Ossetic language
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The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map |
Ossetic or
Ossetian (in Ossetic: or ) is a
language spoken in
Ossetia, a region on the slopes of the
Caucasus mountains on the borders of
Russia and
Georgia.
The area in Russia is known as
North Ossetia-Alania, while the area in Georgia is called
South Ossetia. Ossetian speakers number about 500,000, 60 percent of whom live in Alania, and 15 percent in South Ossetia.
Ossetic is the spoken and literary language of the Ossetes, a people living in the central part of the Caucasus and constituting the basic population of the North-Ossetic ASSR, which belongs to the Russian Federation, and of the South-Ossetic Autonomous Oblast [Region] which belongs to the Georgian Republic.Ossetic is genetically related to the Iranian group of the Indo-European family of languages. From deep antiquity (since the 7th-8th centuries B. C), the languages of the Iranian group were distributed in a vast territory including present-day Iran (Persia), Central Asia, and Southern Russia. Ossetic is the sole survivor of the northeastern branch of Iranian languages known as Scythian. The Scythian group included numerous tribes in Central Asia and Southern Russia, known in ancient sources as Scythians, Massageti, Sakas, Sarmatians, Alans, Roksolans, etc. In close relationship with these tribes were the Khorezmians and the Sogdians. At the beginning of our era, one of the Scytho-Sarmatian tribes, the Alans, advanced to the Northern Caucasian Mountains and mixed with the local Caucasian elements, thus giving rise to the Ossetic nationality. Ossetian, together with
Tati and
Talyshi, is one of the main
Iranian languages with a sizeable community of speakers in the Caucasus. It is descended from
Alanic, the language of the
Alans, medieval tribes emerging from the earlier
Sarmatians. It is believed to be the only surviving descendant of a
Sarmatian language. The closest genetically related language is the
Yaghnobi language of
Tajikistan, the only other living member of the
Northeastern Iranian branch.
[Abaev, V. I. A Grammatical Sketch of Ossetic translated by Stephen P. Hill and edited by Herbert H. Paper, 1964 [1]]There are two important dialects:
Iron and
Digor"the former being the more widely spoken. Written Ossetian may be immediately recognized by its use of the
æ, a letter to be found in no other language using the
Cyrillic alphabet. A third dialect of Ossetic,
Jassic, was formerly spoken in
Hungary. The overwhelming majority of Ossetes speak the Iron dialect, and the literary language is based on it. The creator of the Ossetic literary language is the national poet Kosta Xetagurov (1859-1906).
Ossetians are a unique group in the Caucasus, in that they are the only ethnic group found on both the north and southslopes of the Caucasus, and moreover they speak an Indo-European language in contrast to their Caucasian-speakingneighbours. Analyzed mtDNA HV1 sequences, Y chromosome binary genetic markers, and Y chromosomeshort tandem repeat (Y-STR) variability in three North Ossetian groups and compared these data to published datafor two additional North Ossetian groups and for South Ossetians. The mtDNA data suggest a common origin forNorth and South Ossetians, whereas the Y-haplogroup data indicate that North Ossetians are more similar to otherNorth Caucasian groups, and South Ossetians are more similar to other South Caucasian groups, than to each other.Also, with respect to mtDNA, Ossetians are significantly more similar to Iranian groups than to Caucasian groups.This suggests that a common origin of Ossetians from Iran, followed by subsequent male-mediated migrations fromtheir Caucasian neighbours, is the most likely explanation for these results. Thus, genetic studies of such complexand multiple migrations as the Ossetians can provide additional insights into the circumstances surrounding suchmigrations. [
2]
In the course of centuries-long propinquity to and intercourse with Caucasian languages, Ossetic became similar to them in some features, particularly in phonetics and lexicon. However, it retained its grammatical structure and basic lexical stock; its relationship with the Iranian family, despite considerable individual traits, does not arouse any doubt.
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The first page of the first issue of the Ossetic newspaper "Rastdzinad". Sjögren's Cyrillic alphabet. 1923 |
Prior to the Russian conquest, Ossetic was reportedly an unwritten language. After the Russian conquest Ossetians used Cyrillic script: the first Ossetic book being published in Cyrillic letters in 1798. At the same time
Georgian script was used in some regions to the south of Caucasian mountains: in 1820 I.Yalguzidze published an ABC primer, modifying Georgian alphabet with 3 special characters. That Georgian-based script has been in use in the territory of
South Ossetia (Georgian autonomy) in 1937-1954.
The modern Cyrillic alphabet has been created by a Russian scientist of Finnish origin
Andreas Sjögren in
1844: there were separate letters for each sound in that alphabet (much like in the modern
Abkhaz alphabet). After a short use of Latin script (1923-1938) the Cyrillic alphabet (with digraphs introduced instead of most special symbols to facilitate printing) is in use till nowadays.
The modern
Cyrillic alphabet (used since 1937):
| А | | Б | ' | " | "ъ | " | "ж | "з | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Къ | Л | М | Н | О | П | Пъ | Р | С | Т | Тъ | У | Ф | Х | Хъ | Ц | Цъ | Ч | Чъ | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | | a | | б | в | г | гъ | д | дж | дз | е | ё | ж | з | и | й | к | къ | л | м | н | о | п | пъ | р | с | т | тъ | у | ф | х | хъ | ц | цъ | ч | чъ | ш | щ | ъ | ы | ь | э | ю | я |
The Latin alphabet (used 1923-1937):
| A | Æ | B | C | Č | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | Š | T | U | V | X | Y | Z | Ž | | a | æ | b | c | č | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | š | t | u | v | x | y | z | ž |
Digraphs for representing one sound were used in the Roman alphabet too (ch, čh, th, dž and some others). The æ sound () is extremely common in the language, a feature it shares with
Persian. As such, it might also be transscribed in some texts as ă, like in
Romanian.
The first printed book in Ossetic appeared in 1798. The first newspaper "
Iron Gazet " appeared on the
23 of July 1906 in
Vladikavkaz.
While Ossetic is the official language in both South and North Ossetia (along with the Russian), its official use is limited to publishing new laws in Ossetic newspapers.
There are two daily newspapers in Ossetic: "
Rastdzinad" (
Рæстдзинад, "Truth") in the North and "
Xurzarin" (
Хурзæрин, "The Sun") in the South. Some smaller newspapers"such as district newspapers"use Ossetic for part of articles. There is a monthly magazine "Max dug" (
Мах дуг, "Our era"), mostly devoted to contemporary Ossetic fiction and poetry.
Ossetic is taught in secondary schools for all pupils. Native Ossetic speakers also take courses in
Ossetic literature.
*
Ossetia*
Alans*
North Ossetia-Alania* Abaev, V.I.
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/ossetian/ossetian.htm A grammatical sketch of Ossetic Russian version)
* Abaev, V.I. Ossetian Language and Folklore, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow-Leningrad, 1949
* Nasidze et al., Genetic Evidence Concerning the Origins of South and North Ossetians. Annals of Human Genetics 68 (6), 588-599(2004) [
3].
*
Ossetic language page (in Russian) at the
Minority languages of Russia on the Net project
*
History of the Ossetian writing system (in Russian) and a comprehensive table of characters*
Some materials in English and partly French*
Ossetic section of the Rosetta Project*
Omniglot - Ossetian (Ирон æвзаг / "игорон æвзаг)*Lora Arys-Djanaieva.
Parlons Ossète. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004, ISBN 2-7475-6235-2.
