Digor or Digorian (''дигорон digoron'') is a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

of the

Ossetian language Ossetian (, , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete (), is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Greater Caucasus. It is the native language of the Ossetia ...

spoken by the

Digor people The Digor (Digor dialect: Дигорон - ''Digoron'', ''pl.'': Дигорӕ, Дигорӕнттӕ - ''Digoræ'', ''Digorænttæ'') are a subgroup of the Ossetians. They speak the Digor dialect of the Eastern Iranian Ossetian language, which in ...

. It is less widely spoken than

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

, the other extant Ossetian dialect. The two are distinct enough to sometimes be considered separate languages; in the recently published Digor–Russian dictionary, the compiler Fedar Takazov refers to a "Digor language", though the editor in the same book uses "Digor dialect". Until 1939, Digor had a literary language separate from Iron. Digorian speakers live in the western part of

North Ossetia North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

(

Digora Digora (russian: Дигора́; os, Дигорæ, ''Digoræ'') is a town and the administrative center of Digorsky District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia, located on the Ursdon River (left tributary of the Terek), north ...

, Chikola, etc.); in North Ossetia's capital,

Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz (russian: Владикавка́з, , os, Дзæуджыхъæу, translit=Dzæwdžyqæw, ;), formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () and Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of the North Ossetia-Alania, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Ru ...

; and in larger cities of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Counts of speakers are largely nonexistent, because Digorians are mostly calculated as

Ossetians The Ossetians or Ossetes (, ; os, ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, translit= ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ, label=Ossetic) are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the no ...

during census.

References

Ossetia Eastern Iranian languages Languages of Russia Ossetian language {{Iranian languages

See also

References