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
 

4.
The Old Iranian initial phoneme p- has two different developments: 1. p-, 2. f-.
 

Old Iranian *p- > p-.


Tyras, Latyshev, IOSPE I, 2 (181 A. D.): ~ Avestan pitar- 'Vater' (Vasmer, op. cit., 48); the name comes from the form *pita-na-.

Tyras, Latyshev, IOSPE I, 2 (181 A. D.): ~ Avestan pitar (Vasmer, loc. cit.).

Olbia, Latyshev, IOSPE I, 62: ~ Avestan puϑra- 'Sohn' (Vasmer, loc. cit.).

Olbia, Latyshev, IOSPE IV, 15: < Old Iranian *puϑra-ka-.

Olbia, Latyshev, IOSPE I, 61: < *pita-.

Tanais,  No. 302 (220 A. D.): < Old Iranian *pati- 'Herr'.
 

Old Iranian *p- > f-.


Tanais,  No. 485 (103—203 A. D.): ~ Ossetian fidä 'Vater' < Old Iranian *pita- (Vasmer, op. cit., 55).

Tanais,  No. 380 (236 A. D.): < Old Iranian *pita-na-,

Tanais,  No. 379 (beginning of 3rd cent. A. D.): in Miller's view = Ossetian fedavinag 'friedliebend': this, however is phonetically impossible. The word has to be regarded simply as the result of further suffixation from *fida- < Old Iranian *pita-, formed with the group of suffixes -na-ka-, known to us from Sogdian and Saka (cp. Sogdian -(’)n’k: pwt’n’k 'bouddhique', Benveniste, Essai de grammaire sogdienne, II, 95 and Saka -naa-: āyīnaa- 'Spiegel', Konow, Khotansakische Grammatik, 68).

Tanais,  No. 411 (175—211 A. D.): < Old Iranian *parugav- 'rinderreich' (Vasmer, op. cit., 55).

Tanais,  No. 386 (225 and 212—229 A. D.) see above.

Tanais; Latyshev, IOSPEII, 447; < Old Iranian *paru-yava- 'viel Getreide besitzend' (Vasmer, loc. cit.).

Phanagoria, Latyshev, IOSPE II, 364, Tanais,  No. 384 (211—219 A. D.): Miller tried to explain this word from Ossetian *fudag 'ausgelassen, Schlingel' [89]. But there is no evidence of this word being used as a proper
 

89. Miller's interpretation is known to me only from Vasmer's work. The form fudag given by Vasmer is probably derived from the word fud 'das Böse' by means of the adjectival suffix -ag. In the dictionary of Miller-Freimann we find, however, the word fudag 'ausgelassen etc.': hence it seems very likely that Miller actually had this word in mind. In this case his interpretation is unacceptable for phonetic reasons, too.

88

name. It is conceivable as a nickname, but this is contradicted by the widespread use of the name . It seems to have been the name of a large family or tribal unit, part of which lived in Phanagoria, part in Tanais. Thus it seems a likelier suggestion that the stem of the name  which, after separating the suffix -k (-κος), appears as : fuda- corresponds exactly to Avestan puδa- 'Name einer iranischen Familie' (Bartholomae, AirWb., 909). If this explanation is correct, we have here a second instance of an exact equivalent to one of the names in the Avesta among the Iranian tribes of South Russia. The importance of the first instance and the historical significance implied in the exact correspondence between the Avestan fryāna- 'Name einer gläubigen tūrisehen Familie' and the name  from Olbia have recently been emphasized by Nyberg (Die Religionen des alten Iran, 251).

Tanais, , No. 388 (228 A. D.): ~ Ossetian fur 'Hammel' (Miller,  III, 80). The Ossetian word is, however, of unknown origin, so that it is probably more correct to assume, with Vasmer, that this name, too, is the short form of a compound containing the word *fur which corresponds to Old Iranian *paru- 'viel', (see Vasmer, op. cit., 55).

Tanais,  No. 389 (228 A. D.). Probably obtained by suffixation from the short form of a name belonging to the Old Iranian type *parupasu-.

Tanais,  No. 390 (228 A. D.): ~ Ossetian furt 'Sohn' < Old Iranian *puϑra- (Vasmer, loc. cit.).
 

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