Re: [tied] Bastarns!

----- Original Message -----

From: Håkan Lindgren

To: Cybalist

Sent: Friday, September 01, 2000 7:19 PM

Subject: [tied] Re: Old Europe and the IE

The Bastarns (Bastarnae, Bastarnai, Basternae), a.k.a. the Peucini (after Peuke, one of the islands of the Danube Delta), lived on the Lower Danube and probably also in the NW Pontic region and in S Poland. The Romans became familiar with them very early -- perhaps during the war with Pyrrhus in the early 3rd c. BC. They are mentioned as notorious enemies of Rome -- allies of King Perseus of Macedonia in 168 BC and later of Mithridates VI of Pontus. Their name is likely Germanic; the root *bast- is interpreted, somewhat conjecturally, as '(of) mixed blood' and is thought also to underly the word bastard (which, contrary to the opinion of most etymological dictionaries, is unlikely to derive from a Latin word for 'packsaddle'!). I don't think the name Bastarnae was pejorative, however; it may have meant 'distant relations' rather than 'illegitimate offspring'. The tribe arrived from Poland via Mark's "Dniester Conveyor Belt", encroaching on Getic territory. The Sciri followed a similar migration route and were present next to the Bastarns in roughly the same area at least about 230 BC (when they threatened the Greek colony of Olbia at the mouth of the River Boh). They must have been a stable ethnic element in that region, as there were still some Sciri in Odoacer's army in the late 5th c. Their name means 'clear, pure' ('pure-blooded'?). English sheer  (OE sci:r = Goth. skeirs < PGmc. *skeir-a-) is virtually the same word.

 

Piotr

 

The Bastarns? What a great name for a barbaric tribe!

 

("Oh no, the Bastarns are coming...")

Hakan