Ostyak

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title: "Ostyak" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["indigenous-small-numbered-peoples-of-the-north,-siberia-and-the-far-east", "languages-of-russia", "khanty", "ket-people", "selkup-people", "ugric-peoples", "exonyms"] description: "Historical name for several indigenous peoples of Siberia, Russia" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostyak" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Historical name for several indigenous peoples of Siberia, Russia ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/023_Description_of_all_the_Russian_state-dwelling_peoples_-_Ein_Ostiakischer_Hermelin-Fänger,1790(crop).jpg" caption="Illustration of an "Ostyak" [[stoat]]-hunter (1793)"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/View_of_Beryozovo,_18th_century.jpg" caption="Beryozovo]], including "Ostiac" [[canoe]]s."] ::

Ostyak () is a name formerly used to refer to several Indigenous peoples and languages in Siberia, Russia. Both the Khanty people and the Ket people were formerly called Ostyaks, whereas the Selkup people were referred to as Ostyak-Samoyed.

Khanty

Main article: Khanty people, Khanty languages

The Khanty people, who also call themselves Khanti, Khande, or Kantek were known to the Russians as Yugra in the eleventh century, with the name Ostyak first appearing in the sixteenth century. The Soviet Union began using the endonym Khant or Khanty during the 1930s.

some 28,000 people identify as Khanty, primarily in Tyumen Oblast, which includes the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

The Khanty languages, also known as Hanty, Khant, Xanty, or Ostyak, are a Uralic language group with about 9,500 native speakers.

Ket

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/P170b_At_Levinski_Pesok._A_civilized_Yenisei_Samoyede_and_a_Yenisei-Ostiak.jpg" caption="Yenisei-Ostiak]].""] ::

Main article: Ket people, Ket language

The Kets historically lived near the Yenisei River in the Krasnoyarsk Krai district of Russia. The Imperial Russians originally called them Ostyak, and later Yenisei Ostyak. Fewer than 1,500 people identified themselves as Ket during the 2002 Russian census.

The Ket language, also known as Imbatski-Ket or Yenisei Ostyak, is a Yeniseian language. It is considered severely endangered to moribund.

Selkup

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Selkup_man.jpg" caption="Selkup man"] ::

Main article: Selkup people, Selkup language

The Selkup people were known as Ostyak-Samoyeds until the 1930s. They are descended from both Yeniseian and Samoyedic peoples, and live in the northern parts of the Siberian plain. About 4,000 people identified as Selkup during the 2002 Russian census.

The Selkup language, also known as Selkups, Chumyl' Khumyt, Shöl Khumyt, Shösh Gulla, Syusugulla, or Ostyak Samoyed, is a Uralic Samoyedic language with perhaps two thousand or more native speakers. The northern dialect is taught in some schools.

References

References

1. "Khants or Ostyaks". Endangered Uralic Peoples.
2. "Численность коренных малочисленных народов Севера".
3. (2013). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World". SIL International.
4. Vajda, Edward. "The Ket and Other Yeniseian Peoples".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::