ON THE CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT SPACE OF THE OSSETIAN SACRED TEXT

	ISSN 2223-165X
	Izvestiya SOIGSI

Home Editorial board Publication ethics Current Information Archive Peer review guidelines Contacts Address: Pr. Mira, 10, Vladikavkaz, 362040, RNO-A, Russia E-mail: soigsi@mail.ru	DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2025.97.58.014 ON THE CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT SPACE OF THE OSSETIAN SACRED TEXT Besolova, Elena B. Izvestia SOIGSI. 2025. Issue 58 (97). P.143-153. Abstract: The problem of describing the culturally significant space of the sacred text of the Ossetians comes down to questions of cosmogony, its conditioning by traditions and myths, the cyclical nature of Time and the cosmogony of the epic, in which its spatial landmarks are attested. A distinctive feature of Ossetian sacred texts is their unquestionable archaism and the features of pagan beliefs (worldview); their syntactic and semantic structure, which has avoided the temporal (later) layers of time. The traditions that prevailed in archaic society were largely centred around magical rituals and cults. Magical rituals at the archaic stage of development were characterised by such typical elements as the use of phonetic effects imitating natural sounds; the use of words to provoke the desired event; and, finally, the presence of mythological subtext. It turns out that the essential components of magical actions were sound, word, and action, which gradually turned into play, singing, and dance; in other words, ritual syncretism. The logical rationality of traditional thinking insisted on order, which was the basis of primitive thinking: in order not to disrupt the world order, all things must be in their place, and all rituals and customs must be performed clearly and on time. The highlanders believed that if they strictly followed the order of words and actions, the zædtæ (zedy) “angels” and daudjytæ (daugi) “spirits, patrons” would be obliged to grant their requests. The article attempts to describe the sacred text of the Ossetians, identify similarities and differences, and compare two models of the world reconstructed on the basis of the description, which underlie the phenomenon of the formation of a single ethnocultural space. Keywords: Ossetian language, text, ritual behaviour, magic word, prayer, spell, incantation, taboo word. Language:: Russian Download the full text For citation:: Besolova E.B. On the culturally significant space of the Ossetian sacred text // Izvestiya SOIGSI. 2025. Iss. 58 (97). Pp. 143-153. (in Russian). DOI 10.46698/VNC.2025.97.58.014 + References 1. Slovar’ inostrannykh slov [Dictionary of Foreign Words]. Moscow, Russkii yazyk, 1988. 608 p. 2. Abaev, V.I. Istoriko-etimologicheskii slovar’ osetinskogo yazyka [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language]. Moscow-Leningrad, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1958, vol. I. 656 p. 3. Dahl, V.I. 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