The origin of the Ossetes is veiled in mystery in modern historiography. Surrounded by literate nations, and being part of the literate nations for millenniums, they are proclaimed to be illiterates. Consisting of disparate components, they are proclaimed to be monoethnic. Confined to few gorges high in the mountains, they are proclaimed to roam and rule the flats of the Eurasian steppes from the western ocean to the eastern ocean. And speaking an obscure composite language forged from disparate linguistic families, they are proclaimed to speak a language that prevailed in the territory exceeding that of the largest empire in the history of civilization. The tale is about some kind of a measly ugly duckling shrunk from a gargantuan magnificent swan. Their version of history was composed and recomposed entirely within the last century by the luminaries serving the later days victor with a penchant for composing history.

The sources, however, carry a different story about Ossetes. First of all, the Georgian name Oses/Ovses/Oseti/Osebi  was and remains to be a supra-ethnical name for disparate mountain tribes on their north, within the area of the Central Caucasus and excepting the seaboard. These mountain tribes had and have disparate traditions, mutually incomprehensible languages belonging to disparate linguistic families, and their own tribal alliances and hostilities. Georgians called them with a Türkic name As, because at some time in history the As tribe was a dominant tribe that ruled a constellation of disparate tribes to their north that Georgians had to recon with. Among the tribes was the dominant As-Tochar union, under a local name As-Digor. The Georgian name had nothing to do with ethnicities, taxonomically it was identical to Romans, Chinese, Russians, Georgians, Persians, Huns, or Türks. It defined a zone of control, and used a titular ethnicon, among Ovses were Jews and Nakhs just like among Romans were Jews and Greeks. During the Russian seizure of the Northern Caucasus from the middle to the end of the 19th c., all indigenous people were termed Tatars, and their disparate traditions were projected on the popular image of Tatars. From the times of the Peter I, the Tatars were demonized by the ruling regime as much as Jews were demonized by the ruling regime in the pre-WWII Germany, and with substantially the same objective of capture and repossession. That was facilitated by not a small presence of the Türkic-speaking troops in the conquering army, who could easily identify the local Türkic-speaking population, and converse with the rest in their Türkic languages, because the As or Azeri language was a lingua franca across the Caucasus. Already during the conquest, the Georgian name for the Northern Central Caucasus tribes was adopted by the Russian commanders in the local theaters of operations as a form of "us vs. them", akin to all thereof unknown native American tribes becoming instantaneous Indians, just like the previously well-known native tribes, upon the beginning of the post-Civil War extermination campaign. From the time of its adoption this re-incarnated and Russified name gained an ethnic component, making specific tribes an Ossetic brand of the Tatar enemy. When the occupation was completed, and the military command was converted into Russian local governing administrations, the Ossetes were administratively subdivided along the lines of the pre-existing administrative structure, making visible individual subdivisions of Alagirs, Bazingii, Chegem, Digors, Hulam, Irons, Karachai, Ksans, Kurtats, Malkar (Balkar), Tagaurs (Tualas = Türkic for "Mointain As", Tagur = Türkic for "Mointain men") and Uruspi, ethnically disparate autonomous subdivisions under a single ethnicon of Ossetes. The next stage in the art of the administrative structuring came after the Bolshevik's victory, but even before the Stalinist pre-WWII reorganization, when each and every administrative district was reorganized to contain two or more competing ethnic groups, a skilful Balkanization of the Caucasus provinces, which then fossilized into Kabardino-Balkaria (Adygs + Türks), Checheno-Ingushetia (rival Nakh and Vainakh branches), Karachai-Cherkessia (Türks + Adygs), Northern (Digors + Ardons + Nakhs) and Southern (Irons + Georgians) Ossetias. The creation of "Autonomous Republics" signaled a beginning of creation of the "national" historical mythology for each subdivision, which had to explain that the disparate parts are the same, the same parts are disparate, and a great Kulturträger role the Russians bestowed on the divided peoples (see the mythology in WP). The consequences of administrative Balkanization keep terrorizing the people of the Northern Caucasus, and their arduous histories. The etymological aspect of the history, that had been projected politically back into the Scythian time, is relayed in the posting of the Dr. Hadji-Murad Yiliuf work.

Posting clarifications and comments are (in blue italics).

A term associated with medieval Türkic peoples in the North Caucasus is Ossete - Yası (variations: Ası ~ Osı ~ Ovsı) initially was used to designate the inhabitants of the plains - piedmont plains and plateaus, as distinguished from the mountain gorge settlers - Tavlas (from Türkic . tawlu ”mountaneer, mountain, mountain dwellers”). Here are lexical-semantical examples: in Turkish yassı is ”flat ” in Uzbek yassı  is ”flat ”, yassıliq is ”flat (n.)”, yassı toğ ”plateau”, in Uygur  yesä ”flat (n.)”, yesä tağ ”upland, plateau” ^{[2 ]}.

During the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, under the name ”Ossetian tribes” were known Karachais and Balkars. A report of a staff captain Prince Shahovskoy to the Baron Rosen on November 24, 1834 stated that ”all peoples living in the Black Mountains call themselves Ossetians.” Then he lists the Ossetian tribes at their places of habitation: Karachai, Uruspi, Chegem, Hulam, Bazingii and Malkar ^[3]. The word Ossete is formed from the Georgian name Oseti, lit. ”Land of Oses (Ases)” ^[4].

The Türkic name of the Balkaria, Yası ^[5], is pronounced as Ası, because Karachai-Balkar language is destinguished by de-yotation of anlaut in some words, such as: yahşı > ahşı ”good”, yaman > aman ”bad” ^[6]. A written monument of 1711 in the Karachai-Balkar language, in Arabic script, preserved one of the Balkar endonyms, esile ^[7]. Most likely, this is a form spelling the word Asılı, lit. ”lowlander, resident of plains”, or its ”soft” palatalized synharmonic version äsile, i.e. the ethnonym was formed from its nominal adjective ası ~ äsi (< yası) + suffix -lı ~ -li ~ -le (locative suffix, like German ~ Germania). Of the lexeme versions Asıi ~ Asılı ~ Äsili ~ Äsile more commonplace proved to be its form without a suffix.

In 1235 at the Kurultai hosted by the great Mongol Khan Ogedei was decided to ”take over the countries of Bulgars, Ases and Ruses, which were located near the Batu encampment, were not yet subjugated, and were proud of their numerosity”. A Persian author of ”Muntahab al-Tawarikh” Muin ad-Din Natanzi (beginning of 15th c.) among other countries in the western part of the Juchi ulus, ruled by the leaders of the Blue Horde (Kök Orda), named the Urus, Circass and As ^[9]. In the legends about Kulikov battle can be found a list of peoples in the army of the Kipchak Khanate's Temnik (commander of 10,000) Mamai: ”That same fall came Horde's Prince Mamai with followers and with all Totar and Kipchak force, and in addition also had regiments: Bessermen, and Armen, and Fryazes, Cherkases and Yases, and Burtases ... ”^[10].

According to the historians, the Yases are a Türkic-lingual steppe nation, descendants of the Alans and ”Black” (i.e. northern or western) Bulgars ^[11]. It is known, that in 913 the Khazars were attacked by Badjanaks, Guzes (Oguzes) (Torks) (Türks) and Ases (Alans) ^[12]. The medieval Muslim historian Rashid al-Din wrote about the alliance of peoples who united for defense from the troops of the Khoresmshah Jalal ad-Din: ”Because the Rum sultans and Maliks of Syria, Armenia and those limits were afraid of his conquest and his seizure of power, they all rose to repulse him, and gathered in one place with an army of Georgians, Armenians, Alans, Serirs, Lezgins, Kipchaks ... Abkhazes ... and Svans” ^[13]. Part of that nation, along with Kuns (Kumans), during the Middle Ages migrated to Central Europe, and formed a local sub-ethnic groups of Yases of the Hungarian nation ^[14]. The modern Russian word calls Irons and Digors Ossetes. That happened from the influence of the Georgian language, which calls with the word Osi ~ Ovsi the peoples in the central part of the Caucasus mountain range northern slope, just as the lexeme Lek, lit. ”Lezgin”, was a common name for the Dagestanians ^[15]. The Georgian ”Chronograph”, a chronicle of the 14th century, says: ”The Queen Rusudan convened all her military host ... Abkhaz, Djiks and all from the Izimer kingdom, whom to name we have no time. And she opened the Darial gates, and let in the Oses, Durdzuks and together with them all mountaineers” ^[16]. Before the emergence of the new semantics for the word Ossete, the Russian documents used the names of the Ossetian ”stratum”, ascending to the tribal division: Digorians, Alagirs, Kurtats and Tagaurs.

The names and endonyms of the people emerge in different ways. Often they are associated with geographical objects and places of residence (mountain, river, major city, country), and sometimes with the peculiarities of the terrain. Thus, the Kumyks, previously known in Europe as a Dagestani Tatars, Circassians, are called in the languages of their neighboring peoples Lowlanders, Steppe Dweller: Dargins - Dirkalanti, Avars - Tlyarogol (Laragial), Laks - Arnissa, etc. ^[17] A small nation of Abazins (Abaza), who came to the Northern Caucasus to the Kuban River basin from the south, is divided into two groups: Tapanta ”Lowlanders” and Asharawa ”Mountaineers”. The ”Yellow” Uigurs in China are composed of two groups: pastoralists Tağlıq, lit. ”Highlanders” (Türkic tağ ”mountain”), and farmers Oylığ, lit. ”Steppe Dwellers, Lowlanders” (Türkic oy ”lowland; low-lying; depression; forest growing in the lowland area; woods”). Mirza Haidar Duglat (16th c.) wrote in his book ”Tarikh-i Rashidi” that the population of Tibet is represented by two parts: one of them is called Yulpa, i.e. ”Villagers”, the other Djanpa, i.e. ”Steppe people”.

Obviously, the historical names of the Alans and Yases, which in the ethnographic aspect appear as synonyms, are similar in their lexical meaning, and can be attributed to the category of names with a single typological nature of evolution in terms of:

Morphology - A parallel use of affixed and non-suffixed forms with identical meanings (Alanlı ~ Alan, Äsile ~ Ası ~ Yası);

Semantics - Mnemonical transfer of the name of the location, associated with its particular relief, to a group of people living there;

Etnonymycs - The emergence of the names and endonyms for the clans, tribes, and nations on the basis of toponymy.

History knows cases when the tribal names are inherited by the people of alien blood, among whom they eventually dissolved and assimilated. That happened with the people Russ ~ Rossi, Bulğar ~ Bolğar, who subjugated, the first the eastern Slavs, the second a part of the Southern Slavs.The ”Tale of Bygone Years” talks about inviting Russ as rulers, but more plausible seems the idea of forcible seizure of power by the Rus over the Slavs. The Arab writer Ibn Ruste in his book ”Valuable treasuries” reports: ”They have a king called Khakan of Ruses. They attack the Slavs, coming over on the ships, they disembark, seize captives, take them to the Khazaran and Bulgar, and there sell them” ^[18]. The Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, i.e. ”Crimson-born” (10th c.), wrote in his historical work ”De Administrando Imperio”: ”The boreal and harsh life of these Ruses is such. When the comes November, their princes immediately set out from Kiev with all Ruses ^[19] and embark on their rounds to collect tribute, i.e. circular route, and precisely to the Slavic lands of Dervians, Druguvits, Kriviteins, Severies, and the rest of the Slavs, who are paying tribute to the Ruses. In this same work he cites the Rus and Slavic names for the river rapids on the Dnieper that point that the Rus language can not be attributed either to the Slavic, nor to the Germanic linguistic groups.

Similarly, the South Slavs adopted the name of the Bulgars, a peoples of Türkic origin. Written sources indicate that after the death of Karat Khan (Kubrat) subordinated to him "lower" Bulgars divided into five parts: one of them (known as the group of "Lesser", "Outer" or "Black" Bulgars - Qara-Bulğar), led by the Khan Asparuh, migrated to the north of the Balkan Peninsula, conquered the South Slav tribes, and created in the 7th c. the Danube Bulgaria; the other part invaded Pannonia, the Avar possessions; a third part went to the friendly Rome to protect its borders against the northern barbarians; the Bulgars of Khan Kotrag moved to the opposite side of the Don, and the rest headed by Khan Batbayan continued to live around Azov Sea in the lands of the Great Bulgaria, submitting to the power of the Khazar Khakan. The "Upper" Bulgars in the basin of the Itil and Kama formed an Itil Bulgaria state. Gradually, after several generations, the nomadic Bulgar aristocracy dissolved among the more numerous local sedentary population of the Balkan Peninsula, which took the name of their masters as their Bulgar endonym.