Editing Scythian languages (section)

{{Short description|Group of Eastern Iranic languages}}
{{Other uses|Scythian (disambiguation)}}
{{Split|date=November 2024|Pontic Scythian language|discuss=Talk:Scythian languages#Language family vs individual languages}}{{Infobox language family
| name          = Scythian
| mapcaption    = The approximate distribution of [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranic languages]] and peoples in 100 BC appears in green.
| map           = File:Assimilation of Baltic and Aryan Peoples by Uralic Speakers in the Middle and Upper Volga Basin (Shaded Relief BG).png
| region        = [[Central Asia]], [[West Asia]], [[Eastern Europe]]
| ethnicity     = [[Scythians]], [[Sarmatians]], and [[Alans]]
| familycolor   = Indo-European
| fam2          = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranic]]
| fam3          = [[Iranian languages|Iranic]]
| fam4          = [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranic]]
| glotto        = sogd1247
| glottoname    = Sogdic-Ossetic
| glotto2       = saka1303
| glottoname2   = Saka-Wakhi
| notes         = {{Plain list|'''ISO 639-3 codes'''
* <code>[https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/xsc xsc]</code>: Scythian
* <code>[https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/xln xln]</code>: Alanian
* <code>[https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/oos oos]</code>: Old Ossetian}}
| child1        = (Western) [[Cimmerian language|Cimmerian]] {{extinct}}
| child2        = (Western) Pontic Scythian {{extinct}}
| child3        = (Western) [[Alanic language|Alanic]]
| child4        = (Eastern) [[Saka language|Scytho-Khotanese]] {{extinct}}
}}

{{pp-pc}}
{{Indo-European}}
{{Contains special characters|cuneiform}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Pontic Scythian
| mapcaption     = The approximate distribution of [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranic languages]] and peoples in 100 BC appears in green.
| map            = File:Assimilation of Baltic and Aryan Peoples by Uralic Speakers in the Middle and Upper Volga Basin (Shaded Relief BG).png
| imagescale       = 1.1
| states           = [[Sarmatia]], [[Scythia]], [[Scythia Minor (Crimea)|Scythia]] [[Scythia Minor (Dobruja)|Minor]]
| region           = [[West Asia]], [[Eastern Europe]]
| ethnicity        = [[Scythians]] and [[Sarmatians]]
| era              = [[Classical antiquity]], [[late antiquity]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranic]]
| fam3             = [[Iranian languages|Iranic]]
| fam4             = [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranic]]
| fam5             = Scythian
| notice           = IPA
| lc1              = xsc
| ld1              = Scythian
| linglist         = xsc
| lingname         = Scythian
| glotto           = none
}}
The '''Scythian languages''' <span class="noexcerpt">({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|θ|i|ə|n}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|ð|i|ə|n}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|k|ɪ|θ|i|ə|n}})</span> are a group of [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranic languages]] of the [[classical antiquity|classical]] and [[late antiquity|late antique]] period (the [[Middle Iranian languages|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 [[Iranian languages|Iranic]] group of [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranic]] languages.

Most of the Scythian languages eventually became extinct, except for modern [[Ossetian language|Ossetian]] (which descends from the [[Alanic language|Alanic dialect]] of Scytho-Sarmatian), [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]] (which descends from the [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotanese]] and [[Tumxuk|Tumshuqese]] forms of [[Saka language|Scytho-Khotanese]]), and [[Yaghnobi language|Yaghnobi]] (which descends from [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]]). [[Alexander Lubotsky]] summarizes the known linguistic landscape as follows:<ref>{{harvnb|Lubotsky|2002|p=190}}.</ref>
{{Blockquote|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.}}