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KARELIAN.
"THE Karelians, to the
number of at least 100,000, dwell in the government of Tver, in European
Russia.
They speak a distinct dialect of the
Finnish language, varying in many
respects from that spoken in the
government of Olonetz, the proper Kyrialand, or Karelia, of the Scandinavian
historians. It seems
impossible to ascertain how, or at what time, they left their original country
to settle in Tver; but it
is generally supposed that they were located in their present district by
order of Peter the Great. The
numerous Swedish words which occur in
their vocabulary appear to corroborate this hypothesis, for these
could not have been introduced had not the Karelians held intercourse with
the Finns after the political
connection had been established between Finland and Sweden. The
Karelian dialect has been greatly
modified by the influence of the Sclavonic and
Russian languages: all the males of
this tribe, in fact,
habitually speak Russian, being accustomed to use this language in their
frequent visits to the towns
for purposes of traffic. The females, however, can in general converse
only in Karelian.
An edition of 2000 copies of the Gospel
according to St. Matthew was
published for the benefit
of this tribe, by the Russian Bible
Society, at Kazan, in 1820. It was printed in the modern
Russian
characters, with the addition of some few accents to denote certain
diphthongal sounds peculiar to the
Karelian. The members of this tribe belong to the
Russian
Church, and are therefore in the habit of
using the Sclavonic version in the
public services of religion, which circumstance may account for the
occasional use of Sclavonic terms in their version of St. Matthew.
They are said to possess a translation
of parts of the national liturgy in MS.; but this
Gospel was the first book ever printed
for their use.
In consequence, probably, of the suspension of the Russian Bible Society, no
other portion of the
Scriptures has as yet been translated into Karelian."--The Bible of
Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info
only: liturgy?]
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