The meaning of the concepts “Voguls” and “Ostyaks” in documents of the 16–17 centuries

There is a strong tradition of interpreting the concepts of “Voguls” and “Ostyaks” as ethnonyms strictly tied to the Ugric population. The conducted study on the use of these concepts in documents of the 16–17 centuries AD shows that this version is erroneous. The concepts of “Voguls” and “Ostyaks” initially were the situational designations, not tied to linguistic or “ethnic” groups. The reason for the emergence of a rigid semantic link between these concepts and the Ugrians was their long-term use to designate population groups which later formed the Mansi and Khanty peoples. At the same time, the fact that these same concepts were used to designate a population that had no relation to the Ugrians is omitted as insignificant. Moreover, some population groups of the 16–17 centuries are interpreted as “Turkic-speaking Ugrians”, based on their designation in documents as “Ostyaks”.