There has never been a more closed and more mysterious community in Russian history than ofeni. Much more is known even about the Masons, who in all ages have shrouded themselves in an aura of secrecy.
Where did they come from?
On this score, there are several versions, one more beautiful than the other.
Version one: ofeni - Greeks
The most common version, the most official one. Its supporters believe that the word "ofeni" comes from "Athena". This version has a historical basis: in the 15th century, the mass migration of Greeks to Russia began. They were mainly engaged in trade, and in a peculiar way. We specialized in the sale of haberdashery, small goods, books, icons.
Version two: ofheni Jews
The version is more conspiracy, but still has its supporters. Moreover, it does not deny the first version, but in some respects simply supplements it. The Jews could come to Russia both from the territory of Greece, from the north of the Balkan Peninsula, and from the territory of the Khazar Khaganate, which was defeated as a state, but its inhabitants could not disappear without a trace.
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Version three: ofeni-Russian
Versions of the "overseas" origin of the oenes have their drawbacks. First, what was the likelihood that the people who came to Russia managed in a short period (century and a half) to become such a numerous and organized structure, which ofeni represented for several centuries? The likelihood is obviously low. No matter how crowded the resettlement of Greeks or Jews was, it could not form a whole "caste", with its own language and established guild traditions. It makes sense to dwell on the version of the internal origin of the officers.
Ofeni and buffoons
The modern idea of buffoons is rather vulgar. The buffoons appear to be some kind of laughing clowns who move on stilts, play the tune and gather crowds of cheerful people around them. Such a vision, equating buffoons with folk entertainers, is superficial. Yes, buffoons were wandering actors, and the most common genre of their performances was comedy. Spawned by the pre-Christian laughter culture, buffoons were oppressed by both the state and the church.
The repertoire of buffoons included epics, legends and folk dramas, which expressed people's dissatisfaction with the existing order. Even in dramas, the plot of which was biblical legends, for example, about King Herod, opposition moods of the people were reflected, and in the satirical drama buffoons in the most unattractive form portrayed boyars and clergy.
In the XVI-XVII centuries, buffoons began to unite in mobs of 60-100 people. It is clear that such "collectives" walking through the villages and villages could not but arouse suspicion. In addition, the buffoons were accused of robbery (which was most likely justified). In 1648 and 1657, Archbishop Nikon obtained decrees prohibiting buffoons.
Ban-ban, but buffoons did not disappear completely. It became dangerous to wander around Russia under the guise of buffoons, the former buffoons began to en masse to move into the ranks of peddlers. Since 1700, the first historical mentions of walkers and their artificial language begin to be met.
One of the nicknames of the ofeni, mazyki, unequivocally indicates that the ofeni were involved in musical culture, were a kind of wandering musicians, Russian troubadours. There is a commonality with the buffoons who accompanied their performances with musical accompaniment.
Cult of Trojan
There is a theory according to which both ofeni and buffoons were originally priests of the pagan god Troyan. The cult of Troyan existed in Russia in the pre-Christian and even in the pre-Perun era. Trojan was a triune deity, a combination of masculine, feminine and common principles. In Christian culture, the triad is transformed into the veneration of the Trinity.
The version with reverence for the pagan cult also explains the sacredness of the guild language of buffoons and ofeni. Perhaps the street theater and the performances of buffoons were only a cover for unhindered adherence to the cult of Troyan, the Orthodox Church knew this side of the life of the buffoons - hence the persecution. As part of the troupe, buffoons often had a scientist bear. The bear, the sacred animal of the ancient Slavs, was needed, among other things, when performing certain rituals.
Secret language
The interest in the women arose largely due to their secret language. If there were no language, there would be no mystery, but there would be no mystery, there would be no interest. Ofen language arose from the fusion of borrowings from different languages and as a result of artificial word formation. In terms of frequency, most of all borrowings are from Greek. A noticeable number of Greek loanwords in the language of Russian Ofeni led to the fact that in the 19th century the famous Russian linguist I. I. Sreznevsky, who also studied Ofen, directly calls it Athenian. But they themselves have never traded in Greece. Only the very first Mazyks may have established trade contacts with Greek immigrant traders.
Isaac Maass, a Dutchman who served in Russia in 1601-1630, wrote about the existence of this secret language in his notes. Apart from the name, we know nothing about this language. The Englishman Richard James, who served at the Russian court, also mentioned him, but he did not collect detailed information about this language. We can only assume that by the time the Ofeni settled in the Vladimir province, their language had existed and developed for about a hundred years.
In the Ofen language there were also Turkic borrowings, and Polish, and Mari. Very often, ofeni added understandable Russian prefixes and suffixes to the borrowed word, and it received a new and at the same time familiar meaning, and at the same time was incomprehensible to the uninitiated. For example, donguzyat is pork. "Dungyz" in Tatar means "pig", and the suffix -yatina, in Russian, means animal meat. "Tugur" in Mari means "shirt". Adding the necessary prefix and suffix to it, ofeni easily got the understandable, but strange by ear "bezugurny", that is, naked.
Still, most of the words in the Oheni language cannot be reduced to foreign etymologies. Some researchers believe that these words were invented by the women themselves. It seems more plausible that dialectisms from different regions of Russia were intertwined in the Ofen phene, and the etymology of these words was later lost due to their small distribution.
It is especially interesting to follow the fate of the word, the etymology of which can be established. So the word "goof" came from the language of the Russian Pomors. In the Arkhangelsk region, this was the name for a clumsy stupid fish, as a rule, salmon. It was in this original meaning that the poet Fyodor Glinka used the word "goof". In the poem "The Virgin of the Karelian Forests" he described a young Karelian fisherman, who "disturbed the careless suckers with a drowsy swarm with a spearhead." Ofeni began to use this word in the sense of "man". And at first this word meant on the hairdryer a neutral "any stranger man, not-fucking." Although even then it had a dismissive connotation: after all, ofeni obviously considered themselves better educated, more literate and more agile than ordinary villagers-suckers. And only at the end of the 19th century, when professional criminals borrowed this word from the Ofen feni, it acquired the familiar meaning:"Stupid person, victim of a crime."
Also, from the Russian dialect vocabulary, the words busat (later plump) - drink, cool - good, successful, psalg fish, pokhanya - the owner, sovasyukha - a mouse, mow (later kotsat) - beat or cut, dermoha - fight, rattle, kloga - braga, zdyum - two, solokha - baba, lash (or heal) - flow, go, tinker - do, build, design. Some of them, three hundred years later, in a modified or unchanged form, we still use in colloquial speech.
The secret language of the people could not but worry the state. The officers had a well-established trading network, which was practically not controlled in any way. Vladimir Dal was supposed to learn the language of the Oeni. In 1853 Count L. A. Perovsky, head of the Special Secret Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, with a request to compile a "dictionary of the secret language of schismatics."
By the end of 1854, the Ofen / l / sko-Russian dictionary was ready, and at the beginning of 1855, the opposite was completed, - the Russian-ofen / l / sk dictionary. The total number of Offen words is just over 5 thousand. Despite all expectations, the officials did not find any "dangerous" words in the dictionary. Moreover, Dahl pointed out that the word "ofeni" was derived from the word "ofest", that is, a cross, and that ofeni (according to Dahl) were Christians.
Where did you live?
The area of residence and plying was very wide. The main centers are considered to be Suzdal and the Vladimir region. In the north, they reached Arkhangelsk and the White Sea. In the east, they traded up to the Urals. In the south, they descended down the Volga to Astrakhan. In the west they reached eastern Poland.
Inhabitants of other regions often called the Oheni the word suzdala, which meant "Suzdal". This collective word was originally feminine and singular with an emphasis on the last syllable (just like, for example, gentlemen and foreman), along with the word ofenya, began to denote tireless booksellers for all other Russian people.
There was no community more closed than ofeni, but at the same time more open in its desire to develop the literacy of the people, to show the other side of everyday reality. Their influence is enormous and is still not fully understood. Ofeni were the most active segment of the population. In order to live, they had to literally "spin". So they were spinning, confusing traces, gibbering on a hairdryer, incomprehensible cherished conspiracies, taking communion with onions, changing their guises, leaving the tutelage of the state. They say they are among us today. We are just lazy and incurious to notice them.
Translation of Russian proverbs into Ofen language (translation by A. V. Kolotov)
Live and learn - you'll die a fool. - Pehal of the Kindrik pokhal, pokhal of the Kindrik poke your teeth - you will darken with a smudge.
Who does not work shall not eat. - Kchon doesn't shave, he doesn't shave.
You can't easily catch a fish from a pond. - Without the master, you can't smell a psalug made of dryaban.
Fire, water and copper pipes went through. - Loose flabbiness, dulik and filial foshnitsy.
No stake, no yard. - No brutus, no eye.
Husband and wife, one of Satan. - Muslen and Elton - ionic kulmas.