A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Scythian | |
|---|---|
.png) The approximate distribution of Eastern Iranic languages and peoples in 100 BC appears in green. | |
| Native to | 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) |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:xsc – Scythianxln – Alanianoos – Old Ossetian |
xsc Scythian | |
xln Alanian | |
oos Old Ossetian | |
| Glottolog | oldo1234 Old Ossetic |
| Part of a series on |
| Indo-European topics |
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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:[1]
Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about the Scythian of that period – 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.[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:
- 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 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.[5]
It is highly probable that already in the Old Iranic period there were some eastern Scythian dialects which gave rise to ancestor(s) of Sogdian language and Yaghnobi, although data required to test this hypothesis is presently lacking.[6]
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.[7]
Phonology
The Pontic Scythian language possessed the following phonemes:[8]
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | iː | u | uː |
| Mid | eː | oː | ||
| Open | a | aː | ||
| 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 | w | l (later) | n | r | j | (ŋ) | |||||||||
The western dialects of the Scythian languages had experienced an evolution of the Proto-Iranic sound /d/ into the Proto-Scythian sound /δ/, which in the Cimmerian and Pontic dialects of Scythian became the sound /l/. Scythian shares the evolution of Proto-Iranic sound /d/ into /δ/ with all Eastern Iranic languages with the exception of Ossetian, Yaghnobi, and Ishkashimi; and the later evolution of /δ/ into /l/ is also present in several Eastern Iranic languages such as Bactrian, Pashto, Munjani, and Yidgha.[7][8]
History
Early Eastern Iranic peoples originated in the Yaz culture (ca. 1500–1100 BC) in Central Asia.[9] 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.[citation needed] However, in the Caucasus, the Ossetian language belonging to the Scythian linguistic continuum remains in use today[update], while in Central Asia, some languages belonging to Eastern Iranic group are still spoken, namely Pashto, 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).
Saqqez inscription
An inscription from Saqqez, dating from the Scythian presence in Western Asia, and written in the Hieroglyphic Luwian script, may represent Scythian:[10]
| Line | Phonetic transliteration | Scythian transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pa-tì-na-sa-nà tà-pá wá-s₆-na-m₅ XL was-was-ki XXX ár-s-tí-m₅ ś₃-kar-kar (HA) har-s₆-ta₅ LUGAL | patinasana tapa. vasnam: 40 vasaka 30 arzatam šikar. UTA harsta XŠAYAI. | Delivered dish. Value: 40 calves 30 silver šiqlu. And it was presented to the king. |
| 2 | par-tì-ta₅-wa₅ ki-ś₃-a₄-á KUR-u-pa-ti QU-wa-a₅ | Partitava xšaya DAHYUupati xva- | King Partitavas, the masters of the land pro- |
| 3 | i₅-pa-ś₂-a-m₂ | ipašyam | -perty |
The king Partitava mentioned in this inscription is the same individual as the Scythian king Pṛtatavah, whose name is attested as Bartatua in Assyrian records and as Protothyēs in Greek records.[11]
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:[12]
| 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.[13]
Recorded Scythian personal names include:
| Name | Attested forms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| *Ariyapaiθah | Ancient Greek: Αριαπειθης, romanized: Ariapeithēs | Composed of:[14][15][16][17] |
| *Hiθāmθrauša | Ancient Greek: Ιδανθυρσος, romanized: Idanthursos | Meaning "prospering the ally." Composed of:[18] |
| *Hupāyā | Ancient Greek: Οποιη, romanized: Opoiē | Composed of:[15]
|
| *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:[19][20]
|
| *Pṛtatavah | Akkadian: 𒁹𒁇𒋫𒌅𒀀, romanized: Bartatua or Partatua[21] Ancient Greek: Προτοθυης, romanized: Protothuēs |
Means "who is mighty in battle." Composed of:[22][23][24]
|
| *Šaitafarna | Ancient Greek: Σαιταφαρνος, romanized: Saitapharnos or Ancient Greek: Σαιταφαρνης, romanized: Saitapharnēs | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian *Xšaitafarna,[25] possibly meaning "with a bright farna," itself composed of:[26]
|
| *Šaθraka | Ancient Greek: Σατρακης, romanized: Satrakēs | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian *Xšaθraka,[25] itself composed of:[27]
Cognate with Ossetian Æхсæртæг (Æxsærtæg)[28] and Æхсæртæггатӕ (Æxsærtæggatæ).[29] |
| *Šīraka | Ancient Greek: Σιρακης, romanized: Sirakēs | From a sibilisation of Proto-Scythian *Xšīraka,[25] possibly meaning "milk-consumer," itself composed of:[27]
|
| *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."[19] |
| *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/.[30] |
| *Spakāya | Akkadian: 𒁹𒅖𒉺𒅗𒀀𒀀, romanized: Išpakāya[31] | Hypocoristic derivation from the word *spaka, meaning "dog."[32][33][16] |
| *Spargapis | Ancient Greek: Σπαργαπισης, romanized: Spargapisēs | Composed of:[15][16][34][17]
*Spargapis and *Spargapaiθah are variants of the same name.[35][15][34] |
| *Spargapaiθah | Ancient Greek: Σπαργαπειθης, romanized: Spargapeithēs | Composed of:[15][34][16][17]
*Spargapaiθah and *Spargapis are variants of the same name.[35][15][34] Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Scythian_language>Text je dostupný pod licencí Creative Commons Uveďte autora – Zachovejte licenci, případně za dalších podmínek. Podrobnosti naleznete na stránce Podmínky užití. Zdroj: Wikipedia.org - čítajte viac o Scythian language
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