Editing Scythians (section)

== Names ==
{{Main|Names of the Scythians}}

=== Etymology ===
The name is derived from the Scythian endonym {{translit|xsc-x-pontic|Skuda}}, meaning {{lit|archers}}{{sfn|Szemerényi|1980|p=16}}{{sfn|Tokhtasyev|2005b|p=296}} which was derived from the Proto-Indo-European root ''{{PIE|skewd-}}'', itself meaning {{lit|shooter, archer}}.{{sfn|Szemerényi|1980|p=20-21}} This name was semantically similar to the endonym of the Sauromatians, {{translit|xsc|*Saᵘrumata}}, meaning "armed with throwing darts and arrows."{{sfn|Tokhtasyev|2005b|p=296}}

From this earlier term {{translit|xsc-x-pontic|Skuda}} was derived:{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=96}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|1999a|p=500-501}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2006|p=150}}
*the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] designation of the Scythians:
**{{translit|akk-x-neoassyr|Askuzāya}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒊍𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀}}}}{{sfn|Parpola|1970|p=178}}<ref name="Asguzayu SCYTHIAN EN">{{cite web |title=Asguzayu [SCYTHIAN] (EN) |url=http://oracc.org/qcat/cbd/qpn-x-ethnic/x00000280.html |website=Q Catalogue |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref>
**{{translit|akk-x-neoassyr|Ašguzāya}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒀾𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀}}}}{{sfn|Parpola|1970|p=178}}<ref name="Asguzayu SCYTHIAN EN"/>);
**{{translit|akk-x-neoassyr|Asguzāya}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒊍𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀}}}}{{sfn|Parpola|1970|p=178}}<ref name="Asguzayu SCYTHIAN EN"/>);
**or {{translit|akk-x-neoassyr|Iškuzāya}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒅖𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀}}}}<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Parpola|1970|p=178}}|{{cite web |title=Iškuzaya [SCYTHIAN] (EN) |url=http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/sig?☣%40saao%2Fsaa04%25akk-x-neobab%3Aiš-ku-za-a.a%3DIškuzaya[Scythian%2F%2FScythian]EN´EN%24Iškuzaya |department=Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria |website=State Archives of Assyria Online |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] |access-date=20 June 2024}}|{{cite web |title=Iškuzaya [SCYTHIAN] (EN) |url=http://oracc.org/tsae/cbd/qpn-x-ethnic/x000004580.html |website=Textual Sources of the Assyrian Empire |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] |access-date=20 June 2024}}|{{cite web |title=Iškuzaya [SCYTHIAN] (EN) |url=http://oracc.org/armep/cbd/qpn/x000093060.html |website=Ancient Records of Middle Eastern Polities |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] |access-date=20 June 2024}}}}</ref>)
* as well as the [[Ancient Greek]] name {{translit|grc|Skuthai}} ({{lang|grc|Σκυθαι}}), from which was derived the Latin name {{lang|la|Scythae}}, which gave the English name {{translit|en|Scythians}}.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}

The [[Urartian language|Urartian]] name for the Scythians might have been {{translit|xur|Išqigulu}} ({{lang|xur|{{cuneiform|11|𒆳𒅖𒆥𒄖𒇻}}}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Išqigulu [(A LAND)] (GN) |url=http://oracc.org/ecut/cbd/qpn/x000001130.html |website=Electronic Corpus of Urartian Texts |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Išqigulu [(A LAND)] (GN) |url=http://oracc.org/ecut/cbd/qpn-x-places/x000000890.html |website=Electronic Corpus of Urartian Texts |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref>).{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=558}}

Due to a sound change from /δ/ ({{IPAslink|ð}}) to {{IPAslink|l}} commonly attested in East Iranic language family to which Scythian belonged, the name {{translit|xsc-x-pontic|Skuδa}} evolved into {{translit|xsc-x-pontic|Skula}}, which was recorded in ancient Greek as {{translit|grc|Skōlotoi}} ({{lang|grc|Σκωλοτοι}}), in which the Greek plural-forming suffix {{lang|grc|-τοι}} was added to the name.{{sfn|Szemerényi|1980|p=22}}{{sfn|Tokhtasyev|2005a|p=68-84}}

The name of the 5th century BC king [[Scyles]] ({{langx|grc|Σκυλης|translit=Skulēs}}) represented this later form, {{translit|xsc-x-pontic|Skula}}.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=96}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|1999a|p=500-501}}

=== Modern terminology ===
{{See also|Scytho-Siberian world}}

==== Scythians proper ====
The name "Scythians" was initially used by ancient authors to designate specifically the Iranic people who lived in the Pontic Steppe between the Danube and the Don rivers.{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=555}}{{sfn|Dandamayev|1994|p=37}}{{sfn|West|2002|p=439}}{{sfn|Yablonsky|2006|p=25}}

In modern archaeology, the term "Scythians" is used in its original narrow sense as a name strictly for the Iranic people who lived in the Pontic and Crimean Steppes, between the Danube and Don rivers, from the 7th to 3rd centuries BC.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1990|p=98}}|{{harvnb|Dandamayev|1994|p=37}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=31}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=69}}}}</ref>

==== Broader designations ====
By the Hellenistic period, authors such as [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] however sometimes extended the designation "Scythians" indiscriminately to all steppe nomads and forest steppe populations living in Europe and Asia, and used it to also designate the Saka of Central Asia.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1990|p=98}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=555}}|{{harvnb|Dandamayev|1994|p=37}}|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1995|p=28}}|{{harvnb|West|2002|p=439}}|{{harvnb|Yablonsky|2006|p=26}}}}</ref>

Early modern scholars tended to follow the lead of the Hellenistic authors in extending the name "Scythians" into a general catch-all term for the various equestrian warrior-nomadic cultures of the Iron Age-period Eurasian Steppe following the discovery in the 1930s in the eastern parts of the Eurasian steppe of items forming the "Scythian triad," consisting of distinctive weapons, horse harnesses, and objects decorated in the "Animal Style" art, which had until then been considered to be markers of the Scythians proper.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|1954|p=282}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=123}}|{{harvnb|Yablonsky|2006|p=26}}|{{harvnb|Unterländer|2017|p=2}}}}</ref>

This broad use of the term "Scythian" has however been criticised for lumping together various heterogeneous populations belonging to different cultures,{{sfn|Yablonsky|2006|p=26}} and therefore leading to several errors in the coverage of the various warrior-nomadic cultures of the Iron Age-period Eurasian Steppe. Therefore, the narrow use of the term "Scythian" as denoting specifically the people who dominated the Pontic Steppe between the 7th and 3rd centuries BC is preferred by Scythologists such as [[Askold Ivantchik]].{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}

Within this broad use, the Scythians proper who lived in the Pontic Steppes are sometimes referred to as {{translit|en|Pontic Scythians}}.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=32}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=42}}

Modern-day anthropologists instead prefer using the term "Scytho-Siberians" to denote this larger cultural grouping of nomadic peoples living in the Eurasian steppe and forest steppe extending from Central Europe to the limits of the Chinese Zhou Empire, and of which the Pontic Scythians proper were only one section.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=2}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=29}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}}}</ref> These various peoples shared the use of the "Scythian triad," that is of distinctive weapons, horse harnesses and the "Animal Style" art.{{sfn|Unterländer|2017|p=}}

The term "Scytho-Siberian" has itself in turn also been criticised since it is sometimes used broadly to include all Iron Age equestrian nomads, including those who were not part of any Scythian or Saka.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|p=890-891}} The scholars [[Nicola Di Cosmo]] and Andrzej Rozwadowski instead prefer the use of the term "Early Nomadic" for the broad designation of the Iron Age horse-riding nomads.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|p=886}}{{sfn|Rozwadowski|2018|p=156}}

====Saka====
While the ancient Persians used the name Saka to designate all the steppe nomads{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=100}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=150}} and specifically referred to the Pontic Scythians as {{translit|peo|Sakā tayaiy paradraya}} ({{lang|peo|[[wiktionary:𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹|𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹]]}}; {{lit|the Saka who dwell beyond the (Black) Sea}}),{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=22}} the name "Saka" is used in modern scholarship to designate the Iranic pastoralist nomads who lived in the steppes of Central Asia and [[East Turkestan]] in the 1st millennium BC.{{sfn|Dandamayev|1994|p=37}}{{sfn|Yablonsky|2006|p=26}}

====Cimmerians====
The Late Babylonian scribes of the Achaemenid Empire used the name "Cimmerians" to designate all the nomad peoples of the steppe, including the Scythians and Saka.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=94}}{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=100}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=93}}

However, while the Cimmerians were an Iranic people<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=1996}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999a|p=517}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|pp=92–93}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|pp=43–44}}}}</ref> sharing a common language, origins and culture with the Scythians{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=98}} and are archaeologically indistinguishable from the Scythians, all sources contemporary to their activities clearly distinguished the Cimmerians and the Scythians as being two separate political entities.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=61}}

[[File:Herodotos Met 91.8.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|The 5th-century BC [[Greeks|Greek]] historian [[Herodotus|Herodotus of Halicarnassus]] is the most important literary source on the origins of the Scythians]]