Total population | |
---|---|
(unknown) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Hungary (in the Jászság region within the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County) | |
Languages | |
Hungarian (Uralic, Finno-Ugric) and formerly Jasz (Indo-European, Iranian) | |
Religion | |
Roman Catholic | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Ossetians and other Iranian people |
Jász is the Hungarian language and English language exonym for an ethnic minority, also known by the endonyms Iasi or Jassy, that has lived in Hungary since the 13th Century. The Jász originated as an Ossetian people in Sarmatia.
The Jász live mostly in a region known as Jászság, which comprises the north-western part of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county.
Jassic is the common name in English for the original language of the Jász. A dialect of Ossetian and, therefore, the broader Iranian language family, Jassic is now extinct and has been replaced by Hungarian.
The cultural and political center of Jászság is the town of Jászberény.
Jászság is sometimes, erroneously, known as "Jazygia", after a somewhat related Sarmatian people, the Iazyges, who lived in a similar area in ancient times. However, there is no direct connection between the Jász and Iazyges.
The Jasz people were a nomadic Sarmatian (or Scythian) tribe which settled in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary during the 13th century and are generally thought to be of Ossetian origin originally speaking a dialect of the Ossetic language. The dialect is extinct and members of the Jász usually speak Hungarian.