They did. But the name is as hard to
interpret as most other surviving loose fragments of Dacian vocabulary. I've
seen it etymologised in half a dozen ways, from "tenfold-strong" to
"horse-phallus". Dacian onomastic habits were in all likelihood affected by
Celtic, Bastarnian and Sarmatian influence, so one cannot even be sure that
the name Decebalus is genuinely Dacian. The Dece- part is probably unrelated to
"Dacia" at any rate.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 4:50 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Daci
But didn't the Daci have a king Dece-balus?