In Veliky Novgorod, a group of researchers representing Moscow State University and the Novgorod State Museum-Reserve discovered two very interesting subjects to study. One of them was a mirror frame with preserved fragments of the reflective surface itself, and the second, which attracted even more attention, was a letter, one of the words on which was still unknown to researchers. Scientists suggest that it is a curse word.
According to the researchers, only one line is written on the birch bark and it reads "uov ortimie yo posca tri berekoveseke." The word "Berekoveseke" is one of the forms of the word "Bereskovets" - a measure of the weight of honey or grain, widely used in Ancient Russia, equal to 10 pounds. Experts cannot yet name the exact meaning of the phrase as a whole, but they are convinced that this is a record of quitrent or debt. However, first of all, in the discovered letter of the XIV century, scientists were interested in the word "posak", which researchers have never encountered until now. One of the researchers, academician Andrei Zaliznyak, put forward the assumption that it means "thief" or "swindler." According to the Novgorod State Museum-Reserve, a similar conclusion was made on the basis of the Pskov and Tver dialects.
Experts clarify that the birch bark letter containing the alleged ancient curse, table 1082 for the entire time of modern archaeological excavations in this city. The first such letter was reportedly discovered in 1951. By the way, another curious find of this kind was made in Novgorod a few months ago. Letter of the XIII century, which reads “From Gavrila to Kondrat. Come here”many jokingly called one of the oldest sms messages. At the same time, another piece of birch bark was discovered that reads "I am a puppy." Scientists do not know whether the birch bark was really worn on a rope by a puppy, or whether it was used in any game.
Dmitry Erusalimsky