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Circassian Mythology
The Nart sagas ( Abkhaz: Нарҭаа ражәабжьқәа; ''Nartaa raƶuabƶkua''; ady, Нарт тхыдэжъхэр, translit=Nart txıdəĵxər; os, Нарты кадджытæ; ''Narty kaddžytæ''; ''Nartı kadjıtæ'') are a series of tales originating from the North Caucasus. They form much of the basic mythology of the ethnic groups in the area, including Abazin, Abkhaz, Circassian, Ossetian, Karachay-Balkar, and to some extent Chechen- Ingush folklore. Etymology The term ''nart'' comes from the Ossetian ''Nartæ'', which is '' plurale tantum'' of ''nar''. The derivation of the root ''nar'' is of Iranian origin, from Proto-Iranian ''*nar'' for 'hero, man', descended from Proto-Indo-European '' *h₂nḗr''. In Ingush and Chechen, the word ''nart'' means 'giant'. Characters Some of the characters who feature prominently in the sagas are: * Sosruko ( Ubykh, Abkhaz and Adyghe: ''sawsərəqʷa'' (Саусырыкъо); Ossetian: ''Soslan'' (Сослан)) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abkhaz Language
Abkhaz ( ; ), sometimes spelled Abxaz and also known as Abkhazian, is a Northwest Caucasian language most closely related to Abaza. It is spoken mostly by the Abkhaz people. It is one of the official languages of Abkhazia, where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan, and several Western countries. 27 October is the day of the Abkhazian language in Georgia. Classification Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language and is thus related to Adyghe. The language of Abkhaz is especially close to Abaza, and they are sometimes considered dialects of the same language,''B. G. Hewitt Abkhaz 1979;'' page 1. Abazgi, of which the literary dialects of Abkhaz and Abaza are simply two ends of a dialect continuum. Grammatically, the two are very similar; however, the differences in phonology are substantial, it also contains elements characteristic of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Dumezil
Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 1977 song originally recorded by Pat Simon and covered by Sylvie Vartan * Georges (store), a department store in Melbourne, Australia from 1880 to 1995 * Georges (''Green Card'' character) People with the surname * Eugenia Georges, American anthropologist * Karl Ernst Georges (1806–1895), German classical philologist and lexicographer, known for his edition of Latin-German dictionaries. See also * École secondaire Georges-P.-Vanier, a high school in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada * École secondaire Georges-Vanier in Laval, Quebec, Canada * French cruiser ''Georges Leygues'', commissioned in 1937 * French frigate ''Georges Leygues'' (D640), commissioned in 1979 * George (other) * Georges Creek (other) * Georges Creek Coal an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abaza Language
Abaza (, ; ady, абазэбзэ) is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by Abazins in Russia and many of the exiled communities in Turkey. The language has gone through several different orthographies based primarily on Arabic, Roman, and Cyrillic letters. Its consonant to vowel ratio is remarkably high; making it quite similar to many other languages from the same parent chain. The language evolved in popularity in the mid to late 1800s, but has become an endangered language. Abaza is spoken by approximately 35,000 people in Russia, where it is written in a Cyrillic alphabet, as well as another 10,000 in Turkey, where the Latin script is used. It consists of two dialects, the Ashkherewa dialect and the T'ap'anta dialect, which is the literary standard. The language also consists of five sub dialects known as Psyzh-Krasnovostok, Abazakt, Apsua, Kubin-Elburgan and Kuvin. Abaza, like its relatives in the family of Northwest Caucasian languages, is a highly agglutinative langu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tlepsh
Tlepsh ( Adyghe Лъэпш ) is a mythological figure who appears (as a blacksmith and also a powerful leader) in some cycles of the Nart sagas of the Caucasus, in which his Ossetian counterpart is the smith Kurdalægon. Tlepsh's name is a borrowing from Indo-European languages into Circassian, cognate with Ancient Greek χάλυψ (khálups) borrowed into Latin as ''chalybs'' - 'iron' - Tlepsh is thus the embodiment of the metal with which he works. Description Tlepsh, as the smith of the semi-divine Narts, is a figure comparable to (among others) Hephaestos in Greek mythology, Vulcan in Roman mythology and Wayland and the Sons of Ivaldi in Germanic mythology. In many cycles he is portrayed as being close with Satanaya. finds remarkable similarities between Tlepsh and the Scandinavian deity Odin to be revealed in the tale "Tlepsh and Lady Tree" (number 17 in his anthology of Nart sagas), which tells how Tlepsh, goaded by Satanaya, sets off in quest of knowledge and not onl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fertility
Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertility is addressed when there is a difficulty or an inability to reproduce naturally, which is referred to as infertility. Infertility is widespread, with fertility specialists available all over the world to assist mothers and couples who experience difficulties having a baby. Human fertility depends on factors of nutrition, sexual behaviour, consanguinity, culture, instinct, endocrinology, timing, economics, personality, way of life, and emotions. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the ''potential'' for reproduction (influenced by gamete production, fertilization and carrying a pregnancy to term). Where a woman or the lack of fertility is infertility while a lack of fecundity would be called sterility. Demograp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satanaya
Satanaya ( Adyghe Сэтэнай ; Kabardian Сэтэней ; Ubykh ; Ossetian Сатана Satana) is a mythological figure who appears in many cycles of the Nart sagas of the North Caucasus. Satanaya is the mother of the Narts, a fertility figure who is also an authority over her children. Satanaya is often cast in the light of a "wise woman" or matriarch, which mirrors the relative freedom of women in North Caucasian societies generally. Satanaya can be compared to the Greek Demeter, with whom she shares many traits. In Ossetian tradition, she is the daughter of Uastyrdzhi (St. George). The Chechen-Ingush version is somewhat different in that the counterpart of Satanaya, Sela-Sata, is primarily a goddess of crafts A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ... and wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batraz
Batraz, Batradz, or Pataraz (Ossetian language, Ossetian: ) is a central character in the North Caucasian myths known as the Nart sagas. The Narts were the central figures of the folklore of peoples of the North Caucasus. Myth Batraz (''Батрадз'', or ''Батраз'') in the Ossetian Nart sagas is son of Khami(t)s (''Хамыца''). Khamis was married to a Nereid, sea-nymph or water-sprite, in Ossetian variants a daughter (named sometimes as Bisenon of the Bisenta clan) of the Ossetian sea-god Donbettyr and in Circassian versions the frog-like Lady Isp. Whilst at a meeting of the Narts (see :ru:Ныхас) the Nart Syrdon (see :ru:Сырдон) ridiculed Khamis's wife, who had taken the form of a frog which he put in his pocket. As a result, Khamis's wife left, but before going she breathed (spat?) the embryo of her son upon her husband's back, creating a type of womb-like cyst from which Batraz is later delivered, glowing hot. After being born from his father's back, st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trickster
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story ( god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior. Mythology Tricksters, as archetypal characters, appear in the myths of many different cultures. Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser".Hyde, Lewis. ''Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis." Often, this bending or breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. The trickster openly questions, disrupts or mocks authority. Many cultures have tale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adyghe Language
Adyghe ( or ; ady, Адыгабзэ, Adygabzə, ), also known as West Circassian ( ady, link=no, кӏахыбзэ, khaxybzə), is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of Circassians. It is spoken mainly in Russia, as well as in Turkey, Jordan, Syria and Israel, where they settled after the Circassian genocide. It is closely related to the Kabardian (East Circassian) language, though some reject the distinction between the two languages in favor of both being dialects of a unitary Circassian language. The literary language is based on the Temirgoy dialect. Adyghe and Russian are the two official languages of the Republic of Adygea in the Russian Federation. There are around 128,000 speakers of Adyghe in Russia, almost all of them native speakers. In total, some 300,000 speak it worldwide. The largest Adyghe-speaking community is in Turkey, spoken by the diaspora from the Russian–Circassian War (–1864). In addition, the Adyghe language is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ubykh Language
Ubykh or Päkhy was a Northwest Caucasian language once spoken by the Ubykh tribe of Circassians who originally lived along the eastern coast of the Black Sea before being deported ''en masse'' to Turkey in the Circassian genocide. The Ubykh language was ergative and polysynthetic, with a high degree of agglutination, with polypersonal verbal agreement and a very large number of distinct consonants but only two phonemically distinct vowels. With around eighty consonants, it had one of the largest inventories of consonants in the world, and the largest number for any language without clicks. The name Ubykh is derived from (), its name in the Adyghe language. It is known in linguistic literature by many names: variants of Ubykh, such as ''Ubikh'', (French); and its Germanised variant (from Ubykh ). Major features Ubykh is distinguished by the following features, some of which are shared with other Northwest Caucasian languages: * It is ergative, making no syntacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
