Chud

Chud or Chude (Old East Slavic: чудь, in Finnic languages: tshuudi, tšuudi, čuđit) is a term historically applied in the early Russian annals to several Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Estonia, Karelia and Northwestern Russia.

Perhaps the earliest written use of the term 'Chudes' to describe proto-Estonians was ca. 1100, by the monk Nestor, in the earliest Russian chronicles. According to Nestor, Yaroslav I the Wise invaded the country of the Chuds in 1030 and laid the foundations of Yuryev, (the historical Russian name of Tartu, Estonia). Then Chud was used to describe other Baltic Finns called volok which is thought to refer to the Karelians.

According to Old East Slavic chronicles the Chudes were one of the founders of the Rus' state.

The Northern Chudes were also a mythical people in folklore among Northern Russians and their neighbours. In Komi mythology, the Northern Chudes represent the mythic ancestors of the Komi people.

There are a number of hypotheses as to the origin of the term. Chude could be derived from the Slavic word tjudjo ('foreign' or 'strange') which in turn is derived from the Gothic word meaning 'folk' (compare Teutonic). Another hypothesis is that the term was derived from a transformation of the Finno-Ugric name for the wood grouse. Yet another hypothesis contends that it is derived from the Sami word tshudde or čuđđe, meaning an enemy or adversary (fin. vainolainen). This however would have required prominent

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