Editing Sciri (section)

==Name==
Since the 19th century, the etymology of the Sciri name has been connected to such Germanic words as [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''[[:wiktionary:𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃|skeirs]]'' ("sheer", "pure").{{sfn|Schütte|1933|p=29}} Rudolf Much, in the first edition of the ''[[Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde]]'' pointed out that this could be interpreted three ways: "bright" (''clari, splendidi''), "honest" (''candidi, sinceri'') or "pure" and "unmixed", and he mentioned that the latter racial implication might make sense for a people living near a borderland.<ref>Hoops (ed.) ''RGA'' (1918–1919), "Skiren", Vol.4. which starts on [https://archive.org/details/reallexikonderge04hoopuoft/page/191 page 191]</ref> In more recent times scholars such as [[Herwig Wolfram]] have often accepted this latter idea, interpreting the name ''Sciri'' to mean "the pure ones", and contrasting their name with that of the neighboring [[Bastarnae]], who were ethnically mixed according to this interpretation, and thus, according to this account, named "the [[:wiktionary:bastard|bastards]]".{{sfn|Wolfram|2005|p=4}}

Not all scholars have accepted this. [[Robert L. Reynolds]] and [[Robert S. Lopez]], for example, suggested an [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] etymology for Sciri, relating it to the [[Middle Persian]] ''shīr'' ("milk, lion").{{sfn|Reynolds|Lopez|1946|p=42}} This theory was dismissed by [[Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen]].<ref>{{harvnb|Maenchen-Helfen|1947|p=838}}. "It would be difficult to suggest a more farfetched etymology." {{harvnb|Reynolds|Lopez|1947}} responded that this represents "the position of the unflinching Germanizer, to whom it appears self-evident that every barbarian who distinguished himself must have been a German in his inner being".</ref>