The
Alans or
Alani (occasionally but more rarely termed
Alauni or
Halani) were an
Iranian[1][2] nomadic group among the
Sarmatian people, warlike nomadic
pastoralists of varied backgrounds, who spoke an
Iranian language and to a large extent shared a common culture.
[3]The various forms of Alan — Greek ??a???, ??a????; Chinese ??? Alanliao (Pinyin) in the 2nd century [4], ?? Alan (Pinyin) in the 3rd century [5] — and Iron (a self-designation of the Alans' modern Ossetian descendants,) indicating early tribal self-designation) are Iranian dialectical forms of Aryan[6][7]. These and other variants of Aryan (such as Iran), were common self-designations of the Indo-Iranians, the common ancestors of the Indo-Aryans and Iranian peoples to whom the Alans belonged.
The Alans were also known over the course of their history by another group of related names including the variations Asi, As, and Os (Hungarian Jász, Russian Jasy, Georgian Osi). It is this name that is the root of the modern Ossetian. [8]
The first mentions of names that historians link with the "Alani" appear at almost the same time in Greco-Roman geography and in the Chinese dynastic chronicles.[9]
