Re: [tied] Daci

A new thought. In early Greek sources (Herodotus, Thucydides) the Daoi are mentioned as a barbarian ethnos located in the general direction of Dacia, hence Daos (*da:wos, cf. Latin Da:vus) used as the name of a slave. If the Daoi and the Dakoi are alternative names of the same people, perhaps the real base is *dah2- (*dah2-w-o-, *dah2-k-o-), which could be related to *dah2-mo- (Gk. de:mos/da:mos)? Dacian dava- (*dah2-w-ah2) would then mean the centre of a local political unit. (I assume *a: is preserved as such in Dacian).

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Piotr Gasiorowski

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 11:49 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] Daci

... It's hazardous in the extreme to speculate about the etymology of an ethnonym if the corresponding language is almost unknown, but let me just point out that a derivation from *dHe1- is also possible. Dacian compound placenames very often contain the element -da:va- (evidently 'town, fortress' < *dHeh1-wah2-?).