Abkhazians and Circassians have something in common. Abkhaz-Adyghe group
About the Abkhaz-Adyg community
[The culture and life of the Circassians (ethnographic research), issue VIII, Maykop, 1991]
In scientific Caucasian studies, the genetic relationship of the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples is beyond doubt. Nevertheless, it requires more factual substantiation in order to show the nature and degree of their closeness on specific ethnographic and other materials, collected together and systematized. And this, in turn, will contribute to solving the difficult problem of the time and conditions of the formation and disintegration of the ancient Abkhaz-Adyg ethnocultural unity and the formation on its basis of independent ethnic groups - Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardian and Ubykh.
The Abkhaz-Adyghe ethnographic parallels, which are reflected in all spheres of material and spiritual culture, are a large topic, for an exhaustive study of which a whole book would be needed. In this review essay, written taking into account the previous publications of the author (1 -ipa. About the Abkhaz-Adyghe ethnographic parallels. // Scientific notes of ADNIIYALI, - T. IV. - Krasnodar, 1965, pp. 222 - 247; its the same. Abkhaz-Kabardian ethnographic parallels. // In the collection dedicated to the 80th anniversary. - Nalchik, 1982.), only some of the main Abkhaz-Adyghe ethnocultural convergences are considered in general terms, and at the end, on the basis of the stated factual materials, some conclusions and generalizations will be made.
First of all, the studied group of peoples is united by a common territory. From time immemorial, the Abkhaz and Adyghe tribes occupied adjacent areas in the Western Caucasus with similar natural and geographical conditions. And in the distant past, this community was expressed, of course, even more clearly, because "a linguistic community always presupposes an initial historical and geographical community" (2 and. Economic and cultural types and historical and ethnographic areas // SE, 4, 1955. - P. 16.). Between the Abkhaz and Adyghe groups, which constituted a single economic-cultural and historical-ethnographic community, there has never been any other ethnic intermediate link or natural barrier that could serve as an insurmountable obstacle to their constant and direct contacts and relations. Since ancient times, the inhabitants of Abkhazia intensively communicated with the North Caucasians through numerous mountain pass routes, through the Main Caucasian ridge, the main of which were the Klukhorsky (Military-Sukhum road along the Kodori gorge) and Sancharsky (along the Bzybsky gorge) passes.
Unfortunately, anthropological data do not allow, due to the extreme limitedness of early bone materials, to unambiguously solve the complex problem of the origin of the studied peoples, which basically explains some of the discrepancies existing among specialists (1 See: -ipa. Issues of the ethno-cultural history of the Abkhaz. - Sukhumi, 1976.S. 102 pages.). For all that, there can be no talk of some kind of sharp anthropological gap between the Abkhaz and Adyghe peoples. True, the Abkhaz as a whole are more similar to Western Georgians (Mingrelians, Gurians, Ajarians) in their rainbow color, body length and nose shape (2 ). But this, apparently, is connected, as it seems to me, with the eviction of most of the Abkhaz ethnos to Turkey in the second half of the 19th century, the subsequent resettlement of Western Georgians to Abkhazia (especially with late XIX c.), increased mixing of the Abkhaz with them and other features of the Abkhaz ethnocultural history of modern times. Obviously, he is right when he asserts that the peoples of the Abkhaz-Adyghe family, as well as the Ajarians, "overwhelmingly belong to the Pontic group of the population and, therefore, are descendants of the ancient population and have a local origin" (3 V. Alekseev. The origin of the peoples of the Caucasus. - M., 1974 .-- S. 194.}.
As you know, within the Caucasus, there are two main anthropological types: East Caucasian and West Caucasian ("Pontic"). The West Caucasian type, including Western Georgia, Abkhazia and the territory of the distribution of the Adyg tribes, coincides with the distribution area of the Colchis, Kuban and Koban archaeological cultures, which are closely similar to each other in many respects. This most ancient anthropological layer is associated with the anthropological types of Asia Minor and Western Asia, and at the same time reveals links with the ancient peoples of the southern Russian plain.
The Abkhazians and Adygs generally had the same type of traditional economy. Since ancient times, they were mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry.
with driving the main livestock species (sheep and goats) to summer alpine pastures (4 S. X. Mafedzev. Rites and ritual games of the Circassians. - Nalchik, 1979 .-- S. 53.), as well as hunting, beekeeping
, metallurgy and metalworking, sea fishing, piracy, trade, including film sales, etc. In all these branches of economic activity, including settlements and dwellings, one can find a lot of common features, often reaching the level of identity, and in a number of cases they coincide and the names of the corresponding objects and phenomena.
Let us turn to some examples of the Abkhaz-Adyghe ethnographic parallels, without at all claiming that the given specific materials can be considered exhaustive.
So, in essence, settlements and dwellings are completely of the same type. In particular, there is a general tendency to settle in separate estates (1 E. M. Shi l ling. In Gudauta Abkhazia (From a trip in the fall of 1925 Ethnography, 1926, No. 1 - 2. - P. 61.), which together form a village, a quarter, under one general name (abkh. ahabla, adyg. khabl - a settlement, a community). “In Abkhazia, even now, each manor stands separately, and the dwelling is located in the very middle of one or two outer fences. Yards in Circassian auls still retain exactly the same character of independent and separate estates, ”wrote A. Miller at the beginning of the 20th century. (2 A. Miller. Circassian buildings. - St. Petersburg, 1914 .-- S. 5.}.
Adyghe residential and household buildings, like the Abkhaz ones, were made of wattle fence, coated with clay with manure and covered with reeds or straw. No stone dwellings were built (3 A. Miller. Circassian buildings. - St. Petersburg, 1914 .-- S. 3.). The main building material is wood (logs, poles, wattle). Connections of individual wooden parts were achieved with the simplest cuts. The posts for the wattle fence were hewn and hammered into the ground with their hands, slightly swaying and pouring water, just like the Abkhaz.
The Circassian dwelling is called "unna". This word is cognate with the Abkhazian "ayuny" (aony), which translates as a house, dwelling, room where a person lives (the basis of this term - oy - in Kabardian means "lair").
The custom of building separate buildings into one room for receiving guests is also common (Adyg. Hajichij, otherwise called kunakh, abh. common word- abh. akhachash, adyg. hyakIesch). Let us also note such a common and characteristic ancient custom as the construction of a separate room or a house in the courtyard for a married son (Abkh. -Adig traditional moral norms, “a married son cannot stay under the same roof with his family”) (4 A. Miller. Circassian buildings. - St. Petersburg, 1914 .-- P. 9.}.
The original ancient type of dwelling was also the same. It was a single-chamber cone-shaped wicker hut of a round shape, the most essential feature of which was the hearth. For a long time, the Abkhazians almost never found a hearth with a wicker smoke, which is the most interesting element of the Adyghe house (uenjek, cf. abkh. Auadjak - fireplace). Wicker smoker, one single copy of which was discovered by us many years ago in the village. Ldzaa (in the Pitsunda region), obviously, had earlier and in Abkhazia a wider distribution, especially in the western part of the country. Another distinctive feature of the Circassian dwelling is that it has two halves - male and female (the female half of the house, as well as the room for the newlyweds is called "legune"). However, this two-chamber, unknown to the Abkhazians, and for the Circassians must be recognized, apparently, as a secondary phenomenon, for “each of the halves of the Circassian dwelling can exist completely separately, as an independent building for a kitchen, for receiving guests, for a married son; finally, the whole family can fit and live in it, if the funds do not allow building the male half. This important circumstance gives us reason to look at this building as a completely independent element, and at the dwelling itself as a combination of two buildings together ”(1 A. Miller. Decree. op. - S. 11.}.
There is a lot in common in many other details of the housing architecture: both the Abkhaz and the Circassians did not make the ceiling and attic in the saklyas; pegs were driven into the walls for hanging weapons and harnesses; the floor was always made of adobe; in front of the house, in a conspicuous place, a log with chopped off branches burst into the ground, which served as a hitching post (abh. acharparta), etc.
Briefly about the common elements of men's and women's clothing. It is impossible to imagine the appearance of both the Abkhaz and the Circassians without, one might say, identical attire, which it is not by chance that nevertheless became widely known under the name “Circassians”. The Circassian coat, which has become so widespread throughout the Caucasus, and partly beyond its borders, is an integral national men's clothing, first of all, of the Adyghe-Abkhaz peoples, who probably deserve the credit for creating this wonderful costume (2 "Ethnography" edited by I. - M., 1982.S. 268.), which originated many centuries ago (until, in the 10th - 11th centuries, and gazyrs began to be sewn later - after the widespread use of firearms in the 18th century) and is associated by its origin with the military life of horsemen. Neither in terms of mass distribution, nor in cut, the Abkhaz Circassian from the Adyghe is nothing special (1 This is what Edm wrote. Spencer, in the thirties of the XIX century. personally observing both the life of the Circassians and the Abkhazians (the latter in the Pitsunda region): "We were now in the country of the Circassians of Upper Abkhazia, whose clothes differ only in some trifles from the costume of the Circassian nobility described by me during my stay in Sudzhuk-Kala", then there is in the area of the present. Novorossiysk (Edm. Spencer. Journey to Circassia ... London, 1839, vol. I, p. 299) (in English).). Essentially identical are the ancient Adyg wooden lance with a metal tip and the Abkhazian "alabasha", as well as the ancient custom of men to grow a bundle of hair on the crown of the head (abkh. Ahatsekukun), etc.
There are significant parallels in traditional women's clothing... This is especially true of her ancient complex, which consisted mainly of an archaic dress-shirt, also known under an undifferentiated general name, which also denotes the corresponding element of a man's costume (abkh. Akya, adyg. Kyagua).
The traditional structure of field cultivation was the same. Since ancient times, two varieties of millet have been bred. The name of one of the cereal varieties was also common (adyg.ache, abkh.acha - bread, wheat) (2 ... Adyghe toponymic dictionary. - Maykop, 1981 .-- P. 22.}.
In Abkhazia, up to the 20th century, two main types of arable implements were in use: a crooked tool with a handle attached to the top at the base of the drawbar, and a tool with a sole and a stand-up handle, fixed in the sole with the lower end, and the other - tied to the drawbar. These varieties essentially belong to the widespread in the Caucasus, the main type of arable implement with a curved drawbar inserted into the sole, and, as Acad. are common to the Megrelian and Abkhaz ethnic environment. A similar plowing tool was used by the Black Sea Circassians. So, according to the description, the inhabitants of the Subesh valley "used plows with a pointed, in the form of an arrow, opener, with which they only scraped the soil surface, and the plow arms are placed almost perpendicularly and, therefore, are so short that they do not give the plowman the opportunity to show strength" (3 J.S.Bell. Letters about staying in Circassia in 1837 - 1839 Manuscript Department of the Library of the Abkhaz Institute, - p. 54.}.
Among the Circassians, in particular, in the Kabardian rural community until the end of the 19th century. the collective plowing called "vakue gup" was widespread, that is, a group, an association of plowmen (the word "agup" in the Abkhaz language also means a group, an association). Having plowed together the required amount of land with all the aul, the members of the artel then divided the finished plowing by the number of bulls plowing from each family. A similar labor association was known to the Abkhazians. This is "kiaraz", the participants of which went out on joint field work (in the later period, mainly for weeding corn), in order to jointly complete the processing of the plots of each of the members of the cooperation in a timely manner.
Steep millet porridge, which has long been equally used by the highlanders instead of bread with meat and dairy dishes, was known to both the Abkhaz and the Adygs under the same name (abh. Abysta, Adyg. Pasta).
The parallels from the field of traditional cattle breeding are no less indicative. So, until relatively recently, Abkhaz shepherds observed the ancient custom, according to which out of every thousand heads of small ruminants they raised, one hundred were required to be released in order to appease the patrons of the forest. Adyghe traditional shepherds knew a similar custom, and, in addition, abh. aguara (aguarata) - "stockyard", "corral", "fence" is compared with the Adyghe guarte (kuert) with the same meaning.
The Abkhazian shepherd organization agup is also basically identical to the Kabardian lyagupezh, in which 8-10 people united for joint grazing of their combined herd, singling out from their midst a rich and experienced cattle breeder as a manager, and the element “gup”, which forms the basis of the term “lyaguppezh” , in both languages means, as it is said, a group, a union.
Let's note some common features. social order... For example, patronymy, as a form of patriarchal-clan organization, is not only equally represented in the social life of the peoples in question, but the local term itself, which expresses the concept of “patronymy” among the Shapsugs, is formed in the same way as among the Abkhazians - given name the ancestor of this patronymy with the addition of a patronymic ending: adyg. ko, abh. pa - "son". Let us also compare such archaic and very characteristic terminological coincidences as the specific Abkhaz name of the closest blood relatives - “who divided the fire” (amtsa eikuzhaz) and the Adyghe “separated from one fire”; the Abkhazian "dividing the supercharged chain" (rkhyshnak eikuztseaz) and the Adyghe "inseparable chain" (lakhge lykash), etc.
The custom of blood feud among those and other peoples in a number of cases is almost identical, even in its small details. As he writes in his work "The system of composition in the common law of the Circassians (Circassians) of the XVIII - the first half of the XIX century." (one See "Proceedings of MKAEN", - vol. 4. - M., 1968. - p. 409.). The main measure of value in rewarding any kind of crime among the Circassians is called "skha" (sh'khya), which in both the Adyghe and Abkhaz languages means "head", "my head" (1 The question arises, what is this "head"? Shouldn't this word mean not just a head, but a person, or rather a slave or slaves? Comparative data on the Abkhaz make one think that “skha” sometimes meant really slaves. If this is so, then we can assume that among the Circassians and tribes related to them at a certain stage of their development, the main form of remuneration for crimes was payment by slaves, and only later they were replaced by cattle (cf. a slave, a pledge, in the capacity of which it is a person).}.
In the people's legal proceedings of both the Circassians and the Abkhaz people great importance had a cleansing oath with an oath of innocence. Such an oath, which was taken on a staff, in a sacred grove or in a forge, accompanied by witnesses and associates without any formalities, freed a person from any responsibility or suspicion of involvement in a crime.
Another common means of reconciling hostile relations was atalism. The custom of giving an infant for upbringing to someone else's family, which by some researchers (M. Sigorsky and others) is considered the most characteristic specifically for the Abkhaz-Adyg group of peoples, in its basic features also completely coincides (2 ... History of the Adyghe people. - Tiflis, 1861, - pp. 33 - 34.), including the custom of bringing up the child of the injured party in the order of reconciliation of the bloodlines, and the Adyghe term Tlechezhipkan - "brought up for blood" of exactly the same meaning and education as the Abkhazian - ashyapsakhupha (ashyapsahupha). “Children and relatives took revenge for the blood. The guilty one could, however, stop the family blood-revenge by stealing himself or with the assistance of another person from the family of the offended male child, raising him with all zeal, like a son, and then, rewarding him with a horse, weapons and clothing, bring him back with a great ceremony. In this case, the boy was called Tlechezhipkan, that is, brought up for blood, ”wrote Sh. Nogmov. (3 ... History of the Adyghe people. - Tiflis, 1861, - P. 34.). These words of the famous Kabardian scientist were the first half of the XIX in. wholly and completely can be attributed to the Abkhaz, with the only difference that the latter were often taken for the upbringing of both boys and girls.
The basic principles of traditional civil and criminal law should include the fact that the murder of a person was redeemed according to the formula “tit for tat; a tooth for a tooth "or payment of the" price of blood "(Adyg." ilovas ", abh." asyapsa "). Among the cash payments, children born in slavery were often given in the past, and the child must be at least 5 bje, that is, the length of the open hand from the little finger to thumb" (one ... Decree. op. - S. 42.). The same Abkhazian system for measuring the growth of a given boy (khuza-fiza) is quite comparable with this, although not everyone understands the previous meaning of this phrase.
To the Abkhaz-Adyg parallels in the field of traditional marriage and family relations (2 For more details, see our work "Essays on the history of marriage and family among the Abkhaz." - Sukhumi, 1954, p. with. 24, 33, 53, 62, 70, etc.) include: the strict prohibition of marriage within the clan; harsh penalties for the incest; the custom of kidnapping brides, and the day the girl spent with the kidnapper made her his legal wife; the form of marriage with the corresponding equivalent of material reward on the part of the groom, that is, kalym (abh. achma, adyg. uase); a separate room for girls for marriageable purposes in their parents' house (3 A. Makhvich-Matskevich. Abadzekhs, their way of life, customs and customs // Narodnaya conversation, 1964, 3. - P. 3.); various types of resistance to the groom's retinue when the bride goes to the house of the latter; wedding song with refrain "O-ri-dada?", "Rada"; a special building for a married son, where the newlyweds spent their marriage life until they were separated from a large family (Abkh. Amhara, Adyg. Lyagun); customs of avoiding and limiting the rights of young people, especially a daughter-in-law, as well as levirate (marriage with the brother of the deceased husband), sororata (marriage with the sister of a deceased wife), etc.
Let's point out another perhaps the most characteristic element of the wedding ritual - hiding the groom from all elders for the first time after marriage. This custom is so original that some researchers put it as the basis for the classification of marriage orders among the Caucasian peoples (4 M. Sigorsky. Marriage and marriage customs in the Caucasus. Ethnography, 1930, no. 3.). From this point of view, all the peoples of the Caucasus fall into two large groups: with and without the concealment of the groom. The first is typical for the peoples of Abkhazia, North. Caucasus, Dagestan and, in part, Transcaucasia. This group, in turn, is divided into three variations: Western - Circassians, Abkhazians, Abazins, as well as Lazes, Karachais and Balkars; central - Ingush, Chechens, Karabulaks, Kistins, Khevsurs and Ossetians; eastern - the peoples of Dagestan: Laki, Avars, Dargins, Didois, etc. All peoples of this group have a monogamous marriage with family exogamy along the male and female lines (the eastern variation is an exception, since marriages with maternal cousins are very frequent there); the marriage is concluded upon payment of the kalym, which is used to redeem the dowry (which, in turn, is the inalienable property of the wife); the central element of the wedding ritual is the hiding of the groom from his parents and elders in the village, as well as the secret visit of the bridegroom to the bride in a new house built for the young (or at one of the neighbors). In a word, the Abkhaz with the Adygs of all tribes make up one of three subgroups among the Caucasian peoples with the custom of hiding the groom. Also noteworthy are other ceremonies and rituals associated with marriage among our peoples, for example: the noisy behavior of young people near the bride's house during the first conjugal visit to the groom; the groom unbuttoning the bride's corset on the first night; the introduction of the young into the "big house", that is, to the husband's father (abkh. aonduoagara, adyg. unaishe); the introduction of the young to his parents and his kind of "forgiveness" by the father and elders of the community; “Ransom” given to young senior members of the clan and community; the ritual walk of the young to the water, which begins her economic activity in her husband's house; her trip after the wedding to her parents, where she sometimes stayed until the first birth, after which she finally moved to her husband's house, etc.
The largest common monument of the spiritual culture of the Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ossetian, and partly some other Caucasian peoples is the famous heroic epic called the Nart. The indisputable similarity observed here, not only in general, but also in many details, is also of particular importance from the point of view of our topic, that is, the Abkhaz-Adyg ethnocultural unity.
So, in the system of images of the Adyghe Nart epic, as well as the Abkhazian, the main character- under the common name again Sosruko (Abh. Sasrykva), personifying a brave warrior, an ideal man. The most important of the female epic images is Satanei (Adyg. Satanei, Satanai). She, too, not only bears a common name, but is also shown in both versions of the epic in much the same way as the most beautiful, experienced and wisest of women, the mother of a whole clan or tribe (however, in the Adyghe variants it is not always emphasized, as we have in Abkhaz legends that Satanei is the mother of the Narts). Sosruko - son of stone (1 The birth of both the Adyghe, in particular the Kabardian, and the Abkhazian Sasrykva occurred under similar circumstances. Satanei went to the river to wash clothes. From that bank the shepherd saw her and, enticed by the woman's white breast, shouted to her: "To you, Satanei, the nafs are coming!" The nafs he released hit the stone. Satanei took the stone home and hid it in a chest (in the Abkhaz’s bosom), where it grew from day to day. After nine months, Satanei took the swollen stone to the forge. When the blacksmith smashed it, there was a tiny boy inside, who was taken by the thighs with forceps and taken out. Satanei took the baby home and fed him, and the part of the body that was touched with forceps became bone (. Kabardian texts. SMOMPK. - Issue XII. - Tiflis, 1891, p. 13.), the adopted Satanei. In infancy, he, like his horse, ate flint (or iron); his body is damask; hardened at birth in Tlepsch's forge (only the thighs were left unhardened). The main feat of the Kabardian Sosruko, like the Abkhazian, is making fire. The reason for his death is, as in the Abkhaz epic, the dislike of the rest of the sledges towards him, although the death of the famous hero occurred under somewhat different circumstances (envious sledges and one-eyed giants suggested that he hit his hips at the steel wheel of Jean-Sherkh flying from the mountain with sharp spokes, and the wheel cut off both of his legs, after which they buried him alive in the ground and crushed him with a heavy stone). Blacksmith's craft is expressively shown in the epic. In particular, the blacksmith god Tlepsh, like the Abkhazian Ainarzhiy, knows how to glue the heads cut off in battle, putting a copper patch on them.
Abkhazian legends are undoubtedly closer to the Adyghe, while the coincidences with the Ossetian ones are less complete and comparatively rarer, which is explained by the ethnocultural unity of the Abkhazians with the Adygs. As in the Abkhazian and the Adyghe legends, the main characters are the stone-born Sasrykva, hardened, like among the Abkhazians, by a blacksmith, and Satanei, his mother, and his birth also occurs under similar circumstances; the most important cycle is Sosrukov's, and its main theme is making fire, and the entire episode with the monstrous giant presents an almost identical narrative here and there. At the same time, there are also differences that generally characterize the Abkhaz legends as more archaic.
Abkhazians have in common with the Adygs the mythical images of dwarfs and mighty, but feeble-minded giants. The latter are known to the Abkhaz under the same name as the Circassians (ainyzhe), although they also have a second name (adauy). The Adyg cunning dwarfs (spas), who lived in dolmens built for them by giants, are very reminiscent of the famous tribe of Abkhazian dwarfs, the Atsans. According to legend, the latter are the earliest inhabitants mountain Abkhazia and the creators of curious monuments of antiquity - widespread in the alpine zone of Abkhazia stone shepherds' dwellings and enclosures for small ruminants (atsanguara) (1 The fact that the Abkhaz are told, as about something mysterious, about huge stone roads, from which seemingly insignificant Atsans erected large structures in the mountains that have come down to the present day, makes us think that maybe in the Abkhaz myth, we are talking about dolmens, and not only about the azanguars.}.
There are many similarities in the field of folk music and musical instruments. The main Abkhazian folk musical instrument is the two-stringed "apkhyartsa", which closely resembles a similar violin of the Adyghe peoples. The Adyghe "Kamlach" and the Kabardino-Circassian "shichepshin" (its other name is pkhepshyn), like the "apkhyartsa", are hollowed out of solid wood, the body is boat-shaped, all of them are two-stringed bowed instruments. The Adyghe instrument, almost identical to the Abkhaz one, was first described by Belle in the following words: “The top board is almost flat, the back is semicircular and tarred in order to rule the bow, this violin has only two horsehair strings, on pegs and a bridge, like on ours; the bow is almost in the form of an arch, or bow, the strings are stretched loosely and pulled by the player's hand when necessary "(1 J. Art. Bell. Decree. op. - S. 113.). All this fully applies to the Abkhazian "apkhyartsa".
Adygs and Abkhazians sang, as already noted, the same wedding song under the ancient mysterious name "O-re-de-da Mafa" (Adyg. "Uoredede Mafa" (or "Oridada Maho") (2 Sh. Inal-ipa. Essays on the history of marriage and family among the Abkhaz. - Sukhumi, 1954 .-- S. 112, 113.). Almost identical not only in function and name, but also in their musical language, melodic pattern, the unique Circassian "Song of wound healing" and Abkhazian "Song of the wound" (3 ... 101 Abkhazian folk songs. - Sukhumi, 1929. - S. 42 - 44; Folk songs and instrumental tunes ”. - T. I. - M., 1980 .-- P. 117.). At the same time, for both groups of peoples in the highest degree the development of a particularly heroic genre of both musical and verbal folklore is characteristic.
Many identical proverbs and sayings, folk sayings and individual generic terms and expressions created over the centuries (for example, thamada - an elder, leader, manager; nan, nana - an affectionate appeal to a mother, grandmother and an old woman in general; gouache, gouache - among the Circassians a goddess, princess, mistress, but most often used , like among the Abkhaz, to convey regret, etc.), express common socio-psychological and moral-aesthetic concepts, views of the world that are the same for both peoples, coinciding assessments of attitudes towards a person and the surrounding reality.
There are many examples of coincidences from the field of folk etiquette. Details about this can be found in the wonderful book of the Kabardian scientist B. Kh. Bgazhnokov "Adyg etiquette ..." (Nalchik, 1978) and in the work of the author of these lines "Essays on Abkhaz etiquette" (Sukhumi, 1984), especially in its twelfth chapter , which is dedicated specifically to the Abkhaz-Adyg etiquette parallels. I'll limit myself to one a case in point... The first of these books contains a list of the basic rules of the Adyghe hospitality, including 50 points, regulating the mutual rights and obligations of guests and hosts. It may seem surprising, but almost all of them are found at the Institute of Abkhazian hospitality.
Of course, the number of Abkhaz-Adyg etiquette parallels with the facts set out in our work is not exhausted, but the material given there is enough to imagine the nature and scale of these analogies. These connections and convergence would be easiest to explain from the point of view of borrowing, for example, by the Abkhazians of the Adyghe (narrower Kabardian) etiquette, especially since, as prof. , “In the XVI - XVIII centuries. Kabarda, which was experiencing the flowering of feudalism, reached considerable power and gained a predominant influence in the North Caucasus. The epithet "Kabardian" was at that time synonymous with aristocratic sophistication and comme il faut "(1 Abaev language and folklore .: M. - L., 1949 .-- P. 88.). All this is true, but in our case we are dealing, apparently, not so much with the Kabardian influence, which, generally speaking, was not so significant in Transcaucasia, but with the common origins of the culture of the studied peoples and the internal development of the Abkhazian society itself. “The emergence of certain principles that determine communicative behavior within an ethnos is due to the entire course of the historical development of society. The category "Adyghe", for example, arose on the basis of already existing ideas about good and evil, about preferred decent forms of behavior. The same applies to all other categories, ideas and principles of ritualized communication "(2 X. Decree. op. - S. 147.}.
This fully applies to the above-mentioned Abkhaz national etiquette system "apsuara".
The diary entries of the famous Abkhaz artist (Chachba) contain the following lines: “... We live among the people with beautiful ancient customs, with a great beautiful inner spiritual culture ... I am extremely sad when I think that all that that you value so dearly in the Abkhaz, in general in our highlanders. I imagine them slender, dexterous, very polite, with great dignity, silent, moderate in everything, persistent and firm. This is our whole culture ”(3 Zaitseva - Mind and Heart - to the Motherland. // Lit. Georgia, 1984 .-- S. 210.}.
These are the noble feelings and thoughts that arise in everyone who meets with a unique folk culture, with the masterpieces of genuine folk art, such as, for example, inimitable samples of the Abkhaz-Adyghe etiquette.
Religious beliefs belong to those most important areas of the historical life of society, which to a large extent allow us to judge the most archaic ethnocultural ties of a particular people, with which other people (or peoples) and to what extent it is in genetic relationship, and with which ethnic groups - in long-term contact and interaction. As a result of prolonged mutual influence, separate common cults and beliefs may arise among the most different peoples. But to explain a significant number of not only similar, but sometimes identical features, the borrowing argument is obviously insufficient and in this case one should look for deeper roots of commonality.
In the pagan beliefs of the Abkhaz and Adyghe peoples, we really have a number of highly significant coincidences - complete or partial. These include, for example, an essentially common agricultural deity (abh. Jadja, Adyg. Thagelej); an identical ritual of bathing a doll in a drought to make it rain (abh. Dziuou, Adyg. Hantseguashe); the cult of the patron saint of cattle (Abkh. Aytar, Adyg. Akhin with the associated belief about a self-coming cow; in Abkhazia - about a white cave bull Oggin or a bull, in the same miraculous way at a certain time appearing in the Ilor Church) (1 Shapsugs to this day talk about the path of the Akhinova cow, allegedly going from the Black Sea along the river. Shakhe to the Main Caucasian ridge, where in the sacred Akhinovaya grove they performed the sacrifice ceremonies of the "self-coming" animal. In addition, Akhyn (Akhin) acts as the name of a mountain near the city of Sochi; the Circassians considered Akhyn the deity of cattle breeding, the patron saint of herds; there is also a legend about a terrible giant named Akhyn (. Decree. cit. - pp. 19, 20).); the cult of the goat with completely coinciding ritual throwing of the reproductive part of the animal on the wicker wall of the dwelling; deification of metal production (Abkh. Shashvy, Adyg. Tlepsh) (2 The Proto-Hittites (Hatti), genetically related to the Abkhaz-Adyg tribes and who were at that time the inventors of iron, had their own special blacksmith god, just like the Greeks, and, according to some researchers, the ancient Greek god of blacksmithing Hephaestus is genetically related with abh. Shashvy and Adyg. Tlepsch.); identical veneration of the spirit of the mountains with the sacrifice of bullets and arrowheads; T-shaped wooden (oak) crosses in sacred groves as symbols of worship; veneration of groves and forests, "counting trees as gods" - as he wrote in the 6th century. Etc. Caesarea about the Abazgs; hanging dead men in trees away from the village (“air burial”); worship of the deity of thunder and lightning (abh.-kab. Afy, Adyg. Shible) accompanied by special ceremonies and the same ritual song (abh. Iatlar-Chopa, Adyg. Yeleri-Shop); the cult of forests, game and hunting, uniform in content (Abkh. Ayrg-Azhveipshaa, Adyg. Mezytkha); the belief about the existence of aggressive "forest people" constantly living in the thicket of forests (abh. abnayu, Adyg. mezlanukva) with hatchets hanging on their chests; fortune telling on beans and on the shoulder blade of an animal; jumping over fire to cleanse from sins; ritual watch at the patient's bed under the general name "chapsh"; common half-forgotten sky deity Uashkho (1 This deity is also present in the proto-Hittite pantheon under the same name Ua-shkhav (Uashhau), meaning gods, deities.) and etc.
Also noteworthy is the common veneration of dogs (Abkh. Alyshkintyr, Adyg. Samyr, Samyr-dog - an epic hunting dog) (2 Folk songs ... Circassians. T. II. - M., 1981. - S. 110; See also 3. Yu. Kumakhova. "On the composition of the primordial personal names in the Adyghe languages": "The dog among the Adyghe peoples is historically a sacred animal", (collection of articles "Anthroponymics". - M., 1970. - S. 63 - 64).), equestrian competitions at the commemoration (abh. atarchei) (3 ... Rituals and myths of ancient Anatolia. - M., 1982 .-- S. 169.). We can also note a certain similarity in the general appearance of the supreme heavenly gods (Abkhaz-Abazino-Ubykh Antsva, Adyg. Tkha, Tkhashkho).
The common Adyg word "tha" (tha) - god, apparently, was once well known to the Abkhazians, as it is present in a number of ancient Abkhaz (Abkhaz-Abaza) male and some family names: Tkhasou (Tkhasou) (4 In the Old Abkhazian anthroponymics, at one time, it was widely represented man's name Coy (compare, for example, the name of the famous mountain in Abzhui Abkhazia Souipsara, which means the fir grove of a person namedCoy). Consequently, compound word Thaso can be divided into two of its component parts: tha - god andCoy - personal name, that is, god (deity)Coy. The other examples given here seem to be interpreted accordingly.), Tkhasygu (Tkhasygu), Thaitsyku (Thaitsyku), Thaitsykhu (Thaitsykhu), Tkhagushynaa (Tkhagushynaa) (compare the Adyghe surname Tkhagushev), toponymic names (Azantha - in the Bzybsky, Khipstinsky and Kodor-skyakh gorges).
M. Brosse wrote (unfortunately, without reference to sources) that Sukhumi was called Akhu, or Akhou, and also Tha-Kuji (Tgacoudji), that is, perhaps, "the city of the god Kuj" (in Abkhaz Kuts - male name, and Akutsma is a wolf). "Tha" is present in one sense or another in many other Abkhazian terms (atha-moda - an elder, ahea-tha - weapons, etc.). God-bearing names, as honorable and miraculous sacronyms, were supposed to provide their carriers with the help and protection of the corresponding deities. Here I leave open the question of a possible connection between "tha" and the ancient Greek "theos" - god. It should only be noted that theophoric names containing the names of specific pagan deities or a common word with the meaning "god", as we see in the examples just given, appear among peoples who have reached a comparative high development culture (for example, among the Hellenes only from the 4th century BC).
Let's move on to reverence for thunderstorms. Among the Abkhaz, people who had recently been killed by lightning for some time were laid on a specially arranged high wooden platform, and a ceremonial procession was arranged around, accompanied by a special song in honor of the deity of thunder and lightning (Af-rashea). The same was observed by I. Schiltberger among the Circassians at the beginning of the 15th century: those killed by lightning were recognized as saints, the coffin of the one struck by a thunderstorm was hung on a tree and for three days they performed ritual dances and sacrifices, repeated annually (1 F. Brown. Schiltberger in Europe, Asia and Africa from 1394 to 1427. // Notes of the Imperial Novorossiysk University. - T.I. - Issue. 1 - 2. - Odessa, 1867 .-- P. 60.}.
The rituals, songs and games associated with the care and treatment of a seriously wounded person are closely similar; big anniversaries-commemoration (abkh. apshura), accompanied by horse races and shooting at a target on a high pole under the general name "akyan"; carrying out sports wrestling of riders (abkh. acykhetsey); the presentation of half of the boiled head of cattle to the most revered people as a ritual honorable dish (abkh. ahybzha) (2 S. X. Mafedzev. Decree. op. - S. 78, 168, 191, 195.) etc.
In this comparative survey of the religious system, which could be significantly expanded, attention is drawn not only to the similarity of individual beliefs, reaching the identity of the coincidence of theophoric names, images, etc. and other ethnospecific phenomena), but in general the generality of the Abkhaz-Adyg paganism as a whole with its numerous cults in essence (and partly in name) of the same gods, spirits and patrons (field cultivation, cattle, dogs, blacksmithing, water elements, thunderstorms, mountains, forests and game, etc.).
Religious ideas, images, motives and rituals are largely general, the religious system is the same type, but the vocabulary, the verbal shell in which these images appear are different (as we have seen, there are relatively few common names and names). This indicates a long-term independent, parallel development of the corresponding ideas in related, but divergent ethnic groups. At the same time, some elements of local culture and mythology became (by borrowing) the property of other peoples, including, in part, the ancient Greeks.
The modern West German scientist J. Knobloch in the article "The Circassian God of the Forest", devoted to the comparative study of the Greco-Roman and Adyghe pagan pantheons, came to an interesting conclusion. In his opinion, along with the deities of some eastern peoples bordering on the Greco-Roman area, the ancient pantheon also took the name of the Adyghe god of the forest Mazytkha, who later merged with the ancient Greek Pan - originally the god of flocks and shepherds, and then of all nature. Among the ancient Greek inscriptions of the Northern Black Sea region, published by V. Latyshev in 1916, Y. Knoblokh at No. 19 found the words MEΣVTHEОΣ ... АЯНLΣ ... (1 T. ). He considers the first word to be undoubtedly the name of the Adyghe god of the forest Mazytkha (literally mezy - "forest", and tha - "god"). The inscription was made on a pedestal, on which the image of a human leg and a goat's hoof was clearly preserved, and, as you know, the Greek Pan, like the Roman Faun, appeared to be human beings with goat hooves. Y. Knoblokh compares the appearance of these deities with the Adyghe MesalIynykue ("forest half-man"), which, in turn, is a splitting off of the cult of the god Mazytkha (2 T.Knobloch. Der tscherkessischewaldgutt. - In the collection dedicated to the 80th birthday. - TB., 1979 .-- S. 191.}.
Thus, the roots of commonality, manifested in both early and later manifestations in the religious sphere, lead to a deep genetic unity of both peoples, and the differences between them in this area (for example, the temples-sanctuaries similar to Abkh. "anykha", their lack of a special patron of horse breeding, theomachist motives in the myth of dwarfs, etc.) are associated with the peculiarities of the historical and cultural development of each nation separately. F. Engels wrote: "... The initial religious ideas are for the most part common to each given kindred group of peoples, after the separation of such groups, each nation develops in a peculiar way, according to the living conditions that have fallen to its lot" (3 F. Engels. Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy. - Works, 2nd ed. - T. 21 .-- 269 - 317.}.
Each of the "national" religions has come a long way of independent development. So, in the religion of the Abkhaz, both general and distinctive religious ideas, images and rituals are presented. Ideas common to many religions include, for example, not only the motive of monotheism, but also polytheistic ideas that any natural, economic or social phenomenon, including an individual person, can have its patron (1 Wed Abkhazian fossilized formula: Syntsea iah (te) isto-boup, that is, “From my god who is with me is you (the spirit of the female deity)? According to the ideas of the heroes of the Balkar-Karachai Nart epic, each phenomenon or object - heaven, earth, water, fire, etc. - also has its own god (teiri), and these gods patronize the Narts, fulfill their desires, etc. (. Decree.oc. - pp. 14, 18 - 19).); that the deity can be both masculine and feminine supernatural principles; that any god and any spirit can be "bribed" and cajoled, win over with prayer, gifts and sacrifices, say to Jadzh - pumpkin and millet, Erysh - part of a cloth woven by women, Aytar - milk porridge, spirit of the mountains - with a metal arrowhead or other objects personal belongings (akukhs), the patron saint of the forge - by a goat or roosters, and the spirit of ancestors - by a bull and a libation of wine, etc.
Originally Abkhazian or rare, little found among other peoples, are, for example, the idea that iron and forge are carriers of mysterious power; views on the existence of the types of sacrifices most pleasing to the gods (heart, liver, head and skin of a sacrificial animal; special sacred wine, bread products in various forms, table salt, etc.). A prayer formula can be considered purely Abkhaz if it mentions two ancient Abkhazian princely families - Achba and Chachba: "May you all be alive, healthy and sick sweat will not come out of your faces until I collect all the Achbovs and Chachbovs and feed them with these pieces!"
One of the most distinctive is the idea of a certain collectivity of individual deities and patrons, acting more often in seven "persons" and at the same time, united in their plurality. Semidolny, or sevenfold, deities are, for example, the above-mentioned Ayrg-Azhveipshaa, Aitar, Afy, Shashvy. No less original is the idea of share deities or rather shares of deities - "antsvakhu". According to this peculiar pantheistic view, God is resolutely present in all things and phenomena, including each person has his own share in the image of the main, national god Antsva (syntseahu).
Abkhazia is included in the area of distribution of the Near Asian cult of the Great Mother, unique remnants of which occupy a large place in the folk religion of the Abkhaz. Speaking about the significance of this cult, one should first of all bear in mind the holding of a great pagan holiday - the annual August harvest day in "honor of the mother" (Nanhea). It is also characteristic that all sorts of celebrations, prayers, sanctuaries, etc. in general are called in Abkhaz a word based on "an" - mother: anykhva (anyhea) - a holiday, celebration, anykhvara (anyheara) - to create, offer prayer, glorify, anykha - a sanctuary, a shrine, etc. When considering this cult, like the above-mentioned goddess of field farming Jazhda, a comparison with the Colchis deity described by ancient authors with uncut hair - a symbol of fertility suggests itself (1 VDI, 2, 1952 .-- S. 305.}.
The religious thinking of the Abkhaz went through, one might say, two main stages of development - tribal and national, or ethnic. As for the last stage, after the adoption of Christianity by the Abkhaz in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. NS. (much later also Islam), the image of their main and only heavenly god-creator and almighty Antsva merges with the image of the creator of the official religion, although not to the same extent as the Adyghe rather faceless Tkhashkho, who, under the influence of Christianity, was imagined in three persons, and later began to be identified with Allah (2 Essays on the history of Adygea. - Maykop, 1957 .-- S. 272.}.
As can be seen from the foregoing, for a certain "reconstruction" of the community under study, along with the language indications, the data of comparative-historical ethnography are also of particular importance, and among them are those signs of similarity that, when encountered among the peoples being compared as signs of their specific common heritage, act at the same time and under general names. These include, for example, the Abkhaz-Adyg ethnographic identities and the closest analogies associated with dwellings (abkh. Ayuny, adyg. Unne), millet porridge (abkh. Abysta, adyg . guarte), community or clan (zhyle), the ancient half-forgotten heavenly deity Uashkho, worship of the god of thunder and lightning (Afy), accompanied by the same ritual song (abkh. Iatlar-Chopa, Adyg. Eleri-Shop); the ritual of spending the night near the patient (chapsh) and other phenomena identical in their content and verbal design, most of them going back to the period of linguistic unity, always presupposing an initial historical, ethnographic and theographic community. However, other essential features of the community noted above must certainly be taken into account, such as, for example, a separate room for girls in the parents' house; marriage building for a married son, hiding the groom for the first time after marriage, separate buildings for receiving guests, uniting peasants for joint cultivation of land and grazing cattle, similarity of the name and function of the patronymic group (“sons of such and such”); the same designation of the closest blood relatives ("dividing the supercritical chain"); identical reverence for the spirit of the mountains, the coincidence of the main images and motives of the Nart epic, the myth of the dwarfs, ideas about giants, etc.
In other words, the features of the common culture and life of the Abkhaz and Adygs, traced in all types historical sources both in modern times and in ancient times, they cover all aspects of their life - economy, material and spiritual culture, from language to epic and religious beliefs. Of course, many of these similarities are found among the surrounding peoples, because there are no impassable boundaries of cultural development (1 “Due to the interaction of cultures, as well as a certain cultural convergence in the development of peoples, the predominant part of ethnic characteristics in the sphere of culture is, so to speak, of a relative nature. They act as a common property of several ethnic units of the same type ”(. Ethnos and ethnography. - M., 1975. - S. 65).). But in their entirety, they are most characteristic of the community under consideration and testify to the unity of its carriers in early stages their ethnogenesis and ethnic history.
There is not enough data even for the relative chronology of such parallels. Of course, not all of the facts and phenomena considered arose at the same time. Many of them differ from each other - in place, time and conditions of historical origin. It can only be assumed that the most ancient of them are probably a relic of the prehistoric state of the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples, that is, that distant era when they constituted a single, ethnically still undivided community. At the same time, the limitations of the indisputable general terms, denoting the indicated parallels - just a few words - may indicate that the final design of identical or similar phenomena with their different names could have occurred only after the separation of the Abkhaz-Adyghe-Khattian linguistic unity, which, as some researchers assume, has already disintegrated somewhat millennia ago.
The material cited (mainly mythological-folklore-ethnographic) undoubtedly gives additional grounds to assert that the Abkhaz, Abaza, Ubykh and Adyghe peoples, which to this day (to the extent that they have survived) occupy the western part of the common Caucasian area, lead their origin from a single ethnolinguistic community in the distant past, that the roots of their entire historical development go back to one vast ethnocultural basis or source at one time. TO key indicators this community includes a single structure of their languages, a common vocabulary of more than 250 (1 ... Caucasian languages. - M., 1965 .-- S. 35.) foundations, the core of the ancient Nart epic, in general, many common features of mythology, archaic material and spiritual culture, family and religious life, which were summarized above. It was a special, ethnically basically homogeneous, territorially stretched historical and ethnographic region of kindred tribes almost throughout the entire eastern Black Sea region with its own historically developed complex of economic and cultural features.
The Abkhaz-Adyghe ethnocultural parallels are so numerous, covering all spheres of the historical life of these peoples, and are so expressive, often reaching the point of identity, that they are inexplicable without a common genetic source. If the Caucasian languages proper, including the Abkhaz-Adyghe ones, are "a relic of the once large family of languages that spread not only in the Caucasus, but also south of the Caucasus long before the appearance of Indo-European and Semitic languages here" (2 ... Introduction to linguistics . - M., 1953 .-- S. 224.), if their genetic relationship "is due to their origin from the prehistoric Abkhaz-Adyghe language-base" and "the main subgroups of these languages should have been mutually isolated very early" (3 ... Decree. op. - S. 35.), if, finally, “already by the III millennium BC. NS. the Abkhaz-Adyghe linguistic unity was divided into several dialects that differed from each other,
one of which was the Hutt language "(4 Viach. Sun. Ivanov. About the belonging of the Hatti (Hatti) language to the North-West Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe) family. - P. 2 (manuscript).), then in such cases the data of historical ethnography, as a rule, do not contradict the facts of the history of the language, but, on the contrary, correspond to them, substantially supplementing and reinforcing them, sharing with them a common (in our example, the Proto-Abkhaz-Adygo-Hatti) ethnicity ... And we can assume that the roots of some of the most ancient elements of the culture of the studied community go back millennia, maybe even during the period of the functioning and disintegration of a single language-base, and one is amazed at the extraordinary resilience (of course, not without changes) not only linguistic, but and certain, deeply archaic ethnographic forms and phenomena.
A comparative review of the traditional life of the Abkhaz and Adyghe peoples shows a complete coincidence of ethnographic affinity with linguistic unity. Commonality is manifested most of all in the ancient features of material and spiritual culture. It has little to do with the development of feudal or capitalist relations, with the spread of the Christian or Muslim religion, with other later influences (1 Such, for example, as common Arabisms: swindler - well done, duney - light, peace, universe, muhur - seal, namaz - prayer, salam - hello, khabar - news, message, story, etc.), but is rooted in time immemorial, thereby indicating the extreme prescription of the disintegration of that once united pranaroda, from which, as a result of long and complex ethnic processes, the compared ethnic groups emerged and consolidated.
Within the community being studied, the relationships of individual groups seem to be the most profound and especially close. So, for example, Abkhazians with Abazins and Kabardians have historically been the closest neighbors and have been in direct contact for a long time, forming closely related ethnocultural groups within the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples. Ethnic and spiritual kinship between them was accompanied by constant processes of interpenetration and assimilation of a part of one of these peoples to another.
Despite the significant territorial disunity of modern Abkhazians and Kabardians, the former of whom live in the northeastern part of the Black Sea region, and the latter in the Central Ciscaucasia, they are brought together by such essential elements of culture and life (in the past, direct ties of the Kabardians with the Western Abkhaz tribal group of Medovets, according to whose names they named all Abkhazians; the above-mentioned forms of collective organization of agricultural and shepherd labor, the presence of the same tribal groups in the population and a number of similar or identical tamgas, the lack of participation of the groom in the drive of his bride (2 S. X. Mafedzev. Decree. op. - S. 110.), the mythical procession of Akhin's sacred cow from the Sochi region towards the Kabardians, the thunder god under the name of Afa, etc.), which would be completely inexplicable without the assumption of direct all-round connections between the northwestern Abkhaz-Abaza tribes and the ancestors of the Kabardian people who lived in the medieval the past in the regions adjacent to Western Abkhazia. It may well be that we have before us not only intensive contacts that lasted from ancient times until the mature Middle Ages, when with the resettlement of the Kabardians to their present habitats, their direct communication with the Abkhaz tribes ceased, but also a special ethnic affinity, a relationship of some deeper character ...
It must have been no coincidence that the often quoted words of the document were said that the Abaza had moved to the North Caucasus "with the preliminary consent of the Kabardians, who ceded part of their lands to them." Abaza (Tapant) princes paid tribute to Kabardians: Dudarukovtsy, Klychevtsy and Kyachevtsy - Atazhukin, Biberdovtsy and part of Loovtsy - Zhambulatov, another part of Loovtsy and Dzhantemirovtsy - Misostov, etc. the process of assimilation of a part of the Abaza, as a smaller group, by the Kabardians. “At present, many of the okabardinized descendants of various Tapanta tribes (for example, in the village of Malka) live in Kabarda,” he wrote.
A more particular example deserves mention. Inal is considered the ancestor of the Kabardian princes. He arrived in Kabarda from the Black Sea coast, more precisely, from the same northwestern part of Abkhazia, not earlier, as he believed, in the 15th century. and was in close relations with the main Abkhaz princes - Achba and Chachba. Itself, apparently, also belonged to another Abkhazian (Sadz, or Dzhiget) principality of the Tsanba clan (Inal-Tsandiya of the Georgian chronicles), which dominated the Tsandripsha region (modern Gantiadi). According to legend, Inal was buried in Abkhazia in the Pskhu tract on Bzybi, where the dwelling place of the formidable deity revered by the Abkhaz under the name Inal-Kuba, i.e. the Tomb of Inal, is located.
As a working hypothesis, we can assume the existence of a certain connection between the above-mentioned movement of the Kabardians from the regions adjacent to Abkhazia in the northeastern direction with the period of the most active foreign policy activity of the Abkhazian kingdom (late 8th - late 10th centuries). His many different ties in this region, the closest relationship with kindred Adyghe remain poorly covered in the special literature. But since the western borders of this kingdom sometimes reached, as is known, almost to the Kuban, there is reason to assume that the territory of the original habitation of the Kabardians was to some extent included in the indicated powerful multi-tribal public education, and the Kabardians themselves were, perhaps, the main allied force in its expansion in the North Caucasus, which, however, deserves further special study.
ABKHAZO-ADYG LANGUAGES (North-West Caucasian languages), the western branch of the North Caucasian languages. Distributed in Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Abkhazia, as well as in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the USA (see Abkhaz-Adyghe). The number of speakers of the Abkhaz-Adyg language in Russian Federation- 764.5 thousand people. Abkhaz-Adyghe languages are divided into Abkhaz-Abaza (Abkhazian and Abaza languages) and Adyghe (Adyghe and Kabardino-Circassian languages) groups; the Ubykh language occupies an intermediate position between them.
The phonetic structure of the Abkhaz-Adyg language is characterized by extreme poverty of vowels and a wealth of consonants (up to 80 phonemes), including labialized, palatalized, noisy lateral (l-l-lI), sibilant-hissing (zh-sh-shI), uvular. The occlusives are characterized by a three-membered system of voiceless aspirated, voiced and abruptive (type b-n-nI). Ablaut is functioning.
Morphologically, the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages belong to agglutinative languages. Nominal morphology is relatively simple compared to verb morphology. The names distinguish between the categories of possessiveness, certainty-uncertainty, number. In the Abkhaz-Abaza languages there is no category of case, in the Adyghe languages there are absolutive (nominative), ergative, instrumental and transformative cases. In the Abkhaz-Abaza languages, the grammatical category of the class of a person and a thing (non-human) is presented (see Nominal classes), the class of a person is divided into subclasses of men and women: the middle Abkhazian "uara" 'you' (about a man) - "bara" 'you' ( about a woman).
The whole group distinguishes between dynamic and static, finite and infinite verbs, local and directional preverbs (see Affix). The personal affixes of the subject and object (direct and indirect) are included in the verb, have a strict order of arrangement, depending on the transitivity-intransitivity of the verb. The verb also includes indicators of causative, union, compatibility, version, negation, affirmation, temporal and modal indicators, etc. In general, the verb is extremely complex, often the verb form includes 10 or more morphemes, which determines the polysynthetic structure of the Abkhaz-Adyg language. By origin, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions and particles are associated with significant parts of speech. There are no prepositions, their role is performed by postpositions, the latter are especially diverse in the Abkhaz and Abaza languages, where the absence of cases is compensated by a developed postpositional system.
Abkhaz-Adyghe languages - languages of the ergative system; middle Adyghe "Ar ash ezhe" ‘He is waiting for him’ (nominative construction) - “Asch ar eche” ‘He leads him’ (ergative construction). Functions clauses perform verb forms, including circumstances, affixes in the meanings ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’, ‘where’; middle Abkhazian "d-a-h-gylaz" ‘where he stood’, “d-a-h-niz” ‘where did he come’.
The basic word order is "subject + object + predicate." Word order is especially important in the Abkhaz and Abaza languages, where there is no case category.
In the borrowed vocabulary, Russisms prevail (and words borrowed through the Russian language); there are also many Arabisms, Farsisms and Turkisms.
With the exception of the unwritten Ubykh language, the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages are young-written.
The study of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages began at the end of the 18th century (I. A. Guldenshtedt, P. K. Uslar, L. Ya. Lyul'e, I. Gratsilevsky, Sh. B. Nogmov, later L. G. Lopatinsky, Kazi Atazhukin); a significant contribution to the study of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages was made by N.S. Trubetskoy, D.A. Ashkhamaf, N.F. Yakovlev, G.V. Rogava, K.V. Lomtatidze, Z.I. Kerasheva and others.
Lit .: Rogava G.V. Abkhazian-Adyghe languages // Languages of the peoples of the USSR. M., 1967. T. 4; Balkarov B.Kh. Introduction to the Abkhaz-Adyghe linguistics. Nalchik, 1979; Kumakhov M.A., Shatrov A.K. Abkhazian-Adyghe languages // Languages of Asia and Africa. M., 1979. T. 3; Chi rikba V. A. Common West Caucasian: the reconstruction of its phonological system and parts of its lexicon and morphology. Leiden 1996; Shagirov A.K. Abkhazian-Adyghe languages // Languages of the world. Caucasian languages. M., 1999.
O. Kh.Bgazhba, S.Z. Lakoba
HISTORY OF ABKHAZIA
FROM ANCIENT TIME TO DAYS
Introduction
Origin of the Abkhaz people
The origin of the Abkhaz and their place among other peoples of the world has long been of interest to researchers. There are not so many written sources from which they draw their knowledge. And archeology without the availability of appropriate written data cannot paint a true picture of the origin of the people. The possibilities of ethnology and anthropology are further narrowed down. Experts believe that the language is a kind of unwritten chronicle of the centuries-old memory of the people. It carries information about economic activities, the way of life of distant ancestors, about their connections with other peoples and many other interesting information. All this helps to understand the linguistic kaleidoscope of the peoples of the Caucasus, which, due to the mountainous landscape, played a conservative role in contrast to the open steppes. Therefore, the Caucasus is one in its many-sidedness and many-sided in its unity, which must always be taken into account. It is recognized that the Abkhaz language is one of the oldest languages in the world. Together with other closely related languages (Abazin, Ubykh, Adyghe, Circassian, Kabardian) it forms the West Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe) language group, numbering today several million people.
The Abkhaz-Adyghe group of languages is related in origin to the East Caucasian languages (Vainakh and Dagestan). Both of these groups form a single Caucasian family of languages.
Researchers of the Abkhaz language note that it is the most difficult for outsiders. Until recently, a special "forest" or "hunting" language existed among the Abkhaz-Adygs in the hunting environment.
Hutt kinship... The breakup of the Abkhaz-Adyghe proto-language into three main branches (Abkhaz-Adygs-Ubykhs) began, as it is believed, about 5 thousand years ago. IN modern science the hypothesis about the kinship of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages with the Hatti language, whose speakers lived in Asia Minor (on the territory of modern Turkey), was widely recognized. The famous monuments of Maikop (up to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC) and megalithic (dolmens, cromlechs - the second half of the 3rd millennium BC .) archaeological cultures. The well-known "Maikop", "Esher" epigraphic inscriptions can also testify to the traditional ties of the Abkhaz-Adygs with ancient Eastern civilizations. The signs of these texts show a certain similarity both with the writings found in the Bible (XIII century BC), in Phenicia, and with the signs of the Hittite hieroglyphic writing (II-I millennium BC).
The people, who spoke the proto-language of the Abkhaz-Adygs, were engaged in agriculture, raised livestock, made various handicrafts, and processed metals. This is confirmed by archaeological materials from Abkhazia. There is an opinion that the Hutts were the inventors of iron metallurgy and that their name iron got into many languages of the world (from it, in particular, comes Russian word"iron"). In favor of the fact that the speakers of the proto-language lived in approximately the same conditions in which the present Abkhaz-Adygs live and were formed within the West Caucasian territory, they say such words as: "sea", "coast", "fish", "mountain (wooded ) "," Forest (deciduous) "," forest (coniferous) "," fir "," beech "," dogwood "," chestnut ", etc. The toponymic names also speak of the same. For example, the names of rivers that include the element "dogs" - water, river (Aripsa, Supsa, Akampsis, Apsar, Lagumpsa), as well as words with the name "kua" - "ravine", "gully", "river", etc. And the data of the archeology of Abkhazia testify to the continuity of local cultures in time and space before and after the mention of the ancient Abkhaz tribes in ancient written sources in the first centuries of our era.
Ecological niche and ethnogenesis of ancient Abkhazians... In the origin of peoples, the role of natural conditions (features) should also be taken into account, i.e. geographic environment. For the history of the Abkhaz-Adygs, the conservative and differentiating processes that took place in the West Caucasian gorges and mountain passes were very important.
Linguistic decays usually occur during the movement of some of the speakers of the proto-language to another geographically isolated (mountains, rivers) area - the so-called ecological niche.
There is an opinion that the ancestral home of the Abkhaz-Adygs was the Colchis ecological niche and the adjacent northeastern regions of Asia Minor, where in the second - early first millennia BC. NS. Kashki-Abeshla, akin to the Abkhaz-Adygs, lived (most likely they spoke the Hatti language). At the same time, perhaps, there was a movement along the coast through the eastern Black Sea corridor (Meoto-Colchis road) and through the passes of the direct linguistic ancestors of the Circassians to the northern slopes of the Western Caucasus. At the same time, the ancestors of the Ubykh zikhs occupied a niche between the Gagra ridge and Tuapse, connected with the neighboring territories by difficult-season paths. The Pra-Abkhaz tribes, as the primary part of the community, continued to dwell in Colchis, where they were found by ancient authors in the person of the Apsils, Abasgs and Sanigi. Experts believe that cultural advances from Colchis along the Black Sea coast to the Eastern Transcaucasia and to the northern slopes of the Central Caucasus reach their peak in the 9th-8th centuries. BC NS. This time coincides with the heyday of the "Colchis-Koban metallurgical province". As for the ancient Kartvelian tribes: Kardu-Karta, Kulkha-Kolkh, Lusha-Laz, etc., there is an opinion that even before the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. NS. lived in the northeastern regions of Asia Minor. And only then these tribes advanced through the gorge of the river. Chorokhi along the coast or along the gorge of the river. Kura to the Colchis ecological niche. The historical plausibility of this option may be indicated by the primacy in the Transcaucasus before the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. NS. the pre-North Caucasian "Hurrian-Urartian" element, akin to the East Caucasian languages (Nakh-Dagestan).
Speaking about the origin of the Abkhaz people, it is important to always remember that since the settlement of the Western Caucasus by man, southern influences traditionally prevailed here - from Asia Minor. From there, in ancient times, the speakers of the Abkhaz-Adyghe proto-language moved to the West Caucasian valleys.
Considering the geographical factor and many others, one should not forget that no nation can develop independently, without interaction with other, neighboring nations. Abkhazians are no exception in this respect.
Bridge between Europe and Asia... The territory inhabited by Abkhazians has always served as a kind of bridge between the North Caucasus and the Black Sea coast. The second direction of communications was determined by the sea, along the shores of which ships moved towards Asia Minor and the Crimea. In this regard, one can recall such coastal civilizations as, for example: Greece, Rome, Byzantium, Genoa, with which the ancient ancestors of the Abkhaz were also in close contact (by the way, in the village of Tamysh, a clay model of a boat was found in the layer of the 8th century BC . NS.). An important role was also played by the fact that the base of the triangle of the space occupied by the Abkhaz was open to influences from the southeast, from where the piedmont “Abkhazian road” led, which was used by merchants and conquerors. Perhaps in late middle ages this path was protected by the Great Abkhazian (Kelasur) Wall, as can be seen from its configuration, the architectural features of the towers and curtains themselves (the fortress wall between the towers), as well as the accompanying archaeological material.
Geniochian Union of Tribes and its components... The population of Abkhazia and adjacent regions, as evidenced by ancient written sources, was in the 1st millennium BC. NS. quite powerful and at the same time motley union of the Geniochian tribes. However, they were close to each other linguistically and culturally. At least the ancient cities of Dioscuriada (modern Sukhum) and Phasis (modern Poti) were in the land of the Geniokhs.
In the first centuries of our era, the Geniohian union broke up into smaller ancient Abkhaz tribes: Sanigov, Abasgs, Apsils (the latter gave the Abkhaz the self-name Aps-Wa). In the VI century. n. NS. the Misimians emerged from the Apsils. At this time, the ethnopolitical border between the ancient Abkhaz and ancient Kartvelian tribes (Laz) passed approximately along the river. Ingur. It was like that in the 7th - early 8th centuries, before the formation of the Abkhazian kingdom. In the I-VI centuries. all of the listed ancient Abkhaz tribal associations were early class state formations ("princedoms" or "kingdoms") - Sanigia, Apsilia, Abasgia and Misiminia (from the 6th century). They became the basis for the formation of the first Abkhazian (Abasgian) principality, and then the Abkhazian kingdom (VIII century). This was facilitated by the rallying of the ancient Abkhaz tribes, which led to the creation of a single Abkhaz feudal nation - a common ancestor of both the Abkhaz and the Abaza (this process could have begun as early as the 7th century, or maybe a little earlier, after the official adoption of Christianity in Abkhazia in 30-50 biennium VI century). It should be remembered that during the period of the "kingdom of the Abkhaz and Kartlians", at the end of the 12th century, at the royal court, the language of the ancestors of the modern Abkhaz (apsars - apsua) was well known and respected.
Subsequently, the ancestors of a part of the modern Abaza (tapanta), crossing the spurs of the Main Caucasian ridge, settled in the valleys of the North Caucasus devastated from the Mongol invasion. Resettlement there of another tribe of Abazins - Ashkharts, who call themselves Apsua, i.e. Abkhazians, happened even later. Therefore, the speech of the Ashkharts, in contrast to the Tapanti, is less different from the Abkhaz. In a word, the Abkhaz and Abazins actually speak close dialects of the common Abkhaz-Abaza language.
So today you can briefly imagine the rather complex process of the origin of the Abkhaz people, one of the most ancient peoples in the world.
Bgazhba O. Kh., Lakoba S. Z. History of Abkhazia from ancient times to the present day. M., 2007
2002).
Hypotheses about related languages
The most popular point of view is that the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages are related to the Nakh-Dagestan languages, with which they jointly form the North Caucasian superfamily. According to an alternative point of view, the relationship with the Nakh-Dagestan languages is acquired due to their close proximity and is limited mainly by vocabulary, while at the level of morphology and phonetics there are significant differences.
The Hutt language hypothesis
A slightly different version. In the last works of A.S. Kasyan, 2009-2010, arguments are given in favor of the opinion that, according to the glottochronological analysis, the Proto-Abkhaz-Adyg and Hutt languages existed at the same time and should be attributed to different branches of the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, the collapse of which falls on the middle of the 11th millennium BC. NS. As a result of this disintegration, two large branches were formed: the proto-language of Sino-Tibeto-Na-Dene and the proto-language of the North Caucasian-Basque and Yenisei-Burushaski. Then the collapse of the second branch of the North Caucasian-Basque and Yenisei-Burushaskaya occurred in the second half of the 9th millennium BC. NS. Kassian brings the Hutt language closer to the proto-language of the Yenisei-Burushaski. The North Caucasian-Basque branch disintegrates in the first half of the 7th millennium BC. NS. to the Basque and North Caucasian branches. The disintegration of the North Caucasian proto-language into the Proto-West Caucasian and Proto-East Caucasian occurred around 3800 BC. BC. In turn, the disintegration of the Proto-West Caucasian language into the Abkhaz-Abaza, Ubykh and Adyg branches took place around 640 BC. Further, in turn, the disintegration of the single Abkhaz-Abaza language into Abkhaz and Abaza took place around 1080 AD, and the disintegration of the Adyg language into Western (Adyghe) and Eastern (Kabardian) dialects refers to 960 AD. Thus, as mentioned above, in the same period with the Hutt language (2nd millennium BC) there was a separate Proto-West Caucasian language, which gave rise to all Abkhaz-Adyghe languages.
Hypothesis of relationship with the Mitanni language
Anchabadze Yu.D. in his Review of: Caucasian ethnographic collection VII // Soviet ethnography, No. 6, 1982., where the article by Professor A. K. Gleye "On the prehistory of the North Caucasian languages" (published in 1907) was given, finds the following conclusions of A.K. Gleye convincing that:
- tribes related to the Abkhaz-Circassian, in ancient times lived and farther south, up to Mesopotamia. To prove this, he turns to the Mitanni language and compares it lexically and grammatically with the Abkhaz-Circassian.
- the Mitanni language occupies a middle place between the Abkhaz-Circassian and Nakh-Dagestan languages.
The hypothesis of the existence of the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily of languages
Classification
Adygskaya branch
The Adyg (Circassian) group includes two closely related languages, which are sometimes considered adverbs of a single Adyghe language. In particular, the self-names of both languages are the same - adyge (bze).
- Adyghe language(adygabze) - now widespread in northern and eastern regions Republic of Adygea and some mountain valleys along the Black Sea coast (Shapsug dialect). Up to 90% of Western Adygs were involved in Caucasian Muhajirism, and now they make up almost 80% of Turkish Circassians. However, in the ancestral lands of the Caucasus, the language was preserved better, and the linguistic statistics are as follows: 129 419 people. in RF (2002).
- Kabardino-Circassian language(adygebze) is one of the official languages of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. In Russia, they speak it: Kabardians and Circassians, 587,547 people in total. The latter include the remnants of the Beslenei, whose dialect occupies an intermediate position between the Adyghe and Kabardino-Circassian languages. Many Kabardians live in the diaspora.
In the diaspora, Adyghe and Kabardino-Circassian are considered one language, called the Circassian language.
Abkhaz-Abaza branch
The Abkhaz-Abaza languages are also quite close to each other and include the following languages:
- Abkhazian language(aҧsua byzshǝa, aҧsshǝa) - official language The Republic of Abkhazia (Apsny), a partially recognized state, where more than 90 thousand people speak it. However, if in 1989 they accounted for only 17.8% of the population of Abkhazia, then after the Georgian-Abkhaz war (1992-93), in 1995 - more than half. In the Caucasus, speakers of only two dialects (Abzhui and Bzyp) remained, speakers of others (Sadz and Akhchips) were deported to the Ottoman Empire.
- Abaza language(Abaza byzshva) is the official language of Karachay-Cherkessia, where it is spread in the north of the republic. Three auls speak the Ashkhar dialect, and about ten more speak Tapant. Before the Caucasian War, the Abaza inhabited many parts of modern Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as the by-law part of the Mostovsky district of the Krasnodar Territory. In total, 38,247 people speak it in Russia.
Genetically, the Abkhaz-Abaza languages are close enough to each other to be considered adverbs of the same language. At the same time, the Ashkhar dialect of Abaza is closer to the Abkhazian than to the Tapant dialect. This is conventionally shown in the diagram above.
Ubykh branch
The fate of the last Abkhaz-Adyghe language - Ubykhsky(a-t ° axə) turned out to be more sad. The Ubykhs lived along the shores of the Black Sea between the Sadzes and Shapsugs - where the resort town of Sochi is now located. Being active participants in the Caucasian War, they were completely evicted after the defeat of the highlanders. In the Ottoman Empire, they settled with the Adygs and subsequently switched to their language: the last speaker of the Ubykh language, Tevfik Esench, died in the village of Khadzhiosman (on the shores of the Sea of Marmara in Turkey) on October 7, 1992. However, the Ubykhs themselves are still alive, and there are about 10,000 of them in Turkey. There is a movement for the restoration of the language and even for the development of its literary form. Ubykhsky is considered one of the record holders in terms of sound diversity: according to experts, there are up to 80 consonant phonemes in it.
History
The Adygo-Abkhazian languages are primordially widespread in the Western and Central Caucasus, on both sides of the Main Caucasian ridge. Little is known about their life in ancient time... The most probable ancestors of the Adyghe-Abkhazians were Meots, which were widespread in ancient times in the northwestern Caucasus. After the crushing campaigns of the Huns and Goths-tetraxites, the Meotian tribes were pushed back to the mountainous regions of Trans-Kuban, and the very name of the Meots disappeared altogether. It was replaced by the tribes of Zikhs, Kasogs ( kashak) and Abazgs - the names of large local tribes. Perhaps the Taurians, a tribe that lived in the Crimea during the era of Greek colonization, also belonged to the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples.
The devastating invasions of the Tatar-Mongols in the XIII and the hordes of Tamerlane in the XIV centuries, after which the Adygean tribes took refuge in the inaccessible mountain valleys, became another blow to the entire North Caucasus. The ancestors of the Abkhaz, Abazins, Ubykhs and Black Sea Circassians lived on the other side of the Caucasian ridge along the Black Sea coast. But there was not enough space in the mountains, and as soon as it became calmer around, part of the Circassians moved to the east (approx. XIII-XIV centuries), laying the foundation for the Kabardian ethnos. Groups of Abaza began to move to the liberated lands from the south, from behind the Caucasian ridge - at first tapanta(which means in translation "inhabitants of the plain"), and then asharaua("highlanders"), who occupied part of the territory of modern Karachay-Cherkessia. Later, already in the 18th century, some of the Kabardians returned and settled in the north of modern Karachay-Cherkessia, receiving the name "fugitive" Kabardians. Already in Soviet times, the ethnonym "Circassians" was entrenched in them, which had previously denoted all Circassians in general.
In the second half of the 19th century, all the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples, to one degree or another, experienced another great disaster - the so-called. muhajirism, or the forcible resettlement of a significant part of them within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. As a result, Natukhais, Khatukaevs, Yegerukais, Mamkhegs, Makhoshevs, Abadzeks (1 aul remained), Shapsugs, Sadzov, Ubykhs, Besleneis (4 auls), mountain (Pskhu, Dal, Tsebelda) and Gum Abkhazians remained in the Caucasus at all or almost none. The mountainous strip of the northwestern Caucasus was completely depopulated and was subsequently settled by immigrants from other regions of Russia and the Ottoman Empire (Armenians, Greeks), and the deserted regions of Abkhazia - also by Mingrelians, Svans and Georgians.
However, the new homeland turned out to be not very welcoming: thousands of muhajirs, often stationed in desert places, died of hunger and disease. The fate of the native language was even less fortunate. By direct and indirect methods, the Turkish government supplanted any minority languages, and only recently, in an effort to meet European standards, Turkey made some indulgences. However, even now, none of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages has an official status in Turkey, is not taught at school, and in fact has no written language. Official statistics say about a little more than 100 thousand speakers (speaking the language) of the Adyghe language (where it is considered as one language) and 12 thousand speakers of Abkhaz, while there are about a million ethnic Adygs and Abaza Abkhazians, and the number of people , one way or another being the descendants of the muhajirs, reaches several million.
Grammatical characteristic
In typological terms, the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages are quite close to each other. The most striking features of their grammar are as follows:
- extremely poor vocalism with a very rich consonantism. In the Adyghe languages there are three basic vowel phonemes / a, ə, ɨ / (a, e, s), and in the Ubykh, Abkhazian and Abaza - only two - / a, ɨ / (a, s). At the same time, in live pronunciation, each of these phonemes has several pronunciation allophones (variants) depending on the surrounding consonants, which is partially transmitted by spelling.
- The number of consonants varies from 45 in Kabardian to 80 in Ubykh. Such a huge number is due to the fact that in these languages there are several additional articulations added to the basic set of consonants. So, in Ubykh there are “only” 44 basic consonants, many of which can be pharyngealized, palatalized (“softened”) and labialized (“rounded”). The result is a set of 80 phonemes. In addition to the abruptive (nӀ, tӀ, kӀ, tsӀ), lateral (lӀ, lъ), uvular (хъ, къ, гъ) and pharyngeal (Ӏ, хь) consonants common for the Caucasus, such rare sounds as alveo-palatal ("lisping") (шъ, шӀ, жъ) and abruptive spirants (фӀ, шӀ, ш). For such a large number of consonants, of course, there are not enough letters of the Russian alphabet (which these languages use). Different languages solve this problem in different ways: Abkhaz followed the path of using additional letters by modifying the existing ones and adding new ones, and the rest - more usual for the Caucasus - by using special additional characters ъ, ь,, у. For correspondences between letters and phonemes for consonants in the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages, see the article about the graphics of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages.
- In morphology, the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages are distinguished by a rich verbal inflection, or polysyntheticism. One verb root can be attached a large number of prefixes and suffixes with a specific meaning and a fixed place, as a result of which a whole sentence can be transmitted in one word. With the help of concordant verbs of the ergative system Writing
Until the beginning of the 19th century, none of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages had a written language. But according to some reports, the researchers of the Maikop culture came to the conclusion about the most ancient writing of the Abkhaz-Adyg group, which was later lost. After joining Russia, numerous, but rather scattered attempts are made to develop and apply a writing system for individual Abkhaz-Adyghe languages based on the Cyrillic and Arabic letters. After establishing Soviet power for the Adyghe languages, the alphabets on the Arabic basis are centrally introduced. In 1923 Kabardian, and in 1926-1927. - Abkhazian, Adyghe and Abaza are translated into the Latin alphabet, which was used until 1936-1938. After that, the Abkhaz alphabet was transferred to the Georgian basis,
- Shagirov A.K. Abkhaz-Adyghe languages // Languages of the world. Caucasian languages. M., 1999.
- Chirikba V. A. Common West Caucasian. The reconstruction of its phonological system and parts of its lexicon and morphology. Leiden, 1996.
- Gabunia Z.M. Russian linguistic science in the formation and development of Caucasian linguistics, Vladikavkaz, 2011 .-- 518 p.
- Gabunia Z.M. Small languages in the third millennium and the processes of globalization / co-authored with R. Gusman Tirado / - Vladikavkaz, 2010.
- Gabunia Z.M. Minority languages in modern world... Caucasian languages / co-authored with R. Guzman Tirado / - M: Academy of Sciences of Russia, 2002.
The Adygs are an ethnic community that currently includes the Adyghe, Kabardians, Circassians and Shapsugs. The number of the Adyghe population of the Russian Federation is 559.7 thousand people. In addition, the Adygs live in many countries of the world, mainly in the Near and Middle East, where they are usually called Circassians. Here the Adyghe peoples are settled compactly and also include Abkhazians, Abazins, Ossetians and other people from the North Caucasus. The total number of Adygs is over 1 million people. By religion, they are all Sunni Muslims. Languages - Adyghe and Kabardino-Circassian. According to other classifications, one Adyghe language is distinguished, including the Western Adyg dialect group (the Adyghe language with dialects) and the Eastern Adyg group (dialects of the Kabardino-Circassian language).
Kabardians (self-name Adyge; 386.1 thousand people) live in Kabardino-Balkaria (363.5 thousand people), as well as in the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories and North Ossetia. Total number within the former USSR about 391 thousand people The Kabardian language is divided into dialects: Big Kabarda (its Baksan dialect formed the basis of the literary Kabardino-Circassian language), Mozdok, Besleneev and Kuban (a dialect of Kabardians living in Adygea); the Malokabardinian dialect also stands out as part of the dialect of Greater Kabarda. Kabardians are Sunni Muslims, but the Mozdok group of people are mostly Orthodox Christians.
Adyghe people (self-name Adyge; 122.9 thousand people) live in Adygea (95.4 thousand people), as well as in the neighboring districts of Krasnodar Territory (20.8 thousand people). Some of the Adyghe people live in Turkey and other countries of the Middle East. Until the beginning of the XX century. There were the following sub-ethnic groups: Abadzekhs, Besleneevs, Bzhedugs, Zhaneevs, Egerukhais, Mamkhegs, Makhoshevs, Natukhai, Temirgoevs, Khatukais, Shapsugs, Khakuchi. The West Adyg dialect group includes four dialects: Timirgoy (which forms the basis of the Adyghe literary language), Abadzekh, Bzhedug and, most peculiar, Shapsug.
Circassians (self-name Adyge; 50.8 thousand people) live in 17 auls of Karachay-Cherkessia (40.2 thousand people), as well as in the countries of South-West Asia and North Africa, where they moved in the second half of the 19th century. The Circassians have a common literary language with the Kabardians.
Shapsugs currently stand out as an independent people. In 1992, it was decided to create the Shapsugsky national region. The current number of Shapsugs is about 10 thousand people. They live in Tuapse and Lazarevsky districts of Krasnodar Territory and in small groups in Adygea.
Abkhazians (self-name Apsua; 7.3 thousand people) - indigenous population Abkhazia (93.3 thousand people). They also live in Turkey, Syria, Jordan and in some countries Western Europe, USA. Dialects of the Abkhaz language are Abzhuy and Bzybsky. Abkhaz believers are Orthodox Christians and Sunni Muslims.
Abaza (self-name Abaza; 33 thousand people) settled in Karachay-Cherkessia (27.5 thousand). They also live in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon (about 10 thousand people). The total number is about 44 thousand people. The language, closely related to Abkhaz, has two dialects (corresponding to two sub-ethnic groups): Tapant (which is the basis of the literary language) and Ashkhar. The Tapanta dialect occupies a special place in the Abkhaz-Abaza linguistic community, while Ashkhar is close to the Abkhaz language. The Kabardino-Circassian language is also widespread.
Some researchers speak of a single Abkhaz-Abaza language and its dialects. An intermediate position between the Adyghe and Abkhaz-Abaza languages is occupied by the now almost dead Ubykh language. Only a few people remember him - the descendants of the Ubykh mahajirs living in Western Turkey. The Ubykhs that remain today have been completely assimilated either by the Abkhaz or by the Adyghe-Shapsugs.
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