Re: [tied] Scythian tribal names

I'd begin with *<dæ ban xWarz>, which is attested (though imperfectly recorded) Alanic for "may you have a nice day" (modern Digor <dæ bon xWarz>, Iron <dæ bon xorz>). Then I'd switch to body language, for I can speak grammatically correct Ossetic (let alone Old Ossetic) no better than you can. I only know a thing or two _about_ Ossetic and I also know where to look for more information. I have no idea what the Alanic words for "Zoroaster" and "Zoroastrian" may have been. But the following point is worth making: the Old Ossetic speakers' term for themselves was not Iron -- a more recent formation from Ir 'Ossetia', which is foreign-influenced -- but apparently Alan- (*ælan- < *arya:n-; had it survived, it would be *ælon today), the plural of which was (I suppose) *ælantæ < *arya:ni-ta:.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: george knysh

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, November 23, 2001 3:32 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] Scythian tribal names

*****GK: Let's say (as a test) that I'm a Kyivan traveller of the 12th century, interested in getting information about Zoroastrian remnants (if any) among the Ossetians. Would it be grammatically correct, for that time, (we'll leave the security aspect out for the moment(:=))) when I arrived at one of the cities on the Donetz (say Sugrov' or Sharukan')[they were Osseto=Alanic cities controlled by the Cumans] if, wanting to ask about the identity of the people I was interested in I translated my question "(Are you) the Ossetians of Zoroaster?" as "... IRONT-I-ZARATHUSHTRA?"*****