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Home Editorial board Publication ethics Information Current Archive Rules for authors Contacts	RELIEF OBJECTS IN AVAR TOPONYMY: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY Otsomieva-Tagirova, Zabikhat M. Kavkaz Forum. 2026. Issue 26. Abstract: This scientific work is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the current state and identification of promising areas of study of the Avar language oronymy, which is rightfully considered one of the most archaic, stratified and informatively saturated lexical subsystems within the Nakh-Dagestan toponymy. The object of the study is the Avar names of mountain peaks, rock masses, extended ridges, deep gorges, inaccessible passes and saddles, mainly localized in the mountain and river basins of the Avar Koisu and the Andii Koisu, as well as on the northern and northeastern slopes of the Main Caucasian Range. The article examines in detail the key problems that significantly hinder the creation of a complete, reliable and verifiable picture of Avar oronymy: the lack of unified principles of practical transcription and scientific transmission in Russian, the significant complexity of etymologization due to the deep antiquity of the basics, as well as the urgent need to delimit heterogeneous linguistic strata. Special attention is paid to the prospects of introducing an interdisciplinary approach that organically combines the methods of linguistics (areal, comparative studies, etymology), historical geography, archeology, geology, and modern digital cartography. Studying the material on the basis of linguistic methods (descriptive, comparative historical, etymological, word-formation and semantic analysis), methods of related disciplines (archaeological linking of toponyms, historical and geographical analysis, ethnographic interpretation, geomorphological belief-fixation), field methods (collection and audio recordings of toponymic material in forwarding conditions), as well as cartographic and digital methods, The prospects of an interdisciplinary approach and the introduction of GIS technologies for further research of Avar oronymy in the comparative historical and areal perspective are pointed out. In conclusion, the author substantiates the conclusion that only a systematic interdisciplinary study of Avar oronymy solves the narrow issues of linguistic attribution of disputed toponyms, as well as makes a significant conceptual contribution to the reconstruction of the ethnocultural history of Dagestan as a complex contact region at the junction of civilizations. Keywords: oronymy, Avar language, toponymy, Nakh-Dagestan languages, interdisciplinary research. Language: Russian Download the full text For citation: Otsomieva-Tagirova, Z.M. Relief objects in Avar toponymy: problems and prospects of interdisciplinary study. KAVKAZ-FORUM. 2026, iss. 26 (33), pp. 63-75. (In Russian). + References 1. Podol’skaya, N.V. Slovar’ russkoi onomasticheskoi terminologii [Dictionary of Russian Onomastic Terminology]. 2nd ed., revised and enlarged. Moscow, Nauka, 1988. 187 p. 2. Bagomedov, M.R. Toponimiya Darga (strukturno-semanticheskii aspekt) [Toponymy of Darg (structural-semantic aspect)]: Thesis abstract of the doctor dissertation (in Philology). Makhachkala, 2013. 46 p. 3. Tagirova, Z.M. Iz istorii izucheniya toponimiki na Kavkaze i ee ak-tual’nost’ [From the History of Toponymy Studies in the Caucasus and Its Relevance]. Kontensivnaya tipologiya estestvennykh yazykov: Materialy me-zhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii yazykovedov (Makhachkala, 26–27 aprelya 2007 g.) [Contensive Typology of Natural Languages: Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Conference of Linguists (Makhachkala, April 26–27, 2007)]. Makhachkala, Dagestan State University, 2007, pp. 43–46. 4. Akhmanova, O.S. (ed.). Mikrotoponimiya [Microtoponymy]. Moscow, Moscow State University, 1967. 154 p. 5. Murzaev, E.M. Ocherki toponimiki [Essays on Toponymy]. Moscow, Mysl’, 1974. 382 p. 6. Tagirova, Z.M. Toponimicheskaya mikrosistema severnogo narechiya avarskogo yazyka [Toponymic Microsystem of the Northern Dialect of the Avar Language]. Filologicheskie nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki [Philology. Theory & Practice]. 2017, no. 12 (78): in 4 parts, part 3, pp. 152–154. 7. Tagirova, Z.M. Oronimy v toponimicheskoi sisteme avartsev leksikologiya i leksikografiya [Oronyms in the Toponymic System of the Avars: Lexicology and Lexicography]. Problemy leksikologii i leksikografii severokavkazskikh yazykov [Problems of Lexicology and Lexicography of the North Caucasian Languages]. Makhachkala, Institute of Language, Literature and Art named after G. Tsadasy DSC RAS, 2010, pp. 186–191. 8. Superanskaya, A.V. Obshchaya teoriya imeni sobstvennogo [General Theory of Proper Names]. Moscow, Nauka, 1973. 366 p. 9. Karpenko, Yu.A. Svoistva i istochniki mikrotoponimii [Properties and Sources of Microtoponymy]. Mikrotoponimiya [Microtoponymy]. Moscow, 1967, pp. 15–22. 10. Berezovich, E.L. Toponimicheskaya ehtnosemantika [Toponymic Ethnosemantics]. Slavyanskoe yazykoznanie: XIII Mezhdunarodnyi s"ezd slavistov [Slavic Language Studies: XIII International Congress of Slavists]. Moscow, Indrik, 2003. 588 p. 11. Khalilov, M.Sh., Temirbulatova, S.M., Otsomieva, Z.M., Alieva, Z.M. Toponimicheskaya sistema Dagestana: aspekty i perspektivy issledovaniya [The toponymic system of Dagestan: aspects and prospects of research]. The European proceedings of social & behavioural sciences (EPSBS): Materialy II Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii «Sotsial’nye i kul’turnye transformatsii v kontekste sovremennogo globalizma» (Groznyi, 27–29 fevralya 2020 g.) [The European proceedings of social & behavioral sciences» (EPSBS): Proceedings of the II International scientific conference «Social and cultural transformations in the context of modern globalism» (Grozny, February 27–29, 2020)]. Grozny, 2020, vol. LXXVI, no. 345, pp. 2570–2578; doi: https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.12.04.345 12. Mallaeva, Z.M. Tipologiya prostranstvennykh funktsional’nykh sistem dagestanskikh yazykov [Typology of spatial functional systems of Dagestan languages]. Vestnik Dagestanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Herald of Dagestan State University]. 2010, no. 3, pp. 79–85. 13. Mallaeva, Z.M. Kategoriya lokalizatsii i ee reprezentatsiya v avaro-andiiskikh yazykakh [The category of localization and its representation in the Avar- Andean languages]. Makhachkala, IYALI, 2012. 220 p. ← Contents of issue


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