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The Circassians (Circassian: Адыгэхэр, ''Adygekher'') are a North Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia, who were displaced in the course of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, especially after the Russian–Circassian War in 1864. The term "Circassian" includes the Adyghe (Circassian: Адыгэ, ''Adyge'') and Kabardian people. The Circassians mainly speak the Circassian language, a Northwest Caucasian language with numerous dialects. Many Circassians also speak Turkish, Arabic, and various other languages of the Middle East, having been exiled by Russia to lands of the Ottoman Empire, where the majority of them today live, and to neighboring Persia, to which they came primarily through mass deportations by the Safavids and Qajars or, to a lesser extent, as muhajirs in the 19th century.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=ČARKAS )〕〔Oberling, Pierre, Georgians and Circassians in Iran, The Hague, 1963; pp.127-143〕〔Engelbert Kaempfer (p. 204)〕〔Khanbaghi, Aptin, ''The Fire, the Star and the Cross; minority religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran, pp. 130〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=International Circassian Association )〕 The predominant religion amongst Circassians is Sunni Islam. About 700,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia (the republics of Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and the southern half of Krasnodar Krai), and others live in the Russian Federation outside these republics. The 2010 Russian Census recorded 718,727 Circassians, of which 516,826 are Kabardians, 124,835 are Adyghe proper, 73,184 are Cherkess and 3,882 Shapsugs.〔(Russian Census 2010: Population by ethnicity ) 〕 The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization estimates that there are as many as 3.7 million "ethnic Circassians" in the diaspora outside the Circassian republics (meaning that only one in seven "ethnic Circassians" lives in the homeland). Of these, about 2 million live in Turkey, 700,000 in the Russian Federation, 150,000 in the Levant and Mesopotamia, and 50,000 in Europe and the United States. ==Names== In their own language the Circassians refer to themselves as Adyghe (also transliterated as ''Adyga'', ''Adyge'', ''Adygei'', ''Adyghe'', ''Attéghéi''). The name is believed to derive from ''atté'' "height" to signify a mountaineer or a highlander, and ''ghéi'' "sea", signifying "a people dwelling and inhabiting a mountainous country near the sea coast", or "between two seas".〔 Spencer, Edmund, ''Travels in the Western Caucasus, including a Tour through Imeritia, Mingrelia, Turkey, Moldavia, Galicia, Silesia, and Moravia in 1836''. London, H. Colburn, 1838. P. 6.〕〔Loewe, Louis. A Dictionary of the Circassian Language: in Two Parts: English-Circassian-Turkish, and Circassian-English-Turkish. London, Bell, 1854 P. 5.〕 A common name for the Adyghe is Circassians (), a name which is occasionally applied to Adyghe and Abaza from the North Caucasus.〔Latham, R. G. (Elements of Comparative Philology. ) London, Walton and Maberly, 1862. P. 279. 〕 The name ''Circassian'' represents a Latinisation of ''Siraces'', the Greek name for the region, called ''Shirkess'' by Khazars & later ''Cherkess'', the Turkic name for the Adyghe, and originated in the 15th century with medieval Genoese merchants and travellers to Circassia.〔〔Latham, R. G. (Descriptive Ethnology. ) London, J. Van Voorst, 1859. P. 50.〕 But the earliest known form of the name "Cherkess" dates from the time of the Mongols who invaded the North Caucasus in medieval times, and who called the Adyghe "Serkesut", a term which appears in Mongol texts from the 12th century. The Turkic peoples〔Guthrie, William, James Ferguson, and John Knox. ''A New Geographical, Historical and Commercial Grammar and Present State of the Several Kingdoms of the World''... Philadelphia, Johnson & Warner, 1815. P. 549.〕 and Russians call the Adyghe ''Cherkess'',.〔Taitbout, De Marigny. (Three Voyages in the Black Sea to the Coast of Circassia. ) London, 1837. Pp. 5–6. 〕 Folk etymology usually explains the name ''Cherkess'' as "warrior cutter" or "soldier cutter", from the Turkic words ''cheri'' (soldier) and ''kesmek'' (to cut), so that ''Cherkess'' would mean "soldier-cutter". Despite a common self-designation and a common Russian name,〔S. A. Arutyunov. ("Conclusion of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the ethnonym "Circassian" and the toponym "Circassia." ) 25 May 2010. 〕 Soviet authorities applied four designations to Circassians: *Kabardians, Circassians of Kabardino-Balkaria (Circassians speaking the Kabardian language), one of two indigenous peoples of the republic. *Cherkess ( ''Šărdžăs''), Circassians of Karachay–Cherkessia (Circassians speaking the Cherkess, i.e. Circassian, language), one of two indigenous peoples of the republic who are mostly Baslaney Kabardians. This name is the Russian form of "Circassian" and was used for all Circassians before Soviet times. *Adyghes, the indigenous population of the Kuban including Adygea and Krasnodar Krai.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Анчабадзе Ю.Д., Смирнова Я.С. Адыгейцы. )〕 *Shapsugs, the indigenous historical inhabitants of Shapsugia. They live in the Tuapse District and the Lazarevsky City District (formerly the Shapsug National Raion) of Sochi, both in Krasnodar Krai, and in Adygea. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Circassians」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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