नोगाई

Nogai (autonymously Ногай тили / Noğay tili) is a Kipchak Turkic language descended from the Nogai Horde steppe confederation that dominated the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the 16th-17th centuries before being broken up by Russian expansion. The modern Nogai people are scattered across multiple regions of Russia, divided into three regional subgroups: Karanogai (Dagestan), Akhnogai (Karachay-Cherkessia), and Kuban-Nogai (Stavropol Krai), with smaller populations in Astrakhan, Chechnya, and Romanian Dobruja. Linguistically, Nogai is part of the Kipchak-Nogai sub-branch alongside Kazakh (kk), Karakalpak (kaa), and Kyrgyz dialects, with significant borrowings from Russian, Tatar, and Caucasian languages. The Nogai have a strong oral epic tradition centered on the Edige cycle that celebrates the founding figures of the Nogai Horde.