Here is a popular-style but competent
overview of the Caucasian langauges:
The Zelenchuk inscription (10th-12th c., in
the Greek alphabet) is generally accepted as Old Ossetic (identified with late
Alanic) as far as I know the Turkic or Nakh readings are not taken seriously by
experts. Though I lack the competence to tell you exactly how much room for
doubt there is, my own doubts are completely dispelled by the the unmistakably
Ossetic features visible in the inscription -- e.g. the genitive of proper names
in -i and the word <fourt> /furt/ 'son' repeated four times = Ossetic
(Digor) furt with the characteristic metathesis (< Iranian *puTra- <
*put-lo-), recurring in the same inscription in <tzErTe> /c^irTe/
'monument, figure' < *c^iTra-.
The Sarmatians and the Alani must have
absorbed various ethnic and linguistic elements, but there is no reason to doubt
that their language was part of the East Iranian "Sprachbund" or that Ossetic
dialects are modern varieties of Alanic. The Pannonian Yas word-list (believed
to be a 15th century survival of Iazygian/Alanic in Hungary) shows a solid
affinity to Ossetic (<daban horz> = Oss. dä bon xWarz/xorz 'your day be
good'). Modern Ossetic displays the effects of several historical changes that
are also ascribed to Sarmatian and Alanic on the basis of documented proper
names and loanwords. One of the most characteristic features of Alanic and
Ossetic is the shift of Proto-Iranian *r into *l, mainly before *i and *j
(*-ri-, *-rj- > *-li-, *-l-). The very name "Alanoi" is derived from the
adjective *arjana-.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 2:25 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Warning to list: Race and
anthropology
[Piotr]
The "Caucasian languages" is a purely geographical
designation. The term
embraces three small-to-medium-size local families
restricted to the region
of the Caucasus (Kartvelian, NW Caucasian [=
Abkhazo-Adyghian], NE Caucasian
[= Nakho-Dagestanian]) as well as several
Turkic and IE languages of the
region (e.g.
Ossetic)
______________________________
BTW,
Ossetic is said to
be a descendant of the Alanian language, which is
classified as East-Iranian,
naturally. Unfortunately, AFAIK there are no
literal documents in Alanian but
the Zelencuk inscription. It has been read
by Ladislav Zgusta as Old Ossetic
(The Old Ossetic Inscription from the
River Zelencuk = Veröffentlichungen der
Iranischen Kommission /
Sitz.-ber.ph.-h.ÖAdW, 21 / 486, Wien 1987, 39-41)
.
However some investigators claim that Alans were ancestors of Karachay
and
Balkar volks (I. M. Miziyev ), or even of Chechenians and Ingush (D.
Baksan)
and successfully (as they say) read the Zelencuk inscription as Old
Turkic
or as Nakh respectively.
Can we be sure that Ossetic reading is
quite reliable and there is no place
for doubts?
Perhaps other relevant
materials supporting this point of view
exist?
Alexander