Scythian languages

For other uses, see Scythian (disambiguation).

Scythian
Geographic distribution	Central Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe
Ethnicity	Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Indo-Iranic Iranic Eastern Iranic Scythian
Subdivisions	(Western) Cimmerian † (Western) Pontic Scythian † (Western) Alanian (Eastern) Scytho-Khotanese †
Language codes
Glottolog	sogd1247  (Sogdic-Ossetic) saka1303  (Saka-Wakhi)
The approximate distribution of Eastern Iranic languages and peoples in 100 BC appears in green.
Notes	ISO 639-3 codes xsc: Scythian xln: Alanian oos: Old Ossetian

The Scythian languages (/ˈsɪθiən/ or /ˈsɪðiən/ or /ˈskɪθiən/) 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:

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.

Classification

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.

Some scholars detect a division of Scythian into two dialects: a western, more conservative dialect, and an eastern, more innovative one. The Scythian languages may have formed a dialect continuum:

• Alanian 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.

A document from Khotan written in Khotanese Saka, part of the Eastern Iranic branch of the Indo-European languages, listing the animals of the Chinese zodiac in the cycle of predictions for people born in that year; ink on paper, early 9th century

• 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.

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 -ta to denote the plural form, which is also present in Sogdian, Chorasmian, Ossetian, and Yaghnobi.

Phonology

The Pontic Scythian language possessed the following phonemes:

Vowels

	Front		Back
Close	i	iː	u	uː
Mid	eː		oː
Open		a	aː

Consonants

	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Palatal		Velar		Labiovelar		Glottal
Plosive	p	b	t	d (earliest)							k	ɡ
Affricate					t͡s		t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ
Fricative	f		θ	ð (earlier)	s	z	ʃ	ʒ			x		xʷ		h
Sonorant	m		l (later)		n	r			j		(ŋ)		w

This article uses cursive theta ⟨ϑ⟩ to denote the Scythian voiceless dental fricative (IPA /θ/), and regular theta ⟨θ⟩ to denote the Greek aspirated, voiceless dental plosive (IPA /tʰ/).

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.

History

Early Eastern Iranic peoples originated in the Yaz culture (ca. 1500–1100 BC) in Central Asia. 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 today, while in Central Asia, some languages belonging to Eastern Iranic group are still spoken, namely Pashto, the Pamir languages and Yaghnobi.

Corpus

Inscriptions

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 inscription

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:

Issyk inscription

Line	Transliteration	English translation
1	za(ṃ)-ri ko-la(ṃ) mi(ṃ)-vaṃ vaṃ-va pa-zaṃ pa-na de-ka mi(ṃ)-ri-to	The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal,
2	ña-ka mi pa-zaṃ vaṃ-va va-za(ṃ)-na vaṃ.	then added cooked fresh butter on

Personal names

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.

Recorded Scythian personal names include:

Name	Attested forms	Notes
*Ariyapaiϑah	Ancient Greek: Αριαπειθης, romanized: Ariapeithēs	Composed of: *Ariya-, meaning "Aryan" and "Iranic." *paiϑah-, meaning "decoration" and "adornment." Compare with Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬯𐬀 (paēsa).
*Hiϑāmϑrauša	Ancient Greek: Ιδανθυρσος, romanized: Idanthursos	Meaning "prospering the ally." Composed of: a cognate of Avestan 𐬵𐬌𐬚𐬄𐬨 (hiϑąm), meaning "companion." a cognate of Avestan 𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬱 (ϑraoš-), meaning "to prosper."
*Hupāyā	Ancient Greek: Οποιη, romanized: Opoiē	Composed of: *hu-, "good." *pāyā-, "protection"; an abstraction of the root *pā-, "to protect."
*Pālaka	Ancient Greek: Παλακος, romanized: Palakos	From an earlier form *Pāδaka after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "tall-legged" and "long-legged." Composed of: *pāla-, "foot," from earlier *pāδa-. *-ka, hypocoristic suffix.
*Pṛtatavah	Akkadian: 𒁹𒁇𒋫𒌅𒀀, romanized: Bartatua or Partatua Ancient Greek: Προτοθυης, romanized: Protothuēs	Means "who is mighty in battle." Composed of: *pṛta- "battle." Compare with Avestan 𐬞𐬆𐬱𐬀𐬥𐬀 (pəšana) and Vedic Sanskrit पृत् (pṛt-), both meaning "battle." *-tavah- "strength, power." Compare with Avestan 𐬙𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬵 (-tauuah-).
*Pr̥ϑutavā		Composed of: *pr̥ϑu- "wide, broad." Compare with Avestan 𐬞𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬚𐬎 (pərᵊϑu-). *-tavah- "strength, power." Compare with Avestan 𐬙𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬵 (-tauuah-).
*Šaitafarna	Ancient Greek: Σαιταφαρνος, romanized: Saitapharnos or Ancient Greek: Σαιταφαρνης, romanized: Saitapharnēs	From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian *Xšaitafarna, possibly meaning "with a bright farna," itself composed of: *xšaita-, "brilliant." *-farna, "khvarenah."
*Šaϑraka	Ancient Greek: Σατρακης, romanized: Satrakēs	From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian *Xšaϑraka, itself composed of: *xšaϑra-, "power." *-ka, hypocoristic suffix. Cognate with Ossetian Æхсæртæг (Æxsærtæg) and Æхсæртæггатӕ (Æxsærtæggatæ).
*Šīraka	Ancient Greek: Σιρακης, romanized: Sirakēs	From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian *Xšīraka, possibly meaning "milk-consumer," itself composed of: *xšīra-, "milk." *-ka, hypocoristic suffix.
*Skilura	Ancient Greek: Σκιλουρος, romanized: Skilouros	From an earlier form *Skiδura after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "sharp" and "victorious."
*Skula	Ancient Greek: Σκυλης, romanized: Skulēs	From the Scythian endonym *Skula, itself a later dialectal form of *Skuδa resulting from a sound change from /δ/ to /l/.
*Spakāya	Akkadian: 𒁹𒅖𒉺𒅗𒀀𒀀, romanized: Išpakāya	Hypocoristic derivation from the word *spaka, meaning "dog."
*Spargapis	Ancient Greek: Σπαργαπισης, romanized: Spargapisēs	Composed of: *sparga- "scion" and "descendant." Compare with Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬖𐬀 (sparᵊγa). *pis- "decoration" and "adornment." Compare with Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬯𐬀 (paēsa). *Spargapis and *Spargapaiϑah are variants of the same name.
*Spargapaiϑah	Ancient Greek: Σπαργαπειθης, romanized: Spargapeithēs	Composed of: *sparga- "scion" and "descendant." Compare with Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬖𐬀 (sparᵊγa). *paiϑah- "decoration" and "adornment." Compare with Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬯𐬀 (paēsa). *Spargapaiϑah and *Spargapis are variants of the same name.
*Tigratavā	Ancient Greek: Τιργαταω, romanized: Tirgataō	Means "with the strength of an arrow." Composed of: *tigra- "arrow." Compare with Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬌 (tiγri-), "arrow." *-tavah- "strength, power." Compare with Avestan 𐬙𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬵 (-tauuah-).
*Taumuriya	Ancient Greek: Τομυρις, romanized: Tomuris	Derived from a cognate of Avestan 𐬙𐬀𐬊𐬑𐬨𐬀𐬥 (taoxman) and Old Persian 𐎫𐎢𐎶𐎠 (taumā), meaning "seed," "germ," and "kinship."
*Uxtamazatā	Ancient Greek: Οκταμασαδης, romanized: Oktamasadēs	Means "possessing greatness through his words." Composed of: *uxta-, "word." Compare with Avestan 𐬎𐬑𐬙𐬀 (uxta), "spoken," and 𐬎𐬑𐬜𐬀 (uxδa), "word." *-mazatā-, "great."
*Varika	Ancient Greek: Ορικος, romanized: Orikos	Hypocorostic derivation from the word *vari-, meaning "chest armour, armour." Compare with Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌 (vaⁱri-), 𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬌 (uuari-) "chest armour."

Tribal names

Recorded Scythian tribal names include:

Name	Attested forms	Notes
*Haxāϑrauša	Ancient Greek: Αγαϑυρσοι, romanized: Agathursoi	Means "prospering the friend/socius." Composed of: a cognate of Old Persian 𐏃𐎧𐎠 (haxā-), meaning "friend." a cognate of Avestan 𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬱 (ϑraoš-), meaning "to prosper."
*Šīraka	Ancient Greek: Σιρακες, romanized: Sirakes	From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian *Xšīraka, possibly meaning "milk-consumer," itself composed of: *xšīra-, "milk." *-ka, hypocoristic suffix.
*Skuδa	Akkadian: 𒅖𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀, romanized: Iškuzaya 𒊍𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀 (Asguzaya) 𒊍𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀 (Askuzaya) 𒀾𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀 (Ašguzaya) Ancient Greek: Σκυθαι, romanized: Skuthai	*Skuδa, the Scythian endonym, From the Proto-Indo-European root ‹The template PIE is being considered for deletion.› skewd-, itself meaning lit. 'shooter, archer', whence also English "shoot".
*Skula	Ancient Greek: Σκωλοτοι, romanized: Skōlotoi	Later form of *Skuδa resulting from the evolution of Proto-Scythian /δ/ into Scythian /l/.
*Paralāta	Ancient Greek: Παραλαται, romanized: Paralatai	Cognate with Young Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬜𐬁𐬙𐬀‎ (Paraδāta), meaning "placed at the front."

Place names

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. 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.

Recorded Scythian place names include:

Name	Attested forms	Notes
*Baurustāna	Ancient Greek: Βορυσθενης, romanized: Borusthenēs	Means "place of beavers." Composed of: *bauru- "beaver." Cognate of: Avestan 𐬠𐬀𐬡𐬭𐬀 (baβra) and 𐬠𐬀𐬡𐬭𐬌‎ (baβri), meaning "beaver" Sanskrit बभ्रु (babhrú) and बभ्रुक​ (bábhruka), meaning "mongoose" *stāna "space."
*Dānu	Ancient Greek: Ταναις, romanized: Tanais	Means "river."
*Pantikapa	Ancient Greek: Παντικαπαιον, romanized: Pantikapaion	Means "fish-path." Composed of: *panti-, "path." Compare with Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧‎𐬙𐬃‎ (paṇ‎tā̊), "path." *kapa-, "fish." Compare with Khotanese Saka kavā, Ossetian Кӕф kæf, and Pashto کب (Kab).
*Rahā	Ancient Greek: Ρα, romanized: Rha	Means "wetness." Compare with Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬢𐬵𐬁 (raŋhā) and Vedic Sanskrit रसा (rasā́).
*Varu	Ancient Greek: Οαρος, romanized: Oaros	Means "broad."

Herodotus' Scythian etymologies

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", PIE ‹The template PIE is being considered for deletion.› *wiHrós. Various explanations account for pata "kill":
  1. Persian pat- "(to) kill", patxuste "killed";
  2. Sogdian pt- "(to) kill", ptgawsty "killed";
  3. Ossetian fædyn "cleave", Sanskrit pātayati "fell", PIE ‹The template PIE is being considered for deletion.› *peth₂- "fall".
  4. Avestan paiti- "lord", Sanskrit páti, PIE ‹The template PIE is being considered for deletion.› *pótis, cf. Lat. potestate (i.e. "man-ruler");
  5. Ossetian maryn "kill", Pashto mrəl, Sanskrit mārayati, PIE ‹The template PIE is being considered for deletion.› *mer- "die" (confusion of Greek Μ and Π);
• Alternatively, one scholar suggests Iranic aiwa- "one" + warah- "breast", 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 ‹The template PIE is being considered for deletion.› *h₁(e)rh₁mo-?, and spu "eye" with Avestic spas- "foretell", Sanskrit spaś-, PIE ‹The template PIE is being considered for deletion.› *speḱ- "see".
• 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.
• Or the first part of the name may reflect something like Iranic raiwant- "rich", cf. Ossetian riwæ "rich".

Scythian theonyms

Name	Attested forms	Notes
*Tapatī́	Ancient Greek: Ταβιτι, romanized: Tabiti	Means “the Burning One” or “the Flaming One.” Related to: Avestan 𐬙𐬁𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬙𐬌‎ (tāpaiieⁱti), “to warm.” Sanskrit तापयति (tapayati), “to heat” and “to warm”; theonym तपती (Tapatī); तपस् (tápas) Latin tepeo.
*Api	Ancient Greek: Απι, romanized: Api and Απια, romanized: Apia	Related to Avestan 𐬀𐬞𐬌 (api), "water."
*Targī̆tavah	Ancient Greek: Ταργιταος, romanized: Targitaos	Means "possessing the might of the goddess Tarkā." Composed of: *Targiya, "of the goddess Tarkā." *-tavah- "strength, power." Compare with Avestan 𐬙𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬵 (-tauuah-).
	Ancient Greek: Αρτιμπασα, romanized: Artimpasa	Composed of: Iranic theonym *Arti a term related to *paya, "pasture" and *pati, "lord."
*Apatura	Ancient Greek: Απατουρος, romanized: Apatouros	Means "swift water." Composed of: *ap-, "water." Related to Avestan 𐬀𐬞 (ap-), "water." *tura-, "quick" or "mighty."
*Gaiϑāsūra	Ancient Greek: Γοιτοσυρος, romanized: Goitosuros	Composed of: *gaiϑā, "herd" and "possessions." Cognate of 𐬔𐬀𐬊𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬊𐬌𐬙𐬌𐬱 (gaoiiaoⁱtiš), "cow pasture." *sūra, "strong" and "mighty."
	Ancient Greek: Θαγιμασαδας, romanized: Thagimasadas and Θαμιμασαδας, romanized: Thamimasadas	Composed of: a possible cognate of Avestan 𐬚𐬡𐬁𐬴𐬀 (ϑβāṣ̌a), "firmament," and Vedic Sanskrit त्वक्ष् (tvakṣ-) or तक्ष् (takṣ-), "to create by putting into motion." mazatā, meaning "great."
*Lipoxšaya	Ancient Greek: Λιποξαις, romanized: Lipoxais	From an earlier form *Δipoxšaya after the evolution of Proto-Iranic /d/ to Proto-Scythian /δ/ to Scythian /l/. Means "king of radiance" and "king of heaven." Composed of: *lipa, from earlier *δipa, "to be bright" as well as "sky" and "heaven." *-xšaya, "ruler."
*R̥buxšaya	Ancient Greek: Ἀρποξαις, romanized: Arpoxais	Means "king of the airspace." Composed of: *r̥bu-, a cognate of Sanskrit ऋभु (Ṛbhú), the name of a group of deities of the airspace. *-xšaya, "ruler."
*Kolaxšaya	Ancient Greek: Κολαξαις, romanized: Kolaxais Latin: Colaxes	From an earlier form *Koδaxšaya 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: *kola, from earlier *koδa, "axe." *-xšaya, "ruler."

Pliny the Elder

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).

Aristophanes

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 (-ς) and -n (ν), using the lenis in place of the aspirate, and once using ks (ξ) in place of s (sigma); these may be used to elucidate the Scythian languages.

Alanian

See also: Ossetian language § Evidence for Medieval Ossetian

Alanian
Region	North Caucasus
Ethnicity	Alans
Era	5th-11th centuries Developed into Ossetian
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Scythian Alanian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xln
Glottolog	None

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.

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.

See also

• Getae
• Dacian language

Bibliography

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• Bukharin, Mikhail Dmitrievich [in Russian] (2011). "Колаксай и его братья (античная традиция о происхождении царской власти у скифов" [Kolaxais and his Brothers (Classical Tradition on the Origin of the Royal Power of the Scythians)]. Аристей: вестник классической филологии и античной истории (in Russian). 3: 20–80. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
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• Harmatta, J.: Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians, Szeged 1970.
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