Zyrian, n. & adj.

zyrian
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zyrian_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1933; not fully revised

# Zyriannoun & adjective

## Earlier version

- Zyrian, n. and a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the word Zyrian mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word Zyrian. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the word Zyrian?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0038
1890 | 0.0042
1900 | 0.0056
1910 | 0.0057
1920 | 0.0066
1930 | 0.008
1940 | 0.0085
1950 | 0.0097
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.01
1980 | 0.01
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.01
2010 | 0.01

### How is the word Zyrian pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪrɪən/
ZIRR-ee-uhn

### Where does the word Zyrian come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the word Zyrian is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zyrian is from 1886, in Encyclopædia Britannica.

Zyrian is a borrowing from Russian.

Etymons: Russian Zȳryánin.

### Nearby entries

1. zymoscope, n. 1868–
2. zymosimeter, n. 1704–
3. zymosis, n. 1842–
4. zymotechnic, adj. 1896–
5. zymotechnical, adj. 1900–
6. zymotechnologist, n. 1896–
7. zymotechny, n. 1860–
8. zymotic, adj. & n. 1842–
9. zymotoxic, adj. 1902–
10. zymurgy, n. 1868–
11. Zyrian, n. & adj.1886–
12. zythum, n. 1608–
13. Zyzzyva, n. 1922–
14. 0800 number, n. 1988–
15. 0898 number, n. 1988–
16. 101, adj. 1929–
17. 1471, n. 1994–
18. 17-hydroxycorticosteroid, n. 1951–
19. 1984, n. 1951–
20. 1984-ish, adj. 1959–
21. 1992, n. 1988–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Russian.
Etymon: Russian Zȳryánin.
< Russian Zȳryánin: see ‑ian suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. noun
   1. 1886–
      A member of the Komi people of northern Russia. Also: the language of this people; = Komi n. 2.
      1. 1886

         > The Permians,..including..the Zyrians in Vologda, Archangel, Vyatka, and Perm.

         Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XXI. 79/2
      2. 1910

         > Syryenians (also Sirianian, Syrjenian, Zyrenian, Zirianian, Zyrian and Zirian).

         Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XXVI. 317/2
      3. 1926

         > The Syriän is spoken by a large population in the districts of Perm, Viatka, Archangel, and Vologda.

         Chambers's Encyclopedia vol. VIII. 101/1
      4. 1929

         > Zyrian is spoken by about 250,000 people.

         Encyclopædia Britannica vol. IX. 258/2
      5. 1932

         > Permian, with its two varieties Zyrian and Votyak.

         W. L. Graff, Language & Languages 405
      6. 1933

         > Four further branches of the Finno-Ugrian stock... Permian, consisting of Votyak and Zyrian.

         L. Bloomfield, Language 68
      7. 1942

         > Syryen (Komi).

         K. W. Deutsch in J. A. Fishman, Readings in Sociology of Language (1968) 600
      8. 1948

         > Other peoples..such as the Zyryans or Syryans (now called Komi).

         D. Diringer, Alphabet ii. viii. 482
      9. 1951

         > The Yuraks have loans from Zyryan (Komi), a Finnic language.

         W. K. Matthews, Languages of U.S.S.R. iii. 20
      10. 1955

          > The forms are: Norwegian Lappish miettâ..Syryane ma [etc.].

          Transactions of Philological Society 1954 99
      11. 1972

          > 7b is given by Hockett for ‘German,..French.., Zyryan’.

          Language vol. 48 848
      1. Sauromatian 1611–
         = Sarmatian, n.
      2. Sarmatian 1613–
         One of a nomadic people formerly inhabiting Sarmatia.
      3. Lamut 1764–
         A branch of the Tungus people living on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk.
      4. Siryenian 1878–
         = Zyrian, n.
      5. Zyrian 1886–
         A member of the Komi people of northern Russia. Also: the language of this people; = Komi, n. 2.
      6. Komi 1888–
         A member of a people inhabiting the Komi Republic, Russia, to the west of the Ural mountains. Cf. Zyrian, n.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. Permian 1798–
         The language of the Permians; = Permic, n. B.1.
      2. Zyrian 1886–
         A member of the Komi people of northern Russia. Also: the language of this people; = Komi, n. 2.
      3. Komi 1942–
         The language of the Komi. Also attributive.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
2. adjective
   1. 1951–
      Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
      1. 1951

         > Zyryan resistance to the Russians was less dogged and implacable than Ugrian.

         W. K. Matthews, Languages of U.S.S.R. iii. 25
      2. 1978

         > Zyrian folklore texts.

         K. Rédei (title)
      1. Zyrian 1951–
         Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. Permian 1735–
         Of, relating to, or designating the language of the Permians; = Permic, adj. A.1.
      2. Permic 1854–
         Designating a group of Finno-Ugric languages including Komi (Komi-Permyak and Komi-Zyrian) and Udmurt (Votyak), and spoken by certain peoples…
      3. Zyrian 1951–
         Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
      View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪrɪən/
ZIRR-ee-uhn

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also Syrian, Syryane, Syryen, (and esp.) Zyryan.

## Frequency

Zyrian typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

Zyrian is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of Zyrian, n. & adj., 1880–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1880 | 0.0038
1890 | 0.0042
1900 | 0.0056
1910 | 0.0057
1920 | 0.0066
1930 | 0.008
1940 | 0.0085
1950 | 0.0097
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.01
1980 | 0.01
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.01
2010 | 0.01

Zyrian, n. & adj. was first published in 1933; not fully revised.

Zyrian, n. & adj. was last modified in December 2024.