Ossetian Place Names
Only these two matches: the SozhRiver, the lt of the Dnieper – Osset. soj “fat, lard" and the Resta River, rt of the Pronia, rt of the Sozh – Osset rast “strait” can be noted in the Urheimat of the Ossetians located in the basin of the Sozh. However, both names can be decrypted by Old English. Ossetian were found in such quantities, which can increase the likelihood of their origin, in a band that stretches from the city of Bryansk to the city of Rostov. There in this zone is a cluster of Ossetian toponyms in the Belgorod Region of Russia and in the neighboring regions of Ukraine and Russia. Obviously, Ossetians lingered in these places in the vicinity of the settlements of Magyars for a long time. Presumably, their stay here refers to the Scythian time. Obviously, new migration waves forced Ossetians into the Caucasus Mountains, and the names of settlements and geographical objects have been replaced by newcomers with their own ones. An example of a replacement can speak about this. Ossetian name Ulka in Ergeni hills that stretch approximately from the city of Volgograd to the city of Elista. However, the deciphering of toponyms in this band still has a probabilistic character due to the lack of a reliable binding of toponyms to the features of the area and their rather small number. The list of Ossetian toponyms, which is constantly adjusted served below in alphabetical order.
Arkhyz, a river, lt of the Psysh, lt Of the Great Zelenchuk, lt of the Kuban River – Os. ærkh "piece" "splinter", "sliver".
Atiukhta, a town in Oktiabrsk district of Rostov Region, Russia – Os. atukhyn "to wind" atykht action on this verb.
Azov, Sea of Azov and a town – Os. as "the size, number", "adult" (previously "big, large"). Obviously Ossetian word was borrowed from some Finno-Ugric languages where similar words (iso/izo/ots'/udts') have meaning either "large" or "small". The second part of the word transformed from *av/ov "water", presented in different forms in all Iranian languages. In the modern Ossetian it is contained in æfsurh euphemism for "water".
Bataysk, a town in the mouth of the Don River – Os. bataiyn "to thaw, melt", "to be useful".
Betta, a hamlet as a part of the town of Gelendzhik in Krasnodar Country, Russia– Os. bættæг "tied".
Kalitva, some villages and two rivers have this word in th names – the root of Os kælyn "to flow" is added by the attributive suffix -t and *af/ov "water". See Azov.
Kardonikskaya, a stanitsa (village inside a Cossack host) in Zelenchuk district of Karachay-Cherkessia – Os. kærdo "rear-tree", nigæ "riverside covered with grass".
Khalan', a river, rt of the Oskol River and two villages with similar names on it – Os khalon "crow".
Kotelva, a town in Poltava Region – Os. k'utu "barn", læuuyn "to stay, remain". In North Ossetia there are several names kæto that go back to the ancient Iranian appellative with the meaning "home, house". In Digor dialect preserved kæt "canopy" (TSAGAEVA A.Dz. 2010: 177).
Malakeyevo, a village in Veydelevo district of Belgorod Region, Russia – Os. mælag "not living, daying out".
Mara, a river, rt of the Kuban' River – ос. mæra "hollow".
Masychevo, a village in Voronezh Region, a hamlet in Belgorod Region, Russia – Os. mæsyg "a fighting tower".
Ors, a river, lt of the Nugr' River, lt of the Oka River – Os. urs "white".
Oskol, a river, lt of the Siv. Donets River and two towns with similar names on it – Os. as "size, quantity" (obviously former "large"), kælyn "to flow". Cf. Vorskla.
Sentyanivka, a railway station on line Luhans'k- Lysychans'k – Os. synt "raven", syntæ "net, snare".
Sochi, a health resort on the shore of Black Sea, Russia – Os. sadzhy "of a deer" (sag "a deer").
Tsarivka, two villages in Luhans'k Region – Os. tsaryn "to reanimate, renew, hold up".
Tsarychanka, a village in Dnepropetrovsk Region – Os. tsaryn "to live, dwell".
Tsaritsyn, the previos name of the city of Volgograd – Os. tsaryn "to live, dwell".
Tsimlansk, a town in Rostov Region, Russia – Os. tsym "cornel", lænk "valley, lowland".
Tsupivka, a village in Derhachiv district of Kharkiv Region – Os. tsup "fringe, brush, cluster".
Ulka, a name of the mountain ridge Yergeni (Kalmykia) in "Big figure" (MAGIDOVICH I.P., MAGIDOVICH V.I. 1979: 210) – Os. uælkhkokh "hilly".
Vorskla, a river, lt of the Dnieper River – Os. urs "white", kælyn "to flow".
Zagedan, a town and a river, rt of the Bolshaya Laba River in Karachay-Cherkessia – Os. dzag "full", don "water, river".
There are on the map the place names of Kurdish origin are marked by rosa signs. Dark red signs refer to Kurdish places having the partial word Maydan. Violet ones – Afghan place names. Green – Ossetic place names, brown – others.
The common Iranian space is toned by yellow. the borders of the Ossetic Urheimat are marked by green, the Kurdish Urheimat is surrounded by red and the Afghan Urheimat is by violet.
Noteworthy is the accumulation of Ossetian place names in Karachay-Cherkessia (Arkhyz, Zagedan, Kardonikskaya, Mara). Obviously, the Ossetians stayed here for a long time on the way to modern places of the settlement but were later driven out by the Karachays. This idea was first expressed by V.F. Miller at the end of the 19th century, having made a linguistic analysis of such toponyms as Shak-dan, Shaukam, Mysty-kam, Juarfchik, Ors-fandag and others on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Cherkessia from Elbrus to the upper reaches of the Iraf River (TSAGAEVA A.Dz. 2010: 24).
In 1888, on the right bank of Bolshoy Zelenchuk River, a stone stele with an inscription by Greek letters was found 30 km from the village of Nizhniy Arkhyz (see the figure on the right). The decoding of the inscription was made by V.F. Miller using the Ossetian language. With small corrections, the reading is now accepted in science, and the dating of the stele is determined by 941 year (DHURTUBAYEV M. 2010: 198).
Miller believed that there was a Christian city in this area, from which the ruins of churches were preserved, and suggested that it was the center of the Alan diocese (metropolis), which is mentioned in Byzantine literature. However, not all agreed with the decoding of Miller, because he introduced eight additional letters into the text, which were absent on the stele and without which it can not be by means of the Ossetian language (Ibid).
At right: Drawing of the inscription of Zelenchuk stele in Dhurtubayev'в book taken from V.A. Kuznetsov (Ibid: 199).
The inscription on the stele gave Abaev a reason to draw a conclusion about the existence of Ossetian writing in the Middle Ages, but other data confirming this conclusion has not yet been found. In addition, the inscription itself has different versions of reading, including using the Kabardian, Karachai-Balkarian, Vainakh, and, possibly, other languages. Disputes about the language of the inscription continue to this day, but bearing in mind the Ossetian toponymy of Karachay-Cherkessia, the option of Ossetian inscription is preferable. The stele was not preserved, attempts to find it in 1946 and 1964 did not bring success (KAMBOLOV T.T. 2006: 166). Having no original, it is useless to talk about the accuracy of drawing text, and this complicates the further decoding of the inscription. It is strange that the Iranian scholars Miller, Abaev, and others did not decode the name of Arkhyz.
