The article is devoted to the consideration of linguistic relics of ancient language communities in the toponymy of North Ossetia. The concept the research is based on presumes: in toponyms only elements of the geographical landscape essential for social spheres and economic activities are expressed; the toponyms fossilized the tribal languages, borrowings are imprints of those ethnic groups that once resided in these landscapes or migrated to other territories. The purpose of the article is to detect the linguistic layer of the ancient population in the toponymy of North Ossetia, restoring its territory and outlining the boundaries of its distribution. The emergence and formation of toponyms is due to geographic landscapes, long-term internal and external migrations, the ways of orientation of the speakers of these languages. In the “reading” of the semantics of etymological vocabulary with physical and geographic realities and natural conditions, the author of the article proceeded from the fact that it is due to the peculiarities of the relief, vegetation cover, hydrography, toponymical positivity surrounding the geographical niche; it is based on historical data and also on the fact, that any ethnic area is variable in time, has no continuous boundaries; that in the study of geographical names equally important is taking into account both the ethno-linguistic composition of the population and the influence of the geographic environment on the emergence of a toponym. An integrated approach has been applied to the study of the toponyms. The lingo-, historical, geographical, and sociocultural factors underlying the study of toponymy are motivated by the interdisciplinary nature of science. The analysis of the material revealed the descriptiveness of toponyms, their connection with the physical and geographic features of the area, and also the fact that toponyms were “created” in that distant time as a method of memorization, as a peculiar landmark  serving as an equivalent of a geographical map in reality.

Keywords: the Ossetian language, toponym, Pro-Sarmatian, Indo-European, area, geographical landscape, hydronym, relict.

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