J1, J2 and the Northeast Caucasian languages

[Shubotai]

The Northeast Caucasian languages is a language family of the Caucasus, unrelated to Northwest Caucasian and Kartvelian language families.
It consists of two branches, according to the traditional classification, Nakh and Dagestani. Nakh branch includes Chechen, Ingush and Bats. The Dagestani branch has many languages, Avar, Akhvakh, Dargin, Lak, Lezgian, Xinalug and others.

The frequency of haplogroup J is high in speakers of the Northeast Caucasian language family, while the frequency of its subclades J2-M172 and J1-M267 are highest in the western and the eastern branch of the family respectively. The ranges do not vary significantly:

Ingush / 81.9-88.8% J2-M172 / 1.9-2.8% J1-M267
Chechens / 48.5-59% J2-M172 / 16-24.2% J1-M267

Dargins / 84.8-98.5% J1-M267 / 0-3.3% J2-M172
Avars / 59.2-80% J1-M267 / 4.8-10% J2-M172
Lezgins / 44.4-58.1% J1-M267 / 0-2.5% J2-M172


Therefore Nakh, the western branch of the Northeast Caucasian languages, corresponds to J2-M172. The majority of it belongs to J2a4b-M67.
Dagestani, the eastern branch of the Northeast Caucasian languages, corresponds to J1-M267. A small part of it belongs to J1e-P58.

Haplogroup J seems connected to the Northeast Caucasian languages. Many people with haplogroup J2 from Italy to Iran or J1 from Arabian countries may have initially spoken languages related to the Northeast Caucasian language family.
Many languages of this family may have been supplanted in large areas by Indogermanic, Afroasiatic and Turkic languages.
The ancient Hurro-Urartian languages could potentially be related to the Northeast Caucasian family. The proposed name for that language family is Alarodian.

In order to investigate the relationship between Avars and Arabs, two ethnic groups with similar names, we have to look at the subclades. J1e-P58, now renamed J1c3, is the dominant haplogroup of the Arabs and a marker of the Arabian expansion. On the other hand, the Avars have a small frequency of J1e 0.9-20% and most of J1 belongs to J1*(-J1e). Therefore the two ethnic groups don't have the same origin but they are closely related.


1. Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Variation in the Caucasus, Nasidze et al 2004

2. The key role of patrilineal inheritance in shaping the genetic variation of Dagestan highlanders, Caciagli et al 2009

3. Parallel Evolution of Genes and Languages in the Caucasus Region, Balanovsky et al 2011

4. Caucasus as an asymmetric semipermeable barrier to ancient human migrations, Yunusbayev et al 2012

5. The emergence of Y-chromosome haplogroup J1e among Arabic-speaking populations, Chiaroni et al 2009

[Hajimurad]

In order to investigate the relationship between Avars and Arabs, two ethnic groups with similar names, we have to look at the subclades. J1e-P58, now renamed J1c3, is the dominant haplogroup of the Arabs and a marker of the Arabian expansion. On the other hand, the Avars have a small frequency of J1e 0.9-20% and most of J1 belongs to J1*(-J1e). Therefore the two ethnic groups don't have the same origin but they are closely related.

Avar and Arab aren't similar names. Avar is Turkic name for inhabitants of Western Daghestan which means "vagabong" and derived from Middle Persian aparag with same meaning. 'Arab first mentioned in Assyrian cuneiform tablets as Aribu which means "Westerner".