The Khinalugs ( az, Xınalıqlılar,

Khinalug Khinalug, Khynalyg, or Khinalyg ( az, Xınalıq; Khinalug: ''Kətş''; also rendered as Khanaluka, Khanalyk, Khinalykh, or Khynalyk), is an ancient Caucasian village going back to the Caucasian Albanian period. It is located high up in the mounta ...

: , ) are an indigenous people of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and speak the

Khinalug language Khinalug (also spelled Khinalig, Khinalugi, Xinalug(h), Xinaliq or Khinalugh) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 3,000 people in the villages of Khinalug and Gülüstan, Quba in the mountains of Quba Rayon, northern Azerbaijan. I ...

, a Northeast Caucasian language. The Khinalugs are indigenous to the Quba District and have been named after their main village,

. It is one of the peoples that have traditionally been called Shahdagh (together with

Budukh people The Budukhs ( Budukh: Будад, ''Budad'') are an ethnic group primarily from the mountainous village of Buduq in northeastern Azerbaijan, one of the Shahdagh peoples. They speak the Budukh language, which is a Northeast Caucasian language ...

and

Kryts people The Kryts (self-designated хърыцӏаь) or Gryz ( az, qrızlar) are a people of Azerbaijan who reside in several villages in the Quba, Khachmaz, Ismayilli and Gabala regions, as well as in the cities of Baku and Sumgait. They are one of the ...

History

The first written information about the Khinalug people is from the 18th century. Because there is no information about their history, it is impossible to study their ethnogenesis. There were some attempts to identify an ethnogenetical relation between the Khinalug people and the tribes of Caucasian Albania. A. Geybullaev considered the endonym to be related to the name of one of the Caucasian Albanian tribes, ''ket''/''gat''. Another attempt was made by Anatoly Novoseltsev. He wrote: ''"Of those (i.e. tribes mentioned in

Ashkharatsuyts ''Ashkharatsuyts'' or ''Ašxarhac′oyc′'' (Աշխարհացոյց (traditional); Աշխարհացույց ( reformed)), often translated as ''Geography'' in English sources, is an early Medieval Armenian illustrated book by Anania Shirakatsi. ...

—N.d.R), I think, the most interesting are Khenuks (Khenuts), i.e. obviously, Khinalugs, who retained as an independent ethnic component in the north of Azerbaijan even today"''. According to N.G. Volkova, such an approach in determining ethnogenetical relations is hardly acceptable as Anatoly Novoseltsev's theory proceeds from a resemblance of two

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

s. Another scientist, R. M. Magomedov, considered that Khenoks are

Rutuls Rutuls, Rutulians ( rut, Мыхабыр, Mykhabyr) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native to Dagestan and adjacent parts of Azerbaijan. According to the 2010 Russian Census, there were 35,240 Rutuls in Russia. In 1989 Soviet Census in A ...

. The first mention of the Kihnalug

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

is in the works of

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known for ...

in the 18th century as ''Khinaluk''. The first information about the Khinalug people is also from the 18th century. In the 18th century, they were an "''independent community''" (''jamaat'') and at first, the community was a subject of the

Shirvan Khanate Shirvan Khanate ( fa, خانات شیروان, Khānāt-e Shirvan) was a Caucasian khanate under Iranian suzerainty, which controlled the Shirvan region from 1761 to 1820. Background Under the Safavid dynasty of Iran, Shirvan was a leading silk ...

and later the

Quba Khanate The Quba Khanate (also spelled Qobbeh; fa, خانات قبه, Khānāt-e Qobbeh) was one of the most significant semi-independent khanates that existed from 1747 to 1806, under Iranian suzerainty. It bordered Caspian sea to the east, Derbent Kha ...

. Although being a subject of the

, unlike the rest of the population, they were free of any obligations and taxes, except

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...

. During the

First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union The 1926 Soviet Census took place in December 1926. It was an important tool in the state-building of the USSR, provided the government with important ethnographic information, and helped in the transformation from Imperial Russian society to Sov ...

in 1926 there were 105 Khinalugs in Azerbaijan. Already then part of the Khinalugs considered themselves to be Azerbaijanis both by self-identification and by language. In the 1960s they were offered to be resettled in the lowlands of the Quba district, but they refused. For a long time they have not appeared in any census. Their name again showed up in the 2009 Azerbaijani census.

Language

Khinalug language is a

Northeast Caucasian The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or ''Vainakh-Daghestani'', is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as ...

language and holds a special place in this family. Some researchers consider this language to be a member of

Lezgic languages The Lezgic languages are one of seven branches of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Lezgian are literary languages aside from being extant (currently spoken). Classification * Peripheral: Archi – 970 speakers * SamurFamily tree of Northeast Caucasian languages at Ethnologue
/ref> Russian orientalist I. N. Berezin, who traveled in

South Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

in 1840s wrote: ''"It is said that in the

, there are living antiquities. They are the people of

, who speak a non-human or at least non-local language, that is understood neither by people of

Quba Quba () is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a po ...

, nor by

Lezgins Lezgins or Leks ( lez, Лезгияр, Лекьер. lezgijar) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native predominantly to southern Dagestan, a republic of Russia, and northeastern Azerbaijan. The Lezgin are predominantly Sunni Muslims and s ...

"''. Anatoliy Genko who visited

in 1926, speculated about the closeness of

with

Udi language The Udi language, spoken by the Udi people, is a member of the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. It is believed an earlier form of it was the main language of Caucasian Albania, which stretched from south Dagestan to cur ...

. As Khinalug language is spoken only in one settlement, it has no dialects. But some phonetic differences noticed in the speech of the upper, middle and lower parts of the settlement. It is an unwritten language. But in 1991 in Khinalug language (in

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...

) was published in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

. It has been taught in the primary school in 1993-1999, but later was discontinued. The reason is believed to be parents' great interest in good reading and writing abilities of their children in

Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...

. In 2007 a new alphabet based on

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...

was adopted.

Religion

Khinalugs are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims. According to a legend, they

converted to Islam Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...

in the mosque Jomard (Gomard) or Abu Muslim which situates in their settlement. Beside Eid al-Fitr and

Eid al-Adha Eid al-Adha () is the second and the larger of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam (the other being Eid al-Fitr). It honours the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to Allah's com ...

, they also celebrate

Nowruz Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...

References

External links

Khinaligs Atlas.musigi-dunya.az
{{Ethnic groups in Azerbaijan Peoples of the Caucasus