Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians
J. Harmatta

III. THE LANGUAGE OF THE SARMATIANS
 

3. The Sarmatian Dialects of the North Pontic Region

10.

A twofold development may be also observed in the case of the Old Iranian group of phonemes *ha-: 1. ha-, 2. a-.
 

Old Iranian *ha- > ha-.


Panticapaeum: ~ Avestan hana- 'alt' (Vasmer, op. cit., 56).
 

Old Iranian *ha- > a-.
Additional Notes

To p. 93. Even though the interpretation of the name  from Old Iranian *hanaka- is certainly possible, now it seems to me still doubtful. On the other hand I also regard the proposal of Abaev to trace back this name to Old Iranian *χvanaka- unlikely, because Old Iranian *χva- usually appears as Χο- or Χω- in the Iranian names occurring in the Greek inscriptions of the North Pontic region.

93

Tanais,  No. 4 (220 A. D.): ~ Avestan hazaηra- 'tausend' (Vasmer, op. cit., 30).

'Alanic name of Theodosia' Anonym. Peripl. Ponti Eux. 77:  ~ Avesta hapta 'sieben' (Vasmer, op. cit., 72).

Tanais,  No. 63 (236 and 220 A.D.): ~ Ossetian ävdäimag 'der siebente' (Vasmer, op. cit., 32).
 

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