Pogost
A pogost (Russian: погост) is a historical Russian term for an administrative-territorial unit. In modern Russian, it typically refers to a rural church and graveyard. It has also been borrowed into Latgalian (pogosts), Finnish (pogosta) and Latvian (pagasts), with specific meanings.
History
[edit]The term pogost originally denoted territorial centers, typically surrounded by numerous hamlets, that were used to receive dignitaries or guests, particularly in regions controlled by Novgorod.[1] These sometimes had paired churches.[1] The word pogost is similar to modern Russian gost' (гость, "guest"). It is assumed that originally pogosts were rural communities on the periphery, as well as trading centers (Old Russian: гостьба, gost'ba).[2]
The modern Russian term for a hamlet, derevnya, appears in historical sources from the 14th century.[3] In the territories of Smolensk and Novgorod, the term pogost was used to refer to a hamlet.[3] This could mean a hamlet, distinguished in modern Russian as pogost-mesto (погост – место), and a village center of a small area, known as pogost-tsentr.[3] The term could also be used to denote the surrounding area, known as pogost-okrug.[3]
From the 10th century, the term selo was used to refer to a village on the estate of a landowner.[3] By the 14th century, the terms selo and derevnya became interchangeable in the Russian North.[3] As Christianity continued to spread in Russia after its formal introduction in the late 10th century, the term selo came to refer to a village with a church, starting from the 16th century.[3]
In the Russian North, the pogost retained its status until 1775.[1] The term pogost came to be understood as a rural church and graveyard.[3] A pogost could have a freestanding bell tower positioned between and in front of two churches.[1] It could also be enclosed by a low wall constructed from horizontal logs resting on a fieldstone base, with square towers at the corners.[1] The most widely known example of the pogost, and Russian wooden architecture in general, is Kizhi Pogost on Kizhi Island in Lake Onega.[1]
Usage in Finland and Latvia
[edit]The central village of the Finnish kunta ('municipality') of Ilomantsi is usually called the pogosta of Ilomantsi (Ilomantsin pogosta), the word being obviously a borrowing from Russian. The local dialect of Finnish shows strong Russian influence, and there is a strong presence of Orthodox Christians in the municipality. Even the name of the local newspaper is Pogostan Sanomat ("The Pogosta News"), and a certain viral disease is locally called the Pogosta disease.
In the modern Finnish language, pogosta is also used in references to historical places, as a historical synonym for "parish" or "municipality" in Karelian, Ingrian and Russian contexts.
Pagasts is the name for a basic unit of local self-government in the Republic of Latvia. The word pagasts is a commonly used Latvian word equivalent to civil parish, rural municipality or small rural district, originating from Russian pogost. There are 432 rural municipalities or pagasti in Latvia.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Brumfield 2025.
- ^ (in Russian) Большая энциклопедия русского языка
- ^ a b c d e f g h Postan 1966, p. 513.
- ^ "Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments". Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
Sources
[edit]- Postan, M. M. (2 January 1966). The Cambridge Economic History of Europe from the Decline of the Roman Empire: Volume 1, Agrarian Life of the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-04505-6.
- Brumfield, William Craft (2025). "The Russian North: Toward the White Sea". From Forest to Steppe: The Russian Art of Building in Wood. Duke University Press. pp. 117–239. ISBN 978-1-4780-2824-6.