Information about the author:
Adam M. Gutov
Adam M. Gutov, DSc in Philology, Professor, Director of Research, Institute for Humanitarian Studies of the Kabardino-Balkar Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushkin St., 18, 360000 Nalchik, Russia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3072-2234
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Abstract:
There are two alternative versions in the scientific literature regarding the origin of the Nart legends among the peoples of the Caucasus: ethnocentric, based on the thesis that the epic core belongs to one of the peoples of the Caucasus, and “multiethnic”, that is, suggesting several autonomous centers of formation of this core. In addition, some authors insist that the main core of the epic, having originated in a single ethno-linguistic environment, was introduced from the outside, by native speakers and borrowed by the indigenous population. The author suggests that when considering this issue, not only the linguistic factor, which may be secondary, superstructural, should be taken into account, but also the genetic community of the indigenous peoples of the region, appealing to the general patterns of functioning of the archaic epic, as well as to the data of the latest comprehensive research in a number of related scientific disciplines.
