Scythian Elements In Old Iranian

Article // In: Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples (Proceedings of the British Academy 116). — Oxford, 2002. — Pp. 189-202.On the basis of extensive historical and archaeological evidence, Willem Vogelsang convincingly argued in his 1992 book that the Scythians must have played an essential role in the rise and organisation of the Achaemenid empire. It therefore seems legitimate to ask whether we can find Scythian loanwords in the Old Iranian languages, namely Avestan and Old Persian. It must be borne in mind that since all three languages are closely related, it is not simple to prove borrowing. As is well known, Old Persian vocabulary contains many words which must be of Iranian but non-Persian origin. These words are usually attributed to Median, but it is in principle equally possible that they are borrowed from any other Iranian language, including Scythian. Only when we find phonological features which are characteristic of Scythian can we be confident that we are indeed dealing with a Scythian loanword.