Editing Dacians (section)

===Name===
{{Main|Getae#Getae and Dacians}}
The Dacians were known as ''Geta'' (plural ''Getae'') in [[Ancient Greek]] writings,{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} and as ''Dacus'' (plural ''Daci'') or ''Getae'' in [[Roman Empire|Roman]] documents,{{sfn|Appian|165 AD|loc=Praef. 4/14-15|ps=, quoted in {{harvtxt|Millar|2004|p=189|ps=: "the Getae over the Danube, whom they call Dacians"}}}} but also as ''Dagae'' and ''Gaete'' as depicted on the late Roman map ''[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]''. It was [[Herodotus]] who first used the [[ethnonym]] ''Getae'' in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]''.{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.93–4.97}} In Greek and Latin, in the writings of [[Julius Caesar]], [[Strabo]], and [[Pliny the Elder]], the people became known as 'the Dacians'.{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}} Getae and Dacians were interchangeable terms, or used with some confusion by the Greeks.{{sfn|Nandris|1976|p=730|ps=: Strabo and [[Trogus Pompeius]] "Daci quoque suboles Getarum sunt"}}{{sfn|Crossland|Boardman|1982|p=837}} Latin poets often used the name ''Getae''.{{sfn|Roesler|1864|p=89}} [[Vergil]] called them ''Getae'' four times, and ''Daci'' once, [[Lucian]] ''Getae'' three times and ''Daci'' twice, [[Horace]] named them ''Getae'' twice and ''Daci'' five times, while [[Juvenal]] one time ''Getae'' and two times ''Daci''.{{sfn|Zumpt|Zumpt|1852|pp=140 & 175}}{{sfn|Van Den Gheyn|1886|p=170}}{{sfn|Roesler|1864|p=89}} In AD 113, [[Hadrian]] used the poetic term ''Getae'' for the Dacians.{{sfn|Everitt|2010|p=151}} Modern historians prefer to use the name ''Geto-Dacians''.{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}} [[Strabo]] describes the Getae and Dacians as distinct but cognate tribes. This distinction refers to the regions they occupied.{{sfn|Bunbury|1979|p=150}} Strabo and Pliny the Elder also state that Getae and Dacians spoke the same language.{{sfn|Bunbury|1979|p=150}}{{sfn|Oltean|2007|p=44}}

By contrast, the name of ''Dacians'', whatever the origin of the name, was used by the more western tribes who adjoined the [[Pannonians]] and therefore first became known to the Romans.{{sfn|Bunbury|1979|p=151}} According to Strabo's ''[[Geographica]]'', the original name of the Dacians was {{lang|grc|Δάοι}} "''Daoi''".{{sfn|Strabo|20 AD|loc=VII 3,12}} The name Daoi (one of the ancient Geto-Dacian tribes) was certainly adopted by foreign observers to designate all the inhabitants of the countries north of [[Danube]] that had not yet been conquered by [[Ancient Greece|Greece]] or Rome.{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}}{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}}

The ethnographic name ''Daci'' is found under various forms within ancient sources. Greeks used the forms {{lang|grc|Δάκοι}} "''Dakoi''" ([[Strabo]], [[Dio Cassius]], and [[Dioscorides]]) and {{lang|grc|Δάοι}} "Daoi" (singular Daos).<ref name="Garašanin, Benac 1973 243">Garašanin, Benac (1973) 243</ref>{{sfn|Strabo|20 AD|loc=VII 3,12}}{{sfn|Parvan|Vulpe|Vulpe|2002|p=158}}{{efn|1=Dioscorides's book (known in English by its Latin title ''De Materia Medica'' 'Regarding Medical Materials') has all the Dacian names of the plants preceded by {{lang|grc|Δάκοι}} ''Dakoi'' i.e. {{lang|grc|Δάκοι}} ''Dakoi'' προποδιλα Latin Daci [[wikt:propodila|propodila]] "Dacians propodila"}}{{sfn|Tomaschek|1883|p=397}} The form {{lang|grc|Δάοι}} "Daoi" was frequently used according to [[Stephan of Byzantium]].{{sfn|Van Den Gheyn|1886|p=170}}

Latins used the forms ''Davus'', ''Dacus'', and a derived form ''Dacisci'' (Vopiscus and inscriptions).{{sfn|Mulvin| 2002|p=59|ps=: "...A tombstone inscription from Aquincum reads M. Secundi Genalis domo Cl. Agrip /pina/ negotiat. Dacisco. This is of a second century date and suggests the presence of some Dacian traders in Pannonia..."}}{{sfn|Petolescu|2000|p=163|ps=: "...patri incom[pa-] rabili, decep [to] a Daciscis in bel- loproclio ..."}}{{sfn|Gibbon| 2008|p= 313|ps=: "...Aurelian calls these soldiers Hiberi, Riparienses, Castriani, and Dacisci " conform to "Vopiscus in Historia Augusta XXVI 38"}}{{sfn|Van Den Gheyn|1886|p=170}}

There are similarities between the ethnonyms of the Dacians and those of [[Dahae]] (Greek {{lang|grc|Δάσαι Δάοι, Δάαι, Δαι, Δάσαι}} ''Dáoi'', ''Dáai'', ''Dai'', ''Dasai''; Latin ''Dahae'', ''Daci''), an Indo-European people located east of the [[Caspian Sea]], until the 1st millennium BC. Scholars have suggested that there were links between the two peoples since ancient times.{{sfn| Kephart|1949|loc=p. 28: The Persians knew that the Dahae and the other Massagetae were kin of the inhabitants of Scythia west of the Caspian Sea}}{{sfn| Chakraberty|1948 |p=34 |ps=: "Dasas or Dasyu of the RigVeda are the Dahae of Avesta, Daci of the Romans, Dakaoi (Hindi Dakku) of the Greeks"}}{{sfn|Pliny (the Elder)| Rackham|1971|p=375}}{{sfn|Van Den Gheyn|1886|p=170}} The historian [[David Gordon White]] has, moreover, stated that the "Dacians ... appear to be related to the Dahae".{{sfn|White|1991|p=239}} (Likewise White and other scholars also believe that the names Dacii and Dahae may also have a shared etymology – see the section following for further details.)

By the end of the first century AD, all the inhabitants of the lands which now form Romania were known to the Romans as Daci, with the exception of some [[Celts|Celtic]] and [[Germanic tribes]] who infiltrated from the west, and [[Sarmatian]] and related people from the east.{{sfn|Crossland|Boardman|1982|p=837}}