Caucasian Albanians

Arranis, Arranians, or Albanians, were a Caucasian people and inhabitants Arran. Its inhabitants spoke Arranian, as well as Arabic and Persian language. Due to the Turkification of the South Caucasus starting from the 11th century, the Arranis had become Turkic speaking and were referred to as Tartars by the Russians. To distinguish Turkic speakers of Iranian descent from other Turkic peoples, the Russians introduced the term Azerbaijani in the later half the 19th century. Russian Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, published in 1890, states:

some scholars (Yadrintsev, Kharuzin, Chantre) suggested to change the terminology of some Turko-Tatar people, who somatically don’t have much in common with Turks, for instance, to call Aderbaijani Tatars (Iranians by race) Aderbaijans.

The term Azerbaijani has supplanted Arrani in modern usage and Arranis are now referred to as Azerbaijanis. However, the term Arrani is still used in a historical sense and has also occasionally been used in the 20th and 21st century to refer to the Turkic speakers of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

See also

• Caucasian origin of the Azerbaijanis
• Azerbaijan