Abstract:
The article is devoted to a study of Novgorodian social terms mentioned in the
Opasnaia Gramota, a charter which secured the inviolability of ambassadors during
their stays abroad; the charter dates from 1472. There are two extant copies of this
document: the original, written in Old Russian, and the contemporary Middle Low
German translation. The Old Russian version was published by Anna L. Khoroshkevich
in 1966. Now an edition of the Middle Low German translation is being
prepared in Germany. By comparing two versions of the same text written in two
different languages, one is able to draw some conclusions about the meaning of
social terms mentioned in the charter. References to ‘well-to-do people’ (zhitii liudi),
‘merchants’ (kuptsy), and ‘black people’ (chernye liudi) are of particular interest. Zhitii
liudi are called ‘well-to-do merchants’ (wolmagenden copluden) in the Middle Low
German
translation. Relying on this fact (along with other data), one can assume
that at least in the 1470s, zhitii liudi may have been simultaneously merchants and
landowners. In other words, one can imagine that all zhitii were merchants but not
all merchants were zhitii. The charter shows also that the expression chernye liudi (in
the Middle Low German translation: de gemene lude) in 15th-century Novgorod stood
for the bulk of the common (but free) townsmen, and not for a particular group of
the population that did not possess full rights. Finally, the Middle Low German
translation of the charter clearly indicates that its author considered ‘merchants’
and ‘merchants’ children’ to have been either synonyms or similar terms without
any significant difference apart from some minor negligible nuances. He translates
both with the same expression, coplude kinderen, and distinguishes them from
‘merchants’ elders’ (oldesten kopluden).
