the south before Oleg's occupation of Kiev, and if so, where that realm was and how long it endured.
There is no apriori improbability in the contention that during the ninth century Russian regions peopled by Slavs and Finns were ravaged by Swedish vikings. During this same period, the Norsemen conquered Paris (for the first time in 845), invaded England (836), and occupied numerous places on the coasts of the North Sea and the Mediterranean, establishing their dominions in Frisia, Italy, and Spain. Novgorod and Kiev were equally accessible.
It is possible, however, that the first Norsemen to enter Kiev came, not from the north, but from the south. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the Herulians, a Teuton tribe, were settled on the sea of Azov, and may have made their way thence to Kiev. Further, it may be that these southland Teutons bore the name of Rōs, and that "Russia" originated on the sea of Azov. All these things, and many others, are possible. But hitherto neither the interpretation of the scanty historical records nor the etymological study of such descriptions as have come down to us can warrant any definite conclusions.[1] The Varangian problem would have been ignored here were it not that it bulks so largely in the historical disputes between the slavophils and their opponents. The mingling of nations
- ↑ Vikings = warriors, de facto pirates. The Russian varjagi is derived from the western Norse vaeringi in the plural vaeringjar, and is supposed to denote a stranger or foreigner who puts himself under the king's protection and petitions for a pledge of safety (wāra); the vaeringjar enjoyed a privileged position on account of this pledge of protection. By the "Normanists," Rus', the Russian name for the country is derived from Ruotsi, a name which the Finns applied to the Swedes; this word is itself Norse and signifies "rowers," but the Finns imagined it to be a national name. This name was also given to the Swedish Norsemen, the Varangians, and had remained as the name of the Russians after the amalgamation of these Norsemen with the Russian Slavs (and Finns). According to this view the denomination Rus' was originally applied to the Norse Varangians; was subsequently used to denote the higher aristocratic stratum of Kiev (the prince and his immediate following), of Norse descent; and was ultimately transferred to the territory of Kiev and to the expanding realm. I do not know how or whether the word Rōs used by the Byzantines has any connection with this word Rus'. I have no expert judgment to offer upon these etymolog cal problems, but the contention of the "Slavists" that the name Rus' is of Slav origin appears to me ill supported. Readers desiring further information regarding the uncertain ethnological and linguistic conditions of the Kievic epoch, and wishing to make acquaintance with the history of this period and the difficulties of the etymological problems, should consult the instructive work of Marquart, the orientalist, "Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge. Ethnologische und historisch topographische Studien zur Geschichte den ix and x Jahrhunderts" (circa 840–940), 1903, pp. 346, 353, and 382.
