Beserman-Turkic Relationships: Based on the Names of Clothing Details

Abstract

The Besermans are a small people settled in northern Udmurtia. The unusual combination of the Turkic-Muslim self-designation with the Finno-Ugric language always caused genuine interest in this people. However, scientists still have not reached a consensus regarding the origin of the Besermans. The purpose of this work is to identify and systematize the Turkic names of the details of traditional Beserman clothing, which allows us to study more deeply the Beserman-Turkic relationships, and to obtain new data to unravel the ethnic genesis of the Besermans. In this regard, this work is relevant. The relevance of our work is also due to the possibility of using data in cultural, educational, museum work and in local history courses. The main sources of study are materials of T.I. Teplyashina card catalogue with field records of the Beserman speech. The study was conducted predominantly using a descriptive method. In general, our research confirms the hypothesis about including of the Turkic component in the Beserman ethnos as a result of interethnic marriages. The Chuvash component, which was later replaced by the Tatar superstratum, is quite clearly traced in the ethnogenesis of the Besermans. We have not identified lexical bulgarisms among the studied terminology however they could be replaced by analogous Chuvash word forms as a result of later interaction between ethnic groups.