↑The expressions "Ossetic language" and "Ossetian language" are about equally common in books,[3] but dictionaries show that there are differences between British and North American usage. The Collins English Dictionary mentions only "Ossetic" for American usage and lists it first for British usage,[source?] and the US dictionaries Merriam-Webster,[4] Random House,[5] and American Heritage[1] do not even mention the language as a meaning of "Ossetian", whereas the Oxford University Press (as quoted in the Lexico.com entries for Ossetic and Ossete) clearly considers "Ossetian" more common than "Ossetic" for the language. So US dictionaries agree on "Ossetic" for the language, whereas UK dictionaries do not agree on whether it or "Ossetian" are more common. "Ossetic" is apparently preferred in scientific use (linguistics), as shown by this article's references, including the entries in Ethnologue[6] and the Encyclopaedia Britannica.[7]
