Feappii

Endonyms

The endonym of the Feappii in their native Ingush language is фаьппий (Fäppij in old Ingush Latin writing system).^[2][3][4][5]

Foma Gorepekin [ru] translated the ethnonym in Ingush language as "settlers marching in a discordant crowd".^[6] Similarly, Rusudan Kharadze and Aleksey Robakidze made a hypothesis that the ethnonym might be connected with the term "alien/new settler" (but not as ethnically different from the main mass of Ingush).^[7] According to linguist Yu. Desheriyev [ru], the ethnonym has no etymological explanation.^[8] Anatoly Genko [ru] connected the name in the form of Veppiy with the Khazar king Uobos, mentioned in the Georgian Chronicles, thus dating the name back to the 10th century AD.^[9]

Exonyms

Historically, the Feappii were known by the exonym of Georgian origin as Kists or Kistins, along with its variants such as Nearby Kists or Nearby Kistins. These terms later appeared in Russian literature.^[10] Eventually, the meaning of this ethnonym expanded to cover all Nakh peoples, despite originally referring specifically to the Feappii.^[11] The Kist ethnonym was replaced by the term "Metskhalins" in the 19th century, and the Kistin society became known as the "Metskhalin society" respectively, after the chancellery of the society was transferred to Metskhal.^[12]

The Ossetians referred to the Feappii as Maqqal (Мæхъхъæл), and the river Armkhi [ru], on which the society was situated, as Maqqaldon (Мæхъхъæлдон), which lent its name to one of the Russian names for Armkhi, Makaldon (Макалдон).^[13] The ethnonym Maqqal was infrequently used to denote Feappii on some maps.^[a] This ethnonym is linked to the Ingush and Ossetian word for Kite, Maqqal (Маккхал/Мæхъхъæл).^[14][15] According to Anatoly Genko, the Ossetians derived this name from the aul of Erzi and its inhabitants, the Erzians.^[14]

Early history

One of the mountainous Ingush societies,^[b] the Fyappins inhabited the mountainous Fappi region of Ingushetia in the Caucasus.^[16] All Fyappin villages and settlements were descended from the inhabitants of a mountainous fortified village (aul), Falkhan.^[17] Fyappins bordered on the west with Dzherakh, on the east with Khamkhins, on the north with Nazranians, and in the south with Gudomakarians.^[18]

Historically, the Fyappins were known by the exonym of Georgian origin as Kists or Kistins, along with other variants such as Nearby Kists or Nearby Kistins. The region where they resided was referred to as "Kistetia," as well as "Kistia" or "Kistinia".^[c] The first recorded mention of Kists dates back to the 7th century, in the work Ashkharhatsuyts, where it appeared in the form Kusts. However, in that context, it was used to generally describe the Ingush people, not specifically the Fyappins.^[20]

During the 16th to 17th centuries, a portion of the Fyappins migrated to Tusheti, Georgia, in search of land.^[21][d] Today, the descendants of these Fyappins are known as the Bats people.^[24] Another wave of migration of the Fyappins occurred in the 17th to 18th centuries to the region of Aukh (modern-day Dagestan).^[25][26] Today, the descendants of those migrants are known as the Vyappiy and refer to Tyarsh as their ancestral village, as evidenced by their family chronicle (teptar [ru]):^[27]

Their fathers left the village of Tyarsh in the Vabo District on a high mountain near the Buruv fortress. Tyarsh is the name of their eldest father.

In 1733, fearing the expansion of the Ottoman Turks, the Fyappins and Dzherakh wrote a letter to Vakhtang VI, declaring their oath of allegiance to Kartli. The letter was signed by 16 representatives from various surnames of the Fyappin and Dzherakh communities.^[28]

Contacts with Russia and incorporation into Russia

On January 8, 1811, foremen from 13 Fyappin villages swore allegiance to the Russian Empire through an act of oath.^[e][29] However, it's essential to note that despite these oaths from individual Ingush societies or clans, the nature of Russian-Ingush relations remained largely unchanged. Both sides viewed these oaths as concluding union treaties.^[30]

During the Caucasian War, the Fyappins were targeted by Russian expansion efforts. In July 1830, two Russian columns led by Major General Abkhazov embarked on a punitive expedition to mountainous Ingushetia. The Russian forces traversed the Darial and Assa Gorges, encountering fierce resistance, particularly from the inhabitants of Eban.^[31] As a result of this expedition, the Fyappins were temporarily subdued by the Russian Empire,^[32] and their villages (auls) were devastated.^[31] This marked the establishment of district courts and the introduction of a civil system in mountainous Ingushetia for the first time.^[33] Following the general uprising of Chechnya in March 1840, during which Chechens aligned with the Caucasian Imamate, Pavel Grabbe reported on March 30, 1840, that the Kists (i.e., Fyappins) were either greatly agitated or openly sided with the Caucasian Imamate.^[34]

Whole Greater Chechnya was transferred to him, as well as the Michik and Ichkerin residents and many Aukhites; the Kachkalyks are kept in obedience only by the presence of our detachment. Some of the Karabulak and Ingush villages, all the Galgai and Kists are also in great agitation and are secretly or openly assisting the rebel.

Within the Russian Empire, the Fyappins were part of the Ossetian-Military Okrug (1857–1862),^[35] the Ingush okrug (1862–1871),^[36][37] the Vladikavkazsky okrug (1871–1888),^[38][39] the Sunzhensky otdel (1888–1909),^[40] and the Nazran okrug (1909–1920).^[41]

Modern

During the Russian Civil War, the self-proclaimed state of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus emerged in the Caucasus region, with Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev, a Fyappin representative, serving as its finance minister.^[42][43][f] He was also a prominent figure in Ingushetia, leading the Ingush National Council.^[45]

In 1944, the Ingush people (including Fyappins) were deported to Central Asia and were only allowed to return in 1957, after Nikita Khrushchev reversed many of Josif Stalin's policies, including the mentioned deportation. Fyappin representatives like the writer and poet Issa Kodzoev faced repressions by the Soviet regime after writing about Stalin's repressions.^[46][g] In 1989, Kodzoev, along with other Fyappin representatives like Sulambek Mamilov, was part of the committee for the revival of Ingush autonomy within the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union.^[47][h] Today, representatives from the Fyappin society mostly reside across Ingushetia.^[48]