| Alanic | |
|---|---|
| Alanian | |
 The Zelenchuk Inscription, an inscripton in Alanic. | |
| Native to | Alania, theKingdom of the Alans in Hispania and theKingdom of the Vandals and Alans |
| Region | North Caucasus,Pontic–Caspian steppe,Balkan peninsula, parts ofLate Roman Gaul,Iberia and theMaghreb |
| Ethnicity | Alans |
| Era | 1st–13th century AD[1] developed intoOssetian andJassic |
Indo-European
| |
| unwritten, rarelyGreek | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:xln – Alanicoos – Old Ossetic |
xln | |
| Glottolog | oldo1234 Old Ossetic |
Alanic, also known asAlanian,[2] was anIranian language spoken by theAlans from about the 1st to the 13th centuries AD,[1] comprised adialect directly descended from the earlierScytho-Sarmatian languages, which would in turn form theOssetian language.Byzantine Greek authors recorded only a few fragments of this language.[3] The Alans who moved westward theMigration Period brought their language toIberia and to theMaghreb[4]in 409 AD before being displaced by the invadingVisigoths[2] and by theByzantine Empire.
UnlikePontic Scythian, Ossetian did not experience the evolution of the Proto-Scythian sound /d/ to /ð/ and then /l/, although the sound /d/ did evolve into /ð/ at the beginning of Ossetian words.[5]
According toMagomet 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 theGreek alphabet. However subsequent historical events resulted in this written tradition being lost.[6] Guillaume de Rubruck, who met the Alans in the 13th century, mentioned that they had Greek writing.[7]
After the Mongols destroyed the Alan state in the northern Caucasus in 1240, some Alans retreated to the mountains of theCaucasus and mixed with the indigenous population, forming the modern-dayOssetians and developing the Ossetian language.[8]
The closest phonetics to Alanic is the archaicDigor dialect of Ossetian.[citation needed] The main differences are:
Well-known evidence of the Alanic language are the Alanic phrases in the Theogony of theByzantine authorJohn Tzetzes.
In 1927, theHungarianByzantinist I. Moravcsik discovered the full text of the epilogue to the Theogony in the 15th-century Barberinus manuscript in theVatican Library. He published the work in 1930, which contained greeting formulas written in the Greek alphabet for the various languages that theByzantine Empire had come into contact with in the 12th century. These languages included "Scythian" (in fact, theCuman language), "Persian" (in fact,Turkish-Seljuk),Latin,Arabic,Russian,Hebrew and Alanic. Thus, this is the only written monument of Alanic whose ethnolinguistic affiliation has been attested by the person who wrote it.
The translation fromGreek and Latin transliterations of greeting phrases in “barbarian” languages was published by S. M. Perevalov in 1998:
τοις Άλανοις προσφθέγγομαι κατά' την τούτων γλώσσαν
καλή' ήμερα σου, αυ'θέτα μου, αρχόντισσα, πόθεν είσαι;
ταπαγχας μέσφιλι χσινά κορθι καντά, και ταλλα.
αν δ'εχη Άλάνισσα παπαν φίλον, α'κουσαις ταύτα.
Ουκ αίσχύνεσαι, αυθέντριά μου, να' γαμη το μουνίν σου παπάς
То φάρνετζ κίντζι μέσφιλι καιτζ φουα σαουγγε.
The language of these phrases is an archaic version of the Ossetian language . Thus, "Tapankhas" ("good day") corresponds to the Ironian "dæ bon xorz", the Digor "dæ bon xwarz" - "let your day be good". It is noteworthy that a similar phrase - "daban horz" - was found in theJassic glossary of 1422.
Both phrases can be compared in their entirety with modern Ossetian analogues:
The first [Tapankhas mesfili khsina korthi kanda] corresponds to the modern Ossetian (Digor):
The second phrase - [Farnetz kintzi mesfili kaitzfua saunge.] corresponds to the Ossetian
There has also been a comparison of the word for horse in various Indo-Iranian languages and the reconstructed Alanic word for horse:[11]
| Language | Affiliation | Horse |
|---|---|---|
| Alanic | *asφa | |
| Lithuanian | Baltic | ašvà |
| Sanskrit | Indo-Aryan | áśva |
| Khotanese | Northeastern Iranian | aśśa |
| Pashto | East Iranian | ās |
| Ossetian | Northeastern Iranian | ӕfsӕ(D)/efs(I) |
| Wakhi | Northeastern Iranian | yaš |
| Yaghnobi | Northeastern Iranian | asp |
| Avestan | Southeastern Iranian | aspa |
| Shughni | Southeastern Iranian | vorǰ[12] |
| Balochi | Northwestern Iranian | asp |
| Kurdî | Northwestern Iranian | hesp |
| Median | Northwestern Iranian | aspa |
| Old Persian | Southwestern Iranian | asa |
| Middle Persian | Southwestern Iranian | asp |
| Persian | Southwestern Iranian | asb |
The Zelenchuk inscription is a 10th-century inscription on a gravestone discovered by archaeologistDmitry Strukov in 1888 on the right bank of theBolshoy Zelenchuk river. It is considered the most famous written monument of the Alanic language or the oldest monument of theOssetian language.[13]
The inscription was read and published in 1893 by AcademicianVsevolod Miller[14] as follows:
Ις Χς
Οατς(?) Νικολαοή
Σαχηρη φουρτ
X… ρη φουρτ
Πακαθαρ Πακαθαη φουρτ
Ανπαλ Αναπαλανη φουρτ
λακανη τζηρθε (?)
<λακανητε ηρθε> (?)
According to the modern researcherT. T. Kambolov, the inscription can be deciphered as follows:
"Jesus Christ, Saint Nicholas, Sakhir son of Khors, Khors son of Bagatar, Bagatar son of Anbalan, Anbalan son of Lag - their graves."
It is assumed that the slab was installed on the site of a collective burial and that names were added as new graves appeared, which can be noticed from the some symbols being drawn differently.[15]
In 1892, the inscription was rediscovered byG. I. Kulikovsky, which he made a new imprint of. This was the last time the monument was seen as expeditions in 1946 and 1964 failed to find the gravestone.[15]
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.
After more than five centuries of Roman rule, Iberia and the coastal territories of the Maghreb came under the control of competing branches of theVandals in the fall of 409; finding theSeubi [sic] in the northwest or Galicia, theSilings in the south in Baetica, and theAlans on the northern coast of the Maghreb.
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