

For example: Svet (Light, RU) - Svent (Light, MPS), Riba (Fish, RU) - Renba (Fish, MPS), Veke (Age, RU) - Ventse (Age, MPS), Čislo (Number, RU) - Čenslo (Number, MPS).

Another distinct characteristic is the “phasing out” of the “ч” (č, or ch) sound, being replaced at random with the “ц” (ts) or “щ” (šč, or shch).

For example: Veke (Age, RU) - Ventse (Age, MPS), Rusiči (Russians, OES) - Rušči (Russians, MPS), Reče (to Speak, BU) - Rešče (to Speak, MPS), Večna (Eternal, RU) - Veščne (Eternal, MPS).

And lastly, the most prominent characteristic is that most “middle vowels” are completely omitted, and “ending vowels” are usually replaced with “o” or “e”.

For example: Bog (God, RU) - Bg (God, MPS), Reka (River, RU) - Rešče (River, MPS), Našča (Ours, RU) - Nščemo (Ours, MPS), Velikiy (Great, RU) - Vliko (Great, MPS).

#### Sample

This language only appears in the planks of the Book of Veles. Here is a sample text from Plank 11a:

“себоіащетепервіетріглвупокланіащетесеіахомаітмувлікоуслвупоіащехом.”

Transcription:

”seboiyaščeteperviyetriyglvupoklaniyaščeteseiahomaitmuvlikouslvypoiyaščehom.”

Probable spacing (according to N. V. Slatin and his team):

“Се бо ящете, первіе, тріглву покланящете. Се яхом а і тму влікоу слву поящехом.”

Transcription:

”Se bo yaščete, perviye, Triglavu poklonyaščete. Se yahom a iy tmy vlikou slvy poyaščehom.”

Modern Russian Interpretation:

”Вот примитесь, первое, Триглаву поклонитес. Вот, принимаемся, да ему великую славу воспеваем.”

Transcription:

”Vot primites’, pervoe, Triglavu poklonites. Vot, prinimayemsya, da yemu velikuyu slavu vospevayem.”

English Translation:

”Gather round, [but] first of all, bow to the three headed one. We accept [his blessings], and sing great praise to him.”

For more examples, see The Book of Veles - Text, spacing, and translation.

## Late Pseudo-Slaven

This stage of Pseudo-Slaven is the least attested one. It is exceedingly difficult to classify and seems to be written completely at random at the top of its writer’s head. It is unrecognized by most believers in the Slavic forgeries.

#### Writing

The only source on this language is an obscure, unfinished tale written in Elder Futhark Runes, though logically it would also be written in Glagolitic, Cyrillic, and possibly Novgorod Runes.

#### Characteristics

This language seems to have a base of Modern Russian with influence of Ukrainian and Belarusian. This implies that it is the last stage of the development of the Pseudo-Slavic language into Old East Slavic.

#### Sample

This language is only attested in a short, incomplete tale. Here is some sample text, the opening sentences of the tale (note that transcribing Runic to the Latin script is easier than transcribing it straight to Cyrillic, as Runic is more similar to Latin than to Cyrillic):

"ikorolasvatoslavabilitrisinovi/initozvalipolnimirsvatimiripologor/"

Probable spacing:

"i korola svatoslava bili tri sinovi ini to zvli polnimir svatimir i pologor"

Russian Translation:

"У короля Сватослава било три cиновей, и это иҳ(?) звали Полнымир, Сватимир, и Пологор."

Transcription:

"U korolya Svatoslava bilo tri sinovey, iy eto ih(?) zvali Polnimir, Svatimir, i Pologor."

English Translation:

"King Svatoslav had three sons, and it were these(?) that were named Polnimir, Svetimir, and Pologor."

## Composition

These languages have very little in common with actual Proto Slavic and are only very loosely based on the Old East Slavic language, mostly only that which is showcased in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". In general, they seem to be a mix of (in order from most to least influential):

* Bulgarian
* Ukrainian
* Slovenian
* Old East Slavic (only partially)
* Polish
* Russian (partially, as a base)
* Belarusian (mostly for the prevalence of the "a" sound)

It seems the forgers chose not to try and imitate actual Old East Slavic because they wanted their works to seem more ancient. This is probably also the reason why they chose to not use Russian as an influence as most often as possible.