Editing Chechens (section)

==Etymology==

===Chechen===
According to popular tradition, the Russian term ''Chechency'' (Чеченцы) comes from central [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria|Chechnya]], which had several important villages and towns named after the word ''Chechen''. These places include Chechan, Nana-Checha ("Mother Checha") and Yokkh Chechen ("Greater Chechena").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://proza.ru/2020/04/28/198|title=Миграционные и урбанизационные процессы в ходе ста (Амин Тесаев) / Проза.ру|website=proza.ru}}</ref> The name ''Chechen'' occurs in Russian sources in the late 16th century as "Chachana", which is mentioned as a land owned by the Chechen Prince Shikh Murza.<ref>{{cite web |title=декларация |url=http://orsthoy.ru/images/knigi/%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F0003.pdf |website=orsthoy.ru |access-date=25 November 2022 |language=ru |date=February 1951}}</ref> The etymology is of [[Nakh languages|Nakh]] origin and originates from the word ''Che'' ("inside") attached to the suffix -'' cha''/''chan'', which altogether can be translated as "inside territory". The villages and towns named Chechan were always situated in the ''Chechan-are'' ("Chechen flatlands or plains") located in contemporary central Chechnya.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://drevlit.ru/docs/kavkaz/XVI/Russ_Chech_otn/21-40/35.php|title=РУССКО-ЧЕЧЕНСКИЕ ОТНОШЕНИЯ ВТОРАЯ ПОЛОВИНА XVI-XVII в. DrevLit.Ru – библиотека древних рукописей|website=drevlit.ru}}</ref><ref name="ignorik.ru">{{cite web|url=https://ignorik.ru/docs/vajnahi-i-alani-ruslan-arsanukaev-o-proishojdenii-nazvanij.html|title="Вайнахи и аланы" Руслан Арсанукаев о происхождении названий и самоназваний Чеченцев и Ингушей|website=ignorik.ru|access-date=2020-11-06|archive-date=2022-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124230851/https://ignorik.ru/docs/vajnahi-i-alani-ruslan-arsanukaev-o-proishojdenii-nazvanij.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The name "Chechens" is an exoethnonym that entered the Georgian and Western European ethnonymic tradition through the [[Russian language]] in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Волкова |title=Этнонимы и племенные названия Северного Кавказа |publisher=Наука |pages=144 |language=ru |trans-title=Ethnonyms and tribal names of the North Caucasus}}</ref>

From the middle of the 19th century to the first few years of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet state]], some researchers united all Chechens and Ingush under the name "Chechens".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Берже |title=Чечня и чеченцы / Подгот. текста и предисл. Я. З. Ахмадова и И. Б. Мунаева, ред. Е. А. Куприянова. |pages=112 |language=ru |trans-title=Chechnya and chechenz. Ja. Z. Akhmadova and I. B. Munayeva, red. Well. A. Kuprianova.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Далгат |title=Родовой быт и обычное право чеченцев и ингушей |pages=382 |trans-title=Ancestral life and customary law of Chechens and Ingush}}</ref> In modern science, another term is used for this community — "the [[Nakh peoples|Vainakh people]]".

===Nokhchiy===
Although ''Chechan'' (Chechen) was a term used by Chechens to denote a certain geographic area (central Chechnya), Chechens called themselves ''Nakhchiy'' (highland dialects) or ''Nokhchiy'' (lowland dialects). The oldest mention of ''Nakhchiy'' occurred in 1310 by the [[Georgian Orthodox Church|Georgian]] Patriarch Cyril Donauri, who mentions the 'People of Nakhche' among [[Tushetians]], [[Avars (Caucasus)|Avars]] and many other [[Northeast Caucasian]] nations. The term ''Nakhchiy'' has also been connected to the city [[Nakhchivan (city)|Nakhchivan]] and the nation of Nakhchamatyan (mentioned as one of the peoples of Sarmatia in the 7th-century Armenian work ''[[Ashkharhatsuyts]]'') by many Soviet and modern historians, although the historian N. Volkova considers the latter connection unlikely and states that the term Nakhchmatyan could have been mistaken for the ''Iaxamatae'', a tribe of Sarmatia mentioned in [[Ptolemy|Ptolemy's]] [[Geography (Ptolemy)|'' Geography'']], who have no connection to the Chechen people.<ref name="source1">{{cite web|title="Вайнахи и аланы" Руслан Арсанукаев о происхождении названий и самоназваний Чеченцев и Ингушей|url=https://ignorik.ru/docs/vajnahi-i-alani-ruslan-arsanukaev-o-proishojdenii-nazvanij.html|access-date=2020-11-06|archive-date=2022-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124230851/https://ignorik.ru/docs/vajnahi-i-alani-ruslan-arsanukaev-o-proishojdenii-nazvanij.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Volkova|first=N. G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqoNAQAAIAAJ|title=Этнонимы и племенные названия Северного Кавказа|publisher=Nauka|year=1973|location=Moscow|pages=134–135|language=ru|trans-title=Ethnonyms and tribal names of the North Caucasus}}</ref> Chechen manuscripts in Arabic from the early 1820s do mention a certain ''Nakhchuvan'' (near modern-day [[Kağızman]], [[Turkey]]) as the homeland of all Nakhchiy. The etymology of the term ''Nakhchiy'' can also be understood as a [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] formed with ''Nakh'' ('people') attached to ''Chuo'' ('territory').<ref name="ignorik.ru"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://chechenlaw.ru/?p=817|title = Предание о происхождении чеченцев| date=18 February 2017 }}</ref>