Alanic language

Alanic[1]
Alanian[1]
The Zelenchuk Inscription, an inscripton in Alanic.
Native toAlania
RegionNorth Caucasus and Iberia
EthnicityAlans
Era1st–13th century AD[2]
Developed into Ossetian
unwritten, rarely Greek
Language codes
ISO 639-3xln
xln
GlottologNone

Alanic (also known as Alanian),[1] was a language spoken by the Alans from about the 1st to the 13th centuries AD.[2] It formed a dialect directly descended from the earlier Scytho-Sarmatian languages, which in its turn formed the Ossetian language. Byzantine Greek authors recorded only a few fragments of this language.[3] The Alans, which were a part of the Migration Period, they brought their language to Iberia in 409 AD before being displaced by the invading Visigoths.[1]

Unlike Pontic Scythian, Ossetian did not experience the evolution of the Proto-Scythian sound /d/ to /δ/ and then /l/, although the sound /d/ did evolve into /δ/ at the beginning of Ossetian words.[4]

According to Magomet Isayev, the Zelenchuk inscription and other historical data give reason to assume that in the 10th-13th centuries, the Alans already had their own unique written language based on the Greek alphabet, subsequent historical events resulted in this written tradition being lost.[5]

After the Mongols destroyed the Alan state, they retreated to the mountains of the Caucasus and mixed with the indigenous population, forming the modern day Ossetians and Ossetian language.[6]

  1. ^ a b c d "Alanic". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2024. The extinct unknown language of the Alans, who came from Asia and overran the Iberian Peninsula around AD 409, before being displaced by the Visigoths.
  2. ^ a b Leila Dodykhudoeva. "The socio-linguistic situation and state of research of the Ossetic language". Academia.edu. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
  3. ^ Ladislav Zgusta, "The old Ossetian Inscription from the River Zelenčuk" (Veröffentlichungen der Iranischen Kommission = Sitzungsberichte der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse 486) Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1987. ISBN 3-7001-0994-6
    Cited in Kim, Ronald (2003). "On the Historical Phonology of Ossetic: The Origin of the Oblique Case Suffix". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 123 (1): 43–72 [54]. doi:10.2307/3217844. JSTOR 3217844.
  4. ^ Ivantchik, Askold I. (1999). "Une légende sur l'origine des Scythes (HDT. IV 5–7) et le problème des sources du Scythicos logos d'Hérodote" [A Legend on the Origin of the Scythians (Hdt. IV 5–7) and the problems of the sources of Herodotus's Scythicos logos]. Revue des Études Grecques [Review of Greek Studies]. 112 (1): 156–158. doi:10.3406/reg.1999.4355. JSTOR 44260011.
  5. ^ "Всеволод Фёдорович Миллер" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2011-09-12. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  6. ^ Jazyki mira: Iranskije jazyki. III. Vostotšnoiranskije jazyki. Indrik. 1999. pp. 105–106. ISBN 5-85759-107-4.

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