Rusinoshk went down in history

Researchers of Russia and Norway have collected evidence that there was a special language between the two countries. An international group of scientists prepared 8 books on relations between Russia and Norway since 1814 till 2014. Historians have devoted a separate work to this common language.

Head of the historical project «Asymmetric neighborhood: Russia and Norway 1814–2014 years» the Norwegian Jens Petter Nielsen introduces an example of a dialogue between the Russian and Norwegian in Rusinoshk:

Russian: Как стоит?

Norwegian: Пять вога мука пустова фиске.

Russian: Грот! Дорого. Кан принципал пустова?

Norwegian: Нет.

Russian: Куды рейса?

Norwegian: Не знаю.

Russian: Прощай!

“The Russian wants to buy fish from the Norwegian, and they agree on a price. They argue a little bit, because the Russian doesn’t want to pay the amount the Norwegian demands,” Jens Petter explains.

Fishermen found a common language in the process of active communication. Indeed, the Norwegian and Barents Seas, though separated by political boundaries, have always been shared waters for the fishermen — for fishing and active trade relations. According to the historians, a common language originated in the XVII century, near the Norwegian town of Vardø. Fishing vessels bounded in a tiny bay, and there were the first talks about the international marketing of the catch.

Rusinoshk was clear to almost every conqueror of the sea. The pronouns were taken mainly from English, verbs — from Norwegian, adjectives — from the Russian language. The Dutch ship jargon was also added to the mix of languages. "But more than half of words are still from the Norwegian dictionary," Jens Petter Nielsen said. In two centuries, the language spread throughout the northern shore, and by the beginning of the nineteenth it was spoken in Hammerfest and in the province of Tromsø. In the early twentieth century a young industrial town of Kirkenes also spoke Rusinoshk.

Russian participant of the project "Asymmetric neighborhood: Russia and Norway 1814–2014" Vladimir Karelin explains this social process: "People who were in contact with the Norwegians went to Finnmark, traded, fished together, sometimes even family arose; it was a well-known phenomenon. It is documented, and people who remember it are still alive."

Notes of travelers, journalists and writers formed the basis of a two-volume history book. The first book is already available to readers in Norwegian. The second will be released in spring 2015. But the Russian translation will be typed in two years.

Yevgeniya Volkova, «7x7»

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