NISBAS IN THE LOCAL ARABOGRAPHIC SOURCES 
 ON HISTORY OF THE NORTH-EAST CAUCASUS 
 OF THE 18TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The article discusses a topical issue of the Russian Oriental studies – the issue of identification of nisbas in arabographic documents of the North-East Caucasus. The study aims to identify the most general patterns and characteristic features of the formation and writing of nisbas in the context of the Arabic language in Dagestan. Moreover, the author attempts to compile a reference toolkit in the form of a nisba dictionary with their identification. The problem of writing nisbas is closely related to the issue of writing Arabic script in Dagestan in general. In this regard, based on the analysis of available sources, a preliminary periodization of the features of the use of Arabic graphics in writing is given. Since there were no clearly established rules for spelling nisbas, each time they were written at the discretion of the authors of the documents. This condition creates serious problems in the translation and study of these documents, complicates their introduction into scientific use. This becomes especially problematic for foreign researchers. The source of the nisba dictionary was materials of an epistolographic nature, historical chronicles, memorandums and act records, chronographs from private and mosque collections of Dagestan, as well as materials from the collections of the IHAE DFRC RAS, the Central State Archives of the Republic of Dagestan. As a result of the research, general tendencies and patterns of the formation of relative adjectives were identified, and a table of nisbas, derived from the North Caucasian oikonyms, was compiled. The present work is generally of practical nature and is intended primarily for orientalists, Arabists, as well as other researchers of Dagestan Arabographic historical sources.