ON THE PROBLEM OF THE NAMES 'COMMUNITY', 'COMMUNITY UNION' AND ON ETHNIC TERMS IN THE LANGUAGES OF DAGESTAN PEOPLES

In: Istorija, archeologija i ėtnografija Kavkaza: History, archeology and ethnography of the Caucasus, Band 13, Heft 1, S. 16-27

Open Access

Abstract

Abstract:The author of the article identifies and describes local names of communities and community unions in the languages of Dagestan peoples. The analysis of various historical, linguistic and ethnographic data shows that peoples of Dagestan use different local terms to denote the village, villagers, and fellow villagers ( ši , šanti , roso , roso cojal , hu'r , hu'rjun vijar , g"ul , g"ulandar , g"ulanžvi , šjaravalu , šiar , šarqi , sevaḳa , ca šjaravallil insan , kent , jurt , bir jurtlu , etc.), which may have been primary and served as the basis for formation of terms denoting larger socio-political structures, such as unions of rural communities. Communities are collectives with a specific territory and a specific place of residence and they had their specific names ( baħara , mja"raka , k"urum , žyjym , etc.), while unions of communities were denoted by the terms bo , ħureba , para , mjag'lal or mjaħjal , which meant larger collectives, such as troops, militia troops, army, a part of something, etc., these words were either local names or were of Turkic origin. The article also covers the problem of ethnic terms in the languages of the peoples of Dagestan. The material presented and analyzed in the article shows that each Dagestan nation has its own ethnic name. The endonym of the Avars is mah̨arulal , the endonym of the Laks - lak , the endonym of the Kumyks - ķumuķlar , ķumuķ (singular), the endonym of the Nogais is nug"ai , etc. The ethnic term Dargo is of special interest as ethnic names of all sub-ethnic groups of the Dargins, which are called darganti , dargan (singular), are based on it.