Ossetians

Ossetians
(ирæттæ)
Regions with significant populations
	Russia:; 515,000 [1]; Georgia (South Ossetia):; 70,000 (est)[2]; Rest of Georgia:; 38,028 (2002 census) Turkey:; 100,000 (est) [3];
Languages
	Ossetic
Religion
	Mostly Eastern Orthodox with a large minority professing Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
	Yaghnobi people, Pashtuns and other Iranian peoples along with the Jassic people of Hungary

The Ossetians (oss. - ирæттæ, irættæ) are an Iranian ethnic group from Ossetia, a region in the northern Caucasus Mountains in Europe. Ossetians populate North Ossetia-Alania in Russia, and South Ossetia in Georgia. They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language.

Etymology

The Russian geographic name "Ossetia" and the corresponding ethnic designation "Ossetians" comes from a Georgian root. The Russians originally called the Ossetians Jas, but in the late 14th century adopted the Georgian name of the Ossetians and their nation. In Georgian language, Alania and the Alans are known as "Oseti" and "Osebi" respectively. From the Russian language the names Ossetia and Ossetians came to other languages. The Ossetians themselves refer to their nation as irættæ.

History

The Ossetians descend from the Alans, a Sarmatian tribe. They became Christians during the early Middle Ages under Georgian and Byzantine influence. In the 8th century a consolidated Alan kingdom, referred to in sources of the period as Alania, emerged in the northern Caucasus Mountains, roughly in the location of modern Circassia and North Ossetia-Alania. At its height Alania was a regional power, with a strong military and vast wealth from the Silk Road. Forced out of their medieval homeland (south of the River Don in present-day Russia) during Mongol rule, they migrated towards and over the Caucasus mountains, where they formed three distinct territorial entities:

Digor in the west came under the influence of the neighboring Kabard people, who introduced Islam. Today the two main digor districts in North Osetia are Digora district or Digorskij rajon (main centre Digora) and Irafskij rajon or Iraf district (main centre Chikola). Digora district is christian whether some parts of Irafskij rajon are moslemic. The language spoken in digor part of North Osetia is digor, the most archaic form of osetian language.
Tualläg in the south, in the Georgian central region of Shida Kartli. In 1924 part became known as South Ossetia
Iron and Digor in the north became what is now North Ossetia/Alania, under Russian rule from 1767. Iron language is a younger version of osetian language. Is the literary and written language of Osetians.

The Ossetians of Georgia suffered under Soviet rule ^{[citation needed]} in the 20th century and in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in the early 1990s.

Language

The Ossetic language is divided into two main dialect groups, Kudarian (os. - Къудайраг) of South Ossetia; Ironian (os. - Ирон) and Digorian (os. - Дыгурон) of North Ossetia. There are also some other dialects, like Tualian, Alagirian, Ksanian, etc. Ironian dialect is the most widely spoken.

Ossetic is classified as Northeastern Iranian, the only other surviving member of the subgroup being Yaghnobi, spoken more than 2,000 km to the east in Tajikistan. Both are remnants of the Scytho-Sarmatian dialect group which was once spoken across Central Asia. It also should be noted that Ossetic has substantial genetic similarities with Pashto, another Eastern Iranian language.

Religion

Today the majority of Ossetians, from both North and South Ossetia, follow Eastern Orthodoxy. As the time went by, Digor in the west came under Kabard and Islamic influence. It was through the Kabardians (an East Circassian tribe) that Islam was introduced into the region in the 17th century. Today, a large minority profess Islam (mostly Sunni, but Sufi orders are widespread). Tuallag in the southernmost region became part of what is now Georgia, and Iron, the northernmost group, came under Russian rule after 1767, which strengthened Orthodox Christianity considerably. Most of the Ossetes today are Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Location

Most Ossetians today live along the central part of the Greater Caucasus Range in the two Ossetias, with a significant number living in central Georgia. A large Ossetian diaspora lives in Turkey, and Ossetians have also settled in Russia, France, Sweden, Syria, the USA, Canada and other countries all around the world.

Genetics

Nasidze et al. (2004) found that while North Ossetians (Digorians) share similarities in terms of mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal DNA, and the Ardonian subgroup of Digorian in particular are close to Iranians of Isfahan, South Ossetians (Ironians) are closer to Slavic populations in terms of mitochondrial DNA, and closer to Caucasian groups such as the Nakh in frequncy terms of Y-chromosomal DNA. In North Ossetians, Y-chromosomal DNA is dominated by G*, while South Ossetians have high frequencies of haplogroups F* and E*. Both groups have marginal R1a frequency in contrast with linguistic association Ossetians with Scythian ancenstry.

            E*   C*  K*    P1    P*   R1*   R1a1 F*    G*    J2*   I*
Groups   N  YAP      M9    M142  M45  M173  M17  M89   M201  M172  M170  HD

Digora   31 0    0   0     0     0.06 0     0    0.03  0.74  0.03  0.13  0.440 Nasidze et al., (2004)  
Ardon    28 0    0   0.07  0     0.04 0     0.04 0.04  0.21  0.29  0.32  0.788 Nasidze et al., (2004) 
Zil'ga   23 0    0   0.130 0     0    0     0    0.043 0.565 0.261 0     0.620 Nasidze et al., (2006)
Zamankul 23 0    0   0.217 0     0    0     0    0.087 0.609 0.087 0     0.590 Nasidze et al., (2006)
Alagir   24 0    0   0.083 0.083 0    0.042 0    0     0.750 0.042 0     0.440 Nasidze et al., (2006)

S. Os.   17 0.18 0   0     0     0    0.12  0.06 0.41  -?    0.24  0     0.772 Wells et al., (2001)
   N Σ  146

References

Nasidze et al., Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Variation in the Caucasus, Annals of Human Genetics, Volume 68 Page 205 - May 2004
Nasidze et al., Genetic Evidence Concerning the Origins of South and North Ossetians (2004) [4]

External links