Scythian languages

For other uses, see Scythian (disambiguation).

Scythian
Scythic
Geographic distribution	Central Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe
Ethnicity	Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Sogdo-Scythian Scythian
Subdivisions	Alanic Cimmerian † Pontic Scythian †
Language codes
Glottolog	osse1245  Ossetic
The approximate distribution of Eastern Iranic languages and peoples in 100 BC appears in green.

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 Alanic dialect of Scytho-Sarmatian). 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:

• Alanic 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.
• 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. Often associated with the historical Saka of Central Asia and the elite of the Indo-Scythian Kingdom, however, this notion has been recently criticized and Khotanese belongs to a separate nuclei than the Scytho-Sarmatian languages within (Eastern) Iranic.
  • Modern Wakhi is considered to be the closest living relative of Khotanese and Tumshuqese.

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. This again hints towards the idea that these languages share more recent common ancestry through the existence of a possible Northeastern Iranian dialect cluster.

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 Hunnic 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.

See also

• Getae
• Dacian language

References

Sources

• Ivantchik, Askold I. (1999a). "Une légende sur l'origine des Scythes (HDT. IV 5–7) et le problème des sources du Scythicos logos d'Hérodote" [A Legend on the Origin of the Scythians (Hdt. IV 5–7) and the problems of the sources of Herodotus's Scythicos logos]. Revue des Études Grecques [Review of Greek Studies]. 112 (1): 141–92. doi:10.3406/reg.1999.4355. JSTOR 44260011.
• Lubotsky, Alexander (2002). "Scythian elements in Old Iranian" (PDF). Proceedings of the British Academy. 116. The British Academy; azargoshnasp: 189–202.
• Novák, Ľubomír (2013). Problem of Archaism and Innovation in the Eastern Iranian Languages. Prague, Czech Republic: Charles University. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.

Further reading

• Alemany, Agustí (2006). "Onomastica Elamo-Scythica". In del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Feliu, Lluís; Millet Albà, Adelina (eds.). Sapal tibnim mû illakû: Studies Presented to Joaquín Sanmartín on the Occasion of his 64th Birthday (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain: Editorial AUSA. pp. 29–34. ISBN 978-8-488-81071-7.
• 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 13 July 2022.
• Bukharin, Mikhail [in Russian] (2013). К дискуссии о языке скифов: переход др.ир. *xš- > *s- и его отражение в древнегреческом [Towards the Discussion on the Language of the Scythians: The Transition of OIr *xš- > *s- and its Reflection in the Ancient Greek]. Проблемы Истории, Филологии, Культуры [Problems of History, Philology, Culture]. 40 (2): 263–285. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
• Harmatta, J. (1970). "Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians". Acta Universitatis de Attila József Nominatae: Acta antiqua et archaeologica. 13. Szeged, Hungary: University of Szeged.
• Harmatta, János (1992). "Languages and Literature in the Kushan Empire" (PDF). In Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Harmatta, János; Puri, Baij Nath; Etemadi, G. F.; Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris, France: UNESCO. pp. 407–431. ISBN 978-9-231-02846-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2021.
• Harmatta, János (1999). "Herodotus, Historian of the Cimmerians and the Scythians". In Reverdin, Olivier [in French]; Nenci, Giuseppe [in Italian] (eds.). Hérodote et les Peuples Non Grecs [Herodotus and the Non-Greek Peoples] (in French). Vandœuvres, Switzerland: Fondation Hardt pour l’étude de l’Antiquité classique. pp. 115–130. ISBN 978-3-774-92415-4.
• Hinge, George (2005). "Herodot zur skythischen Sprache. Arimaspen, Amazonen und die Entdeckung des Schwarzen Meeres". Glotta (in German). 81: 86–115.
• Hinz, Walther [in German] (1975). Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberleiferung [Old Iranian Language from Collateral Sources] (in German). Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-01703-1.
• Humbach, Helmut; Faiss, Klaus (2012). Herodotus's Scythians and Ptolemy's Central Asia: Semasiological and Onomasiological Studies. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag.
• Ivantchik, Askold (1999b). "The Scythian 'Rule Over Asia': the Classical Tradition and the Historical Reality". In Tsetskhladze, G.R. (ed.). Ancient Greeks West and East. Mnemosyne, Supplements, vol. 196. Leiden, Netherlands; Boston, United States: BRILL. pp. 497–520. doi:10.1163/9789004351257_021. ISBN 978-90-04-11190-5.
• Ivantchik, Askold I. (2005). Накануне колонизации. Северное Причерноморье и степные кочевники VIII – VII вв. до н.э. в античной литературной традиции: фольклор, литература и история [On the eve of Colonisation. The Northern Black Sea Region and the Steppe Nomads of the 8th – 7th centuries BC in the Ancient Literary Tradition: Folklore, Literature and History]. Berlin Germany; Moscow, Russia: Eurasien-Abteilung des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (Germany); Центр сравнительного изучения древних цивилизаций Института всеобщей истории РАН (Russia); Paleograph Press. ISBN 978-5-895-26015-9.
• Ivantchik, Askold (2018). "Scythians". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York City, United States: Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation; Brill Publishers. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
• Kullanda, S. V. [in Russian]; Raevskiy, D. S. [in Russian] (2004). "Эминак в ряду владык Скифии" [Eminakes, King of Scythia] (PDF). Вестник древней истории [Journal of Ancient History] (in Russian). 248 (1): 79–95. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
• Kullanda, S. V. [in Russian] (2013). "Скифские этимологии" [Scythian Etymologies]. In Kolganova, G. Y.; Kullanda, S. V. [in Russian]; Nemirovsky, A. A. [in Russian]; Petrova, A. A.; Safronov, A. V. (eds.). Иранский Мир II – I тыс. до н.э. Материалы международной научной конференции, посвященной памяти Эдвина Арвидовича Грантовского и Дмитрия Сергеевича Раевского. Выпуск VI [Iranian World 2nd – 1st millennium BC. Proceedings of the International Scientific conference Dedicated to the Memory of Edwin Arvidovich Grantovsky and Dmitry Sergeevich Raevsky. Issue VI]. Moscow, Russia: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. pp. 38–48. ISBN 978-5-892-82576-4.
• Kullanda, Sergei [in Russian] (2014). "External relations of Scythian". Journal of Language Relationship. 11 (1). Piscataway, United States: Gorgias Press: 81–90. doi:10.31826/jlr-2014-110110. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
• Mayrhofer, M.: Einiges zu den Skythen, ihrer Sprache, ihrem Nachleben. Vienna 2006.
• Melikov, Rauf (2016). "Скифские этнонимы и антропонимы в древневосточных клинописных текстах" [Scythian Ethnonyms and Anthroponyms in Ancient Eastern Cuneiform Texts]. Вопросы эпиграфики [Questions of Epigraphy]. 9: 74–96. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
• Raevskiy, Dmitriy [in Russian] (1993). Marazov, Ivan (ed.). Scythian Mythology. Sofia, Bulgaria: Secor Publishers. ISBN 978-9-548-25002-3.
• Rjabchikov, Sergei V. The Long Awaited Bilingua in Ancient Greek and Scytho-Sarmatian Languages from Bosporan Kingdom; Scytho-Sarmatian Texts Written in Greek Letters. In: I.I. Ivanovskaya and M.V. Posnova (eds.) Fundamental’naya i prikladnaya nauka: Sostoyanie i tendentsii razvitiya. Sbornik statey XXV mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii, sostoyavsheysya 28 noyabrya 2022 g. v g. Petrozavodske. Petrozavodsk: International Center for Scientific Partnership “New Science”, 2022, pp. 178-193.
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (2003). "Die skythischen Personennamen bei Herodot" [Scythian Personal Names in Herodotus] (PDF). Annali dell'Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" [Annals of the University of Naples "L'Orientale"] (in German). 63. Naples, Italy: Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale": 1–31.
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (2009). Iranisches Personennamenbuch [Book of Iranian Personal Names] (in German). Vol. 7.1a. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-700-16608-5.
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (2011). Iranisches Personennamenbuch [Book of Iranian Personal Names] (in German). Vol. 5.5a. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 341–342. ISBN 978-3-700-17142-3.
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (2018a). "Scythian Language". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (2018b). "Massagetae". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Schwartz, Martin; Manaster Ramer, Alexis (2019). "Some Interlinguistic Iranian Conundrums". In Hintze, Almut; Durkin, Desmond; Naumann, Claudius (eds.). A Thousand Judgements: Festschrift for Maria Macuch. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-11094-5.
• Szemerényi, Oswald (1980). Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian – Skudra – Sogdian – Saka (PDF). Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 0-520-06864-5.
• Tokhtasyev, Sergey [in Russian] (2005a). "Проблема Скифского Языка в Современной Науке" [The Problem of the Scythian Language in Contemporary Studies]. In Cojocaru, Victor (ed.). Ethnic Contacts and Cultural Exchanges North and West of the Black Sea from the Greek Colonization to the Ottoman Conquest. Proceedings of the International Symposium Ethnic contacts and Cultural Exchanges North and West of the Black Sea, Iaşi, June 12–17, 2005. Iași, Romania: Trinitas. pp. 59–108. ISBN 978-9-737-83450-8.
• Tokhtasyev, Sergey [in Russian] (2005b). "Sauromatae - Syrmatae - Sarmatae". Херсонесский сборник [Chersonesian Collection] (in Russian). 14: 291–306. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
• Tokhtasyev, Sergey [in Russian] (2013). "Из ономастики Северного Причерноморья. XXI. Τράκανα" [On Onomastics of the Northern Black Sea region. XXI. Τράκανα]. Вестник древней истории [Journal of Ancient History]. 281 (1): 193–196.
• Ustinova, Yulia (1999). The Supreme Gods of the Bosporan Kingdom: Celestial Aphrodite and the Most High God. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, vol. 135. Leiden, Netherlands; Boston, United States: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004295902. ISBN 978-9-004-11231-5.
• Witczak, K. T. (1999). "Скифский язык: опыт описания" [The Scythian Language: Attempt at Description]. Вопросы языкознания. 5: 50–59. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
• Zgusta, L.: Die griechischen Personennamen griechischer Städte der nördlichen Schwarzmeerküste. Die ethnischen Verhältnisse, namentlich das Verhältnis der Skythen und Sarmaten, im Lichte der Namenforschung, Prague 1955.