III. THE LANGUAGE OF THE SARMATIANS
3. The Sarmatian Dialects of the North Pontic Region
3.
The Old Iranian group of phonemes -sp- has three different developments:
1. -sp-, 2. -fs-, 3. -sf-.
Old Iranian *-sp- > -sp-.
Olbia,
Latyshev, IOSPE I, 67 ~ Avestan ama- 'stark' +
spāδa
'Heer' (Vasmer, op. cit., 32).
Tanais,
,
No. 85 (220 A. D.). In Vasmer's view (op. cit., 34) the word has
been obtained by suffixation from the short form of a name formed from
aspa-
(like aspačanah-,
paruaspa-).
Procopius,
De
bello Vandalico I, 3, 8 < Old Iranian *aspabāra-
'Reiter' (Vasmer, op. cit., 34).
85
Tanais,
,
No. 68 (220 A. D.) < Old Iranian baivaraspa-, '10000 (viele)
Pferde habend' (Vasmer, op. cit., 35).
'King of
the Iazyges' Dio Cass. 71, 16, 1: < Old Iranian *vanat-aspa-
'siegreiche Pferde habend' (Vasmer, loc. cit.).
Tanais,
,
No. 76 (193 A. D.): ~ Ossetian bor 'gelb', Modern Persian bōr
'color ruber' (Vull. I, 274) + aspa- (Vasmer, op. cit., 36).
'King of
the Sanigae' Arrian. Peripl. 11, 3.
Olbia, Latyshev,
IOSPE
I, 84: names formed from the Old Iranian word
spāδa-
'Heer', analogous to names derived by suffixation from the short forms
of Avestan pouruspāδa-,
srutōspāδa-
(Vasmer, op. cit., 52 foll.).
Old Iranian *-sp- > -fs-.
Steph
Byz. According to Marquart's very probable conjecture the correct form
of the name is
,
to be explained as a compound of the words *fsänd (~ Avestan
spənta-
'heilig') and *ārt
(~ Avestan ātar-
'Feuer'). [85] This view was accepted by Vasmer (op.
cit., 57 and Iranisches aus Südrußland, 371 foll.)
who would, however, assign the change sp > fs to a period
later than the third century A. D. and hence concludes that Stephanus Byzantius
must have derived this datum from a later source. This view, hovewer, is
by no means probable. The sources used by Stephanus Byzantius are mostly
geographical works dating from a period a n t e r i o r to
the second century A. D.;
[86] hence there is a strong
likelihood at the very outset that this particular datum comes from the
same sources. Moreover, we can define more closely the origin of this particular
datum. The phrase
cannot be separated from the place-name
concerning which Stephanus supplies the following information:
.
Hence it seems indubitable that both data derive from Polyhistor [87].
Since, however, Stephanus had no direct access to the work of Alexander
Polyhistor [88], it would be an obvious assumption that
the mediator, as in many other cases, was Philo of Byblus. But even in
the absence of such a fairly precise delimitation, the name
which appears in Procopius would still prove that the development of the
group of phonemes sp was not homogeneous because the datum supplied by
Stephanus could in no case derive from a time later than the fifth century
A. D. It does not, in fact, matter very much whether we assign the parallel
groups sp ~ fs to the third or the fifth century. But since
it seems certain that Stephanus Byzantius took the datum
from a considerable earlier source, we may assume that, as early as the
first century A. D., the Old Iranian group of phonemes sp was replaced
in the language of some Iranian tribes of South Russia by fs.
Olbia, Latyshev,
IOSPE
I, 64: in Miller's view it is the same name as
,
but it shows a later development of phonemes (sp > fs). Vasmer
doubts this (op. cit., 36) since, in his opinion, the phonemic change
sp
> fs had not yet taken place at the time. But having established
the chronological position of the name
this argument loses its force. Hence the name
may safely be regarded as the transcription of the form *borəfsa-
'having a roan horse'. The final element
may probably be compared with the suffix -tca- or -ca- known
from
85. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Eran, II, 88.
86. Honigmann: RE II, R. III, 2379.
87. Harmatta, Ant. Hung. II, 32.
88. Honigmann, op. cit., 2384.
86
Saka (cp. pätajsa- 'kräftig', rrätajsa- 'löcherig', Konow, Khotansakische Grammatik, 68).
Tanais,
,
No. 63 (220 and 236 A. D.). This name, too, may be regarded as the transcription
of a form *afsaχ < Old Iranian *aspa-aχva-.
The first element
corresponds exactly to Ossetian äfsä 'mare'. Thus it comes
from a dialect in which the Old Iranian group of phonemes *sp had
developed into fs.
Olbia, Latyshev,
IOSPE I, 81. This name probably hides a form *afs
γ,
so that it corresponds to Old Iranian *aspaka-. It is worth noting
that this name comes from the same district as
,
viz.
from Olbia.
Old Iranian *-sp- > -sf-.
Panticapaeum.
In Vasmer's view (op. cit., 53) the word corresponds to the Old
Persian name vayaspāra-,
with the elements of the compound in the reverse order. The chief difficulty
about this interpretation is that the etymology of the Old Persian name
has not been satisfactorily explained. Bartholomae (AirWb., 1358)
divides it into vayas-pāra-
and gives it the meaning 'der der Verfolgung ein Ende macht'. But this
interpretation is by no means certain. The best course seems to be, therefore,
to disregard the Old Persian word altogether and to try interpreting the
name by itself. There are two possibilities for dividing the word: either
as
or
as
. In
the first case, the element
may be compared with the Old Iranian word *spara- 'Schild', while
the second element
:
baya-
may be compared with either of the following words: Avestan
bay-
'erschrecken' (Bartholomae, AirWb., 927) or bā-
'scheinen' (Bartholomae, AirWb., 952). The compound yields, in either
instance, a satisfactory meaning: the sense is either 'one who inspires
terror with his shield' or 'one shining with his shield'. On the other
hand, if we divide the word into
,
the first element may be compared with Avestan spā-
'Gedeihen, Glück' (Bartholomae, AirWb., 1616), while the element
:
*raβaya- may be compared with
Avestan rap- 'Unterstützung gewähren — finden' (Bartholomae,
AirWb.,
1508); the sense, in this case, would be 'one supported by good fortune'.
Whichever possibility we accept the initial group of phonemes sf-
corresponds in any case to Old Iranian *sp-.
Olbia, Latyshev,
IOSPE
I, 118. Miller and Justi (Iranisches Namenbuch, 47) connect this
word with the name
which, in its turn, is interpreted by Justi as corresponding to the Armenian
name Aspūrak,
while Miller and Tomaschek (RE II, 1738 foll.) thought to recognize
the word aspa- in the first part of the compound. This latter suggestion
is certainly correct but the second element of the name needs to be explained.
The most obvious solution is to regard the name
as a transcription of the compound *asp-urg < *aspa-ugra-,
the second element of which, viz. -ugra-, may be compared
with Avestan ugra- 'stark, kräftig'. For the development of the Old
Iranian group of phonemes -gr- into -rg- there are
numerous examples: in Ossetian, too, -rγ-
is the regular development of Old Iranian -gr-: Ossetian ćirγ
< Old Iranian *tiγra- etc.
(see Miller, Die Sprache der Osseten, 36). Thus the name
is a fairly clear compound which it is relatively easy to interpret: but
this interpretation does not help one at all in explaining the sense of
the name
because the element
in this latter name obviously cannot be identified with the element
which admits of a clear interpretation. Yet, while we have to give up the
identification of the name
with the name
,
the interpretation of the former is by no means a hopeless task. In the
final element
we may recognize the suffix -ug which exists in Modern
Additional Notes
To p. 87. The doubts expressed by W. P. Schmidt (BzN 7 [1956]
208) in connection with the interpretation of the name |
87
Ossetian (-ug, -ig, -əg,
see Miller, op. cit., 90) and which used to exist also in the language
of the Iazyges of Hungary (-uh, see Gombocz, Ossetes et Iazyges.
Repr. 5). The remaining stem
may be regarded without any difficulty as the equivalent of the Old Iranian
word *aspabāra-
'Reiter'. Hence it seems to be identical with the name Aspar discussed
above, only the Old Iranian group of phonemes -sp- has here been
replaced by -sf-, while the group of phonemes -abā-
> aβā
> -avä- has been contracted to the labial phoneme -
-
(ω). Thus the name
:
asf
r-ug,
too, shows the development of the Old Iranian group of phonemes *-sp-
into -sf-.
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