Key facts
- Pronunciation
- [ t͡sɛzˈjas mɛt͡s ] , [ tsejos mets ]
- Native to
- North Caucasus
- Region
- Southern Dagestan
- Ethnicity
- Tsez
- Native speakers
- 18,000 (2020 census)
- Language family
- Northeast Caucasian Tsezic Tsez–Hinukh Tsez
- Iso 639 3
- ddo
- Glottolog
- dido1241
- Elp
- Tsez
- Glottopedia
- Tsez
via Wikipedia infobox
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Tsez, also known as Dido (Tsez: цезйас мец (cezyas mec) or цез мец (cez mec)), is a Northeast Caucasian language with about 15,000 speakers (15,354 in 2002) spoken by the Tsez, a North Caucasian people in the mountainous Tsunta District of southwestern Dagestan in Russia. The name is said to derive from the Tsez word for 'eagle', but this is most likely a folk etymology. The name Dido is derived from the Georgian word დიდი (didi), meaning 'big'.
Dialects
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tsez” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.