Mech-kladenets is a fabulous magic sword in Russian fairy tales and byliny, rendered "sword of steel", "hidden sword", or "magic sword" in English translations. The "self-swinging sword" or mech-samosek is also regarded as equivalent by certain commentators, though others consider them to be distinct.
Etymology
's dictionary defines kladenets as a "magic sword in Russian tales", and the sword kladenets has been translated "magic sword" in texts. The word "kladenets" can putatively be linked to the Slavic word klad "treasure, hoard," although "a number of philologists doubt" that this word-stem figures in the derivation of " Russian epithet of this sword." Some sources point out that kladenets, being a treasure, is frequently connected with the motif of being hidden inside a wall, under a rock, or under a sacred tree, waiting to be discovered by the bogatyr hero, and George Vernadsky goes as far as to translate kladenets as "the hidden sword". Although Vernadsky fails to elaborate, an alternative etymology connects the term kladenets to klast’ "to lay or put", and his rendering lies in this camp. One rational explanation derives the word from uklad "steel", hence kladenets is defined as meaning "made of steel" in the Dictionary of the Russian Language published by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Hence some sources render "sword of steel". Another explanation, credited to Alexander Veselovsky, theorizes that kladenets may be a corrupted pronunciation of Kgl'arentsya or Kgl'adentsya, the sword of. The Russian tale of Bova was adapted from the medieval Italian romance of Buovo d'Antona, in which the original sword name is Clarença or Chiarenza. This etymology has been endorsed by Max Vasmer's dictionary, under the entry that defines kladenets as a "magic sword in Russian tales", or "magic sword". The corrupted form mech-kolunets is also attested.
Attestations
In some versions of the wonder-tale on the bogatyr "Yeruslan Lazarevich", mech-kladenets is mentioned alongside the Firey Shield and Flame Spear. The sword is mentioned in passing in the tale Storm-Bogatyr, Ivan the Cow's Son but plays no significant role in the tale.
Samosek
While Vernadsky mentions "the self-swung sword" alongside mech-kladenets as commonplace elements in Russian folktales, he presents the swords as distinct from one another, since the kladenets sword needs to be wielded by a bogatyr. Other sources however, present these two swords as equivalent, for example, a mythology dictionary with Yeleazar M. Meletinsky as supervising editor. The reasoning is not well-clarified, but this dictionary explains its view that kladenets is often connected with the motif of being hidden inside a wall, and in the tale example it gives, the "Tale of the City of Babylon", the samosek-sword is also called "Asp The Serpent", and it was ordered hidden inside the wall by the sword's owner, Nebuchadnezzar. Elsewhere, the self-swinging sword under command of St. George beheads a Tatar tsar.
