| Scythian | |
| Mapcaption: | The approximate distribution of 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 |
| States: | Sarmatia, Scythia, Sistan, Scythia Minor, Alania |
| Region: | Central Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe |
| Ethnicity: | Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans |
| Era: | Classical antiquity, late antiquity Middle Ages (Alanian) Modern era (Ossetian) |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Indo-Iranic |
| Fam3: | Iranic |
| Fam4: | Eastern Iranic |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Linglist: | xsc |
| Lingname: | Scythian |
| Linglist2: | xln |
| Lingname2: | Alanian |
| Linglist3: | oos |
| Lingname3: | Old Ossetian |
| Glotto: | sogd1247 |
| Glottoname: | Sogdic-Ossetic |
| Glotto2: | saka1303 |
| Glottoname2: | Saka-Wakhi |
| Child2: | (Western) Pontic Scythian |
| Child3: | (Western) Alanian |
The Scythian languages
(or or) 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 Alanian 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:[1]
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.[2] [3]
Some scholars detect a division of Scythian into two dialects: a western, more conservative dialect, and an eastern, more innovative one.[4] The Scythian languages may have formed a dialect continuum:
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.
The Scythian languages shared some features with other Eastern Iranic languages, such as the use of the suffix to denote the plural form, which is also present in Sogdian, Chorasmian, Ossetian, and Yaghnobi.
The Pontic Scythian language possessed the following phonemes:
| Back | |||||||||
| Close | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /iː/ | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /uː/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | |||
| Open | style=border-width:0 | style=border-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-width:0 | pronounced as /aː/ | style=border-width:0 |
| Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ (earliest) | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Affricate | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ (earlier) | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | ||||||
| Sonorant | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ (later) | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-right-width:0 | pronounced as /link/ | style=border-left-width:0 | style=border-right-width:0 | (pronounced as /link/) | style=border-left-width:0 | w | |||||||||||||
This article uses cursive theta (ϑ) to denote the Scythian voiceless dental fricative (IPA /pronounced as /link//), and regular theta (θ) to denote the Greek aspirated, voiceless dental plosive (IPA /pronounced as /link//).
The western dialects of the Scythian languages had experienced an evolution of the Proto-Iranic sound /d/ into the Proto-Scythian sound /ð/, which in the Cimmerian and Pontic dialects of Scythian became the sound /l/. Scythian shares the evolution of Proto-Iranic sound /d/ into /ð/ with all Eastern Iranic languages with the exception of Ossetian, Yaghnobi, and Ishkashimi; and the later evolution of /ð/ into /l/ is also present in several Eastern Iranic languages such as Bactrian, Pashto, Munjani, and Yidgha.
Early Eastern Iranic peoples originated in the Yaz culture (ca. 1500–1100 BC) in Central Asia.[6] 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. However, in the Caucasus, the Ossetian language belonging to the Scythian linguistic continuum remains in use, while in Central Asia, some languages belonging to Eastern Iranic group are still spoken, namely Pashto, Pamir languages and Yaghnobi.
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).
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:
| Line | Transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | English: The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal, | |
| 2 | English: then added cooked fresh butter on | |
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.[7]
Recorded Scythian personal names include:
| Name | Attested forms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Αριαπειθης|translit=Ariapeithēs | Composed of: , meaning "Aryan" and "Iranic." , meaning "decoration" and "adornment." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ιδανθυρσος|translit=Idanthursos | Meaning "prospering the ally." Composed of: a cognate of Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, meaning "companion." a cognate of Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, meaning "to prosper." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Οποιη|translit=Opoiē | Composed of: , "good." , "protection"; an abstraction of the root, "to protect." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Παλακος|translit=Palakos | From an earlier form after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "tall-legged" and "long-legged." Composed of: , "foot," from earlier . , hypocoristic suffix. | ||
| Akkadian: {{cuneiform|11| or [8] Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Προτοθυης|translit=Protothuēs | Means "who is mighty in battle." Composed of: "battle." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| and Vedic Sanskrit Sanskrit: पृत्, both meaning "battle." "strength, power." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . | ||
| Composed of:[9] "wide, broad." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . "strength, power." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . | |||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σαιταφαρνος|translit=Saitapharnos or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σαιταφαρνης|translit=Saitapharnēs | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian, possibly meaning "with a bright ," itself composed of: , "brilliant." , "khvarenah." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σατρακης|translit=Satrakēs | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian, itself composed of: , "power." , hypocoristic suffix.Cognate with Ossetian Ossetian; Ossetic: Æхсæртæг and Ossetian; Ossetic: Æхсæртæггатӕ . | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σιρακης|translit=Sirakēs | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian, possibly meaning "milk-consumer," itself composed of: , "milk." , hypocoristic suffix. | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκιλουρος|translit=Skilouros | From an earlier form after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "sharp" and "victorious." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκυλης|translit=Skulēs | From the Scythian endonym, itself a later dialectal form of resulting from a sound change from /δ/ to /l/. | ||
| Akkadian: {{cuneiform|11|[10] | Hypocoristic derivation from the word, meaning "dog." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σπαργαπισης|translit=Spargapisēs | Composed of: "scion" and "descendant." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . "decoration" and "adornment." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . and are variants of the same name. | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σπαργαπειθης|translit=Spargapeithēs | Composed of: "scion" and "descendant." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . "decoration" and "adornment." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . and are variants of the same name. | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Τιργαταω|translit=Tirgataō | Means "with the strength of an arrow." Composed of:[11] "arrow." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "arrow." "strength, power." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Τομυρις|translit=Tomuris | Derived from a cognate of Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| and Old Persian Persian, Old (ca.600-400 B.C.);: {{script|Xpeo|{{small|[[wikt:|]], meaning "seed," "germ," and "kinship." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Οκταμασαδης|translit=Oktamasadēs | Means "possessing greatness through his words." Composed of: , "word." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "spoken," and Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "word." , "great." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ορικος|translit=Orikos | Hypocorostic derivation from the word, meaning "chest armour, armour." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, Avestan: {{script|Avst| "chest armour." |
Recorded Scythian tribal names include:
| Name | Attested forms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Αγαϑυρσοι|translit=Agathursoi | Means "prospering the friend/socius." Composed of: a cognate of Old Persian Persian, Old (ca.600-400 B.C.);: , meaning "friend." a cognate of Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, meaning "to prosper." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σιρακες|translit=Sirakes | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian, possibly meaning "milk-consumer," itself composed of: , "milk." , hypocoristic suffix. | ||
| Akkadian: {{cuneiform|11| Akkadian: {{cuneiform|11| Akkadian: {{cuneiform|11| Akkadian: {{cuneiform|11| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκυθαι|translit=Skuthai | , the Scythian endonym, From the Proto-Indo-European root , itself meaning, whence also English "". | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκωλοτοι|translit=Skōlotoi | Later form of resulting from the evolution of Proto-Scythian /δ/ into Scythian /l/. | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Παραλαται|translit=Paralatai | Cognate with Young Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, meaning "placed at the front." |
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.[12] 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.[13]
Recorded Scythian place names include:
| Name | Attested forms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Βορυσθενης|translit=Borusthenēs | Means "place of beavers." Composed of: "beaver." Cognate of:
"space." | ||
| *Dānu | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ταναις|translit=Tanais | Means "river." | |
| *Pantikapa | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Παντικαπαιον|translit=Pantikapaion | Means "fish-path." Composed of:[14] , "path." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "path." , "fish." Compare with Khotanese Saka, Ossetian Ossetian; Ossetic: {{script|Cyrl|Кӕф, and Pashto کب (Kab). | |
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ρα|translit=Rha | Means "wetness." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| and Vedic Sanskrit Sanskrit: {{script|Deva|रसा .[15] | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Οαρος|translit=Oaros | Means "broad." |
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).
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).
| Name | Attested forms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ταβιτι|translit=Tabiti | Means “the Burning One” or “the Flaming One.”[24] [25] Related to:[26] Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, “to warm.” Sanskrit Sanskrit: तापयति, “to heat” and “to warm”; theonym Sanskrit: तपती ; Sanskrit: तपस् Latin Latin: tepeo. | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Απι|translit=Api and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Απια, romanized: | Related to Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "water." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ταργιταος|translit=Targitaos | Means "possessing the might of the goddess Tarkā." Composed of: , "of the goddess ." "strength, power." Compare with Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst| . | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Αρτιμπασα|translit=Artimpasa | Composed of:
a term related to, "pasture" and, "lord." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Απατουρος|translit=Apatouros | Means "swift water." Composed of: , "water." Related to Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "water." , "quick" or "mighty." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Γοιτοσυρος|translit=Goitosuros | Composed of: , "herd" and "possessions." Cognate of Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "cow pasture."[27] , "strong" and "mighty." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Θαγιμασαδας|translit=Thagimasadas and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Θαμιμασαδας, romanized: | Composed of: a possible cognate of Avestan Avestan: {{script|Avst|, "firmament," and Vedic Sanskrit Sanskrit: त्वक्ष् or Sanskrit: तक्ष्, "to create by putting into motion." , meaning "great." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Λιποξαις|translit=Lipoxais | From an earlier form after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "king of radiance" and "king of heaven." Composed of: , from earlier, "to be bright" as well as "sky" and "heaven." , "ruler." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀρποξαις|translit=Arpoxais | Means "king of the airspace." Composed of: , a cognate of Sanskrit Sanskrit: ऋभु, the name of a group of deities of the airspace. , "ruler." | ||
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Κολαξαις|translit=Kolaxais Latin: Colaxes | From an earlier form 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: , from earlier, "axe." , "ruler." |
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).
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 (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ς) and -n (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ν), using the lenis in place of the aspirate, and once using ks (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ξ) in place of s (sigma); these may be used to elucidate the Scythian languages.[28]
The Alanian language, as spoken by the Alans from about the 5th to the 11th centuries AD, formed a dialect directly descended from the earlier Scytho-Sarmatian languages, and forming in its turn the ancestor of the Ossetian language. Byzantine Greek authors recorded only a few fragments of this language.[29]
Unlike the Pontic Scythian language, Ossetian did not experience the evolution of the Proto-Scythian sound /d/ to /δ/ and then /l/, although the sound /d/ did evolve into /δ/ at the beginning of Ossetian words.
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