Chort

Caricature of Napoleon with a chort

Chort (Russian: Чёрт, Belarusian and Ukrainian: Чорт, Polish: Czort and Czart, Czech and Slovak: Čert) is considered to be a demon^[1] of total evil,^[2] with horns, hoofs, skinny tail, and a pig-face in Slavic mythology (demonology). He is the son of the Slavic god Chernobog and the goddess Mara.^[3] In Ukraine, he is also known as haspyda, didko, irod, and kutsyi. In folk Christianity, he is considered a minion, or a synonym, of Satan.

Compare to sayings (curses) "Tysiacha chertei"(Russian) - meaning thousands of demons, "Chort poberi"(Russian) - meaning as overtaken by the demon, the saying is often used as an acceptable version of cursing in the Eastern Europe, "Chort poputal"(Russian) - meaning mixed up by the demon, "K chertiam"(Russian) - meaning to hell, and many others.

In Turkic culture

In Turkic (usually neighboring Slavic) folklore its name is Chor (In Turkish and Azerbaijan languages: Çor). In Anatolia known as Chorabash. Chors are spiritual creatures mentioned in the pre-Islamic texts and oral tradition who inhabit an unseen world in dimensions beyond the visible universe of humans. Folk narratives mentions that the Chors are made of fire, but also physical in nature, being able to interact physically with people and objects and likewise be acted upon. Like human beings, the Chor can also be good (Ak-çor "White-Chor"), evil (Kara-çor "Black-Chor"), or neutrally benevolent and hence have freewill like humans and unlike angels. The exorcist are called Çoraman in Anatolia. There are two different kinds of Chura. The one (Bichura) that comes from the forest is married to the Orman iyesi. The other one (Archura) comes from the cellar and she is married to Ev iyesi.

Etymology

There are many theories regarding the origins of the Proto-Slavic word *čьrtъ. One is that it's a substantivized t-participle of *ker- (to cut, to chop), which could be derived from chorts imagined as being lame (having one leg shorter). The words like Ukrainian kutsiy and Czech kusý, also derived from *ker-, are one of chort's most common epithets.

See also

• Bies
• Krampus

References

1. Русские Народные Сказки»/Сост., вступ. ст. и прим. В. П. Аникина.-М.: Правда, 1985.- 576 с., ил.) (Russian)
2. Türk Mitolojisi Ansiklopedik Sözlük, Celal Beydili, Yurt Yayınevi (Pages - 143/144) (Turkish)
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=njDRfG6YVb8C&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=chort+demon&source=bl&ots=MkQsl0jj7Z&sig=o7lXLu0DynIgh5Rd_AJ-BpV6iTc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjso5vT3LPJAhWDrD4KHYr-B3U4ChDoAQgyMAc#v=onepage&q=chort%20demon&f=false

Bibliography

1. Афанасьев А. Н. «Поэтические воззрения славян на природу». — М.: 1865−1869. — Том 3, глава 22 (Russian)
2. ↑ М. Фасмер. Чёрт // Этимологический словарь русского языка / пер. и доп. О.Н. Трубачева, под ред. Б.А. Ларина. — 2-е. — М.: Прогресс, 1986 (Russian)

External links

• The name of the city Çorum (Çorum İlinin Adı) (Turkish)
• Çorum Adının Menşei (Turkish)