Scythian languages
Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }}Template:Infobox language family
Template:Pp-pc Template:Indo-European Template:Contains special characters {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other The Scythian languages (Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en) are a group of Eastern Iranic languages of the classical and late antique period (the Middle Iranic period), spoken in a vast region of Eurasia by the populations belonging to the Scythian cultures and their descendants. The dominant ethnic groups among the Scythian-speakers were nomadic pastoralists of Central Asia and the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Fragments of their speech known from inscriptions and words quoted in ancient authors as well as analysis of their names indicate that it was an Indo-European language, more specifically from the Iranic group of Indo-Iranic languages.
Most of the Scythian languages eventually became extinct, except for modern Ossetian (which descends from the Alanic dialect of Scytho-Sarmatian), Wakhi (which descends from the Khotanese and Tumshuqese forms of Scytho-Khotanese), and Yaghnobi (which descends from Sogdian). Alexander Lubotsky summarizes the known linguistic landscape as follows:<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref>
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Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about the Scythian of that period [Old Iranian] – we have only a couple of personal and tribal names in Greek and Persian sources at our disposal – and cannot even determine with any degree of certainty whether it was a single language.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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ClassificationEdit
Ossetian is an Eastern Iranic language. The vast majority of Scythological scholars agree in considering the Scythian languages a part of the Eastern Iranic languages too. This relies principally on the fact that the Greek inscriptions of the Northern Black Sea Coast contain several hundreds of Sarmatian names showing a close affinity to the Ossetian language.<ref>Compare L. Zgusta, Die griechischen Personennamen griechischer Städte der nördlichen Schwarzmeerküste [The Greek personal names of the Greek cities of the northern Black Sea coast], 1955.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Some scholars detect a division of Scythian into two dialects: a western, more conservative dialect, and an eastern, more innovative one.<ref> E.g. Harmatta 1970.Template:Page needed </ref> The Scythian languages may have formed a dialect continuum:
- Alanic languages or Scytho-Sarmatian in the west: were spoken by people originally of Iranic stock from the 8th and 7th century BC onwards in the area of Ukraine, Southern Russia and Kazakhstan.
- Modern Ossetian survives as a continuation of the language family possibly represented by Scytho-Sarmatian inscriptions, although the Scytho-Sarmatian language family "does not simply represent the same [Ossetian] language" at an earlier date.
- Saka languages or Scytho-Khotanese in the east: spoken in the first century in the Kingdom of Khotan (located in present-day Xinjiang, China), and including the Khotanese of Khotan and Tumshuqese of Tumshuq.<ref>Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Reichert, 1989.Template:Page needed</ref>
It is highly probable that already in the Old Iranic period, there were some eastern Scythian dialects which gave rise to the ancestor(s) of the Sogdian and Yaghnobi languages, although data required to test this hypothesis is presently lacking.Template:Sfn
The Scythian languages shared some features with other Eastern Iranic languages, such as the use of the suffix Template:Transliteration to denote the plural form, which is also present in Sogdian, Chorasmian, Ossetian, and Yaghnobi.Template:Sfn
PhonologyEdit
The Pontic Scythian language possessed the following phonemes:Template:Sfn
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link |
| Mid | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||
| Open | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||
This article uses cursive theta Template:Angbr to denote the Scythian voiceless dental fricative (IPA Template:IPAslink), and regular theta Template:Angbr to denote the Greek aspirated, voiceless dental plosive (IPA Template:IPAslink).
The western dialects of the Scythian languages had experienced an evolution of the Proto-Iranic sound {{#invoke:IPA|main}} into the Proto-Scythian sound {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, which in the Cimmerian and Pontic dialects of Scythian became the sound {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. Scythian shares the evolution of Proto-Iranic sound {{#invoke:IPA|main}} into {{#invoke:IPA|main}} with all Eastern Iranic languages with the exception of Ossetian, Yaghnobi, and Ishkashimi; and the later evolution of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} into {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is also present in several Eastern Iranic languages such as Bactrian, Pashto, Munjani, and Yidgha.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
HistoryEdit
Early Eastern Iranic peoples originated in the Yaz culture (ca. 1500–1100 BC) in Central Asia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Scythians migrated from Central Asia toward Eastern Europe in the 8th and 7th century BC, occupying today's Southern Russia and Ukraine and the Carpathian Basin and parts of Moldova and Dobruja. They disappeared from history after the Hunnish invasion of Europe in the 5th century AD, and Turkic (Avar, Batsange, etc.) and Slavic peoples probably assimilated most people speaking Scythian.Template:Citation needed However, in the Caucasus, the Ossetian language belonging to the Scythian linguistic continuum remains in use Template:As of, while in Central Asia, some languages belonging to Eastern Iranic group are still spoken, namely Pashto, the Pamir languages and Yaghnobi.
CorpusEdit
InscriptionsEdit
Some scholars ascribe certain inscribed objects found in the Carpathian Basin and in Central Asia to the Scythians, but the interpretation of these inscriptions remains disputed (given that nobody has definitively identified the alphabet or translated the content).
Issyk inscriptionEdit
The Issyk inscription is not yet certainly deciphered, and is probably in a Scythian dialect, constituting one of very few autochthonous epigraphic traces of that language. János Harmatta, using the Kharoṣṭhī script, identified the language as a Khotanese Saka dialect spoken by the Kushans, tentatively translating:Template:Sfn
| Line | Transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Transliteration | lang}} |
| 2 | Template:Transliteration | lang}} |
Personal namesEdit
The primary sources for Scythian words remain the Scythian toponyms, tribal names, and numerous personal names in the ancient Greek texts and in the Greek inscriptions found in the Greek colonies on the Northern Black Sea Coast. These names suggest that the Sarmatian language had close similarities to modern Ossetian.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Recorded Scythian personal names include:
| Name | Attested forms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Ariapeithes|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Composed of:Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
| |
| [[Idanthyrsus|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Meaning "prospering the ally." Composed of:Template:Sfn
| |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | Composed of:Template:Sfn
| |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | From an earlier form Template:Transliteration after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "tall-legged" and "long-legged." Composed of:Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
| |
| [[Bartatua|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx or Template:Transliteration<ref>Template:Harvnb: "Though Madyes himself is not mentioned in Akkadian texts, his father, the Scythian king Template:Transliteration, whose identification with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of Herodotus is certain."</ref> Template:Langx |
Means "who is mighty in battle." Composed of:Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
| |
| [[Bartatua|Template:Transliteration]] | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref>Template:Sfn
| |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx or Template:Langx | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn possibly meaning "with a bright [[khvarenah|Template:Transliteration]]," itself composed of:Template:Sfn
| |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn itself composed of:Template:Sfn
Cognate with Ossetian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration)Template:Sfn and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration).Template:Sfn | |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn possibly meaning "milk-consumer," itself composed of:Template:Sfn
| |
| [[Scilurus|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | From an earlier form Template:Transliteration after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "sharp" and "victorious."Template:Sfn | |
| [[Scyles|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | From the Scythian endonym Template:Transliteration, itself a later dialectal form of Template:Transliteration resulting from a sound change from /δ/ to /l/.Template:Sfn | |
| [[Išpakaia|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Hypocoristic derivation from the word Template:Transliteration, meaning "dog."Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn |
| [[Spargapises|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Composed of:Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration are variants of the same name.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn | |
| [[Spargapeithes (disambiguation)|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Composed of:Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration are variants of the same name.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn | |
| [[Tirgatao|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means "with the strength of an arrow." Composed of:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn
| |
| [[Tomyris|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Derived from a cognate of Avestan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration) and Old Persian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), meaning "seed," "germ," and "kinship."Template:Sfn | |
| [[Octamasades|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means "possessing greatness through his words." Composed of:Template:Sfn
| |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | Hypocorostic derivation from the word Template:Transliteration, meaning "chest armour, armour." Compare with Avestan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration) "chest armour."Template:Sfn |
Tribal namesEdit
Recorded Scythian tribal names include:
| Name | Attested forms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| [[Agathyrsi|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means "prospering the friend/socius." Composed of:Template:Sfn
|
| [[Siraces|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn possibly meaning "milk-consumer," itself composed of:Template:Sfn
|
| Template:TransliterationTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn | Template:Langx
|
Template:Transliteration, the Scythian endonym,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
From the Proto-Indo-European root Template:PIE, itself meaning Template:Lit, whence also English "Template:Transliteration".Template:Sfn |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:LangxTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn | Later form of Template:Transliteration resulting from the evolution of Proto-Scythian /δ/ into Scythian /l/.Template:Sfn |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:LangxTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn | Cognate with Young Avestan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), meaning "placed at the front."Template:Sfn |
Place namesEdit
Some scholars believe that many toponyms and hydronyms of the Russian and Ukrainian steppe have Scythian links. For example, Vasmer associates the name of the river Don with an assumed/reconstructed unattested Scythian word *dānu "water, river", and with Avestan dānu-, Pashto dand and Ossetian don.<ref>M. Vasmer, Untersuchungen über die ältesten Wohnsitze der Slaven. Die Iranier in Südrußland, Leipzig 1923, 74.</ref> The river names Don, Donets, Dnieper, Danube, and Dniester, and lake Donuzlav (the deepest one in Crimea) may also belong with the same word-group.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Recorded Scythian place names include:
| Name | Attested forms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Dnieper|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means "place of beavers." Composed of:Template:Sfn
| |
| lang}} | Template:Langx | Means "river."Template:Sfn | |
| lang}} | Template:Langx | Means "fish-path." Composed of:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
| |
| [[Volga|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means "wetness." Compare with Avestan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration) and Vedic Sanskrit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| [[Don (river)|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means "broad."Template:Sfn |
Herodotus' Scythian etymologiesEdit
The Greek historian Herodotus provides another source of Scythian; he reports that the Scythians called the Amazons Oiorpata, and explains the name as a compound of oior, meaning "man", and pata, meaning "to kill" (Hist. 4,110).
- Most scholars associate oior "man" with Avestan vīra- "man, hero", Sanskrit vīra-, Latin vir (gen. virī) "man, hero, husband",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> PIE Template:PIE. Various explanations account for pata "kill":
- Persian pat- "(to) kill", patxuste "killed";<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Sogdian pt- "(to) kill", ptgawsty "killed";<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Ossetian fædyn "cleave", Sanskrit pātayati "fell", PIE Template:PIE "fall".<ref>
L. Zgusta, "Skythisch {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}", Annali dell’Istituto Universario Orientale di Napoli 1 (1959) pp. 151–156. </ref>
- Avestan paiti- "lord", Sanskrit páti, PIE Template:PIE, cf. Lat. potestate (i.e. "man-ruler");<ref>
Vasmer, Die Iranier in Südrußland, 1923, 15. </ref>
- Ossetian maryn "kill", Pashto mrəl, Sanskrit mārayati, PIE Template:PIE "die" (confusion of Greek Μ and Π);<ref>
V.I. Abaev, Osetinskij jazyk i fol’klor, Moscow / Leningrad 1949, vol. 1, 172, 176, 188. </ref>
- Alternatively, one scholar suggests Iranic aiwa- "one" + warah- "breast",<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> the Amazons believed to have removed a breast to aid drawing a bow, according to some ancient folklorists, and as reflected in Greek folk-etymology: a- (privative) + mazos, "without breast".
Elsewhere Herodotus explains the name of the mythical one-eyed tribe Arimaspoi as a compound of the Scythian words arima, meaning "one", and spu, meaning "eye" (Hist. 4,27).
- Some scholars connect arima "one" with Ossetian ærmæst "only", Avestic airime "quiet", Greek erēmos "empty", PIE Template:PIE?, and spu "eye" with Avestic spas- "foretell", Sanskrit spaś-, PIE Template:PIE "see".<ref>
J. Marquart, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Eran, Göttingen 1905, 90–92; Vasmer, Die Iranier in Südrußland, 1923, 12; H.H. Schaeder, Iranica. I: Das Auge des Königs, Berlin 1934, 16–19. </ref>
- However, Iranic usually expresses "one" and "eye" with words like aiwa- and čašman- (Ossetian īw and cæst).
- Other scholars reject Herodotus' etymology and derive the ethnonym Arimaspoi from Iranic aspa- "horse" instead.<ref>
W. Tomaschek, "Kritik der ältesten Nachrichten über den skythischen Norden", Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 116 (1888), 715–780, here: 761; K. Müllenhoff, Deutsche Altertumskunde, Berlin 1893, vol. 3, 305–306; R. Grousset, L’empire des steppes, Paris 1941, 37 n. 3; I. Lebedensky, Les Scythes. La civilisation des steppes (VIIe-IIIe siècles av. J.-C.), Paris 2001, 93. </ref>
- Or the first part of the name may reflect something like Iranic raiwant- "rich", cf. Ossetian riwæ "rich".<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
Scythian theonymsEdit
| Name | Attested forms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| [[Tabiti|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means “the Burning One” or “the Flaming One.”<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Related to:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
|
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx
|
Related to Avestan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), "water."Template:Sfn |
| [[Targitaos|Template:Transliteration]] | Template:Langx | Means "possessing the might of the goddess Tarkā." Composed of:Template:Sfn
|
| Template:Langx | Composed of:Template:Sfn
| |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | Means "swift water." Composed of:Template:Sfn
|
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | Composed of:Template:Sfn
|
Template:Langx
|
Composed of:
| |
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | From an earlier form Template:Transliteration after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "king of radiance" and "king of heaven." Composed of:Template:Sfn
|
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx | Means "king of the airspace." Composed of:Template:Sfn
|
| Template:Transliteration | Template:Langx |
From an earlier form Template:Transliteration after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "axe-wielding king," where the axe also has the meaning of "sceptre," as well as "blacksmith king," in the sense of "ruling king of the lower world." Composed of:Template:Sfn
|
Pliny the ElderEdit
Pliny the Elder's Natural History (AD 77–79) derives the name of the Caucasus from the Scythian kroy-khasis = ice-shining, white with snow (cf. Greek cryos = ice-cold).
AristophanesEdit
In the comedy works of Aristophanes, the dialects of various Greek people are accurately imitated. In his Thesmophoriazusae, a Scythian archer (a member of a police force in Athens) speaks broken Greek, consistently omitting the final -s ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and -n ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), using the lenis in place of the aspirate, and once using ks ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in place of s (sigma); these may be used to elucidate the Scythian languages.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
See alsoEdit
NotesEdit
BibliographyEdit
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- Mayrhofer, M.: Einiges zu den Skythen, ihrer Sprache, ihrem Nachleben. Vienna 2006.
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- Zgusta, L.: Die griechischen Personennamen griechischer Städte der nördlichen Schwarzmeerküste. Die ethnischen Verhältnisse, namentlich das Verhältnis der Skythen und Sarmaten, im Lichte der Namenforschung, Prague 1955.
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