Hello, dear subscribers, readers, it’s very nice that you are here and that you are interested in the “On the Edge” project! Today I wanted to talk to interesting topic. Maybe someone doesn’t know what “pogost” is, where this word came from, and what this word meant in Ancient Rus'?

I would like to note right away that there are several interpretations of this word, I will try to talk about its origin, and everything will immediately become clear to you. I've always been interested in history home country, and then recently I heard in a song popular rock band the word “pogost”, and decided to write a short article on this topic. By the way, what kind of band and song was it? Can you guess? Write your versions in the comments)

A little history

Thanks to chronicle manuscripts, in particular “The Tale of Bygone Years,” we know that the churchyard system was established during the reign of Princess Olga. And, I think, it would be logical to start the article with the coming to rule of this Grand Duchess. Olga (890-969) – Grand Duchess Kyiv, wife of Rurik's son, Prince Igor.

In 945 he was brutally executed Grand Duke Igor. Igor grossly violated the custom, and for the second time in a year he came to the Drevlyans in Iskorosten for tribute, as a result of which the subjects brutally killed the Prince. Olga cruelly punished the Drevlyans for the murder of her husband. I think everyone knows this story. She actually took revenge on them three times, but last time was the most cruel. A small tribute was collected from the tribe of Drevlyans who killed her husband, three pigeons and sparrows from each yard, smoldering rods with a wick were tied to the pigeons’ legs, and when the birds returned to the village, to their dovecotes, under the roofs of wooden towers, to the haylofts , the entire city went up in flames in a matter of minutes. The houses were wooden then. And the town was burned completely, along with its inhabitants.

Igor had an heir - his son Svyatoslav, but since he was still small, power over the country passed to the Prince's widow, Olga. Princess Olga on her native land pursued a peaceful policy of economic development of Russian lands, also with external states, primarily with Byzantium; raids on Byzantium ceased during this period. While the men were fighting, the great Russian woman began solving the economic structure of the Russian lands.

The southern lands were already quite developed, but the North-West of Ancient Rus' was still a land not very densely populated by the Slavs, neighboring tribes of other origins. And the Princess then traveled around the entire North-West of Ancient Rus'. How did you get around then? Along the rivers. On plow ships, or in winter time on a sleigh. These sleighs of Princess Olga were kept in Pskov for a very long time, as a memory of her concern for the improvement of the life of the Russian people. These were very difficult trips requiring physical endurance and courage. There is a legend that one day, during the crossing, the boats overturned and the Princess drowned; she was saved by a warrior who sacrificed his life. And the Princess erected a cross in memory of him...

Pogost - initially this word did not have the meaning to which we are accustomed

Under Olga, what was started by Princes Rurik and Oleg continued. After the death of Prince Igor, for his wife Olga, son Svyatoslav became the most dear person on the ground. Often thinking about tragic death husband, she was looking for a way to protect him from the danger associated with polyud, that is, the custom when the Prince personally travels, even to the farthest corners of his possessions, to collect tribute and accomplish destinies.

She carried out the first in history administrative reform– divided the possessions into volosts. They made graveyards their centers. P ogost is in ancient Rus'- large trading villages located along the river banks. The most conveniently located and protected place in the volost was chosen for the graveyards. It was accessible from all nearby settlements, so such places were initially chosen by the Slavs for general gatherings and religious worship. The etymology of the word pogost as, as interpreted by S.B. Veselovsky is a place where visiting traders usually stopped to stay.

When Christianity was adopted, pagan idols in graveyards were demolished, and churches and temples were erected. Pogosts are the centers of princely rule. The lands were scattered, communication was very difficult and in certain time The Prince, Princess or their representatives came to resolve issues of administration, for the princely court, and over the years they began to bury the dead in these graveyards.

Subsequently, the meaning of the word “pogost” was transformed into a church and parish center, with an adjacent cemetery. And therefore, in modern consciousness, the word “pogost” is associated with a cemetery. But these were precisely the centers of princely rule. Wherever the Princess visited, she preached, erected worship crosses, called on the people to, but never used force, only convinced. As a woman, she acted very gently.

There she placed officials - tiuns, to whom any victim could turn, demanding fair trial for your offender. The truth was established thanks to witnesses, but if there were none, the tiuns resorted to the help of pagan seers. If guilt was proven, then the accused paid a fine. Death was imposed only for murder. The Tiuns collected tribute from the villages, and in case of disobedience they called the militia to help. Olga strictly controlled order, appearing suddenly in the most remote corners of her possessions, and woe to the thieving or lazy tiun.

Traveling around these lands, the Princess set lessons for the smerds. Let me explain that the lesson is a certain, fixed amount of tax from specific place.

The appearance of stinkers

It also determined and limited places for catching birds, animals, and fish. These were a very important source of food in ancient times. Olga’s establishment of princely villages marked the beginning of the formation of privately owned princely estates in Rus', which led to the emergence of such a layer of the population as smerd. Did you know that according to Russian truth, a smerd is a commoner, a member of a rural community, a landowner who has his own land, but is dependent on the prince.

In other words, a peasant.

They had land plots and could pass them on to their sons - this is the patrimony. If there were no heirs, then the land passed to the prince. The most powerless population of Ancient Rus' was called a serf; they were practically slaves. The prince, angry with the peasant, could take away his land and property, and he, along with his family, became a slave.

That's all. I think everything is clear, if you have any questions, ask them in the comments, I will be happy to try to answer them. Subscribe to and invite friends! Thank you for attention.

Text— Agent Q.

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Ushakov's Dictionary

Pogost

pogo st, churchyard, husband.

1. Rural cemetery. Take to the graveyard (bury).

2. Rural church with a cemetery and belonging to it land plot and omom clergy, located separately, away from the settlement ( outdated).

3. In the north - the name of a village, a settlement inhabited by the Sami (Lapps).

4. Inn far from villages, on the road ( region). (original a trading place where merchants called in other Russian language of guests.)

Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language

Pogost

And there are guests at the churchyard- talks about funerals; about a dead person brought to the cemetery

Living in a graveyard, you can’t pay for everyone- seeing a lot of grief and troubles, you can no longer take everything to heart (it is said when it is impossible to help in trouble or when they want to justify someone’s indifference)

Dictionary of forgotten and difficult words of the 18th-19th centuries

Pogost

, A, l.

1. In Ancient Rus', a community, a village.

2. The site of the village parish church, which also has a cemetery.

* I left and came across just heavy scene. Someone's heaped painted coffin was being taken to the churchyard... // Nekrasov. Poems // / *

Lem's World - Dictionary and Guide

Pogost

cemetery:

* “What I’m saying is life; they staged something between a panopticon and a graveyard.” - Star diaries of Iyon the Quiet. Twentieth Journey *

Ural Historical Encyclopedia

Pogost

1) sat down. village

2) unit of adm. divisions - env.; a collection of villages. villages, gravitating towards a single center. P. appeared in the Upper Kama region in the second. floor. XV century At the beginning stage of colonization, Russians were built. us. as military strongholds and bases for the development of salt springs. They were large villages. village (had from 20 to 80 households), c. okr., community self-government, religious life, crafts and trade. In the second half. XVIII century P. gradually turned into villages. or were in the village position. with a parish church and a cemetery common to the area. WITH late XVIII V. concept "P." disappeared from office work (P. officially began to be called villages). The "P" word acquired another meaning in everyday life - village. cemetery or church away from the village. with an adjacent plot and cemetery.

Lit.: Chagin G.N. Ethnocultural history of the Middle Urals in late XVI- first half of the 19th century. Perm, 1995.

Mankova I.L.

encyclopedic Dictionary

Pogost

originally the center of a rural community in the northwest of Dr. Rus'. Later the center of the administrative-tax district, a large village with a church and cemetery. From the 18th century A graveyard is a separate church with a cemetery, later a rural cemetery.

Ozhegov's Dictionary

POG ABOUT ST, A, m. A cemetery, usually rural (in the old days, a church located away from the village with an adjacent plot and a cemetery). They demolished it to Kogon village. (buried). They don’t carry the dead from the graveyard (the message is that it is impossible to return or correct).

Tatiana Autumn’s poem about Chernobyl begins like this: “On the forgotten churchyard, the crosses have long since turned black...”. In understanding modern people a churchyard is a rural cemetery. An old word that is rarely used. And only writers remember him. Was it like this before?

A little history

The Slavs instituted annual tours of their lands by princes and their retinue. Along the way, the prince stopped at pre-agreed villages or fortified places where tribute was taken. Strong courtyards were set up here to repel an attack and a steward, often called a “cattleman,” was left to regulate the collection of goods and resolve administrative issues in the absence of the master. It was possible to travel around the country in summer by rivers, and in winter by sleigh. Therefore, places convenient for stopping were called graveyards. This is in ancient Rus' and their very name defines it. Merchants came to visit, that is, trade. With the arrival of the prince, the public life: the trial was carried out, vigilantes were recruited.

Reform of Princess Olga

Since 946, the procedure for paying tribute, called polyudye, has changed. Princess Olga establishes the tax system, regulating the timing and amount of the tax in kind, called the lesson. From this moment on, “pogosts” and “lessons” are terms denoting the territorial-administrative units of Rus' and charters. The lesson is a fixed tax amount from a certain place. At churchyards, vigilantes-tiuns, tribute collectors, are appointed. Tiun counts the number of outbreaks or black plows and transmits them to Kyiv. This is how the amount of tax “per smoke” or “per plow” is established. Tributes are collected by community elders. Instead of livestock, the monetary equivalent is the hryvnia - a metal casting of silver or gold, serving as a measure of weight and payment. In Rus' they did not mint coins, but used the foreign currency that was in circulation, often denarii, and melted them into ingots. The name “hryvnia” comes from the Old Slavonic “mane”, that is, neck. A necklace could consist of hryvnias.

The churchyard is the center of princely rule

At the churchyard, in the absence of the princess, the court held a tiun based on the testimony of witnesses. In the absence of these, the tiun turned to pagan priests. The culprit paid a vira, that is, a fine. Murder was punishable by death.

Tiun, in case of refusal to pay tribute, called in the militia. Olga herself could suddenly appear at the churchyard and control the tiun.

Olga identified hunting grounds and princely villages. This entailed the appearance of smerds - commoners dependent on the prince with their own land (patrimony), which was passed on by inheritance. In the absence of heirs, the land went to the prince. True, the prince had the right to take away the land from the smerd, punishing him for his offense. Then he became a slave along with his family. It's practically slavery.

How the meaning of the word has changed

Initially, this word meant a guest house or a place where the prince and his retinue stayed. Over time, the term “pogosts” means the division of the territory into tax districts with a center where there was a point for receiving tribute and the tiun, the warrior responsible for collecting tribute, lived. Since the 10th century, these have been trading villages with bazaars that attract merchants and artisans. The tax collection center becomes a vibrant community center. Christianity gradually spread in Rus', and churches began to be built in places where tribute was collected, as the most visited. They attracted additional cash flows by performing baptisms, funerals and weddings. The cemetery was located on consecrated ground, near the church. The churchyard had a double name - for the village and for the church.

In the Pskov and Novgorod provinces, the churchyard consists of several villages, from ten to a hundred according to the inventories of those years. In the central Russian provinces, where there was a large number of private estates, public life revolved around the village where the landowner’s estate stood. The church and cemetery were located at a distance.

Since the 18th century this is the name of a church standing separately from the village with a cemetery, clergyman’s dwelling or priest’s house. By the 19th-20th centuries it was simply a rural cemetery.

How it is used now

Now the term “cemetery” does not even remind of the place where a high-ranking person or a responsible official stays. Perhaps the same root word “hotel” will say more about this. All that remains is the association with a cemetery, especially a rural one. This is exactly how poets use it.

From Mikhail Shcherbakov:

• From love, melancholy, debts and the graveyard - to the coveted expensive peninsula!

From Ivan Bunin:

• Here is a familiar graveyard near the colored Mediterranean wave...

Why is a churchyard a Christian cemetery?

In Rus', people were not always buried on plots of land located near the temple. Or a temple, if you go really deep into the old days. A mound was erected for noble people. Remember - “Prince Igor and Olga are sitting on a hill”? This hill is the mound where Oleg is buried. Usually horses and valuables were buried along with the master. Burial fields are also known. They were outside the settlement.

Burials near churchyards in pre-Christian times had pagan idols. During the period of the spread of Christianity, they were demolished and temples were built in that place. The land was consecrated and Christians were buried on it. The remaining cemeteries remained unconsecrated, gradually falling into disrepair. Later the word takes on the meaning of a parish center. Therefore, a graveyard is a cemetery with a church.

Vladimir Dal, explaining the meaning of the word “pogost”, gave the following example: “the dead are not carried to the graveyard.” Being the author of a dictionary of Great Russian, and most importantly, a living language, he included in his multi-volume work expressions and catchphrases he heard from ordinary people. A modern person will find some semantic inconsistency in the phrase given above. In reality, everything is true. What is a churchyard? This is a word derived from the noun "guest". Therefore, a churchyard is a place where one can visit. Alive, but not dead.

Story

What is a churchyard? This was established by Princess Olga. Kievan Rus was divided into sections. The inhabitants of each of them paid tribute. This event was far from safe. Suffice it to recall the fate of Olga’s husband. But the princes, in spite of everything, continued to regularly travel around Rus' and collect taxes. What is the very place where they stayed with their squad while collecting tribute. True, then it was called a little differently. Namely, "staying."

About what a churchyard is, more precisely, what this word meant in Kievan Rus, we found. But why today is it more often perceived as a synonym for the word “cemetery”?

Village, church, cemetery

What is a churchyard? At first, this word was understood as stopping the princes. Then an administrative-territorial unit. Even later - locality, which was the center of smaller settlements. Let's forget for a while about what a graveyard is for modern man, and put ourselves in the place of a resident of one of the villages of Ancient Rus'.

After the adoption of Christianity, every village had a church. Not immediately, of course, but over time, small temples opened everywhere. Cemeteries of that era had little in common with modern ones. Burials took place only on the church grounds. Thus, the center of each settlement was the church, and its integral part was the cemetery. Perhaps this is the answer to the question of what a churchyard is.

This word has several definitions, but it has not been used as a designation for a populated area for more than two centuries. At least in colloquial speech.

Archaism

The word "pogost" meaning "cemetery" can be used by a person in Everyday life, in order to decorate your speech with archaic, atypical for modern language noun. In some situations this may sound ridiculous. But if he says, “I don’t like to go to the graveyard, because it’s gloomy and sad there,” expressing his dislike for visiting the cemetery, at least he will be understood. But the statement “I live in a small churchyard” can cause confusion and even frighten the interlocutor. Unless, of course, he is a historian or philologist.

Semantic transformation

How did it happen that a word that previously denoted a populated area, that is, associated with life, over time acquired a cemetery meaning? Nouns and verbs often change their semantic basis, but not so dramatically. Researchers believe that this semantic transformation occurred as a result of linguistic taboos.

Residents of Ancient Rus' treated the word very reverently. Thus, they believed that nouns denoting unpleasant, undesirable phenomena should be avoided. For the inhabitants of a small village located near a forest, encountering a bear was not very uncommon. But that didn’t make her any more pleasant. People preferred not to use the name of the formidable animal in vain, so as not to invite trouble. They preferred to express themselves allegorically: “Like if you meet a clubfoot in the forest.”

What can we say about words that are directly related to death? "Cemetery" gradually began to be replaced with "graveyard". When a person died, they said “left” or “died.” In their love for allegories, people did not even notice how individual words lost their former meaning. In the 18th century, a graveyard already meant only one thing - a rural cemetery.

But, for example, in the Orenburg province obsolete meaning also existed in XIX century. Here, a graveyard was understood to be located on the outskirts of the village.

In Ushakov's dictionary

Another author of the great Russian language argued that a pogost is a village located in the north. Ushakov, as well as Dahl, says that this word should be understood not only as a cemetery, but also as the entire territory on which the church is located. The graveyard as a place of eternal rest has become so ingrained in Russian speech that stable expressions have appeared. For example, “to demolish to the graveyard,” which means “to bury.”

Many words that are part of today literary language, first appeared verbally folk art. And sometimes the authors of simple songs and ditties gave existing words a different meaning. Words such as graveyard, lepota, say, poeliku, finger, include in the active lexicon not worth it. But you need to know their meaning. In closing, it is worth citing as an example a line from a song written just a few decades ago. It contains a word, the meaning and origin of which is discussed in this article. “The path from spring to the churchyard is short,” which means “a person’s life is short.”

What is Pogost? Meaning and interpretation of the word pogost, definition of the term

1) Pogost- - originally the center of a rural community in the North-West of Ancient Rus'. Later the center of the administrative-tax district, a large village with a church and cemetery. Since the 18th century P. was called a separate church with a cemetery, later a rural cemetery.

2) Pogost- - originally the center of a rural community in north-west Rus'. Later the center of the administrative-tax district, a large village with a church and cemetery. Since the 18th century A graveyard was a name given to a separate church with a cemetery, and later a rural cemetery.

3) Pogost- - the center of the administrative and tax district, a large village with a church and a cemetery. Since the 17th century the name of a separate church with a cemetery; rural cemetery.

4) Pogost- - in Kievan Rus there is a special tribute collection point.

5) Pogost- a term common in Russian sources, which had a meaning throughout the X-XVIII centuries. different meaning. Initially, rural communities of the periphery were apparently called graveyards Old Russian state, as well as the centers of these communities, where “gostba” (trade) was carried out. Gradually, both administrative-territorial units consisting of many villages and the central village of this district began to be called graveyards. At the head of the graveyards were placed special officials, responsible for the regular receipt of tribute. With the spread of Christianity in Rus', churches were built in graveyards, near which there were cemeteries, and graveyards usually received a double name - for the village and for the church. Their size was different. In the XI-XIV centuries. churchyards consisted of several dozen and even hundreds of villages. Such graveyards are especially characteristic of the Novgorod estates. In the central counties in documents XV-XVI centuries In most cases, graveyards were small settlements with a church and a cemetery; privately owned villages became the main centers of community life here. As administrative-territorial divisions into which certain duties were distributed, churchyards lasted the longest in counties where there were many black and palace lands. In the North, the division into graveyards officially ceased only in 1775. In the 19th century. XX centuries the word "pogost" was used to mean a rural parish, a section of a path, and especially often a cemetery. IN last value this word is widespread in oral folk art and fiction. S. Sh.

6) Pogost- - originally the center of a rural community in the north-west of Ancient Rus'. From the second half of the 10th century. place of collection of tribute, later - the center of the administrative and tax district. Since the 18th century the name of a separate church with a cemetery, later a rural cemetery.

7) Churchyard- - 1) place of collecting tribute in Ancient Rus'; were introduced by Princess Olga in mid. X century 2) administrative and economic unit in medieval Rus'; 3) rural cemetery; a church with a cemetery located far from the village.

Pogost

Originally the center of a rural community in the North-West of Ancient Rus'. Later the center of the administrative-tax district, a large village with a church and cemetery. Since the 18th century P. was called a separate church with a cemetery, later a rural cemetery.

Originally the center of a rural community in northwestern Rus'. Later the center of the administrative-tax district, a large village with a church and cemetery. Since the 18th century A graveyard was a name given to a separate church with a cemetery, and later a rural cemetery.

The center of the administrative and tax district, a large village with a church and a cemetery. Since the 17th century the name of a separate church with a cemetery; rural cemetery.

In Kievan Rus there is a special tribute collection point.

a term common in Russian sources, which had a meaning throughout the X-XVIII centuries. different meaning. Initially, graveyards apparently referred to rural communities on the periphery of the Old Russian state, as well as the centers of these communities, where “gostba” (trade) was carried out. Gradually, both administrative-territorial units consisting of many villages and the central village of this district began to be called graveyards. Special officials were placed at the head of the graveyards and were responsible for the regular receipt of tribute. With the spread of Christianity in Rus', churches were built in graveyards, near which there were cemeteries, and graveyards usually received a double name - for the village and for the church. Their size was different. In the XI-XIV centuries. churchyards consisted of several dozen and even hundreds of villages. Such graveyards are especially characteristic of the Novgorod estates. In the central counties in documents of the 15th-16th centuries. In most cases, graveyards were small settlements with a church and a cemetery; privately owned villages became the main centers of community life here. As administrative-territorial divisions into which certain duties were distributed, churchyards lasted the longest in counties where there were many black and palace lands. In the North, the division into graveyards officially ceased only in 1775. In the 19th century. XX centuries the word "pogost" was used to mean a rural parish, a section of a path, and especially often a cemetery. In the latter meaning, this word is widespread in oral folk art and fiction. S. Sh.

Originally the center of a rural community in the north-west of Ancient Rus'. From the second half of the 10th century. place of collection of tribute, later - the center of the administrative and tax district. Since the 18th century the name of a separate church with a cemetery, later a rural cemetery.

1) place of collecting tribute in Ancient Rus'; were introduced by Princess Olga in mid. X century 2) administrative and economic unit in medieval Rus'; 3) rural cemetery; a church with a cemetery located far from the village.