"Aul" is a word supposedly derived from one of the Turkic languages. Most researchers attribute to him Kazakh, Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz, Tatar or Bashkir roots. Usually it denotes some settlements of the traditional type of Caucasian or Turkic peoples. This may be a village or village located in the highlands, a camp of nomads, mainly residents of Central Asia.
Word history
The roots of this term are directly related to the progenitor of all Turkic languages and dialects. Since ancient times, the aul has been a nomadic refuge for small tribal groups carrying their yurts with horses. The latter, in turn, were mobile portable housing that could easily be carried on horseback.
The sizes of auls have always been different. The smallest of them could have about 2-3 yurts. Only the closest relatives of the same family lived in them. Richer villages are large settlements with more than one hundred yurts. The very situation and the number of yurts was associated not only with the wealth of the tribe, but also with nomadic conditions, as well as the political situation in the region.
Mountain villages in the understanding of the Slavs
The word itself was also borrowed by neighboring Christian Slavs. For them, an aul is any settlement in which Turkic peoples or Muslims lived. In the days of the USSR, this word almost went out of use and was used only by indigenous mountain peoples. Instead, a more familiar name was used - the village.
Aul in modern times
To date, no official source uses this term anywhere else. The only exception can be called Kyrgyzstan, where all villages of the rural type are called auls (ayyls). Using the example of this word, one can notice the assimilation of Turkic peoples by Slavic culture.