Skuda
Scythian
Indo-European (Iranian, Eastern, Scythian) · historical / hidden variety
Scythian was the Eastern Iranian language of the Scythians (Skuda), Sarmatians, Massagetae and related steppe nomads who dominated the Pontic-Caspian steppe from the 7th century BCE to the 4th century CE. Its corpus is fragmentary, consisting mostly of personal and place names recorded by Herodotus, Ptolemy and other Greek-Roman authors plus Scythian-origin loanwords in surrounding languages. No native script existed; many entries here are necessarily Iranian-cognate proxies. The modern Ossetian language (oss) of the Caucasus is the only living descendant. Scythian funerary culture (kurgans) is famous for the Pazyryk burials with their preserved tattooed mummies and gold animal-style art.
Where it is spoken
20 core words in Scythian
Water
ap
/ap/
Fire
ātar
/aːtar/
Sun
hvar
/xʷar/
Moon
māh
/maːh/
Mother
mātar
/maːtar/
Father
pitar
/pitar/
Eat
xwartan
/xʷartan/
Drink
—
/—/
Love
—
/—/
Heart
zard-
/zard/
Tree
—
/—/
House
—
/—/
Dog
spaka
/spaka/
Cat
—
/—/
Hand
zasta
/zasta/
Eye
čašm
/tʃaʃm/
Hello
—
/—/
Thank you
—
/—/
One
aiwa
/aiwa/
Good
vohu
/wohu/
Sources
- Glottolog: scyt1241
- Mayrhofer (2006) Einiges zu den Skythen
- Ethnologue: xsc
Words compared
Compared with related Indo-European (Iranian, Eastern, Scythian) languages
| Meaning | Scythian | Old Persian | Avestan | Sogdian | Phrygian | Parthian | Umbrian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | ap /ap/ | 𐎠𐎱 /aːpi/ | 𐬁𐬞 /aːp/ | ʾāp /aːp/ | — /—/ | āb /aːb/ | utur /ˈu.tur/ |
| Fire | ātar /aːtar/ | 𐎠𐎫𐎼 /aːtar/ | 𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭 /aːtar/ | ʾātar /aːtar/ | — /—/ | ādar /aːdar/ | pir /pir/ |
| Sun | hvar /xʷar/ | 𐏃𐎢𐎺𐎼 /huwar/ | 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 /huwarə/ | xwr /xwar/ | — /—/ | xwar /xwar/ | — /—/ |
| Moon | māh /maːh/ | 𐎶𐎠𐏃 /maːha/ | 𐬨𐬁𐬵 /maːh/ | mʾx /maːx/ | masê /maˈseː/ | māh /maːh/ | — /—/ |
| Mother | mātar /maːtar/ | 𐎶𐎠𐎫𐎼 /maːtar/ | 𐬨𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭 /maːtar/ | mʾtr /maːtar/ | mater /ˈmater/ | mād /maːd/ | matrer /ˈma.trer/ |
| Father | pitar /pitar/ | 𐎱𐎡𐎫𐎠 /pitaː/ | 𐬞𐬌𐬙𐬀𐬭 /pitar/ | ptr /pitar/ | atas /aˈtas/ | pid /pid/ | patre /ˈpa.tre/ |
| Eat | xwartan /xʷartan/ | 𐎧𐎼 /xar/ | 𐬑𐬬𐬀𐬭 /xwar/ | xwartan /xwartan/ | — /—/ | xward- /xward/ | — /—/ |
| Drink | — /—/ | 𐎱𐎠 /paː/ | 𐬞𐬁 /paː/ | pi- /pi/ | — /—/ | pī- /piː/ | — /—/ |
| Love | — /—/ | 𐎳𐎼𐎡𐎹 /frija/ | 𐬟𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 /frija/ | frytk /friːtak/ | — /—/ | friyādan /frijaːdan/ | — /—/ |
| Heart | zard- /zard/ | 𐏀𐎼𐎭 /zard/ | 𐬰𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬛 /zərəd/ | dyl /dil/ | — /—/ | zyrd /zird/ | — /—/ |
| Tree | — /—/ | — /—/ | 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬯𐬀 /waesa/ | drxt /draxt/ | — /—/ | dār /daːr/ | — /—/ |
| House | — /—/ | 𐎶𐎠𐎴𐎡𐎹 /maːnija/ | 𐬥𐬨𐬁𐬥𐬀 /nmaːna/ | kṯʾk /kaθaːk/ | — /—/ | xānag /xaːnaɡ/ | — /—/ |
| Dog | spaka /spaka/ | 𐎿𐎱𐎣 /spaka/ | 𐬯𐬞𐬁 /spaː/ | ʾkw /aːkuː/ | kan /kan/ | spag /spaɡ/ | — /—/ |
| Cat | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Hand | zasta /zasta/ | 𐎭𐎿𐎫 /dasta/ | 𐬰𐬀𐬯𐬙𐬀 /zasta/ | dst /dast/ | — /—/ | dast /dast/ | manuv-e /ma.ˈnu.we/ |
| Eye | čašm /tʃaʃm/ | 𐏂𐏁𐎶𐎴 /tʃaʃman/ | 𐬗𐬀𐬱𐬨𐬀𐬥 /tʃaʃman/ | cšm /tʃaʃm/ | — /—/ | čašm /tʃaʃm/ | — /—/ |
| Hello | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | drwd /druːd/ | — /—/ | drōd /droːd/ | — /—/ |
| Thank you | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | spās /spaːs/ | — /—/ |
| One | aiwa /aiwa/ | 𐎠𐎡𐎺 /aiwa/ | 𐬀𐬉𐬬𐬀 /aewa/ | yw /jɛw/ | — /—/ | ēw /eːw/ | unu /ˈu.nu/ |
| Good | vohu /wohu/ | 𐎴𐎡𐎲 /naiba/ | 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬎 /vohu/ | nyk /neːk/ | — /—/ | nēw /neːw/ | — /—/ |
Part of LangMap — a linguistic visualization project. This is a static, crawlable summary; the interactive maps offer pronunciation audio, filters, and a globe view.