непърꙗ

Old Novgorodian

Alternative forms

непрꙗ (neprja) — late form

Etymology

Uncertain. First attested in c. 1240‒1260 as непрѣ (neprě, gen. sg.).

Per Nikolaev, Gippius (2023), from не- (ne-) +‎ *пърꙗ (*pŭrja), literally “not sailcloth”, which is cognate with Old East Slavic пърꙗ (pŭrja, “sail”), first attested in the 12th century. Borrowed from Finnic languages, such as Livvi purjeh, Karelian purjeh, Veps pureh, Votic purjõ, Ingrian purje, Finnish purje (“sail”),^[1]^[2] ultimately from Proto-Finnic *purjëh (“sail”), probably from Proto-Germanic *buriz (“fair wind”).
Per Strakhov (1997), allegedly непрѧ (neprę) is a back-formation from *непрѧдь (*neprędĭ, literally “not a lock of wool”), ultimately from Proto-Slavic *prędь, from *pręsti (“to spin”) (1sg. *prędǫ), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *(s)prenˀstei, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)prend-ye-ti, from *(s)prend- (“stretch”).^[1]^[3] Compare Old Novgorodian прѧдено (prędeno, “yarn”).

Obsolete etymology, per Borkovsky (1958), suggests that the originally discovered word is a misspelled form or metathesis рп (rp) > пр (pr) from *нерпа (*nerpa, “ringed seal, seal”).^[4]^[5] Related to Russian не́рпа (nérpa, “seal”), Middle Russian нерпа (nerpa), first attested from the 2nd half of the 16th century. Borrowed from Finnic languages, probably from Livvi ńorppa, cf. Karelian ńorppa, Ludian ńorp, Finnish norppa (“ringed seal”);^[6] ultimately possible from Proto-Samic *noarvē (“seal”), probable substrate loanword. But after Birchbark letter no. 1157 was found in 2022, it became known that the thing described by this word is measured in локъть (lokŭtĭ, “cubit, ell”), it became clear that this was not an animal, but fabric, confirming the earlier assumption of A. Zaliznyak.^[7]

Pronunciation

Hyphenation: не‧пъ‧рꙗ

Noun

непърꙗ • (nepŭrja) f^[8]

The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
- c. 1240‒1260, Берестяная грамота № 1157 [Birchbark letter no. 1157]‎^[4], Novgorod:
  ꙋ ходжировѣи ¦в¦ глазнѣца ꙋ спиридановѣи ¦в¦ локти непрѣ …
  u xodžirověi ¦v¦ glazněća u spiridanověi ¦v¦ lokti neprě …
  Khotzhir's wife has 2 beads, Spiridon's wife has 2 cubits of homespun canvas …
- c. 1360‒1380, Берестяная грамота № 133 [Birchbark letter no. 133]‎^[5], Novgorod:
  … послало [ѥ](см- с) --аномо со своимо су[к]ладн(икомо) кипу непрѣ :ѳ҃: сото и :г҃ в------вѣревки узкои …
  … poslalo [je](sm- s) --anomo so svoimo su[k]ladn(ikomo) kipu neprě 9 soto i :g: v------věrevki uzkoi …
  I sent with … , my companion, a bundle of homespun canvas [and] 903 [some measure of length] of narrow rope.
2. homespun canvas, sackcloth
3. unspun flax

Derived terms

adjectives

непърꙗне (nepŭrjane)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Gippius, A. A. (2023) “Берестяные грамоты из раскопок 2022 г. в Великом Новгороде и Старой Руссе”, in Вопросы языкознания [Topics in the Study of Language]‎^[1] (in Russian), number 5, Moscow: Nauka, →ISSN, page 23
^ Vasmer, Max (1972) “пря”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), volumes 3 (Муза – Сят), Moscow: Progress, page 392
^ Strakhov, A. B. (1997) “Филологические наблюдения над берестяными грамотами: X–XIV [Philological observations on birchbark letters: X–XIV]”, in Palaeoslavica‎^[2], volume 5, Cambridge, →ISSN, pages 287–288
^ Artsikhovsky, A. V., Borkovsky, V. I., editor (1958), Новгородские грамоты на бересте (1953–1954 гг.) [Novgorod letters on birchbark: 1953–1954] (in Russian), volume 3, Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, page 111
^ Yanin, V. L., Zaliznyak, A. A., editor (1993), “№ 622”, in Новгородские грамоты на бересте (1984–1989 гг.) [Novgorod letters on birchbark: 1984–1989] (in Russian), volume 9, Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 26
^ Vasmer, Max (1972) “не́рпа”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), volumes 3 (Муза – Сят), Moscow: Progress, page 65
^ Gippius, A. A., et al. (2023) “Новые поправки и комментарии к берестяным грамотам (после публикации Попр. НГБ. Т. 13)”, in http://gramoty.ru (in Russian), page 1
^ Zaliznyak, Andrey (2004) Древненовгородский диалект [Old Novgorod dialect]‎^[3] (in Russian), 2nd edition, Moscow: Languages of Slavic Cultures, →ISBN, page 765