The Limits of Constructivism: a Comment to the “Slavs in the Making” of F. Curta

Abstract

The article critically considers the renewed version of F. Curta’s “Making of Slavs” hypothesis. The author tried to demonstrate that the theoretical grounds of the discussed hypothesis and its argumentation cause serious objections. F. Curta’s hypothesis still does not appear more convincing, even in its new version. However, his text is read with interest and also awakens the thought and imagination of the readers.

‘Blind Spots’ of the ‘Scandinavian-Centric’ Hypothesis on the Origin of the Old Russian State

“…Moreover, if we take into account that the ethnonym Rus' (according to the Normanists, applied to the Scandinavians, with which I unfortunately cannot agree), on the contrary, appears at least as early as in the eighth century (Nikolaev 2017: 31, note 88;Romanchuk 2013а: 292;2013b: 108;2017: 253;2018: 103, note 13;2022: 337;2023b). And with such truly Scandinavian ethnonyms, as the Svei, Danes or Guts (inhabitants of Gotland), the Eastern Slavs clearly met no later than the same eighth century.…”

“…And, more importantly, as Nikolaev convincingly showed, this 'Russian-Varangian' dialect cannot be derived from the Old Swedish area at the required time, nor from any other known Old Scandinavian dialects and languages. Developing Nikolaev's observations, I tried to show the possibility of the etymology of the ethnonym Rus' from the East-Germanic rauþs 'red' (Romanchuk 2022). And also the fact that the key phonetic features of the 'Russian-Varangian' dialect, which, as Sergey Nikolaev has shown, have no analogies in any of the known Old Scandinavian languages or dialects, find very exact matches precisely in the East-Germanic languages (Romanchuk 2023b).…”

“…Developing Nikolaev's observations, I tried to show the possibility of the etymology of the ethnonym Rus' from the East-Germanic rauþs 'red' (Romanchuk 2022). And also the fact that the key phonetic features of the 'Russian-Varangian' dialect, which, as Sergey Nikolaev has shown, have no analogies in any of the known Old Scandinavian languages or dialects, find very exact matches precisely in the East-Germanic languages (Romanchuk 2023b).…”

“…By exaggerating (and sharply exaggerating) the traces of contacts with Scandinavia in archaeological materials, the Normanists, on the contrary, belittle in every possible way the fact that between the southwest of the Baltic region and the north-west of the future Rus' Land in the pre-Slavic period, 'The system of priority interactions' developed (Romanchuk 2014).…”

Social Evolution in the Mirror of a Journal: To the Twentieth Anniversary of the ‘Social Evolution & History’

“…According to Korotayev and Grinin, the formation of the first World System (in the Middle East and also in a significant part of Eurasia) should be attributed to the end of the Upper Paleolithic-Mesolithic. The physical substratum of this first World-System was the migration of speakers of Dene-Caucasian languages from Eastern Eurasia to the west (Romanchuk 2009a;2009b;, 2013a2015;2019a, 2019c2020b), and native speakers of the Altaic languages from Western Asia to the eastern part of Eurasia. 1 Articles devoted to the study of particular societies (from antiquity and the Middle Ages up to the present) occupy a prominent place in the Journal.…”