Jassic () is an extinct

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

or language 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 Russian-Georgian border in the Greater Caucasus region. ...

once spoken in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, named after the Jasz people, a nomadic tribe that settled in Hungary in the 13th century.

History

The Jasz (Jassic) people came to Hungary together with the

Cumans The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...

, chased by the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

. They were admitted by the Hungarian king

Béla IV Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (disambiguation) * Belá (disambiguation) * Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá may refer to: Places in the Cze ...

, hoping that they would assist in fighting against a Mongol-Tatar invasion. But shortly after their entry, the relationship worsened dramatically between the Hungarian nobility and the Cumanian-Jassic tribes and they left the country. After the end of the Mongol-Tatar occupation they returned and were settled in the central part of the Hungarian Plain. Initially, their main occupation was animal husbandry. During the next two centuries they were assimilated into the Hungarian population and their language disappeared, but they preserved their Jassic identity and their regional autonomy until 1876. Over a dozen settlements in Central Hungary (e.g.

Jászberény Jászberény is a city and market centre in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in Hungary. Location Jászberény is located in central Hungary, on the Zagyva River, a tributary of the Tisza River. It is about from Budapest. History The oldes ...

Jászárokszállás Jászárokszállás is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region o ...

, and

Jászfényszaru Jászfényszaru is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population of 5567 people (2015). It is the meeting of three regions: the North-Hungary, t ...

) still bear their name. The historical, ethnographical and geographical region of

Jászság Jászság ("Jaszygia", ) is a historical, ethnographical and geographical region in Hungary. Its territory is situated in the north-western part of the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county. The main town in the region is Jászberény. Jászság is inha ...

, as well as of the modern Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County, are among the many place names linked to them. The name of the city of

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

in Romania may also derive from the name of the people. The only literary record of the Jassic language was found in the 1950s in the Hungarian National Széchényi Library. It is a one-page glossary containing 34 words mainly related to products of agriculture (types of grain, cattle, etc.) probably compiled for fiscal or mercantile purposes. The glossary was interpreted with the help of Ossetian analogues from the Digor dialect. (Németh 1959)

Jassic Glossary

Reading

Based on Anton Fekete's transcription, Nagy Gyula Németh read the monument as follows: 1. da ban horz nahechsa Sose ? 2. panis carnis brodiu(m) 3. khevef fit baza zana wi m 4. Jayca (v? w? m?) она karcen pises ? 5. dan aqtia manaona furme(n)tum 6. Zabar auena huwaz fenu(m) 7. Karbach arpa huvar kovu (?)les 8. casa (fo fej tc) cocta Orae boza tabak 9. scutela Chugan olla odok colftjar 10. Gist fomagium Charif 11. vay karak pulltis 12. Caz auca kuraynu molen??? 13. lapi(de)s Bah ecus acha fuv 14. Gal Bos fvs oves 15. Ere fo ?a(n) khvnge ad (ev?)f suporc(us) 16. saca capar vas bidellu(m) 17. docega vacca Gu(?)za doctillu i? 18. Bucha pacta

Jassic Words

Most Jassic words are comparable to the Digor dialect of Ossetian. Some examples are:

References

* Németh, J. 1959. "Eine Wörterliste der Jassen, der ungarländischen Alanen." ''Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Klasse für Sprachen, Literatur, und Kunst'', Jahrgang 1958, Nr. 4. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. * Kim, Ronald
"On the Historical Phonology of Ossetic."
''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 123, No. 1. (Jan.-Mar.,2003), pp. 43–72. {{Iranian languages Ossetian language 13th century in Hungary Extinct languages of Europe Languages extinct in the 15th century