As correctly Chechen or Chechen. Chechens

Today a friend called, said that they would soon publish an article on the topic I voiced "". And then I remembered that after that discussion () I wanted to write explanatory material. But I got busy and forgot. Since there will still be an article on this topic, I will not separately unsubscribe the whole material. However, I will outline some points.

Where did the word "Chechen / Chechen" come from? There is no exact version in Russian. The main ones are two. According to the first, the origin of the word is due to the settlement "Chechen-aul". According to the second, the word is a distorted Arabic "shishani" ("Chechen" in Arabic sounds like "shishani").
How the Chechens were called in the old (pre-Soviet) times, again, it is not known exactly. In the literature of those years, there is both a “Chechen” (in Lermontov’s “An evil Chechen crawls ashore”), and a “Chechen” (in the same Lermontov - “An old Chechen - Kazbek Ridges is a poor native, When he escorted me through the mountains, About the old days to me told the story ... "; or Zagoskin's "the son of Prince Mamtryuk and the same as him, a Chechen - he would cut everything"). On what basis was it written "Chechen" or "Chechen" (based on the rhyme, or from the prevailing at that time word forms), unknown.In modern dictionaries it is written - "Chechen", outdated.

According to the spelling adopted during the Soviet era, the word "Chechen" was used. So it was written in books and newspapers, so it was said in correct speech, so it was studied at school. Based on what rules of the Russian language, the word "Chechen" was obtained, is unclear. But apparently there were no special rules. Otherwise, it is difficult to reduce in one rule such names as "Ossetian", "Georgian" on the one hand, and "Kabardian", "Dargin" on the other.

However, the word "Chechen" did not go away. It was used in everyday speech to emphasize the dismissive attitude towards the Chechens. Why exactly "Chechen" was dismissive is not clear. But apparently, distorting the name of the nationality itself seemed offensive. An analogy is the use of the disparaging "Armenians" instead of the correct "Armenian".

Why do today's not even always young people know that it was the word "Chechen" that was used? Perhaps for the reason that in the period before the beginning of the 90s in the USSR little was known or heard about the Chechens.

The very peak of the beginning of recognition that there is such a nation as the Chechens fell on the years of the first war (94-96). And I think that it was in those years en masse that it became customary in Russian society to call Chechens Chechens. It went, presumably, to a greater extent from the federal military that fought in Chechnya. It is clear that they used the word "Chechen" among themselves. Then it went exponentially. The soldiers left and spread the word "Chechen" - in their stories, books, songs about the war.

In addition, due to all the well-known events, the number of people who learned that there is such a nation as the Chechens has grown by several orders of magnitude compared to Soviet times. And one of the common expressions about the Chechens was precisely Lermontov's "an evil Chechen is crawling ashore." So in the end, in the minds of many, it became fixed - "Chechen".

In the late 12th or early 13th centuries, Christianity began to spread among the Chechens. His traces are still visible in the ruins of temples, on holidays: Kistins and Ingush celebrate the new year, the day of the prophet Elijah and Trinity Day. In many places they sacrifice rams in honor of the Holy Virgin, St. George and St. Marina.

In the early 18th century, the Chechens converted to Sunni Islam. In their religious customs, in addition to Christian and Mohammedan elements, the Chechens retained many elements of primitive paganism, among other things, the phallic cult. Often found in the country, small bronze naked priapic figurines are worshiped by men as guardians of the flocks, and by women who embrace them, begging for male children.

Among the Kists and Galgai we find an even more interesting custom. A childless woman goes to a hut with two exits, in which a priest, a representative of the matsel (mother of God), sits in one shirt and asks him to give children, after which she leaves through another exit, all the time facing the priest.

During their independence, the Chechens, in contrast, did not know the feudal system and class divisions. In their independent communities, governed by popular assemblies, everyone was absolutely equal.

We are all “bridles” (that is, free, equal), the Chechens say. Only a few tribes had khans, whose hereditary power dates back to the era of the Mohammedan invasion. This social organization (lack of aristocracy and equality) explains the unparalleled stamina of the Chechens in the long struggle against the Russians, which glorified their heroic death.

The only unequal element among the Chechens were prisoners of war who were in the position of personal slaves. They were divided into laevi yasir; the latter could be redeemed and returned to their homeland. The legal system represents the usual features of tribal life. Blood feud until recently was in full force.

The clothes of men are the usual clothes of the highlanders of the Caucasus: chekmen made of yellow or gray home-made cloth, beshmets or arkhaluks of different colors, mostly white in summer, cloth leggings and chiriki (a kind of shoes without soles). The elegant dress is sheathed with a braid. The weapon is the same as that of the Circassians, special attention is paid to its decoration. Women's costume is no different from the picturesque costume of the Tatars.

Chechens live in villages - auls. The houses are turluch, inside they are neat and bright, the houses of the mountain Chechens are stone and less neat. Windows without frames, but with shutters to protect against cold and wind. From the side of the entrance - a canopy to protect from rain and heat. For heating - fireplaces. Each house has a kunakskaya of several rooms, where the owner spends the whole day and returns to his family only in the evening. The house has a fenced-in yard.

In food, Chechens are moderate, content with urek, wheat stew, barbecue and corn porridge. Bread is baked in specially arranged round ovens in the yard.

The main occupations of the Chechens are cattle breeding, beekeeping, hunting and arable farming. Women, whose position is better than that of the Lezgins, are responsible for all household chores: they weave cloth, prepare carpets, felts, cloaks, sew dresses and shoes.

Appearance

Chechens are tall and well built. Women are beautiful. Anthropologically, the Chechens represent a mixed type. Eye color, for example, varies (in equal proportion) from black to more or less dark brown and from blue to more or less light green. The hair color also shows transitions from black to more or less dark blond. The nose is often upturned and concave. The facial index is 76.72 (Ingush) and 75.26 (Chechens).

In comparison with other Caucasian peoples, the Chechen group is distinguished by the greatest dolichocephaly. Among the Chechens proper, however, not only many subrachycephals are found, but also quite a few pure brachycephals with a head index from 84 and even up to 87.62.

Character

Chechens are considered cheerful, witty, impressionable people, but they are less sympathetic than the Circassians, due to their suspicion, inclination to deceit and severity, developed, probably, during the centuries of struggle. Indomitability, courage, dexterity, endurance, calmness in the fight are the traits of the Chechens, long recognized by everyone, even by their enemies.

More recently, the ideal of the Chechens is robbery. Stealing livestock, taking away women and children, even if for this you had to crawl tens of miles underground and risk your life in an attack, is a favorite thing for a Chechen. The most terrible reproach a girl can make to a young man is to tell him: “Get out, you are not even capable of stealing a ram!”

Chechens never beat their children, but not out of particular sentimentality, but out of fear of making them cowards. The deep attachment of the Chechens to their homeland is touching. Their exile songs (“Oh birds, fly to Little Chechnya, say hello to its inhabitants and say: when you hear a cry in the forest, think of us wandering among strangers without hope of an outcome!” and so on) are full of tragic poetry.

Chechens are a Caucasian people of the East Mountain group, who occupied the territory between the rivers Aksay, Sunzha and the Caucasus Range before the war. Now they live mixed with Russians in the Terek region, east of, between the Terek and the southern border of the region, from the Darial to the source of the Aktash River.
The Sunzha River divides the extremely fertile country of the Chechens into two parts: Greater Chechnya (high) and Lesser (lower). In addition to the Chechens themselves (in the Grozny district), which are divided into several different tribes, they include:

• cysts;
• Galgai;
• Karabulaki;
• The most hostile tribe to us, who completely moved to) and the Ichkerians.

All Chechens, not counting the Ingush, numbered 195 thousand people in 1887. The name "Chechens" originates from the name of the village of Bolshoy Chechen (on the Argun), which once served as the central point for all meetings at which military plans against Russia were discussed. The Chechens themselves call themselves "nakhchi", which translates as "people" or "people". The closest neighbors of the Chechens call them "Misjegs" (and Kumuks) and "Kists" ().

There is no data about the ancient fate of the Chechen tribe, except for fantastic legends about foreigners (Arabs), the founders of this people. Starting from the 16th century, the Chechens consistently fought against the Kumuks and, finally, against the Russians (from the beginning of the 17th century). In our historical acts, the name of the Chechens is found for the first time in the agreement between the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka and the Astrakhan governor Apraksin (1708).

Until 1840, the attitude of the Chechens towards Russia was more or less peaceful, but this year they betrayed their neutrality and, embittered by the demand from the Russians for the issuance of weapons, went over to the side of the famous Shamil, under whose leadership for almost 20 years they waged a desperate struggle against Russia, which cost the latter enormous sacrifices. The struggle ended with the mass emigration of one part of the Chechens to Turkey and the resettlement of the rest from the mountains. Despite the terrible disasters that befell the first immigrants, emigration did not stop.

The Chechens themselves call themselves Nokhchi. Some translate it as Noah's people. Representatives of this people live not only in Chechnya, but also in some regions of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Georgia. In total, there are more than one and a half million Chechens in the world.

The name "Chechen" appeared long before the revolution. But in the pre-revolutionary era and in the first decades of Soviet power, some other small Caucasian peoples were also often called Chechens - for example, the Ingush, Batsbi, Georgian Kists. There is an opinion that this is essentially one and the same people, separate groups of which, due to historical circumstances, were isolated from each other.

How was the word "Chechen" born?

There are several versions of the origin of the word "Chechen". According to one of them, it is a Russian transliteration of the word "shashan", which was used to designate this people by the Kabardian neighbors. For the first time, it is mentioned as the “Sassan people” in the Persian chronicle of the 13th-14th centuries, authored by Rashid ad-Din, which refers to the war with the Tatar-Mongols.

According to another version, this designation comes from the name of the village of Big Chechen, where at the end of the 17th century Russians first encountered Chechens. As for the name of the village, it dates back to the 13th century, when the headquarters of the Mongol Khan Sechen was located here.

Starting from the 18th century, the ethnonym "Chechens" appeared in official sources in Russian and Georgian, and later it was borrowed by other peoples. Chechnya became part of Russia on January 21, 1781.

Meanwhile, a number of researchers, in particular, A. Vagapov, believe that this ethnonym was used by the neighbors of the Chechens long before the appearance of Russians in the Caucasus.

Where did the Chechen people come from?

The early stage of the history of the formation of the Chechen people remains hidden from us by the darkness of history. It is possible that the ancestors of the Vainakhs (this is how native speakers of Nakh languages, for example, Chechens and Ingush are called) migrated from Transcaucasia to the north of the Caucasus, but this is only a hypothesis.

Here is the version put forward by Georgy Anchabadze, Doctor of Historical Sciences:
“Chechens are the most ancient indigenous people of the Caucasus, their ruler bore the name “Kavkaz”, from which the name of the area originated. In the Georgian historiographic tradition, it is also believed that the Caucasus and his brother Lek, the ancestor of the Dagestanis, settled the then deserted territories of the North Caucasus from the mountains to the mouth of the Volga River.

There are also alternative versions. One of them says that the Vainakhs are the descendants of the Hurrian tribes who went north and settled in Georgia and the North Caucasus. This is confirmed by the similarity of languages ​​and culture.

It is also possible that the ancestors of the Vainakhs were tigrids - a people who lived in Mesopotamia (in the region of the Tigris River). If you believe the old Chechen chronicles - Teptars, the point of departure of the Vainakh tribes was in Shemaar (Shemar), from where they settled in the North and North-East of Georgia and the North Caucasus. But, most likely, this applies only to a part of the tukhkums (Chechen communities), since there is evidence of settlement along other routes.

Most modern Caucasian scholars are inclined to believe that the Chechen nation was formed in the 16th-18th centuries as a result of the unification of the Vainakh peoples, mastering the foothills of the Caucasus. The most important unifying factor for them was Islamization, which took place in parallel with the settlement of the Caucasian lands. One way or another, it cannot be denied that the core of the Chechen ethnic group is the eastern Vainakh ethnic groups.

From the Caspian to Western Europe

Chechens did not always live in one place. Thus, their earliest tribes lived in the area that stretched from the mountains near Enderi to the Caspian Sea itself. But, since they often stole cattle and horses from the Grebensky and Don Cossacks, in 1718 they attacked them, chopped many, and drove the rest away.

After the end of the Caucasian War in 1865, about 5,000 Chechen families moved to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. They began to be called Muhajirs. Today their descendants represent the bulk of the Chechen diasporas in Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
In February 1944, more than half a million Chechens were deported by order of Stalin to the regions of Central Asia. On January 9, 1957, they received permission to return to their former place of residence, but a certain number of immigrants remained in their new homeland - in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

The first and second Chechen wars led to the fact that a significant number of Chechens moved to the countries of Western Europe, Turkey and the Arab countries. The Chechen diaspora has grown in Russia as well.

10,000 (2007 estimate)
Georgia
4 000 (2007)
Kyrgyzstan
4 000 (2008)
Language: Chechen Religion: Islam Related peoples: Ingush, Batsbi

Chechens(self-name nokhchi, in units number - nohcho(translated as "Noah's people", "the people of Noah"; "Noh" / "Noah" - Noah, "Che" / "Chii" - the suffix of belonging. It may have passed from the form "tsIi" - blood, offspring) - the most numerous autochthonous people of the North Caucasus, numbering about 1.5 million worldwide, the main population of Chechnya.

resettlement

At the moment, the vast majority of Chechens live on the territory of the Russian Federation, namely, in the Chechen Republic. There were several settlements in the history of the Chechen people.

Anthropology

They belong to the Caucasian variant of the Balkan-Caucasian race of the large Caucasoid race.

Story

History of the ethnonym

The ethnonym "Chechens" is of Turkic origin, most likely from the village of Chechen-aul. Kabardians call them shashen, Ossetians - qætsæn, Avars - burtiel, Georgians - cysts, dzurdzuki.

Theories of the origin of the Chechens

The problem of the origin and the earliest stage in the history of the Chechens remains not completely clarified and debatable, although their deep autochthonism in the North-Eastern Caucasus and a larger territory of settlement in antiquity seem quite obvious. It is possible that the proto-Vainakh tribes moved from Transcaucasia to the north of the Caucasus, but the time, causes and circumstances of this migration, recognized by a number of scientists, remain at the level of assumptions and hypotheses.

Based on the research of V. M. Illich-Svitych and A. Yu. Militarev, a number of other major linguists, when correlating their data with archaeological materials, in particular A. K. Vekua, the fundamental works of T. V. Gamkrelidze and V. Ivanov, A. Arordi, M. Gavukchyan and others, one can come to the following conclusions regarding the origin and settlement of representatives of the ancient ethno-language of the Vainakhs.

Sino-Caucasian - within the Armenian Highlands and Anatolia - Armenian Mesopotamia (not only the ancient and some modern languages ​​\u200b\u200bof the Mediterranean and the Caucasus, such as the Hittite, Hurrian, "Urartian", Abkhaz-Adyghe and Nakh-Dagestan, in particular Chechen, are genetically associated with it, Lezgi, etc., but also, oddly enough, the languages ​​of the Sino-Tibetan group, including Chinese).

The Pranostratic community in its modern sense took shape in the Armenian Highlands. From its southeastern part, the descendants of representatives of the western area of ​​the Sino-Caucasian community during the 9th-6th millennium BC. e. spread throughout the Northern Mediterranean, the Balkan-Danube region, the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Their relics are known as the Basques in the Pyrenees and the Adyghes or Chechens in the Caucasus mountains. The northern neighbors of the ancient Semites were the speakers of the ancient Anatolian-North Caucasian languages, represented mainly by two branches of the western, Hattian - in Asia Minor (with branches in the North Caucasus in the form of the linguistic ancestors of the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples), and the eastern, Hurrian - in the Armenian Highlands ( with branches in the North Caucasus in the form of the ancestors of the Nakh-Dagestan peoples).

The written source about the ancient period in the history of the Vainakhs is the work of a prominent Armenian scientist and encyclopedist of the 6th century. Anania Shirakatsi "Armenian geography" in which the self-name of the Chechens "Nokhchamatians" is mentioned for the first time - people who speak Chechen:

The main trade routes connecting the peoples of Europe and the East passed through the territory of Chechnya, which occupies a very important strategic position. Archaeological excavations show that the ancestors of the Chechens had extensive trade and economic ties with the peoples of Asia and Europe.

Chechens in the history of Russia

The very name "Chechens" was a Russian transliteration of the Kabardian name "shashan" and came from the village of Bolshoy Chechen. From the beginning of the 18th century, Russian and Georgian sources began to call all the inhabitants of modern Chechnya "Chechens".

Even before the Caucasian War, at the beginning of the 18th century, after the Grebensky Cossacks left the Terek right bank, many Chechens who agreed to voluntarily accept Russian citizenship were given the opportunity to move there in and then in 1765.

During the Caucasian War, under the leadership of General Alexei Yermolov, the Sunzha line of fortifications was built, in -1822 on the site of some Chechen and Ingush villages. After the capture of Shamil, the destruction of a number of rebellious imams, and also with the transition under Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich to the “scorched earth” tactics, when the rebellious villages were completely destroyed and the population was completely destroyed, the organized resistance of the highlanders was suppressed in 1860.

But the end of the Caucasian war did not mean complete peace. A special dispute called for the land issue, which was far from in favor of the Chechens. Even by the end of the 19th century, when oil was found, the Chechens hardly got any income. The tsarist government managed to maintain relative calm in Chechnya due to the actual non-interference in the internal life of the mountaineers, bribing the tribal nobility, free distribution of flour, fabrics, leather, clothes to poor mountaineers; appointment of local authoritative elders, leaders of teips and tribes as officials.

Chechens are considered cheerful, witty ("French of the Caucasus"), impressionable, but they are less sympathetic than the Circassians, due to their suspicion, propensity for deceit and severity, developed, probably, during the centuries of struggle. Indomitability, courage, dexterity, endurance, calmness in the fight - the features of Ch., long recognized by everyone, even their enemies.

USSR

1990s and aftermath

Language

The Chechen language belongs to the Nakh branch of the Nakh-Dagestan languages, included in the hypothetical Sino-Caucasian macrofamily. It is distributed mainly in the Chechen Republic and in the Khasavyurtovsky, Novolaksky, Kazbekovsky, Babayurtovsky and Kizilyurtsky regions of Dagestan, as well as in Ingushetia and other regions of the Russian Federation and in Georgia, and partially in Syria, Jordan and Turkey. The number of speakers before the war 1994-2001 - approx. 1 million people (according to other sources, approx. 950 thousand). Planar, Shatoi, Akkin (Aukhovsky), Cheberloevsky, Sharoevsky, Melkhinsky, Itumkalinsky, Galanchozhsky and Kist dialects are distinguished. In phonetics, the Chechen language is characterized by complex vocalism (the opposition of simple and umlauted, long and short vowels, the presence of weak nasalized vowels, a large number of diphthongs and triphthongs), initial combinations of consonants, an abundance of morphonological alternations, primarily a change in vowel stems in various grammatical forms (ablaut ); in grammar - six nominal classes, multi-case declension; the composition of verbal categories and ways of expressing them are common for East Caucasian languages. Syntax is characterized by the widespread use of participial and participle constructions.

The literary Chechen language took shape in the 20th century. based on the flat dialect. Until 1925, writing in the Chechen language existed on an Arabic basis, in 1925-1938 - on Latin, from 1938 - on the basis of Russian graphics using one additional character I (it has a different meaning after different letters), as well as some digraphs (kh, ab, tI, etc.) and trigraphs (yy). The composition of digraphs in the Chechen alphabet is similar to the alphabets of the Dagestan languages, but their meanings are often different. Since 1991, attempts have been made to return to the Latin script. The first monographic description of Chechen was created in the 1860s by P. K. Uslar; Subsequently, a significant contribution to the study of the Chechen language was made by N. F. Yakovlev, Z. K. Malsagov, A. G. Matsiev, T. I. Desherieva and other researchers.

It is the official language of the Chechen Republic.

Religion

Chechen teip- This is a community of people related to each other by blood relationship on the paternal side. Each of them had their own communal lands and a teip mountain (from the name of which the name of the teip often came). Teips within themselves are divided into "gars" (branches) and "nekyi" - surnames. Chechen teips are united in nine tukhums, a kind of territorial unions. Blood relations among the Chechens served the goals of economic and military unity.

In the middle of the 19th century, the Chechen society consisted of 135 teips. Currently, they are divided into mountainous (about 100 teips) and plains (about 70 teips).

Currently, representatives of one teip live dispersed. Large teips are distributed throughout Chechnya.

List of tukhums and their teips:

Akkintsy

1. Akkoy, 2. Barchakhoy, 3. Vyappy, 4. Zhevoy, 5. Zogoy, 6. Nokkhoy, 7. Pkharchakhoy, 8. Pkharchoy, 9. Yalkhoroy

Melchi

1. Byasty, 2. Binasthoy, 3. Zharkhoy, 4. Kamalkhoy, 5. Kegankhoy, 6. Korathoy (Khorathoy), 7. Meshiy, 8. Sahankhoy, 9. Terthoy

Nokhchmakhkahoy

1. Aleroy, 2. Aitkhaloy, 3. Belgatoy, 4. Benoy, 5. Bilttoy (Beltoy), 6. Gordaloy, 7. Gendargenoy, 8. Guna, 9. Dattykhoy, 10. Zandakoy, 11. Ikhirkhoy, 12. Ishkhoy , 13. Kurchaloy, 14. Sesankhoy, 15. Singalkhoy, 16. Kharachoy, 17. Ts1ontaroy (Tsentoroy), 18. Chartoy, 19. Chermoy, 20. Shirdi, 21. Shuonoy, 22. Egashbatoy, 23. Elistanzhkhoy, 24. Enakhaloy, 25. Enganoy, 26. Ersenoy, 27. Yalkhoy. 28. Sarbloy

TIerloy

1. Bavloi, 2. Beshni, 3. Zherakhoy, 4. Kenakhoy (Khenakhoy), 5. Matsarkhoy, 6. Nikara, 7. Oshny, 8. Sanahoy, 9. Shuidy, 10. Eltparkhoy.

Chanty (Chech. ChIantty)

1.Chantiy (Chech. Chianty). 2. Dishny. 3.Zumsoy. 4.Hachara. 5. Hildehyaroy. 6. Khokkhtoy 7. Kherakhoy.

Cheberloy

One of the oldest settlers on the Chechen land, according to the stories of historians and linguists Krupnov.Karts. 1. Arstkhoi, 2. Acheloi, 3. Baskhoi, 4. Begacherkhoi, 5. Barefoot, 6. Bunikhoi, 7. Gulatkhoi, 8. Dai, 9. Zhelashkhoi, 10. Zuirkhoi, 11. Ikhara, 12. Kezenoi, 13. Kiri, 14. Kuloy, 15. Lashkaroy, 16. Makazhoy, 17. Nokhchi-keloy, 18. Nuikhoi, 19. Oskhara, 20. Rigakhoy, 21. Sadoy, 22. Salbyuroy, 23. Sandakhoy, 24. Sikkhoy, 25. Sirkhoy, 26. Tundukhoy, 27. Harkaloy, 28. Khindoy, 29. Khoy, 30. Tsikaroy, 31. Chebyakhkinkhoy, 32. Cheremakhkhoy 33. Nizhaloy, 34. Orsoy,

Sharoy

1. Buti, 2. Dunarkhoy, 3. Jogalda, 4. Ikaroy, 5. Kachekhoy, 6. Kevaskhoy, 7. Kinkhoy, 8. Kiri, 9. Mazukhoy, 10. Serchikha, 11. Khashalkhoy, 12. Himoy, 13. Hinduhoy, 14. Khikhoy, 15. Hulandoy, 16. Hyakmada, 17. Cheyroy, 18. Shikaroy, 19. Tsesi.

Shatoy

1. Varanda, 2. Vashindara, 3. Gatta, 4. Gorgachkha, 5. Dehesta, 6. Kela, 7. Muskulkha, 8. Marsha, 9. Nihaloi, 10. Memory, 11. Row, 12. Sanoi, 13. Satta (Sadoy), 14. Tumsoy (Dumsoy), 15. Urdyukha, 16. Hakkoy, 17. Khalkeloy, 18. Khalg1i, 19. Kharsenoy.