Mari love poem

Love poem "la Glace" translated into mari, the Finnish-Volgaic Uralian language of the Mari Republic, spoken by 550,000 speakers. Tcheremisse is the other name of this language of High Volga which count 540,000 speakers.

The Mari language is part of the western branch of the Finno-Ugric languages and comprises three main dialects (plain, forest and mountain). If the dialects of plain and forest are quite close, that of the mountain is quite far away. Needless to say the contribution of the words of Russian origin linked to the Soviet period. It is in this period that two literary languages will appear: that of the plains and forest Mari, and that of the mountain Mari.

The Mari republics (Tcherepovets) of which it is official language is located to 600 km of Moscow in the east. Its capital is Ioshkarola. Although this republic is in their name, they are a minority in number, the Russians being the most numerous. The Mari also reside in other central areas of the Volga.

The word Tchérémisse that designates them appears in manuscripts dating from the tenth century, their other names are Mar (man), Mari, Marii.

The Mari as their language can be divided into three groups: those of the plain (Olyk-Mari), those of the forest (Kojla-Mari) and those of the mountain (Kouryk-mari).