Ossetian language

Eastern Iranian language of Ossetia, in the Caucasus

Ossetian (/ɒˈsɛtiən/, /ɒˈsʃən/, /ˈsʃən/),[1][2] commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete[note 1][8] (ирон ӕвзаг, irōn ӕvzag), is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken mostly in Ossetia.

Ossetian
ирон ӕвзаг (irōn ævzag)
дигорон ӕвзаг (digōrōn ævzag)
Pronunciation[iˈɾon ɐvˈzaɡ]
[digoˈɾon ɐvˈzaɡ]
Native toOssetia
RegionCaucasus
EthnicityOssetians
Native speakers
597,450 (2010)e23
Cyrillic (Ossetian alphabet)
Official status
Official language in
 Russia

Partially recognised country:
 South Ossetia
Language codes
ISO 639-1os
ISO 639-2oss
ISO 639-3oss
Glottologosse1243
Linguasphere58-ABB-a
Latin-script Ossetian text from a book published in 1935; part of an alphabetic list of proverbs.
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
  1. The expressions "Ossetic language" and "Ossetian language" are about equally common in books,[3] but dictionaries show that there are differences between British and North American usage. The Collins English Dictionary mentions only "Ossetic" for American usage and lists it first for British usage,[source?] and the US dictionaries Merriam-Webster,[4] Random House,[5] and American Heritage[1] do not even mention the language as a meaning of "Ossetian", whereas the Oxford University Press (as quoted in the Lexico.com entries for Ossetic and Ossete) clearly considers "Ossetian" more common than "Ossetic" for the language. So US dictionaries agree on "Ossetic" for the language, whereas UK dictionaries do not agree on whether it or "Ossetian" are more common. "Ossetic" is apparently preferred in scientific use (linguistics), as shown by this article's references, including the entries in Ethnologue[6] and the Encyclopaedia Britannica.[7]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 AHD:Ossetian
  2. OED:Ossetian.
  3. "Google Ngram Viewer". Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  4. "Ossete". Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  5. Random House Dictionary
  6. "Ossetic". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  7. Encyclopaedia Britannica
  8. Dalby 1998.

Sources

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