Re: [tied] Scythian Cognates -- more speculation

--- Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:

>
>
> >(GK) Your rendition of "Kolaxais" seems plausible.

Note

> that the collective name of the Scythian
> aristocratic clans (Paralata, Aukhata etc..) was
> SKOLOTA, and was constructed, it seems, from
> KOLA-XAIS (according to a comment by Herodotus).
>
>(PG) Well, Herodotus says "after one of their kings",
> having mentioned Koloxais in the preceding sentence;
> it seems as if Koloxais and *Skolotos (or *Skolos,
> or whatever his name) had been two different
> fellows.

*****GK: There is indeed a King "Scolopithes"
mentioned in connection with the Paralatan Middle East
saga. I'll trace the source. The reason usually given
for SKOLOTA as from KOLA-XAIS is twofold (1)the fact
the KOLAXAIS is the prime ancestor (2)the view that
the S which precedes -KOLOTA is a removable prefix.
But actually either solution about the Skolota is
historically tenable.*****

>
> >(GK) As for PARALATA it seems quite obvious that

its

> Greek translation was
> "BASILEI" (the "Royals").
>
>(PG) My etymological suggestion was *pari-arya- 'Arya

par

> excellence', which I suppose amounts to the same
> thing ("the noblest of the noble").
>
> >(GK) As to the second brother: I've read somewhere

that

> the name is sometimes explained from "ARP"="AP"
> (Water) as "King of the Water" (perhaps an Abayev
> etymology but my memory is uncertain here).
>
>PG) This is quite impossible. The Ossetic metathesis
> *-Cr- > *-rC- (whereby *ap-ra- > *arf- 'deep') can't
> be that old. The next possibility that has occurred
> to me is *harpa-xs^aya- 'serpent-ruler'. It's looks
> attractive on the formal side; any historical
> support?

*****GK: Quite a bit. The association of "Serpent"
with steppe peoples is well-established (cf. the
"Zmijevi Valy" business and the bilinas about
"Zmij"/"Zmej". But there is more. Consider the fact
that the second brother in the Ulch Foundation legend
as reported by Zenob Glak is "Meltei", who is
identified with the "Shchek" (=Serpent!) of the Old
Rus' version. Good old *Harpa redivivus?? Furthermore,
if your assumption about the etymology of the youngest
brother KOLAXAIS is correct (radiant, "sunlike") then
we might also have a connection here to the third
brother of both Ulch and Old Rus' stories (Khorean,
Khoryv). On that basis can one speculate some more
about old Leipoxais? The first brother in Ulch and Old
Rus' Legends (KUARA, KYI) has affinities to "thunder
abd lightning".*******


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