The Scythian Language

By the mid-seventh century B.C. the Scythians under Partatua reached the summit of their might in western Asia; and the region of Saqqez in Eastern Kurdistan was their political center. The very name of "Saqqez" is derived from "Skuδa", name of Scythians in their own language.


A notable Scythian group inhabiting ancient Kurdistan were the Cimmerians/Kimmerians. The Alans were another branch of western Scythians whose name is still largely preserved in Kurdish place-names such as "Alan", around Sardasht in eastern Kurdistan, the principality of "Ardalan", and  even in the name of the mythological Kurdish hero of the Epic of Mem u Zin (Mam the Alan). The toponym of ''Gerros'' is mentioned by Herodotus, which is also name of an area to the southeast of Saqqez, or more precisely the traditional name for the area including Bijar and Qurwa counties, that is the eastern part of Kurdistan province in Iran. Another toponym is ''Şakak'', designating a large Kurdish tribal federation to the west and northwest of lake Urmia, where the famous kingdom of Sakacene of classical sources existed. The "Budini" of Herodotus may represent the ancestors of modern ''Boti'' or "Badini" Kurds. Name of river Kubani, mentioned by Herodotus as Hypanis, is still used in Kurdistan as name of a city.


Of the language of the Eastern Scythians, (also known as Indo-Scythians), i.e. Khotanese, remains a considerable ammount of texts and written material.
It is generally assumed that the languages/dialects spoken by various Scythian-related groups, were to some degrees related to one another, but they were not homogenous and in some cases were considerably dissimilar.


In this post I would like to bring your attention to some Scythian and Sakan words spoken in ancient and middle Iranian period in western and central Asia, respectively, as well as to some of their common features with modern Kurdish, which could be important for understanding the historical development of Kurdish phonology. As stated above, one should not forget that eastern Sakan must have had significant differences with western Scythian languages spoken in Kurdistan.


Phonological developments:


Inter- and postvocalic p>v; compare with Kurdish p>v/w:
Avestan 'k$apa', Sakan '$ava', Kurdish '$av'/'$aw'


Initial v>b; (borrowed in modern Persian from Kurdish/Scyhian)


Avestan 'váta', Sakan ' báta', Kurdish 'ba'

plural suffix

Scythian: -ti

Kurdish -êt (as in Bahdini), or ''de'' (as in Mukri/Sorani)

The frequent metathesis of replacing /m, p, b, f, v, w/ after /l, r/;

The transition *d > *δ > *l in intervocalic position and at the beginning of words, which once was considered regular and proper to the Scythian language, are now proven to be sporadic and dialectal. In any case, Kurdish frequently demonstrates this feature: de > le ('in'), xuda > xula ('god'), Muhammad > Mamlan, name of a 10th century ruler in the house of kuricized Rawadid dynasty,  etc.

The previously-held hypothesis that Scythian knew the transitions /-nt-/ > /-d-/, /*xš-/ > /s-/ is now proven to be based on a misinterpretation of sources and is rejected.


/p>f/ which was attributed either to Scythian or Median, now is considered to be an Alanian, phenomenon. Yet, Kurdish occasionally demonstrates this feature; Kurdish: ''frî'' vs Persian ''parid'' (flied), Kurdish ''frê'' vs. persian ''part'' (throw); this may be explained as a remannat of the period when Scythians were in mutual contact with Sarmato-Alanians.

Some Scythian lexems:

dog

Scythian: kuti

Kurdish: kuti (''se[g]'' used in some Kurdish dialects is a Persian loan)

to give

Old Persian: dada-

Scythian: da-

Kurdish: da-

brother

Old Persian: bratar

Scythian: brata

Kurdish: bra

to cut

Old Persian: fra-jan

Scythian: brin

Kurdish: brin

side

Scythian: parsu

Kurdish: parasu

narrow

Scythian: nara

Kurdish: narîn

to go

Old Persian: shiyava (now /sho/ its meaning has changed to ''to become'' in modern Persian)

Scythian: chiyava

Kurd: chu

harsh
Scythian: karsa
Kurdish: qars/qals


Soghdian: pspryh (fix, repair)
Kurdish: pispor (expert)


antelope
Saka : aska
Kurdish: ask


sleet:
Saka: pruha
Kurdish: prusha


son, boy

Scythian: kur

Kurdish: kur


ear
Kurdish word for ear is go/goh, which according to Kurdish sound changes it must have derived from *gausa; Avestan and Old Persian had gaoshem and gaosha, respectively, Scythian had ''gaosa''.


light, reflection
Sycthian: sauka
Kurdish: şauq, (not be confused with Semitic ''şafaq'', meaning ''horizon'' rendered in Kurdish as ''shabaq'', which its native Kurdish equivalent is ''aso''. To make it more clear cf. the famous Kurdish poet: ''shabaq shauq dadatawa, meaning ''the horizon is reflecting the light of the sun''.)

good

Kurdish word for good ''xas'' fits well with a protoform ''*hvarz'' as was in Scythian.

darkness

Scytho-Sarmatian: tama

Kurdish: tam (as in "tam u mij")

Some Sakan lexemes:


oil
Av: raogna
Saka: runa
Kurd: ron


appear/see
PI: *didatai
Saka: diyare
Kurd: diyar


sheep/cattle
Av: pasu
Saka: pasu
Kurd: paz


I
Av: azəm
Soghdian: ǝzu
Kurd: az (ez)


much
Av: pouru
O.pers: poru
Saka: pharu
Kurd: fra


dark
Av: taθra
Saka: tárra
Kurd: tarî


liver
Av: yâkarə
Zor. Pah: yakar
Saka: jará
Kurd: jarg


shoulder
Av: supti
Saka: suti
Kurd: asto


lungs
Av: su$i
Saka: svî
Kurd: sî


fox
Saka: ruvasa
Kurdish: rovî


orphan
Saka: syuta
Kurdish: sêwî


work
Soghdian: erk
Kurdish: erk


worthy
Soghdian: ēžǝn
Kurdish: hēže/hēža (hêja)


heavy
Soghdian: ǝškurѳ:
Kurdish: qurs

fly
Soghdian: frusht
Kurdish: frîn

Soghdian: γǝr (mountain)
Kurdish: xir (hill)

poison
Soghdian: žār
Kurdish: žār (jar)

life:
Soghdian žǝwān
Kurdish: žǝyān (jiyan)

greed
Sogdian: rujhya
Kurdish: rijd


attach
Soghdian: nǝβǝst
Kurdish: nûs-


now
Soghdian: nūkǝr
Kurdish: nūke

new
Soghdian: nǝwē
Kurdish: nǝwē

after
Soghdian: pǝšī
Kurdish: pašī/ paš

turn/return
Soghdian: zwrt
Kurdish: zivirîn

goldsmith
Soghdian: zérnkǝrē
Kurdish: zêringer

Modern research in recent years has resulted in some radical changes of our understanding of the Scythian and Sarmatian languages and their descendants. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century it was thought that the Sarmatians spoke a northeastern Iranian language and was considered to be a predecessor of Ossetian language. The above-mentioned phonological features and lexical examples show that the Indo-European base of Kurdish language originates from Scytho-Sarmatian (Not to forget that Kurdish has a very strong Hurro-Urartian substratum, which makes it look like a creole language.).