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or granite. The małe figures usually wear caps or helmets, sometimes cuir-asses, and aimost always weapons: a sabre, a bow and a quiver. That type of effigies occurs throughout the territories stretching between the Chinese Great Wall and the basin of the Dnestr. According to J.P. Daszkiewicz and E. Tryjarski (1982), they were sculptured in far Asia sińce the 6th to the 9th c. AD, while in central Asia and Europę even until the 13th-14thc. In Russia and the Ukrainę that type of figures is referred to by the word baba (= old woman, crone), which seems to be of ciearly Slavonic provenance, but it may have been a secondary folk etymology. The statues of old Turks were accompanied by schematically carved Stones, called balbal, representing the enemies whom they had kiłied. The name is derived from the Persian word phalavan (= hero, warrior, his statuę but also - log and fool). The all-Slavonic word bałwan, attested in Igot Tale as a term for “statuę,” may also mean a pagan idol, a log, a fool and a snowman. It is generally believed to have come from the East and grouped with the Persian phałavan, Kirghizian palwan and Turkish balbal. Also baba may be derived from the same root (Daszkiewicz, Tryjarski, 1982, p. 12, 25-26; Sławski, vol. 1, 1952-1956, p. 26; Machek, 1968, p. 44; Gieysztor, 1982, p. 186). The Turkish influence, probably mediated by the Avars, does not equal sheer imitation. The Slavonic sculptures ciearly differ from the Turkish ones, the former are often multi-headed, which is never the case with the latter.

There were many words for “statuę” in Slavonic languages. The word bałwan has already been mentioned. As far as Eastem Slavs are concemed, we should pay attention to the word kumir. Primary Russian Chronicie uses it when referring to the statuę of Perun in Kiev (year 980, 983, 988; cf. Sreznevsky, vol. 1, 1955, p. 1362-1363). No elear etymology of the word has been established (Vasmer, 1953-1958, vol. 1, p. 692). It might have been known also in Poland, as the name of the village Komierowo near Bydgoszcz indicates {Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego, vol. 4, 1883, p. 309). The word that meant both “prayer” and the image of a deity to which prayer was addressed was modła, the equivalent of “statuę” in Old Polish (Witkowski, 1970, p. 379-380; Gieysztor, 1982, p. 160; A. Bruckner, 1985a, p. 343; Jakobson, 1985, p, 4-5). Finally, effigies of gods could be designated as posąg (= statuę, etymologically - a wooden log) and słup (= pole). Similar words of identical meaning appear in Germanie and Baltic languages (A. Bruckner, 1985a, p. 483, 502; Gieysztor, 1982, p. 187; de Vries, 1956-1957, vol. 1, p. 375). At least bałwan, modła and słup may have been pan-Slavonic terms for idols. The thesis that the Slavs had no common name for “statuę” (Gąssowski, 1971, p. 565; Urbańczyk, 1962, p. 151-152) is based on false assumptions (like the analogicał view concem-ing the word for “tempie”).

Statues have not been discussed in the previous chapters, as a mention about an image of a deity or a fact of discovering a sculpture do not settle

Fig. 78. The baba-stones of Turkish peoples. After Rosen-Przeworska,

1964, p. 222.

the ąuestion of the type of shrine in which it was worshiped. A mention about an idol may point to the existence of a sanctuary, but it is not always a reliable proof. In Latin texts mentions conceming the worship of statues appear as synonyms of idoiatry in generał and then they are merely formulaic expressions (Wienecke, 1940, p. 190-192, 241-256; Łow-miański, 1979, p. 158-159, 192-214). Despite that, some fragments con-cerning idols in generał, coming from the time close to the moment of Christianization, are worth attention (Kosmas, I, 4; III, 1; Helmold, I, 84; Homiłiarium de Opatowiz, 138b; Primary Chronicie, year 986; FHRS, 1931, p. 7, 12-13, 58; cf. Łowmiański, 1979, p. 205-206). The formulas, although schematic and subject to the vision of paganism presented by the Church, were nevertheless used to describe reality, an element of which were statues. Their occurrence in Slavonic territories was attested not only by Latin, but also Scandinavian, Ruthenian and Arabie sources, as well as by ar-chaeological finds (Słupecki, 1993).

Most of the available data concems the statues of the Polabian Slavs. Some of them have been mentioned in connection with the survey of the

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