Mokshas
The Mokshans (Moksha people) are Finno-Volgaic population of Middle Volga region speak Mokshan (Moksha) one of the Finno-Volgaic, branch of the Finno-Ugric language family.
Less than one second of Mokshans live in the autonomous republic of Mordovia, Russian Federation, in the basin of the Volga River. The rest are scattered over the Russian oblasts of Samara, Penza, Orenburg, as well as Tatarstan, Siberia, Far East, Armenia and USA.
The Qaratay Moksha ethnic group live in Kama Tamağı District of Tatarstan, and have shifted to speaking Tatar, albeit with a large proportion of old Mokshan vocabulary (substratum). The Qaratay call themselves Muksha.
Since 1950s the number of Mokshas in Mordovia, and their knowledge of their mother tongues has decreased.
List of notable Mokshans
- Puresh, XII c AD, Mokshan king
- Narchatka, Mokshan princess
- Mikhail Petrovich Devyatayev, WWII hero, escaped from Peenemunde prisoner of war camp by plane
- Nadezhda Kadysheva
- Zakhar Dorofeev, (1890-1952), Mokshan poet
List of Mokshan papers
- Moksha (literature, culture)
- Mokshen pravda (newspaper)
- Yakster Tyashtenya (for children)
External links
General
- Info-RM (In Moksha language)
Mordvin toponymy (in Mordovia and throughout the Middle Volga region):
- [1] Mokshan-English-Mokshan on-line dictionary