---
liberty@... wrote:
> How bizarre! I wonder how the Ossetes came to
> acquire another
> group's ethnic name. They were historically
> attested as "Alans"
> and/or "As" prior to settling in the Caucasus and
> for some time
> afterwards but then at some point began calling
> themselves "Ir".
> Did they mingle with a Persian colony in the
> Caucasus or something?
*****GK: It could be a false trail, but worth a brief
check anyway. Didn't the boundaries of the later
Persian Empire at some point come pretty close to
Ossetia? Might some bright Ossetian politicos not have
tried to interest the Persians (as protectors?) by
adopting "Iron" as their new ethnonym ("we're your
brothers")? Except that there's also the religious
issue... So maybe that won't work.*****
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