Fw: Sarmatian, Alanic, Ossetic

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 7071
Date: 2001-04-11

Dear Alexander,
 
The Ossetic change *-rj- > *-l- is very well evidenced and perfectly regular. I have no Ossetic etymological dictionary to consult, but I suspect Ossetic <Ir, Iron> are loans, borrowed after the shift, from a different Iranian dialect -- one that had a diphthongised vowel in the first syllable: *airja:na- (as in Avestan) "Aryan, Iranian" > Pre-Oss. *eran- > Oss.(Ir.) Iron; the Ossetes were formerly known as the As ("Alani sive Assi" 1245). Tribal names change hands rather easily in multiethnic areas.
 
On internal evidence, <Sarmátai> appears to be the Greek version of an Iranian ethnonym like *sarmá:- (no *-i-, and therefore no lambdacism) with the collective ending *-ta:- that is still used in Ossetic to form plurals. I don't think an etymological connection with Sairima- or any such (Serri etc.) is warranted by historical or linguistic evidence.
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Alexander Stolbov
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 10:05 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Warning to list: Race and anthropology

Thank you very much, Piotr.
You gave me confidence in this topic I needed.

One particular question remains, one of those questions which made me
hesitate. I hope it also can be well explained.

[Piotr]
Modern Ossetic displays the effects of several historical changes that are
also ascribed to Sarmatian and Alanic on the basis of documented proper
names and loanwords. One of the most characteristic features of Alanic and
Ossetic is the shift of Proto-Iranian *r into *l, mainly before *i and *j
(*-ri-, *-rj- > *-li-, *-l-). The very name "Alanoi" is derived from the
adjective *arjana-.
_____________________________________________________

Ossets call themselves "Iron" (or "Digoron"). This word is thought to be a
reflex of Aryana.

What do we have then?
Aryana > Alanoi > Iron, i.e. *-rj-
> *-l- > *-r- .
Rivers flow backward?
Or "Iron" means something else but Aryana?

And BTW another naive question.
Why this shift (*-ri-, *-rj- > *-li-, *-l-) is not reflected in the name of
Sarmatians (original Avestan Sairima) as well? We don't call them
"Salmatians".

Alexander