Orstkhoy
The Orstkhoy, historically commonly known under their exonyms: Karabulaks, Balsu, Baloy, are a historical ethnoterritorial society among the Chechen and Ingush peoples. Their homeland is in the upper reaches of the Assa and Fortanga rivers in the historical region of Orstkhoy-Mokhk. In the tradition of the Chechen ethno-hierarchy, it is considered one of the nine historical Chechen tukkhums, in the Ingush tradition as one of the seven historical Ingush shahars.
Name
The name Orstkhoy in their native language is "Орстхой", written as "Orstxoj" in the old Latin writing system. Different theories exist around the origin of the word:- 1. The theory of it coming from the word "Are", which means plains or steppes, and respectively translating the word as the "inhabitants of the plains".
- 2. The theory of it coming from the river Arshtynka, proposed by Ya. Z. Ahmadov. According to this theory, the etymology of the river Arshtynka itself goes back to the Proto-Iranian word, which according to Ya. Z. Akhmadov translates as "tasty/clean water".
- 3. The theory of the word Ershtkhoy coming from the three components – härashachu, khithepa and khoi. This theory proposed by A. S. Suleymanov, is explained by him as translating as "Black the river of patrol ". According to the researcher, the evolution of the change in this ethnonym could proceed approximately in the following way: Härzhachu ''khi thera khoi → Härsh hithera khoi → Harshtkhoy → Ershtkhoy.
- 4. The theory of it coming from the word ors, whose root means "wooded mountain", less commonly "forest". This theory proposed by, was almost in the same way explained by another Chechen scientist A. D. Vagapov, however, the morpheme was in the form of arts, oarts and ars. A. D. Vagapov translated the word as "wooded mountain" or "foothills". The pre-revolutionary publicist erected ars/artsto the prehistoric period and found in Armenian and Georgian toponyms. In addition to the root, in the ethnonym Orstkhoy, Ya. S. Vagapov singled out suffixes -t''-, -x-, -o-, as well as the plural ending -y. The researcher associated this ethnonym, for example, with the, raising these names close to the meaning of "forest-mountain people" or "forest people".
| Name | Romanization | Language | Author | Date | |
| Arschte | Arschte | Ingush | Georg Hassel | 1821 | |
| Арште ---- Ариш-Тояй | Arshte ---- Arish-Toyai | Ingush ---- Chechen | 1823 | ||
| Арштхой | Arshtkhoy | Ingush | 2006 | ||
| Ærštxuoj | Arshtkhuoj | Ingush | 1930 | ||
| Арштхой Оарштахой | Arshtkhoy Oarshtakhoy | Ingush | 1963 | ||
| Арстах Орстхой Арстхой Аьрстхой Эрштхой Арштхой | Arstakh Orstkhoy Arstkhoy Ärstkhoy Ershtkhoy Arshtkhoy | Chechen, Ingush | 1978 | ||
| Оарштхой Оарстхой | Oarshtkhoy Oarstkhoy | Ingush | 2021 |
General information
Ethnicity
Ingush origins
The first descriptions of the Orstkhoys by European authors in the second half of the 18th century identified them with the Ingush. The first author was J. A. Güldenstädt, who mentions the majority of Orstkhoy villages among other Ingush proper and opposes all of them together to the Chechens. Ten years later, L. L. Shteder, making notes about Karabulaks, gives an almost textbook description of the unique details of typical Ingush vestments, cited by travelers and authors of the late 18th-19th centuries, often replicated on the images of that era. The German scientist Professor Johann Gottlieb Georgi, in his fundamental encyclopedic Description of all the peoples living in the Russian state wrote about Karabulaks stating that, "Before anything they were called Yugush, but they call themselves Arshtas", while another German scientist, P. S. Pallas, also states that the Karabulaks specifically come from the Ingush.The German geographer and statistician Georg Hassel, in his geographical description of the Russian Empire and Dshagatai mentioned Orstkhoy as an Ingush tribe and also some of Orstkhoy ancestral villages as Ingush when enlisting the territorial division of the Ingush. Subsequently, S.M. Bronevsky confirmed the identity of the Orstkhoy with the Ingush. Just like Güldenstädt, S. M. Bronevsky also mentioned many Orstkhoy ancestral villages as Ingush in 1823. General Staff I.I. Nordenstamm in his "Brief Military statistical description" compiled from information collected during the expedition in 1832 stated that "the Kara-Bulakh language is similar to the Galash dialect, and the latter is similar to the Galgai and Kist dialects." Platon Zubov and Nikolay Danilevsky stated that the Kists, Ingush and Karabulaks all speak the same language. Nikolay Danilevsky also noted that the Chechen dialect differed from the root language.
In 1842, Nazranians and part of Karabulaks made an appeal to the Russian administration where they called themselves "Ingush people".
In the Russian Empire, on the basis of scientific, statistical and ethnographic data, the Orstkhoy were officially classified as Ingush alongside Galashians, Nazranians and other Ingush societies. In "Overview of the political state of the Caucasus" in 1840 as well as in the "Military Statistical Review of the Russian Empire" in 1851, the Orstkhoy are indicated as Ingush. The Orstkhoy were perceived as Ingush by Imperial Russia, as well as in the Imamate of Imam Shamil.
I. Ivanov, in his article "Chechnya" published in the Moskvityanin magazine, wrote that Chechnya borders on the west with the Ingush tribes Tsori, Galgai, Galash and Karabulak. The Czech-German biologist and botanist Friedrich Kolenati in his work about the Caucasians, wrote about the Orstkhoy as an Ingush tribe alongside Galashians, Kists and others. Adolf Berge in his work "Chechnya and Chechens" gave the following nomenclature of the Ingush: Nazranians, Karabulaks, Galashians, Dzherakh, Kists Galgai, Tsorins and Akkins. V. A. Volkonsky stated that the Ingush people consist of societies to which he added Orstkhoy and one of the subgroups of Orstkhoy –. A. Rzhevusky in his work "Tertsy" wrote about Karabulaks and Galashians as the restless and militant Ingush societies. According to V. Chudinov, the Karabulaks, Galashians and Alkhons are Ingush who belong to the Arshtkhoy tribe. According to Vasily Potto, Nazranians and Orstkhoy are Ingush societies who once formed one rather
a significant and powerful tribe. Russian Count and Minister of War Dmitry Milyutin wrote in his memorials that the Orstkhoy are Ingush who made up part of the Ingush population of the Vladikavkazsky okrug.
Later in the 20th-21th centuries, the Orstkhoy as one of the Ingush societies were indicated by I. Pantyukhov, John F. Baddeley, G. K. Martirosian, E. I. Krupnov, N. A. Sotavov, M. S. Meyer and O. S. Pavlova.
In Soviet times, Orstkhoy were also officially included in the Ingush, as reflected on their passports. In Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Orstkhoy are indicated as Ingush. In the scientific community in the second half of the 20th to the early 21st century, the ethnicity of the Orstkhoy is defined as one of the Ingush societies. The Soviet historian and ethnographer E.I Krupnov in 1971 wrote in his book "Medieval Ingushetia" that the remaining Karabulaks who don't consider themselves Chechens live in Ingushetia in villages such as Arshty, Dattykh, Bamut, Sagopshi.
In the censuses conducted before the Deportation, the vast majority of population of the tribal villages Sagopshi, Dattykh, Alkun, Sarali Opiev, Bamut, Gandalbos was Ingush.
Chechen origins
18th century
The first descriptions of the Orstkhoys by European authors in the second half of the 18th century identified them with the Chechens. The first author was the German cartographer and printmaker who in his work "Geographical menology for 1772" included the Karabulaks, Chechens, Atakhizs and also Tavlins in the territory of "Kumytskaya or Sandy land", also referred by him as the "Chechen land". J. A. Güldenstädt mentions that Karabulaks speak in a Chechen or Midzheg dialect of the Kistin language and that Chechens are often understood as the whole Kistin nation. In 1781, L.L. Städer, while making notes about the Karabulaks, mentions that the Chechens share with them one origin and language. Johann Gottlieb Georgi also mentions that the Karabulak language consists of Kistin and Chechen dialects."19th century
Many Russian and European authors noted during the early and late 19th century that the Orstkhoy tribe was part of the Chechen nation, among them Baron R. F. Rozen who in 1830 believed that the Chechens are divided … into societies under the name of Chechens themselves or Mechigiz, Kachkalyks, Mechikovites, Aukhites and Karabulaks …" Nordenstam also remarked in 1834 that "Karabulaki, Aukhites and Kachkalyk people speak dialects of the Chechen language". Also of note is Nikolay Danilevsky who in 1846 noted that the Karabulaks are a subgroup of the Chechen nation. Ivanov connected a part of Karabulaks with the "Peaceful Chechens" and Kolenati referred to the land Karabulaks inhabit on as Chechnya. Russian colonels such as Baron Stahl mentioned the Orstkhoy by the Chechen self name "Nakhche" in 1849. The Russian-German general A.P. Berger in 1859 also connected the Chechen self name "Nakhche" to the Orstkhoy:The military historian A. L. Zisserman, who served 25 years in the Caucasus, also mentions the Karabulaks in his book, stating, "All this valley up to the right bank of the Terek River is inhabited…. Karabulaks and Chechens, etc., belonging by language and customs, with insignificant differences and shades, to one Chechen tribe." In the Bulletin of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society for 1859, Karabulaki-Orstkhois are noted as Chechens. 19th-century Caucasian military historian V. A. Potto also attributed the Karabulaks to the Chechen people.
Historian N. F. Dubrovin in 1871 in his historical work History of war and dominion of Russians in the Caucasus states the following: in addition to these societies, the Chechen tribe is divided into many generations, which are named by Russians by the names of auls, or mountains, or rivers, in the direction of which their auls were located. For example, Karabulaki, on a plain irrigated by the rivers Assa, Sunzha, and Fortanga, etc. Several encyclopedias of the late 19th and early 20th centuries attribute the Karabulaks to the Chechen people.
In 1862, after the Caucasus War, several Orstkhoy villages were put into the Ingushskiy Okrug until 1866, when they were ceded to the due to them belonging to the same nation as the locals and geographically closer to the central governance of the Okrug.