Lezgins
gigatos | March 14, 2022
Summary
Lezghins (lezghiyar, lekier, ed. lezgi, lek) are a Dagestani people, one of the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus, historically living in southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan. They also compactly inhabit several villages in Turkey, where descendants of Muhajirs live.
They speak Lezghin, a member of the Nakh-Dagestani family of languages.
The overwhelming majority of Lezgin believers profess Sunni Islam.
In Russian Caucasian studies before the revolution, researchers often erroneously lumped all the mountain peoples of Dagestan into the ethnonym “Lezghin”. The reason for such an erroneous name was the ancient Persia, whose troops when expanding into Dagestan always encountered the Lezgins in the first place.
Some ancient authors call Lezgins by the name “Leki”, Georgian – “Lekebi”, Arabic – “Lakz”. Most medieval Arab authors compare al-Lakz (Leghov – Lekov) with the ancestors of modern Lezgins.
Nevertheless, Arab and Armenian sources extend this ethnonym not only to the Lezgin, but to the entire population of Dagestan.
The term “Lezgi” is known in written sources since XII century, but this name was not in the past the self-name of a separate Daghestani nation, it was “completely alien to the Daghestani mountaineers” and originally Lezgins were called and (common for most Daghestani peoples ethnonym). In Tsarist Russia and the Turks used the name “Lezgins” as a term for the numerous mountain tribes inhabiting the Dagestan region and partly the southern slope of the Main Caucasus Range. The Russians used the name to refer to the southern Dagestanis, while the northern Dagestanis were called Tavlins. After 1920 the ethnonym “Lezgins” officially returned to one of the mountain peoples of Dagestan, known since the second half of the XIX century as “Lezgins”. This is explained by the fact that Lezgins – name of one tribe of Dagestan, namely Kura (i.e. Lezgins) was gradually extended to other Dagestani tribes. And the name Kyurintsy was introduced by Pyotr Uslar specifically for Lezgins in the second half of the XIX century. A. N. Maksimov wrote about it:
“In southeastern Dagestan and in the north of the Baku province live a relatively large tribe of Kyurin (conditional name given by Baron P. Uslar), who call themselves Lezgins and from which this name was transferred to all general Dagestani mountaineers.
P.K. Uslar writes that already in the 1860s the term “Lezgin” was used as the self-name of one of the Dagestani peoples:
The use of the ethnonym Lezghin was also mentioned in the 1931 Lesser Soviet Encyclopedia: “Lezghin, a name incorrectly attributed to all mountain peoples of Dagestan. The name Lezgin, in the more correct sense of the word, is the Lezgin (Kyurin) group of Dagestan peoples, which includes the Lezgins (Lezgins, or Kyurins, in the narrow sense of the word)”.
М. M. Ikhilov in particular wrote:
However, ethnographers and historians Gadzhiev, Davudov and Shikhsaidov put forward an opinion that does not correspond to Ikhilov:
“As for the ethnonym Leqi (leqi), there are several opinions about their identification and localization: the leks are the peoples of Dagestan as a whole; they are the descendants of the modern Laks or Lezgins; the Georgian form “lek” (leki) and “leg” of Strabo “go back to the common Dagestani “Laki”, and the name “leg” in ancient times “established for the Dagestani Laks as a settled ethnonym”; the term Lezgi was not the self-name of one of the Dagestani peoples in the past, and already from ancient times, for many centuries, was used as the common name for the Dagestani mountain peoples; the ethnonym Leki in the Georgian chronicle L. Mroveli “denotes a large part of the tribes of medieval Dagestan,” and in general “Leki is the Georgian name for the peoples of Dagestan as a whole. Indeed, Leki (legi) is an ethnonym that carries the broadest meaning of those listed above. But the presence of a number of other ethnonyms didura, tavaspara, etc. indicates that the ethnonym leki can be applied to a significant (possibly large) territory of Dagestan, but not to the whole”.
Д. B. Butayev derived the ethnonym Lezgin from the Lak word “lakssa” – “high”. V.F. Minorskii also believed that the term lakz “consists of lak
Academician Marr wrote that the related name Lezgin “lek, mn. leki at Batsbiyev designates everyone, except the Tatars, in Dagestan and Zakatala district.
The Lezgins traditionally live in the south of Dagestan (Russia) and in the north of Azerbaijan, being the second largest population in the Republic of Azerbaijan. In Dagestan they inhabit Akhtyn, Derbent, Dokuzparin, Tabasaran, Kurakh, Magaramkent, Suleyman-Stal and Khiva districts, and also live in Rutul and Khasavyurt districts. And in all major cities of the Republic of Dagestan, especially in Makhachkala, Kaspiysk and Derbent.
In Azerbaijan Lezgi population is mainly concentrated in Kusar (79.6 thousand, 2009 census), Kuba (9.0 thousand, 2009 census), Khachmas (24.7 thousand, 2009 census), Gabala (16.0 thousand, 2009 census), Ismailli (8.1 thousand, 2009 census), Oguz (4.8 thousand, 2009 census), and Sheki (4.8 thousand, 2009 census), The 2009 census has been conducted in the districts of Gabala (16,000, 2009 census), Ismailli (8,100, 2009 census), Oguz (4,800, 2009 census), Sheki (6,200, 2009 census) and Kakh (0,300) and in all major cities – especially Baku (24,900, 2009 census). According to experts of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Anthropology of the Dagestan Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “in Azerbaijan the number of Lezgins is much higher (about 350 thousand people). This discrepancy is explained by the fact that many Lezgins, who live in Azerbaijan, are recorded as Azerbaijanis (often forcedly). In the online directory “Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Sixteenth Edition” estimates the number of Lezgin speakers in Azerbaijan at 178,000 with reference to the 1999 census. The 1993 US Justice Department report “Azerbaijan: Status of Armenians, Russians, Jews and other minorities” says that there is an unofficial estimation of the number of Lezgin people in Azerbaijan equal to 800 000 people. The Lezgin people are probably the largest North Caucasian people, whose area of settlement after the collapse of the USSR was divided by the state border (between Russia and Azerbaijan) almost in half, both territorially and numerically.
Russian ethnographer V. Tishkov believes that an important factor in increasing the number of Lezgins in Daghestan was the flow of “refugees” from neighboring Azerbaijan, caused by Azerbaijan”s low economic level, complete indifference to the sphere of social support, chauvinistic state policy, which leads to bureaucratic assimilation of Lezgins (simply put, they are simply recorded as “Azerbaijanis”), combined with rampant corruption of officials, the misery of the Karabakh war, occupation of lands and expulsion from them up to 1 million Azeryans.
Already in 1891, according to estimates for the territory of Kura district of Dagestan region, which preceded the All-Russian census of 1897, there were about 55 thousand Kurains (i. e. Lezgins). However, the results of the First All-Russian census of 1897 gave detailed information about the number of people who spoke Kyurin (questions about ethnicity, ethnos, nationality, etc. The concept of “dialect” in the census data is usually interpreted by modern scholars in modern terms as “native language” or “primary language spoken by the interviewee”, and the speakers of the Kura dialect are usually identified as Lezghins) and their settlement across the territory of the Russian Empire:
According to sources from the first half of the 13th century, the area inhabited by peoples of the Lezghin language group of the Nakh-Daghestan language family was known as Lezghistan. The sources of that period refer to the rulers of the mountains as “Emirs of Lezghistan.
In the 16th-17th centuries, the Ottoman sultans and Shahs of Persia repeatedly tried to subjugate the Lezgins (including Rutuls), seeking to use these militant tribes in their own interests, especially in the fight against Christian Georgia.
At the beginning of the 18th century, anti-Iranian uprisings of the Lezgins and other peoples of Dagestan and Azerbaijan began in the eastern Transcaucasus. Under the leadership of Haji-Davud of Mushkur (1721-1728), the rebels seized the territory of Shirvan with its capital in Shemakha.
In the first half of the 18th century, for a time Persia was able to restore its power throughout the entire Eastern Transcaucasus. After the death of Nadir Shah, the state created by him disintegrated into a number of small khanates. In XVI-XVII centuries, unions of rural communities, “free societies” of Lezgins (Akhty-para, Kurakh-dere, Alty-para, Dokuz-para, Tagirjal) were formed. Lezgins-Kubans were part of the Kuban Khanate; Lezgins-Kurins were part of the Kurakh Union, later the Kura Khanate; Lezgins-Samurians formed “Samurian free societies” of Akhty-para, Dokuz-para and Alty-para. Another part of Transcaucasian Lezgins were part of the Sheki Khanate. In 1812, Lezgins-Kurins became part of the Kura Khanate formed in Southern Dagestan under the Russian protectorate, transformed into the Kura district in 1864. Lezgins-Samurians were included in the Samur district in 1839. The main part of the Kuban Lezgins became part of the Kuba district of the Baku province.
In 1930 Sheikh Mohammed Efendi Shtulsky organized a revolt against the Soviet authorities, which was suppressed after a few months. In the twentieth century attempts were made to create the republic of Lezgistan (independent or as an autonomy).
On July 7, 2012, Lezgins were admitted to UNPO, and in 2014, to the Federalist Union of European National Minorities.
The Lezghin language belongs to the Lezghin subgroup of the Nakh-Daghestan group of the North Caucasus family of languages. Russian and Azerbaijani languages are also widespread among Lezghins (most Lezghins are bilingual and trilingual). Lezgin language is divided into 3 dialects: Kura, Samur and Kuba. Kura dialect includes Gyunei, Yarka and Kurakh dialects; Samur dialect includes Dokuzparin transitional dialect and Akhty dialect. In addition, there are separate dialects: Kurush, Giliyar, Fiyi and Gelhen.
In 1905, the tsarist government, in order to facilitate the Russification of the people, attempted to create a Lezgi script on the basis developed by Baron P.K. Uslar, which in the same year published “History of the eight prophets mentioned in the Koran”, and in 1911 – “Quran alphabet”, but the attempt failed. The Latin alphabet was introduced in 1928, and a new alphabet based on Cyrillic in 1938. The Guenean dialect of the Kura dialect was the basis of the literary Lezgi language.
Lezghin believers profess Sunni Islam of Shafiite mazkhab, while a minority professes Hanafi mazkhab. The exception is the inhabitants of the village of Miskindzha in Dokuzparin district of Dagestan Republic, who are Shiites (Jafarite mazkhab).
According to the Israeli historian Zvi Qasdai, the Lezgins are descendants of one of the tribes of Israel, who were taken into captivity by the Assyrian king Sanhedrin.
At the beginning of the XX century K. M. Kurdov expressed the opinion that the Kyurins (i.e. Lezgins) “…were mestizated by the representatives of the Semitic family, mainly by the Mountain Jews”. B. V. Miller in his work “Tats, their settlement and accents” writes: “The inhabitants of the village. Akhty (Kiuri district, on the Samur) still (in 1928), like 40 years ago, preserve the memory that their ancestors were “Jews”.
The famous French anthropologist of the 19th century, Jean-Louis-Armand Catrefage, believed that Lezgins had Jewish roots.
The people belong to the Caucasian race (Caucasian type with an admixture of the Caspian subtype).
According to a genetic study by B. B. Yunusbaev, Lezgins are carriers of the following haplogroups:
According to Dr. O. Balanovsky”s data from a study of 81 probands (published in 2011), Lezgins are carriers of the following haplogroups:
In song folklore, the central place belongs to lyrical songs of dancing character with bright instrumental sections; the instrumental music itself is saturated with melismatics. Folk art is also represented by dances, among which, in particular, the famous “lezginka,” common among the peoples of the Caucasus. There is a quieter male dance – zarb maqam, as well as slow, smooth dances akhty-chai, perizat khanum, useinel, and bakhtavar.
The first Lezghin theater emerged in 1906 in the village of Akhty. In 1935, the State Lezghin musical-drama theater named after S. Stalsky was established on the basis of a semi-professional company. In 1998 the State Lezghin theater was opened in Azerbaijan, located in Kusary.
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Kitchen
The basis of traditional food is vegetable (grains, beans) and meat and milk. Bread made of unleavened and sour dough baked in traditional bread ovens – khare. Lezgin fine bread is popular in the cities of Dagestan. In addition to bread, various pies (afarar) stuffed with edible herbs, meat, cottage cheese, and tskӏan were and are most popular today. Khinkal, soup with meat, and milk and dairy products occupied a significant place in the ration. The most widespread drink was tӏach, a mildly sour beverage made of sprouted wheat grains. The ritual food was gitI (boiled together wheat and corn grains and dried mutton legs), isitqa (halva made of wheat flour), khashil (flour porridge).
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Lezgin costume
The traditional clothing of the Lezghin was similar to that of other Dagestani peoples: men wore a shirt, trousers, beshmet, khokeska, and hats, and in cold weather a bashlyk and a sheepskin coat, which had variations. Women wore a dress shirt, colored trousers, beshmet, chukhta, and headscarves of diverse shape and color. Men”s and women”s silver belts, head and breast adornments, bracelets, and rings were widespread. Children”s clothes did not differ from those worn by adults – they were a scaled-down copy of them.
Dance Art
Lezghinka – Lezghin solo male and pair dance, widespread among many peoples of the Caucasus.
The dance uses two images. The man moves in the image of an “eagle,” alternating slow and fast tempo. The most difficult to perform and spectacular movements are the dance movements of the man, when he stands on his toes, spreading his arms in different directions. The woman moves in the image of a “swan,” mesmerizing with graceful posture and smooth hand movements. The woman increases the tempo of her dance after the man. It is no coincidence that this dance, widespread among all Caucasian peoples, was named according to the ancient totem of Lezgins: the word “lek” (Lezg. Lek) means “eagle”.
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Literature
The epic of Lezgi folklore is the heroic epos “Sharvili”, which, as the collectors of this literary monument believe, belongs to the XI-XII centuries. The epos has survived only in prose and verse excerpts. Yetim Emin, a 19th-century poet, was the classic of Lezghian literature. Among the prominent representatives of that period can also be distinguished Molla Nuri, Hpej Kurban, Sayfulla of Kurakh, Haji of Akhty and others. Ashug poet Suleiman Stalsky, dubbed by M. Gorky as “Homer of the XX century”, began his work at the beginning of the XX century. The poet raised Lezgi folklore to the level of literature, enriching it with viable traditional forms.
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Housing Culture
The main type of settlement among the Lezgins is the village (“khur”). As for the social grouping of the Lezgin village, it is divided into quarters. Large territorial kinship settlements (one block – one tukhum) were widespread. Each village had a mosque and a village square – kim, where villagers (men”s part) gathered for a village meeting to solve the most important issues of the village”s social life.
In 1933, the USSR issued an ethnographic series of postage stamps entitled “The Peoples of the USSR. Several stamps are devoted to the peoples of the Caucasus, including one – the Lezgins.
Sources
