Old Novgorod dialect

[4] Other manuscripts have also shown distinct north Russian dialect forms, in addition to the birch bark letters.

[6] Furthermore, the letters provide unique evidence of the Slavic vernacular, as opposed to the Church Slavonic which dominated the written literature of the period.

The preserved notes display the original spelling of the time; unlike some texts, they were not copied, rewritten or edited by later scribes.

The first birch bark letter, called N1,[a] was found in the city of Novgorod on July 26, 1951, by Nina Fedorovna Akulova.

[9] Among the most notable letters found is N202 discovered in 1956, which was written by a young boy called Onfim who lived in Novgorod and is dated to the 13th century.

[15] The short birch-bark texts are written in a peculiar Slavic vernacular, reflecting living speech, and almost entirely free of the heavy Church Slavonic influence seen in the literary language of the period.

Zaliznyak differentiates the Old Novgorod features that were already known before the discovery of the birch bark letters and those that have been ascertained after their study during the last few decades such as the following: Features of the Old Novgorod dialect ascertained by the philological study in the last decades are: Often the orthography is domestic (as opposed to bookish), using ъ and о on the one hand and ь and е on the other synonymously (about 50% of birchbark manuscripts from the mid-12th to the late 14th century).

[27] Original text (with added word division): грамота ѡтъ жизномира къ микоуле коупилъ еси робоу плъскове а ныне мѧ въ томъ ѧла кънѧгыни а ныне сѧ дроужина по мѧ пороучила а ныне ка посъли къ томоу моужеви грамотоу е ли оу него роба а се ти хочоу коне коупивъ и кънѧжъ моужъ въсадивъ та на съводы а ты атче еси не възалъ коунъ техъ а не емли ничъто же оу него Transliteration: gramota otŭ žiznomira kŭ mikule kupilŭ esi robu plŭskove a nyne mę vŭ tomŭ ęla kŭnęgyni a nyne sę družina po mę poručila a nyne ka posŭli kŭ tomu muževi gramotu e li u nego roba a se ti xoču kone kupivŭ i kŭnęžŭ mužŭ vŭsadivŭ ta na sŭvody a ty atče esi ne vŭzalŭ kunŭ texŭ a ne emli ničŭto že u nego Translation (with added explanations not present in the original text in brackets): Letter from Zhiznomir to Mikula: You have bought a female slave in Pskov.

(Obviously she has recognized the slave as having been stolen from her, and Zhiznomir is somehow connected with the affair, maybe as Mikula's family member or business partner.)

[28] Original text (with added word division): поколоно ѿ гаврили ѿ посени ко зати моемоу ко горигори жи коумоу ко сестори моеи ко оулите чо би есте поихали во городо ко радости моеи а нашего солова не ѡставили да бого вамо радосте ми вашего солова вохи не ѡсотавимо Transliteration: pokolono ot gavrili ot poseni ko zati mojemu ko gorigori ži kumu ko sestori mojei ko ulite čo bi este poixali vo gorodo ko radosti mojei a našego solova ne ostavili da bogo vamo radoste mi vašego solova voxi ne osotavimo Translation: Greeting from Gavrila Posenya to my brother-in-law, godfather Grigory, and my sister Ulita.