From: Gerry Reinhart-Waller
Message: 2256
Date: 2000-04-28
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gerry Reinhart-Waller" <waluk@...>
> To: <cybalist@egroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, April 28, 2000 9:13 PM
> Subject: Re: [cybalist] Linguistic Mathematics?
>
> Alani and Alans are alternative English versions of ancient
> "Alanoi". Both plurals are correct and refer to the same
> people.
>
> Piotr
>
> Thanks Piotr. Your post was informative as usual and most
> of what you
> say was also told to me by Alekseev. I do hope John Croft
> will add more
> information. It's becoming very clear that I need to follow
> all the
> available clues in attempting to trace my family heritage.
> Did you know
> the Alani became the latter day Alans people?
>
> Gerry
>
> Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Gerry Reinhart-Waller" <waluk@...>
> > To: <cybalist@egroups.com>
> > Sent: Friday, April 28, 2000 6:10 PM
> > Subject: Re: [cybalist] Linguistic Mathematics?
> >
> > Gerry,
> >
> > Joking apart: what Scythians and Sarmatians had in common
> > was steppe nomadism and the fact that they were speakers
> of
> > North Iranian dialects. The Scythians had been subdued by
> > and partly assimilated into the Sarmatians by the 3rd/2nd
> > century BC. That was the end of their hegemony in the
> Pontic
> > steppes, but not of their historical career. There was
> still
> > a Scythian state in the Crimea, and in the 2nd century BC
> > some Scythians tribes invaded the Parthian Empire,
> Bactria,
> > Afghanistan and finally northern India, remaining there
> for
> > five centuries or so. I bet John Croft will be able to
> tell
> > you more about this episode.
> >
> > Both "Scythian" and "Sarmatians" are actually conventional
> > designations for large leagues of Iranian tribes (possibly
> > with a substantial admixture of non-Iranians). Among those
> > known as Sarmatian were the Alani, Roxolani and Iazyges.
> > Apart from dominating the north Pontic region they
> colonised
> > Pannonia, settling on the very doorstep of the Roman
> Empire.
> >
> > In the third century the Pontic Sarmatians were partly
> > overpowered by the Goths, who had arrived from Poland; a
> > little later the remaining ones were driven westwards by
> the
> > Huns. Some of the Sarmatians sought refuge under the
> > dominion of Rome in the Danubian provinces (Iranian speech
> > communities lingered on in Hungary until the beginning of
> > the 15th century), or allied themselves with various
> > Germanic groups in their raids across Europe (and even
> into
> > northern Africa with the Vandals). Some of the Alani
> > wandered eastwards; they settled in Caucasia and their
> > dialect (Alanian) gave rise to modern Ossetic, the only
> > extant North Iranian language. Ossetic, though strongly
> > influenced by various non-Iranian languages, is the key to
> > the analysis of whatever fragmentary documentation we have
> > of Scythian and Sarmatian vocabulary. You could say that
> > Ossetians are latterday Sarmatians.
> >
> > Piotr