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KREMLIN—A fortified complex at the center of a Russian city. Although modern English usage has adopted the word kremlin to refer solely to the most famous example, the Moscow Kremlin, there are actually kremlins to be found in most historic Russian cities.
KVAS—A fermented beverage made from rye bread.
LESHY—Also called the lesovik, the leshy was a woodland spirit in Slavic mythology, protector of forests and animals.
LESNAYA ZEMLYA—Literally, “Land of the Forest.”
LITTLE BROTHER—English rendering of the Russian endearment bratishka. Can be applied to both older and younger siblings.
LITTLE SISTER—English rendering of the Russian endearment sestryonka. Can be applied to both older and younger siblings.
MEAD—Honey wine, made by fermenting a solution of honey and water.
METROPOLITAN—A high official in the Orthodox church. In the middle ages, the Metropolitan of the church of the Rus’ was the highest Orthodox authority in Russia and was appointed by the Byzantine Patriarch.
MYSH—Mysh’, mouse.
OGON—Ogon’, fire.
OVEN—The Russian oven, or pech’, is an enormous construction that came into wide use in the fifteenth century for both cooking and heating. A system of flues ensured even distribution of heat, and whole families would often sleep on top of the oven to keep warm during the winter.
PODSNEZHNIK—Snowdrop, a small white flower that blooms in early spring.
PYOS—Dog, cur.
RUS’—The Rus’ were originally a Scandinavian people. In the ninth century C.E., at the invitation of warring Slavic and Finnic tribes, they established a ruling dynasty, the Rurikids, that eventually comprised a large swath of what is now Ukraine, Belarus, and Western Russia. The territory they ruled was eventually named after them, as were the people living under their dynasty. The word Rus’ has lasted into the present day, as we can see in the names of Russia and Belarus.
RUSALKA—In Russian folklore, a female water nymph, something like a succubus.
RUSSIA—From the thirteenth through the fifteenth century, there was no unified polity called Russia. Instead, the Rus’ lived under a disparate collection of rival princes (knyazey) who owed their ultimate allegiance to Mongol overlords. The word Russia did not come into common use until the seventeenth century. Thus, in the medieval context, one would not refer to “Russia,” but rather to the “land of the Rus’,” or simply “Rus’.”
RUSSIAN—There are two adjectives in the Russian language, russkiy and rossiyskiy, that each translate to “Russian” in English. The first, russkiy, refers specifically to the Russian people and culture without distinction or boundaries. Rossiyskiy refers specifically to the modern Russian state. When the word Russian is used in the novel, I always intend the former meaning.
SARAFAN—A dress that looks something like a jumper or pinafore, with shoulder straps, worn over a long-sleeved blouse. This garment actually came into common use only in the early fifteenth century. I included it in the novel slightly before its time because of how strongly this manner of dress evokes fairy-tale Russia to the Western reader.
SOLOVEY—Nightingale.
STARIK—Old man.
SYNOK—An affectionate diminutive derived from the word syn, meaning “son.”
TSAR—The word Tsar is derived from the Latin word Caesar, and originally was used to designate the Roman emperor (imperator), and later the Byzantine emperor, in Old Church Slavonic texts. In this novel, therefore, the word Tsar refers to the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople (or Tsargrad, literally “city of the tsar”) and not to a Russian potentate. Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) was the first Russian Grand Prince to take the title Tsar of All the Russias, almost two hundred years following the fictional events of The Bear and the Nightingale. Russian rulers assumed the title of Tsar, because, following the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, they considered Moscow to be the “Third Rome,” the heir of Constantinople’s spiritual authority among Orthodox Christians.
TSARGRAD—“City of the tsar” Constantinople (see above).
UPYR—Vampire (pl. upyry).
VAZILA—In Russian folklore, the guardian of the stable and protector of livestock.
VEDMA—Vyed’ma, witch, wisewoman.
VERST—In Russian, Versta (BepcTa).We take the English word from the Russian genitive plural. A unit of distance equal to roughly one kilometer, or two-thirds of a mile.
VODIANOY—In Russian folklore, a male water-spirit, often malicious.
