Sword Kladenets (also mech-kladenets; . ) is a magic sword in Russian fairy tales and byliny (Russian epic poetry), rendered as "sword of steel", "hidden sword", or "magic sword" in English translations. The "self-swinging sword" or mech-samosek (also mech-samosyok, . ) is also regarded as equivalent by certain commentators, though others consider them to be distinct. Etymology Max Vasmer's dictionary defines kladenets as a modifier designating 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 "[this] Russian epithet of this sword". Some sources point out that kladenets sword, 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 the kladenets weapon as "the hidden sword". Although Vernadsky fails to elaborate, an alternative etymology connects the term kladenets to klast’ () "to lay or put", and his interpretation lies in this camp. One rational explanation derives the word from uklad[ny] () "steel" and kladenets is defined as meaning "made of steel" in the Dictionary of the Russian Language published by the Russian Academy of Sciences (and later in the Dictionary of archaic and obsolete words, published by Nauka). Hence some sources render "sword of steel". Another explanation, credited to Alexander Veselovsky (1888), theorizes that kladenets may be a corrupted pronunciation of Kgl'arentsya or Kgl'adentsya ( or ), the sword of . The Russo-Ukrainian tale of Bova was adapted from the medieval Italian romance of Buovo d'Antona, in which the original sword name is or . 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 (skazka) concerning the bogatyr "Yeruslan Lazarevich", mech-kladenets is mentioned alongside the Fiery Shield and Flame Spear (; ). The sword is mentioned in passing in the tale Storm-Bogatyr, Ivan the Cow's Son (Afanasyev No. 136) but plays no significant role in the tale. Samosek While Vernadsky mentions "the self-swung sword" (mech-samosek) alongside mech-kladenets as commonplace elements in Russian folktales,