2020, Volume 17, Issue 3
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Yuri A. Dzitstsoity To the Historical Geography of Ossetia: The Historical Region of Khokh
Voprosy onomastiki, 2020, Volume 17, Issue 3, pp. 209–225 (in Russian) Received on 22 January 2020 Abstract: The present article advocates that the oronym Khokhis K’avk’asi “the Khokh Caucasus,” catalogued by the Georgian geographer Vakhushty in the beginning of the 18th century as the name for the Side Ridge in Central Ossetia, corresponds to the historical and geographical region of Khokh, known from the toponymic, folklore and ethnographic sources of the 20th century. The oronym Khokh (“mountain”) has left a distinctive mark in the works of the Ossetian writers — natives of that region. In South Ossetia, the same oronym applies to the Main Caucasian Ridge, which has urged the author to explain this inconsistency. Besides, the Nart Epic of the Ossets also speaks of a mountainous land Akhokhayi Khokh raided by the heroes. One of the sources of the 14th century mentions the Alan province Akhokhiya. As it is evident that both toponyms refer to the region Khokh, the author deeemed necessary to explain the recurrent initial element A- in them. The author refutes the version of its Circassian origin suggesting an etymological link with Proto-Iranian prefix *ā-, one of the meanings of which is that of the preposition “on.” The general meaning of the toponym A-Khokh is thus “upland.” A typological parallel to it is the Old Persian toponym *Ākaufaka ‘Kohistan’ that consists of the same prefix *ā-, Old Persian kaufa ‘mountain,’ and a suffix. As the prefix а- fell out of free use leaving its trail only in a number of etymologically obscure toponyms of Ossetia, A-Khokh (Akhokhiya) is one of the oldest toponyms correlating to the descriptive names of the Alan province Mons in terra Alanorum and montes Alanorum mentioned in the medieval sources. Keywords: toponymy, Ossetia, Alania, etymology, historical geography, folklore, literature. References Abaev, V. I. (1958–1989). Istoriko-etimologicheskii slovar' osetinskogo yazyka [Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (Vols. 1–4). Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR; Nauka. Alborov, B. A. (1979). Nekotorye voprosy osetinskoi filologii [Some Issues in Ossetian Philology]. Ordzhonikidze: Ir. Alemany A. (2003). Alany v drevnikh i srednevekovykh pis’mennykh istochnikakh [Alans in Ancient and Medieval Written Sources]. Moscow: Menedzher. Bartholomae, Chr. (1904). Altiranisches Wörterbuch. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. Bliev, M. M., & Bzarov, R. S. (2005). Istoriia Osetii s drevneishikh vremen do kontsa XIX v. [History of Ossetia from Ancient Times to the End of the 19th Century] (2nd ed.). Moscow: Ventana-Graf. Dzitstsoity, Yu. A. (1992). Narty i ikh sosedi: Geograficheskie i etnicheskie nazvaniia v nartovskom epose [Narts and their Neighbors: Geographical and Ethnic Names in the Nart Epic]. Vladikavkaz: Alania. Gagloiti, Yu. S. (2007). Alano-Georgika. Svedeniia gruzinskikh istochnikov ob Osetii i osetinakh [Alano-Georgika. Information about Ossetia and Ossetians from Georgian Sources]. Vladikavkaz: Ir. Hinz, W. (1975). Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Kaloev, B. A. (2015). Osetiny: istoriko-etnograficheskoe issledovanie [Ossetians: Historical and Ethnographic Research] (5th ed.). Moscow: Nauka. Kent, R. (1953). Old Persian (2nd ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: American Oriental Society. Kuznetsov, V. A. (1992). Ocherki istorii alan [Essays on the History of Alans] (2nd ed.). Vladikavkaz: Ir. Kuznetsov, V. A. (2007). Khristianstvo na Severnom Kavkaze do XV veka [Christianity in the North Caucasus before the 15th Century]. Piatigorsk: Sneg. Malakhov, S. N. (2015). Alaniia i Vizantiia: Istochnikovedcheskie aspekty politicheskikh i tserkovnykh sviazei [Alania and Byzantium: Source Studies Aspects of Political and Church Relations]. Moscow: SEM. Rastorgueva, V. S., & Edelman, D. I. (2000–). Etimologicheskii slovar’ iranskikh iazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (Vols. 1–). Moscow: Vostochnaia literatura. Shagirov, A. K. (1977). Etimologicheskii slovar’ adygskikh (cherkesskikh) iazykov [Etymological Dictionary of the Circassian Languages] (Vol. 1). Moscow: Nauka. Tsagaeva, A. D. (1975). Toponimiia Severnoi Osetii [Toponymy of North Ossetia] (Vol. 2). Ordzhonikidze: Ir. Tskhovrebova, Z. D., & Dzitstsoity, Yu. A. (2013). Toponimiia Iuzhnoi Osetii [Toponymy of South Ossetia] (Vol. 1). Moscow: Nauka. |
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