Alanic language
| Alanic | |
|---|---|
| Alanian | |
The Zelenchuk Inscription, an inscription in Alanic. | |
| Native to | Alania, the Kingdom of the Alans in Hispania and the Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans |
| Region | North Caucasus, Pontic–Caspian steppe, Balkan peninsula, parts of Late Roman Gaul, Iberia and the Maghreb |
| Ethnicity | Alans |
| Era | 1st–13th century AD developed into Ossetian and Jassic |
Indo-European
| |
| unwritten, rarely Greek | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:xln – Alanicoos – Old Ossetic |
xln | |
oos | |
| Glottolog | oldo1234 Old Ossetic |
Alanic, also known as Alanian, was an Iranian language spoken by the Alans from about the 1st to the 13th centuries AD, a dialect directly descended from the earlier Scytho-Sarmatian languages, which would in turn give rise to the Ossetian language. Byzantine Greek authors recorded only a few fragments of this language. The Alans who moved westward in the Migration Period brought their language to Iberia and to the Maghreb in 409 AD, before being displaced by the invading Visigoths and by the Byzantine Empire.
Unlike Pontic Scythian, Ossetian did not experience the evolution of the Proto-Scythian sound /d/ to /ð/ and then /l/, although the sound /d/ did evolve into /ð/ at the beginning of Ossetian words.
According to Magomet Isayev, the Zelenchuk inscription and other historical data give reason to assume that in the 10th–13th centuries, the Alans already had their own unique written language based on the Greek alphabet. However, subsequent historical events resulted in this written tradition being lost. William of Rubruck, who met the Alans in the 13th century, mentioned that they had Greek writing.
After the Mongols destroyed the Alan state in the northern Caucasus in 1240, some Alans retreated to the mountains of the Caucasus and mixed with the indigenous population, becoming the modern-day Ossetians and their language developing into the Ossetian language.