Help with ban_Banat

From: S & L
Message: 18910
Date: 2003-02-19

Hi Everybody;

A greenhorn needs some help.

I am a journalist and I live in Romania/ie Timisoara Town in a region still
named BANAT [Some Basic Info on Banat are to be found at
http://www.genealogy.ro/cont/1.htm%5d.

I am working to a comment regarding the meaning of ban/Banat [ie ban as
ruler of an Banat] from our days until the ancient history of the region.
Everything was just OK until I reach the etymology problem of these words.

It seams that both ban_Banat has some slavic/avar meaning [ie lord, master].
Already the French savant Charles du Fresne, sieur Du Change [1610-1688] in
his work [ie "Glossarium", tome I. (Niort, 1883)] was convinced that the
technical word "ban" comes from "Baian" (Bajan/Boeanos), a khan/kagan of
Avars, who lived in the VI century. Other scholars [mainly historians from
the region] took his explanations as it is. Unfortunately for me I do not
have the opportunity to check Du Change's original explanation [I did not
find yet his work in a romanian library].

I found some other explanations like: the name "banat" has its origin in a
Persian word meaning "lord", or "master" and is to be found also in the old
Indian dialect [with the meaning of "master", "ruler", "responsible",
"superintendent"] and because this Indian dialect was very similar to the
Thracian/Geto-Dacian [both being indo-european languages] one can suppose
that these -ie the Thracian/Geto-Dacian- used the word with the same
meanings. The argument: it is known that the Dacian king Duras was also
named DiurPANeus. The second part of his name, "paneus" means "ruling" and
"pan" or "ban" means "ruler/master".

At http://www.geocities.com/indoeurop/project/chron/chronf.html
555-796 Avars
The following statement is made: "In 560, all the territory occupied by
Eastern Slavs, appeared conquered by Avars, who used Slavs as slaves".

I want to know more on this fact and eventually to receive [if possible]
some academic bibliographical source of info on this aspect. If I can find
substantial evidence that the Slavs were actually the slaves of Avars, then
I have also a logical explanation for the etymology of the word ban/banat.

Any help is much appreciated,
[but, please, have patience with a non-specialist]

Thank You,

Sorin Fortiu