{{Short description|Russian historical term}} {{redirect|Pogosta|the disease|Pogosta disease}} [[Image:1909_Церковь_Спасителя_и_Покрова_Пресвятой_Богородицы._Вытегорский_Погост.jpg|thumb|275px|Vytegra Pogost, as photographed by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, {{circa|1912}}]]
A '''''pogost''''' ({{langx|ru|погост}}, {{plural form|{{lang|ru|погосты}}, ''pogosty''}}) is a historical Russian term for an administrative-territorial unit.{{sfn|Kaiser|2014|p=182}}{{sfn|Bogatova|1989|pp=196–197}}{{sfn|Prokhorov|1974|p=261}} In modern Russian, it typically refers to a rural church and graveyard.{{sfn|Kaiser|2014|p=183}}{{sfn|Bogatova|1989|p=197}}{{sfn|Prokhorov|1974|p=261}} It has also been borrowed into Latgalian (''pogosts''), Finnish (''pogosta'') and Latvian (''pagasts''), with specific meanings.
== History == The word ''pogost'' is similar to modern Russian ''gost''{{'}} ({{lang|ru|гость}}, 'guest'). It is derived from the Old Russian word ''pogostiti'' (погостити), meaning 'to be a guest', and was initially used to refer to a temporary lodging where clergy, princes and merchants could stay.{{sfn|Prokhorov|1975|p=89}}{{sfn|Prokhorov|1974|p=261}} It denoted a trading center where "guests" (merchants) made their stop and could conduct trade (Old Russian: гостьба, ''gostba'').{{sfn|Pankov|1898|p=1}} The ''pogost'' is first mentioned in the mid-10th century, when Princess Olga established pogosts and tribute points along the Msta River in northern Russia; later sources confirm that the ''pogost'' served as a tax collection center.{{sfn|Kaiser|2014|pp=181–182|loc="Evidently it was known primarily in the northern Russian territories, since the ''pogost'' is first recalled in the Primary Chronicle's account of the conquest and administration of the Novgorod land in the middle of the tenth century"}}
The term ''pogost'' came to refer to territorial centers, typically surrounded by numerous hamlets, that were used to receive dignitaries or guests, particularly in regions controlled by Novgorod.{{sfn|Brumfield|2025}} These sometimes had paired churches.{{sfn|Brumfield|2025}}
The modern Russian term for a hamlet, ''derevnya'', appears in historical sources from the 14th century.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}} In the territories of Smolensk and Novgorod, the term ''pogost'' was used to refer to a hamlet.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}} This could mean a hamlet, distinguished in modern Russian as ''pogost-mesto'' (погост – место), and a village center of a small area, known as ''pogost-tsentr''.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}} The term could also be used to denote the surrounding area, known as ''pogost-okrug''.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}}
From the 10th century, the term ''selo'' was used to refer to a village on the estate of a landowner.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}} By the 14th century, the terms ''selo'' and ''derevnya'' became interchangeable in the Russian North.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}} As Christianity continued to spread in Russia after its formal introduction in the late 10th century, the term ''selo'' came to refer to a village with a church, starting from the 16th century.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}}
In the Russian North, the ''pogost'' retained its status until 1775.{{sfn|Brumfield|2025}} The term ''pogost'' came to be understood as a rural church and graveyard.{{sfn|Postan|1966|p=513}} A ''pogost'' could have a freestanding bell tower positioned between and in front of two churches.{{sfn|Brumfield|2025}} It could also be enclosed by a low wall constructed from horizontal logs resting on a fieldstone base, with square towers at the corners.{{sfn|Brumfield|2025}} The most widely known example of the ''pogost'', and Russian wooden architecture in general, is Kizhi Pogost on Kizhi Island in Lake Onega.{{sfn|Brumfield|2025}}
==Usage in Finland and Latvia== The central village of the Finnish ''kunta'' ('municipality') of Ilomantsi is usually called the ''pogosta'' of Ilomantsi (''Ilomantsin pogosta''), the word being obviously a borrowing from Russian. The local dialect of Finnish shows strong Russian influence, and there is a strong presence of Orthodox Christians in the municipality. Even the name of the local newspaper is ''Pogostan Sanomat'' ("The Pogosta News"), and a certain viral disease is locally called the Pogosta disease.
In the modern Finnish language, ''pogosta'' is also used in references to historical places, as a historical synonym for "parish" or "municipality" in Karelian, Ingrian and Russian contexts.
''Pagasts'' is the name for a basic unit of local self-government in the Republic of Latvia. The word ''pagasts'' is a commonly used Latvian word equivalent to civil parish, rural municipality or small rural district, originating from Russian ''pogost''. There are 432 rural municipalities or ''pagasti'' in Latvia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lps.lv/jaunumi.php?lang=en |title=Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments |access-date=2007-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609211135/http://www.lps.lv/jaunumi.php?lang=en |archive-date=2007-06-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |editor1-last=Bogatova |editor1-first=G. A. |title=Словарь русского языка. XI – XVII вв. Выпуск 15. Перстъ – Подмышка |date=1989 |publisher=Наука |isbn=5-02-010921-5 |pages=196–197 |url=https://archive.org/details/XIXVII.15XVII./page/n195/mode/2up}} * {{cite book |last1=Brumfield |first1=William Craft |title=From Forest to Steppe: The Russian Art of Building in Wood |date=2025 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-1-4780-2824-6 |pages=117–239 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.28697871 |chapter=The Russian North: Toward the White Sea}} * {{cite book |last1=Kaiser |first1=Daniel H. |title=The Growth of the Law in Medieval Russia |date=14 July 2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-5559-9 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Growth_of_the_Law_in_Medieval_Russia/YMr_AwAAQBAJ |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Pankov |first1=Aleksandr A. |title=Погосты в значении правительственных округов и сельских приходов в Северной России |date=1898 |publisher=Товарищество типо-литографии Владимир Чичерин |location=Moscow |url=https://www.prlib.ru/item/437712 |language=ru}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Prokhorov |editor1-first=A. M. |title=Большая советская энциклопедия. Т. 20: Плата - Проб |date=1975 |publisher=Советская энциклопедия |page=89 |edition=3rd |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-032-569-ALL/page/88/mode/2up |chapter=Погост}} ** {{cite book |editor1-last=Prokhorov |editor1-first=A. M. |title=Great Soviet Encyclopedia |date=1974 |publisher=Macmillan |edition=3rd |url=https://archive.org/details/greatsovietencyc0020unse/page/260/mode/2up |language=en |chapter=Pogost}} * {{cite book |last1=Postan |first1=M. M. |title=The Cambridge Economic History of Europe from the Decline of the Roman Empire: Volume 1, Agrarian Life of the Middle Ages |date=2 January 1966 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-04505-6 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Cambridge_Economic_History_of_Europe/lYzwE_rAVY8C |language=en}}
{{Slavic terms for country subdivisions}}
Category:History of the administrative divisions of Russia Category:Rural geography Category:Russian-language designations of territorial entities