Digor people

{{infobox ethnic group|

| group = Digors

| native_name = Digorænttæ

| native_name_lang = os

| flag = Flag of North Ossetia.svg

| flag_caption = Ossetian flag

| image =

| image_caption =

| population = ~200,000

| popplace =

| region1 = {{flag|Russia}}

| pop1 = est. 100,000

{{flag|North Ossetia–Alania}}
{{flag|Kabardino-Balkaria}}
{{flag|Stavropol Krai}}

| region2 = {{flag|Turkey}}

| pop2 = unknown

| region3 =

| pop3 =

| rels = Majority:
15px Sunni Islam{{cite book|last=Minahan|first=James|title=Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=New-York|isbn=978-1-57958-133-6|page=211|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwNeAgAAQBAJ&q=digor%20people&pg=PA211}}
Minority:
15px Eastern Orthodoxy{{cite web | url=https://kerchtt.ru/en/osetiny-digorcy-zagadka-proishozhdeniya-iristona-digory-i/ | title=Ossetian Digorians. The mystery of the origin of iriston, digoras and the great tamerlane }}
15px Assianism

| langs = West Ossetian

| related = Iron and Tual Ossetians, other Iranian peoples, Balkars

| footnotes = {{notelist}}

}}

File:Ossetian tribes.png

The Digor or West Ossetians ({{Langx|os|Дигорæнттæ|translit=Digorænttæ}},{{cite book|last=Камболов|first=Тамерлан Таймуразович|title=Очерк истории осетинского языка|date=2006|publisher=Ир|location=Владикавказ|page=410|url=http://ironau.ru/kambolov-hist-o4erk62.html}}{{in lang|ru}} {{IPA|os|digɔːrɐ, digɔːrɐnttɐ|pron}}) are a subgroup of the Ossetians (Alans). They speak the Digor dialect of the Eastern Iranian Ossetian language, which in USSR, was considered a separate language until 1937. Since 1932, it has been considered just a dialect of Ossetian language. The speakers of the other dialect - Iron (East Ossetian) - do not understand Digor (West Ossetian), although the Digor usually understand East Ossetian, as it was the official language of the Ossetian people and was taught in schools. In the 2002 Russian Census 607 Digors were registered,{{cite web|title=Russian Census 2002: Population by ethnicity |url=http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/TOM_04_01.xls |access-date=19 April 2014 |language=ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229073920/http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/TOM_04_01.xls |archive-date=29 February 2016 }} but by the 2010 Russian Census, their number had dropped to only 223.{{cite web|title=Russian Census 2010: Population by ethnicity|url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Vol4/pub-04-01.pdf|access-date=19 April 2014|language=ru}} It was estimated that there are 100,000 speakers of the dialect,{{cite web|title=Digor in Russia|url=http://legacy.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=20317&rog3=RS|publisher=Joshua Project|access-date=17 May 2014}} most of whom identify as Ossetians. The Digor mainly live in Digorsky, Irafsky, Mozdoksky districts and Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia–Alania, also in Kabardino-Balkaria and Turkey (Poyrazlı, Boğazlıyan).

Etymology

Scholars generally link the root dig- with the Circassian endonym A-dyg-e, where the suffix -or could be a mark of plurality as found in many contemporary Caucasian languages.{{cite book|last=Абаев|first=Василий И.|title=Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка. Том I (А-К)|date=1958|publisher=Издательство Академии наук СССР|location=Москва - Ленинград|pages=379–380|language=ru}}{{Cite book|last=Alemany|first=Agustí|title=Sources on the Alans: A Critical Compilation|date=2000|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-11442-5|pages=10|language=en}} This point of view was criticized by R. Bielmeier and D. Bekoev, they raised the ethnonym to "tygwyr" in the Iron dialect, meaning "gathering, gathering, group."

History

= Middle Ages =

The early medieval Ashkharatsuyts makes mention of the "nation of the Ash-Tigor Alans" (azg Alanac' Aš-Tigor), or simply the "Dikor nation" (Dik'ori-n), which is generally regarded as an early reference to the Digor. This fact, and other linguistic considerations, have led scholars to believe that Digor dialect became separated from Proto-Ossetian during the Mongol conquests.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Religion

Most Digors are Muslim. They were converted to Sunni Islam around the 17–18th centuries, under the influence of the neighboring Kabarday people who introduced Islam to them.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CquTz6ps5YgC&q=digor%20people&pg=PA200 |title=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires |date=1994 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-27497-5 |editor-last=Olson |editor-first=James S. |location=Westport |page=200}} Starting from the 18th century, the ethnonym digor became widely used by travelers and in Russian official documents. Digoria was annexed to the Russian Empire quite late compared to the rest of Ossetia. In the second half of the 19th century, large numbers of Muslim Digors emigrated to the Ottoman Empire.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Demographics

Digors make the majority of the Ossetians in Digoria, the western part of the North Ossetia–Alania (Digorsky and Irafsky districts), and in Kabardino-Balkaria. In the beginning of the 19th century some families from Digoria resettled in Mozdoksky District, where they reside in the settlements of Novo-Osetinskaya and Chernoyarskaya.{{cite web |title=Ossetian Digorians. The mystery of the origin of iriston, digoras and the great tamerlane |url=https://kerchtt.ru/en/osetiny-digorcy-zagadka-proishozhdeniya-iristona-digory-i/}}