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History.—The confluence of the Oka and the Volga, inhabited in the 10th century by Mordvinian tribes, began to be coveted by the Russians as soon as they had occupied the upper Volga, and as early as the 11th century they established a fort, Gorodets, 20 m. above the mouth of the Oka. In 1221, the people of Suzdal, under Yuri Vsevolodovich, prince of Vladimir, erected a fort on the hill now occupied by the Kremlin of Nizhniy. Until the beginning of the 14th century Nizhniy-Novgorod, which grew rapidly as the Russians colonized the banks of the Oka, remained subject to Suzdal; it enjoyed, however, almost complete independence, being ruled by its popular assembly. In the 14th century, until 1390, it elected its own princes. Ill-protected by its palisaded walls, it was plundered in 1377 and 1378 by the Tatars, supported by the Mordvinians. In 1390 Prince Vasili of Moscow, in alliance with Toktamish, khan of the Golden Horde of the Mongols, took Nizhniy and established his own governors there; in 1417 it was definitely annexed to Moscow, becoming a stronghold for the further advance of that principality towards the east. It was fortified in 1508–1511, and was able to repel the Tatars in 1513, 1520 and 1536. The second half of the 16th century was for the city a period of peaceful and rapid development. It became a depot for all merchandise brought from the south-east, and even English merchants established warehouses there. With the fall of Kazan, and the opening of free navigation on the Volga, it became the starting-place for the “caravan” of boats yearly sent to the lower Volga under the protection of a military force, whilst the thick forests of the neighbourhood favoured the development of shipbuilding. In 1606–1611 the trading classes of Nizhniy took an active part in the expeditions against the revolted serfs, and it was a Nizhniy dealer in cattle, Kozma. Minin Sukhorukov, who took the initiative in sending an army for the delivery of Moscow from the Poles in 1612. In 1667 the robber chieftain, Stenka Razin, made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the city. During the 17th century the country around Nizhniy became the seat of a vigorous religious agitation, and in its forests the Raskolniks established hundreds of their monasteries and communities, those of the Kerzhenets playing an important part in the history of Russian Nonconformity even to the present time.

Nizhniy-Novgorod had at one time two academies, Greek and Slav, and took some part in the literary movement of the end of the 18th century; its theatre also was of some importance in the history of the Russian stage.

 NOAH (, rest; Septuagint, New Testament, Philo, Josephus,  ,  ,  : Vulg. Noë). According to Gen. v.–x. the tenth patriarch in direct descent from Adam, counting Adam as the first; the son of Lamech; the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth; and the builder of the Ark, in which he and his family, &c. &c., were saved from a universal flood (see ). After the flood subsided God made a covenant with Noah permitting the use of animal food, on condition that the flesh is not eaten with the blood; and forbidding homicide (ix. 1-7, cf. i. 29 f., both P.). Noah was the first to cultivate the vine and to experience the consequences of over-indulgence in its products, an occasion which called forth the filial respect of two of his sons and the irreverence of the third. Through his sons he became the ancestor of the whole human race. The name is mentioned in the genealogy in 1 Chron. i. 4; the “waters of Noah” occur in Isaiah liv. 9; and Noah is mentioned with Daniel and Job as an ancient worthy in Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. The story is referred to in the New Testament in Matt. xxiv. 37 f.; Luke iii. 36, xvii. 26 f.; Heb. xi. 7; 1 Pet. iii. 20; 2 Pet. ii. 5.

The name Noah is explained in Gen. v. 29 as connected with the root nhm “comfort,” but this is etymologically impossible. As a Hebrew word it might connect with nûah, “rest”; and the Septuagint has, “he will give us rest,” instead of “he will comfort us”; and this is sometimes accepted as the original reading.

As the tenth patriarch Noah corresponds to the tenth prehistoric Babylonian king, Xisuthros in Berossus, Ut-napistim or Atrahasis in the cuneiform tablets, the hero of the Babylonian flood story.

Gen. ix. 20-27 is a distinct episode, and has no necessary connexion with the narrative of the Deluge. Probably, as Gunkel, Dillmann and others suggest, it came originally from a cycle of stories different from that which contained the account of the Flood. There are some apparent inconsistencies. Noah is called “the husbandman.” The proper rendering of verse 20 is “and Noah, the husbandman, was the first to plant a vineyard,” the E.V.: “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard,” is incorrect. It seems, therefore, that in the original context Noah had been described as “the husbandman,” a title in no way suggested by Gen. vi. 9–ix. 19. Moreover, even after making allowance for lack of experience as to the effect of the new product, drunkenness and exposure hardly tally with the statement that “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God,” vi. 9. This indeed comes from the late Priestly Code; but we are also told in the earlier story that “Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord,” vi. 8.

The name also occurs in the Bible (,  , Noa) for the daughter of Zelophehad, of the tribe of Manasseh. Zelophehad having only daughters, the case is made the occasion of laying down the law that where there are no sons daughters inherit, but must marry within their own tribe (Num. xxvi. 33, xxvii. 1, xxxvi. 11; Josh. xvii. 3, all Priestly Code).

 NOAILLES, the name of a great French family, derived from the castle of Noailles in the territory of Ayen, between Brive and Turenne in the Limousin, and claiming to date back to the 11th century. It did not obtain fame until the 16th century, when its head, de Noailles (1504–1562), became admiral of France, and was ambassador in England during three important years, 1553–1556, maintaining a gallant but unsuccessful rivalry with the Spanish ambassador, Simon Renard. (1554–1623), son of Antoine, was a commander in the religious wars, and was made comte d’Ayen by Henry IV. in 1593. (d. 1678), the grandson of the first count, played an important part in the Fronde and the early years of the reign of Louis XIV., became captain-general of the newly won province of Roussillon, and in 1663 was made duc d’Ayen, and peer of France. The sons of the first duke raised the family to its greatest fame. The eldest son, (1650–1708), was one of the chief generals