The Ossetians (Ossetic: ирæттæ, irættæ) are an Iranic ethnic group indigenous to Ossetia, a region that spans the Caucasus Mountains. The Ossetians mostly populate North Ossetia-Alania in Russia, and South Ossetia which is now de facto independent from Georgia. They speak Ossetic, an Indo-European language of the Iranian branch, although nearly all also speak Russian as a second language. The Ossetians are mostly Christian, with a Muslim minority...
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The Ossetians (Ossetic: ирæттæ, irættæ) are an Iranic ethnic group indigenous to Ossetia, a region that spans the Caucasus Mountains. The Ossetians mostly populate North Ossetia-Alania in Russia, and South Ossetia which is now de facto independent from Georgia. They speak Ossetic, an Indo-European language of the Iranian branch, although nearly all also speak Russian as a second language. The Ossetians are mostly Christian, with a Muslim minority (see: Digor).
The Russian geographic name "Ossetia" and the corresponding ethnic designation "Ossetians" comes from a Georgian root.
The Russians originally called the Ossetians Yas (ясы), possibly related to their contact with Jazones.
In Late Antiquity, records became much more diffuse and the Iazyges generally ceased to be mentioned as a tribe. In the Middle Ages an Iranian people appeared in Eastern-Europe, the Jazones. The Jazones, or Jász, an Ossetic people who migrated to Hungary, are first mentioned in Hungarian records in the year...
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