Re: Daci

> From: tgpedersen@...
> But didn't the Daci have a king Dece-balus?

--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> 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
>
With so little positive evidence, that is a strong statement. The -
bal part is obviously the *bh:p-l:r- "growth, strong etc" root again.

Torsten