The Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia, and the Origin of the Russian State
Three Lectures Delivered at the Taylor Institution. Oxford, in May, 1876

A comparative examination of the Russian language and Scandinavian languages that uncovers the Scandinavian origins of Russia's history and culture.

Vilhelm Ludvig Peter Thomsen (Author)

9781108014540, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 June 2010

164 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1 cm, 0.21 kg

The Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia, first published in 1877, by the Danish philologist, Vilhelm Thomsen (1842–1927), contains Thomsen's three lectures on the origins of the Russian state. The lectures were given at the Taylor Institution, Oxford, in May 1876. The first lecture covers the ethnic background of ancient Russia and its earliest political institutions and the second and third lectures investigate Russia's Scandinavian origins. Thomsen demonstrated and explored the interlinked histories of Russia and Scandinavia by comparative examinations of Russian and the Scandinavian languages. By this analysis, Thomsen was able to demonstrate the importance of the Scandinavian element in the earliest origins of Russian culture, identity, political institutions and language. The work is an outstanding piece of philological investigation and a key text in early Russian cultural, linguistic and political history. It continues to be relevant to the advanced student of Russian language and early Russian history.

Preface
1. On the inhabitants of ancient Russia, and the foundation of the Russian state
2. On the Scandinavian origin of the ancient Russ
3. On the denomination and history of the Scandinavian element in Russia
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]