| 释义 |
Ossetian, n. and a.|ɒˈsiːʃən|
Also Ossetan |-ˈiːtən|, Osset(e) |ˈɒsɛt, -iːt|, Ossetic |ɒˈsɛtɪk|.
[f. Russ. osetín, f. Georgian os, oset‘i Ossetia (place-name) + -ian.]
A. n.
a. A member of a people of the Central Caucasus, inhabiting North Ossetia (the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and South Ossetia (an Autonomous Oblast of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic).
b. The language of this people, one of the Eastern Iranian group.
1814[see Chechen]. 1841[see Median n.2 2]. 1869C. Engel Examples of Art Workmanship 4 The Ossetes, or Ossetines, are an Indo-Germanic race dwelling in Central Caucasus. They call themselves Irôn; Oseti is the name given to them by the Georgians and other neighbouring nations. 1888J. Wright tr. Brugmann's Elem. Compar. Gram. Indo-Gmc. Lang. I. 5 Ossetian (spoken in the neighbourhood of the Caucasus). 1902[see Ingush]. 1913[see Alan2]. 1925P. Radin tr. Vendryès's Language ii. 38 This phenomenon [sc. sound-shifting] is found in other languages besides the Germanic: in Armenian, for example, and in Ossetic. 1933C. D. Buck Compar. Gram. Greek & Latin 8 Modern Iranian is represented by..the isolated Ossetan in the Caucasus. 1933L. Bloomfield Language iv. 62 An isolated offshoot [of Iranian], far to the west is Ossete, in the Caucasus, spoken by some 225,000 persons. 1933N. & Q. CLXIV. 192/1 Ossetian is a modern Iranian vernacular, spoken by the Ossetes, a tribe in central Caucasus. 1944G. A. Nebolsine tr. Vernadsky's Hist. Russia (rev. ed.) i. 16 The Caucasian Alans were called As or Os—a name which their descendants, the Ossetians, still bear. 1959B. Geiger et al. Peoples & Lang. Caucasus 47 Ossetian has the status of a literary language. 1964R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics viii. 328 Georgian, Armenian, and Ossetic, languages spoken in contiguous regions, but belonging to different families, Armenian and Ossetic being I-E languages, and Georgian one of the members of the Caucasian family. 1965G. Y. Shevelov Prehist. of Slavic 615 Ossetian, the language which to a certain degree continues the Ir[anian] dialects north of the Black Sea, is known only in its modern form. 1970D. A. Rustow in Cambr. Hist. Islam I. iv. vi. 691 The neighbouring Circassians, Chechens and Ossetians proved almost equally tenacious. 1971L. Zgusta et al. Man. Lexicogr. vii. 300 The glosses would probably be given in Ossetic, the dictionary being determined for the Ossetes.
B. adj. Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
1877A. H. Keane tr. Hovelacque's Sci. of Lang. v. 207 The Ossetian declension is fuller than the Persian. 1910Encycl. Brit. V. 552/2 The Mamison Pass, over which runs the Ossetic military road (made passable for vehicles in 1889)..lies at an altitude of 9270 ft. 1932Times Lit. Suppl. 2 June 398/4 Joseph..Jugashvili (otherwise Koba, otherwise Stalin) was the son of a Georgian father and an Ossetian mother. 1953R. G. Kent Old Persian (ed. 2) 7 The Ossetic dialects, in the general region of the Caucasus; derived from the Scythian of Southern Russia. 1962D. M. Lang Mod. Hist. Georgia i. 9 The Ossetian Military Road runs northward from Kutaisi towards the Mamison Pass. Ibid. iii. 49 The Ossete mountaineers and the villagers of Mtiuleti were forced to toil without payment. 1974Country Life 24 Jan. 146/4 An Ossete folk-ballad, adapted by the poet Kosta Khetagurov (the Caucasian equivalent of Robert Burns), begins: The fox has been whetting her teeth for the badger.
For ‘Also Ossetan’ read: Also Osetian; similarly Ossetan. Add: [A.] (Examples of variant spelling.)
1910Encycl. Brit. X. 392/2 The Scythians..are believed by many authorities to have been Iranians and to be represented by the Osetians of the Caucasus. 1957Whitaker's Almanack 1958 954/2 Georgians make up about three fifths of the population, the remainder being composed of Armenians, Russians, Azerbaidjani and Osetians.
[B.] (Example of variant spelling.)
1959E. H. Carr Socialism in One Country II. xx. 257 The autonomous Mountaineers' republic was broken up into the North Osetian and Ingush autonomous regions. |