--- Piotr Gasiorowski <
gpiotr@...> wrote:
> A possible explanation of "pal-" would be a
> haplological truncation of *pala:la- < *pari-a:rya-.
> What exactly does Diodorus say? Is it certain that
> he refers to the Royal Scythians?
>
> Piotr
>
*****GK:Here's the passage from II.43 where Diodorus
recounts his version of the Scythian Foundation
Legend:
"At a later time, as the Scythians recount the myth,
there was born among them a maiden sprung from the
earth; the upper parts of her body as far as her waist
were those of a woman, but the lower parts were those
of a snake. With her Zeus lay and begat a son whose
name was Scythes. This son became more famous than any
who had preceded him and called the folk Scythians
after his own name. Now among the descendants of this
king there were two brothers who were distinguished
for their valour, the one named Palus and the other
Napes. And since these two performed renowned deeds
and divided the kingship between them, some of the
people were called Pali after one of them and some
Napae after the other. But some time later the
descendants of these kings, because of their unusual
valour and skill as generals, subdued much of the
territory beyond the Tanais river as far as
Thrace."*****
Pliny has more on the "Napae" or "Napitae". It is
tempting to identify them with that portion of the
"Royal Scythians" which Herodotus localizes somewhere
in Central Asia (where they withdrew after a
"misunderstanding"). In Herodotus these extraneous
"Royal Scythians" live close to the Issedones. In
Pliny the "Napae" or "Napitae" are assisted by the
Issedones in their border wars against the Scythians
of the West. So the "Pali" of Diodorus could be the
"Paralatai" of the Herodotan version.
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