Avar

A·var

A0543150 (ä′vär)n. pl. Avar or A·vars 1. A member of a Caucasian or eastern European people whose empire, centered in southern Hungary and extending widely between the Elbe and Dnieper Rivers, reached its peak in the late sixth and early seventh centuries.2. a. A member of a traditionally Muslim people of southern Dagestan and neighboring areas of Azerbaijan.b. The Northeast Caucasian language of this people.

Avar

(ˈeɪvɑː; ˈævɑː) n1. (Peoples) a member of a people of unknown origin in E Europe from the 6th to the early 9th century ad: crushed by Charlemagne around 8002. (Historical Terms) a member of a people of unknown origin in E Europe from the 6th to the early 9th century ad: crushed by Charlemagne around 8003. (Peoples) a member of a people of the Caucasas4. (Languages) the language of this people, belonging to the North-East Caucasian family

Translations

Avar

the language of the Avars, who live in the Dagestan ASSR, partially in the northern Azerbaijan SSR, and in the Severnaia Ossetia ASSR.

Avar belongs to the Dagestan (or northeastern) group of the Caucasian (Ibero-Caucasian) family of languages. It breaks down into a large number of dialects, local dialects, and local subdialects, which form the southern and northern dialects. The so-called Bolmats (“language of society”), an interdialectal language based on the northern dialect, is the basis of the Avar literary language. In 1959, 270,000 people spoke Avar. It is a second language of the Ando-Bidoi (or Andi-Tsez) nationalities of the Dagestan ASSR.

The structure of the Avar language is characterized by a complex system of consonants, the presence of noun classes, numerous local cases, and an ergative construction. Attempts to write Avar words in Arabic script date to the 15th century, but Avar literature based on the Arabic script gained widespread popularity only in the mid-19th century and early 20th century. In 1927, Arabic was replaced by Latin script and in 1938 by Russian script. After the October Revolution, the Avar literary language began to flourish. The creative contribution of Gamzat Tsadas (1877–1951) and R. Gamzatov (born 1923) exerted a great influence on the development of literary Avar.

REFERENCES

Zhirkov, L. I. Grammatika avarskogo iazyka. Moscow, 1924.
Avarsko-russkii slovar’. Compiled by L. I. Zhirkov. Moscow, 1936. (A short Avar grammar is appended.)
Bokarev, A. A. Sintaksis avarskogo iazyka. Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.
Saidov, M. S., and Sh. I. Mikailov. Russko-avarskii slovar’. Makhachkala, 1951.
Saidov, M. S. Avarsko-russkii slovar’. Moscow, 1967.

Avar

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REFERENCES

AVAR