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Home Editorial board Publication ethics Information Current Archive Rules for authors Contacts	SEMIOTICALLY SIGNIFICANT REALITIES IN THE OSSETIAN INCANTATION TEXT Besolova, Elena B. Kavkaz Forum. 2026. Issue 26. Abstract: Language dominates in all ethnolinguistic research, it is a means of communication, one of the forms of ethnic culture, a way of defining it and expressing it poetically. The reason is the orientation of scientists towards language as the main subject of research, regardless of the linguistic (non– linguistic) nature of the problem and which of the functions is being analyzed. The ritual-magical incantation text, which belongs to the small folklore genres, contains the language, beliefs, religious ideas, customs, and art, which is essential for reconstructing the archaic relationships between language and folk culture, and between language and ethnicity. The article analyzes the semiotically significant realities of the incantation text of the ritual of the Ossetians (tsæsty/ tsæstud/tsæstdzyd), which protected against the harmful power of the ‘evil eye’ and was based on primitive religious beliefs. The material of the analysis is the incantation text in prose recorded by B. Gatiev, which is considered from the point of view of the relationship between language and traditional culture, language and mentality, and language and magic. The ritual and magical incantation text contains ethnolinguistic data on the history and evolution of spiritual culture, key moments of national rituals, beliefs, religious ideas, customs, and art, which is essential for reconstructing the archaic relationship between language and folk culture, and language and ethnicity. The ritualistic aspect of the Ossetian incantation text provides an opportunity to reconstruct the mental and axiological picture of the archaic spiritual culture, which is related to the pagan background. The ethnolinguistic analysis of the text of the prose incantation, which is related to everyday life, is interesting in several aspects: the relationship between magic and myth, magic and ritual, the features of magic in the daily life of an ethnic group, and so on. Keywords: Ossetic, incantation text, ritual, evil eye, action, harmful magic. Language: Russian Download the full text For citation: Besolova, E.B. Semiotically significant realities in the Ossetian incantation text. KAVKAZ-FORUM. 2026, iss. 26 (33), pp. 5-16. (In Russian). + References 1. Vundt, V.M. Problemy psikhologii narodov [Problems of the psychology of nations]. Moscow, Kosmos, 1912. 132 p. 2. Zav’yalova, M.V. 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