Piotr:
> The word "Caucasian" (like "Aryan") has its perfectly
> legitimate technical uses.
Yes, but 'Aryan' tends to be avoided. Hence, it's now Indo-Iranian,
and old Indic. As I recall, 'Aryas' or the some such tends to be used
where 'Aryan' could just as easily be used.
'Caucasian' as a geographic and linguistic term is valid, but
'Cauausus languages' would be just as useful, and perhaps, less
ambiguous. It perhaps needs to be mention that many native speakers of
English use the word only in terms of the 'white race', and are
unaware of the Caucasian mountains.
I would not be suprised if Ippolitov-Ivanov's "Caucasian Sketches"
would be described as 'drawings of or by white people' by the
majority.
In speech, 'Caucasus' sounds like political meetings -- 'caucuses'.