Ossetic language

Ossetic or Ossetian is a language spoken on the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains on the borders of Russia and Georgia.

The area in Russia is known as Alania (formerly North Ossetia; capital: Vladikavkaz), while the area in Georgia is called South Ossetia (capital: Tskhinvali). Ossetian speakers number about 500,000, 60 percent of whom live in Alania, and 15 percent in South Ossetia. Ossetian is an eastern Iranian language, the only one of any consequence spoken in the Caucasus. There are two important dialects: Iron and Digor -- the former being the more widely spoken. Written Ossetian may be immediately recognized by its use of the æ, a letter to be found in no other language using the Cyrillic alphabet.