Synty
Synty ('origin, birth, aetiology', pl. synnyt) is an important concept in Finnish mythology. Syntysanat ('origin-words') or syntyloitsut ('origin-charms') provide an explanatory, mythical account of the origin of a phenomenon (such as an illness), material (such as iron), or species (such as a bear), and were an important part of traditional Finno-Karelian culture, particularly in healing rituals. Although much in the Finnish traditional charms is paralleled elsewhere, 'the role of aetiological and cosmogonic myths' in Finnic tradition 'appears exceptional in Eurasia'.[1] The major study remains that by Kaarle Krohn, published in 1917.[2]
Meanings of synty
[edit]The term synty is used in this article and in a range of scholarship as a genre-label, but it had a wide variety of meanings.[3] Synty transparently derives from syntyä (‘come into existence, be born’) and means ‘birth’, ‘origin’, ‘aetiology’, and so forth. Its meanings can be literal and mundane (e.g. 'birth'), but it was also used in traditional poetry with a range of more numinous meanings, varying according to region, genre, and time. Thus in Kalevalaic poetry, synty can also denote the mystical power of a tietäjä (in which context it has been argued to refer to the origin of a tietäjä’s own powers and is more or less a synonym for the more frequent term luonto, perhaps being translated as 'fundamental essence'); it can be a synonym for 'god' or 'creator' (in the singular only, often in the collocation suuri synty, ‘great synty’); or it can denote other divine power whose source was more abstract.[4][5]: 250–57
In Karelian lament poetry, the plural synnyt and more especially its diminutive dialect form syntyiset (usually given in the Karelian form syndyzet) were important terms, found used of divine powers, the abode of the dead, the dead themselves, and even icons.[4] It has been suggested that these usages are a loan-translation from Russian rod ('family') and roditeli ('parents'), which are used in similar ways and have an etymological connection with birth.[5]: 255–56
The term synty is used with varying degrees of specificity to denote poems within a wider body of Finnic incantations, a poem within which might also be referred to as a 'formulas', luku ('passage'), sanat ('words'), or virsi ('verse').[5]: 72
Use of synty-poems
[edit]Knowing synnyt was a characteristic branch of knowledge for traditional healers, known as tietäjät. It was believed that knowing the origin of things made it possible to exercise control over them. Healing spells might, for example, include words like Kyllä tunnen syntymäsi ('indeed I know your origin').
It was long thought that synnyt were primarily recited as prefaces to charms much like a historiola, to make the charm itself more effective, perhaps as part of a process of diagnosis.[6] More recent work, however, has suggested that, though often combined with other incantations, the synty element is in these cases usually central rather than preliminary, and not so much a diagnosis as a cure; their primary context of use seems instead to have been healing physical (as opposed to metaphysical) injuries and wounds where there was no illness agent (such as a witch) to conjure.[5]: 86–90 Synnyt might also be used in, for example, hunting rituals.[7]
There is some debate over in what contexts synnyt were recited and in what contexts they were sung (and whether it is meaningful to distinguish between these modes). It appears that synnyt were recited in Western Finland by the eighteenth century but might still have been sung in the seventeenth. There is some evidence for synnyt or similar genres being performed by pairs of singers in the manner of epic poems, but not much. The poems themselves, however, give singing a prominent role. The tradition of performing synnyt has been compared with the North Germanic tradition of galdr, where a clear distinction between singing and speaking may not be appropriate.[5]: 264–77
Early evidence
[edit]
The synnyt mostly survive in nineteenth-century folklore collections. However, the earliest are attested in documents of the 1650s: the minutes of the parliament of Vaasa for 26 August 1657 record aetiological poems for iron and fire.[8][9]: 61, 63 On 30 June 1658, court records for Vaasa record an aetiological poem for a magical shot (pistos)[10][9]: 66 and on 5 July the same year in Isokyrö for cancer, iron, and fire.[11][12][9]: 66, 62, 63
The earliest scholarly discussion of synnyt is in the fourth fascicule (published in 1778) of Henrik Gabriel Porthan's De poësi Fennica.[13][14]
Synty next makes a significant appearance as a genre term in Christianus Erici Lencqvist's dissertation De superstitione veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica, published in 1782.[15] Discussing the mythical figure Kaleva, Lencqvist mentioned Kaleva's sword, and noted that one mention of that appears ‘in his versibus ... quibus ortus serpentis mythice exponitur (Kärmen syndy)’ ('in these verses ... in which the origin of the serpent is mythically expounded (Kärmen synty)'), quoting the following lines with his Latin translation:[16]
| Mist’ on kieli keitolaisen?
Miekasta Kalewan pojan, h. e. |
Unde lingua coquinarii? (Serpentis, qui venenum in ore gignat et quasi coquat?)
E gladio Calevæ filii (h. e. formidolosissimo?). |
| Whence is Keitolainen’s[17] tongue?
From the sword of Kaleva’s boy, i. e. |
Whence the tongue of cooking-boy? (Of the serpent, who produces venom in its mouth and, as it were, cooks it?)
From the sword of Kaleva's son (i. e. ‘from the most terrifying sword’?) |
Soon after, Cristfried Ganander included an entry for synnyt in his Mythologia fennica, defining them thus: ‘Synnyt, Archæologier öfver elden, ormen, sten, alla trän; läses öfver skador och sår af vidskeplige' (‘Synnyt: ancient histories of fire, the snake, stone, all trees; spoken over injuries and wounds by the superstitious').[18]
Example
[edit]
The most widely attested subject for synnyt, according to the Suomen kansan vanhat runot, is the origin of iron. One example of such a synty, as edited by Lönnrot and translated by Abercromby, is:[19]
|
Kyllä tieän rauan synnyn, |
Full well I know the iron's genesis, |
Topics of recorded synnyt
[edit]The Suomen kansan vanhat runot editions list around 131 topics for synty texts, 114 of them categorised as syntyloitsut ('synty-charms'), in a total of around 6900 individual records.[20]: 119 Its categorisation of charms is based on a F. A. Hästesko's 1918 study of the genre.[21][22]: 26 The ten most popular subjects among the synnyt categorised in the SKVR as incantations (loitsut) are, in declining order, rauta ('iron', 862 examples), käärme ('snake', 714), tuli ('fire', 690), niukahdus ('sprain', 539), käärmeen purema ('snakebite', 290), pistos ('stabbing pain', 260), puu ('tree', 219), koi ('cancer', 180), voide ('ointment', 175), ähky ('colic', 137), riisi ('rickets', 135), läävämato (literally 'cowshed-snake', 125), and löyly ('sauna steam', 108).[20]: 119
Of the other categories of synnyt, the most important are those classified as epic texts, pre-eminently the maailma ('world', 455) and kantele (371). These overall patterns of popularity are consistent with the earliest attested synnyt, recorded in trial-records from Ostrobothnia in the 1650s (where the synty tradition had been lost by the nineteenth century): these are all on topics which were later in the top ten (cancer, stabbing pain, fire, and iron).[20]: 119
The following table lists all the SKVR topics of synnyt.
| Editorial category | Subject | Number of variants in SKVR | SKVR categorisation |
Elias Lönnrot's 1880 edition selects synnyt on the following fifty-one topics:
| Lönnrot number | subtypes | Abercromby number | Lönnrot title | Abercromby title |
Literary adaptations
[edit]Literary adaptations of the synnyt appear in the Kalevala, for example the origin of oak and arrows in Runo II, flax in Runo IV, iron in Runo IX (an account which influenced oral tradition in turn),[23] and the serpent in Runo XXVI.[20]: 119
Editions and translations
[edit]The first substantial, scholarly collection of synty poems was Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, ed. by Elias Lönnrot (Helsinki: Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1880), http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48751. A very large part of this was translated into English by John Abercromby, The pre- and proto-historic Finns, both Eastern and Western: with the magic songs of the west Finns, Grimm Library, 9-10, 2 vols (London: Nutt, 1898), vol. 1, vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 2. Lönnrot adapted his sources extensively, however, such that this edition should be viewed, like the Kalevala, more as a literary work by Lönnrot than as a direct representation of oral traditions.[20]: 120–21
Further texts, closely representing the field records of folklore collectors, were published in the Suomen kansan vanhat runot series.[24]
References
[edit]- ^ Frog, 'Shamans, Christians, and Things in Between: From Finnic-Germanic Contacts to the Conversion of Karelia', in Conversions: Looking for Ideological Change in the Early Middle Ages, ed. by Leszek Słupecki and Rudolf Simek, Studia Mediaevalia Septentrionalia, 23 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2013), pp. 53–97 (p. 62), https://www.academia.edu/4049431.
- ^ Kaarle Krohn, Suomalaiset syntyloitsut: Vertaileva tutkimus [Finnish Origin-Incantations: A Comparative Study], Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia, 157 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1917); Magische Ursprungsrunen der Finnen, trans. by Arno Bussenius (Kerava: Keravan Kirjapainossa, 1924).
- ^ Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Nykysuomen sanakirja, 6 vols (Helsinki: Söderström, 1953--61), s.vv.; Erkki Itkonen et al., Suomen sanojen alkuperä: Etymologinen sanakirja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1992-), s.vv.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Eila Stepanova, 'Mythic Elements of Karelian Laments: The Case of Syndyzet and Spuassuzet', in Mythic Discourses: Studies in Uralic Traditions, ed. by Frog, Anna-Leena –, and Eila Stepanova, Studia Fennica Folkloristica, 20 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjasuuden Seura, 2012), pp. 257-87.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Anna-Leena Siikala, Mythic Images and Shamanism: A Perspective on Kalevala Poetry, FF Communication, 280 (Helsinki: Suomen Tiedakatemia, 2002).
- ^ Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967); cf. Lotte Tarkka, 'Interpretation at a distance (Review): Thomas A. DuBois, Finnish Folk Poetry and the Kalevala. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995. 328 pp.', Folklore Fellows Network, 15 (April 1998), 22-28, http://www.folklorefellows.fi/?page_id=776.
- ^ Matti Sarmela, 'Karhu ihmisen ympäristössä', Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja, 71 (1991), 209–50, http://www.kolumbus.fi/matti.sarmela/karhu.pdf.
- ^ Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967), pp. 367, 369; Suomen kansan vanhat runot vol. XI nos 1570 and 1797.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Raphael Hertzberg, Vidskepelsen i Finland på 1600 talet: Bidrag till Finlands kulturhistoria (Helsingfors: Hufvudstadsbl. Nya Tryckeri, 1889).
- ^ Suomen kansan vanhat runot vol. XI no 992.
- ^ Suomen kansan vanhat runot vol. XI nos 826, 1586, 1587, 1801.
- ^ Kihlakunnanoikeuksien renovoidut tuomiokirjat > Pohjanmaan tuomiokunnan renovoidut tuomiokirjat > Varsinaisten asioiden pöytäkirjat > Varsinaisten asioiden pöytäkirjat 1657-1658 (KO a:10) f. 609r l. 22-v l. 6 (Raudan synty), 609v, ll. 7ff. (Pistoksen synty), 609v ll. 17-21 (Tulen synty).
- ^ Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967), pp. 342-43.
- ^ Henricus Gabriel Porthan, Dissertationis de poësi Fennica, issued in 5 parts (Åbo: Frenckell, 1766-78), pp. 87-88; fascicule 1; fascicule 2; fascicule 4; fascicule 5.
- ^ Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967), pp. 342-43.
- ^ Christianus Erici Lencqvist, Specimen academicum de superstitione veterum fennorum theoretica et practica, 2 vols (Åbo: Frenckell, 1782), I 27 n. u.
- ^ Keitolainen is the name of a demon, but is misunderstood by Lencquist as having something to do with the verb keittää 'to cook'.
- ^ Christfrid Ganander, Mythologia fennica, eller förklaring öfver de nomina propria deastrorum, idolorum, locorum, virorum, &c. eller afgudar och afgudinnor, forntidens märkelige personar, offer och offer-ställen, gamla sedvänjor, jätter, trol, skogs- sjö och bergs-rån m. m. Som förekomma i de äldre finska troll-runor, synnyt, sanat, sadut, arwotuxet &c. samt än brukas och nämnas i dagligt tal; til deras tjenst, som vela is grund förstå det finska språket, och hafva smak för finska historien och poëin, af gamla runor samlad och uttydd (Åbo: Frenckell, 1789), p. 88.
- ^ Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, ed. by Elias Lönnrot (Helsinki: Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1880), pp. 317-18 (no. 32b), http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48751; John Abercromby, The Pre- and Proto-historic Finns, Both Eastern and Western: With the Magic Songs of the West Finns, Grimm Library, 9-10, 2 vols (London: Nutt, 1898), pp. 351-52 vol. 1, vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 2.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Alaric Hall, 'On the Origins of Things: Finnic Syntyloitsut and Cultural Constructions of the Material World', in Pre-Print Papers of the 18th International Saga Conference: Sagas and the Circum-Baltic Arena, Helsinki and Tallinn, 7th-14th August 2022, ed. by Frog, Joonas Ahola, Jesse Barber and Karolina Kouvola (Helsinki: Folklore Studies, Department of Cultures, University of Helsinki, 2022), pp. 118-22.
- ^ Frans Aleksi Hästesko, Länsisuomalainen loitsurunous (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 1918).
- ^ Tuukka Karlsson, '"Come here, you are needed": Registers in Viena Karelian Communicative Incantations' (PhD thesis, Helsinki University, 2022).
- ^ Thomas A. Dubois, Finnish Folk Poetry and the ‘Kalevala’, New Perspectives in Folklore, 1/Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 1895 (New York: Garland, 1995), pp. 184-201.
- ^ SVRK online.