Sart is a name for the settle inhabitants of Central Asia which has had shifting meanings over the centuries. Sarts, known sometimes as Ak-Sart ("White Sart") in ancient times, did not have any particular ethnic identification, and were usually (though not always) town-dwellers. There is a suggestion that the name is etymologically derived from Sarı İt ("Yellow Dog" in Turkic) as an insulting term for town dwellers by nomads, and it was this supposed root which led the Soviets to abolish the term as "derogatory" (see below); however, Barthold believes this derivation to be false, and there is no literary or philological evidence to support it.