This article is a non-exhaustive lists of names used by the Dacian people, who were among the inhabitants of Eastern Europe before and during the Roman Empire. Many hundreds of personal names and placenames are known from ancient sources, and they throw light on the Dacian language and the extent to which it differed from Thracian.
Around 1150 Dacian anthroponyms (personal names) and 900 toponyms (placenames) have been preserved in ancient sources.[1][2] As far as the onomastic (proper names) of Dacians and Thracians is concerned, opinions are divided. According to Crossland (1982), the evidence of names from the Dacian, Mysian and Thracian area seems to indicate divergence of a 'Thraco-Dacian' language into northern and southern groups of dialects, but not so different as to rank Thracian and Dacian as separate languages, There were also the development of special tendencies in word formation and of certain secondary phonetic features in each group.[3] Mateescu (1923), Rosetti (1978) sustain that Thracian onomastic include elements that are common to Geto-Dacians and Bessians (a Thracian tribe).[4] A part of researchers support that onomastically, Dacians are not different from the other Thracians in Roman Dacia's inscriptions.[5] But recently, D. Dana basing himself on new onomastic material recorded in Egyptian ostraka suggested criteria which would make possible to distinguish between closely related Thracian and Dacian-Moesian names and singled out certain specific elements for the latter.[6]
In Georgiev's opinion (1960; 1977) Dacian placenames and personal names are "completely different" from their Thracian counterparts.[7]
Several Dacian names have also been identified with ostracons of Dacian cavalry recruited after the Roman conquest and stationed in East Egypt,[8] i.e. Dadas and Dadazi,[9] Zoutoula,[10] Dotos and Dotouzi,[11] Dieri and Diernais,[10] Diengis,[10] Dida(s),[10] Blaikisa,[12] Blegissa,[12] Diourdanos,[12] Thiadicem,[12] Avizina,[12] Dourpokis,[12] Kaigiza,[13] Dardiolai,[14] Denzibalos (see also Dacian king name Deki-balos),[14] Denzi-balus (attested in Britain),[14] Pouridour,[15] Thiaper and Tiatitis,[16] Dekinais,[14] *Rolouzis,[16] (See Ostraca from Krokodilo and Didymoi)
A[]
Dacian name
Possible etymology
Attestation
Notes
Avizina
Ostracon of Dacian cavalry recruited after the Roman conquest and stationed in East Egypt [12]
Probably related to Vezina.
B[]
Dacian name
Possible etymology
Attestation
Notes
Bastiza
Name frequently found at Mons Claudianus i.e. two persons have this name on a list of Dacian names but also this name is the patronyme of the soldier named Diernaios.[17]
The name ‘'bast'’ is found in Thrace (cf. Decev) but never as Bastiza.[17]
Tomaschek compared this name with the name Cotela of a Getian prince and with the name Cotys, name of several Odrysian and Sapaean (Thracian) princes. Also, he compared with the name Kotys, the Thracian goddess worshipped by the Edonians, a tribe that lived around Pangaion Mountain. He sees here again, the letter "o" as an obscured indistinct, pronunciation of "a". Therefore, he compared Cotiso with the BactrianKata "loved". [27]
D[]
Dacian name
Possible etymology
Attestation
Notes
Dablosa
He is attested at Mons Claudianus(O. Claud. II 402 and 403).[9]
Dadas
Ostracon of Dacian cavalry recruited after the Roman conquest and stationed in East Egypt [9]
Dadazi
Ostracon of Dacian cavalry recruited after the Roman conquest and stationed in East Egypt [9]
Daizus
Thraco-Getian name Daizus Comozoi, interfectus a Castabocis.[28] Daizus Comozoi is a "Royal" Dacian name found also with Thracians from south of the Danube.[29]
Damanais
Damanais attested at Mons Claudianus as the father of the Dacian soldier Dida from Krokodilo.[14]
The endings term correspond to the Dacian king name Komosicus.[9]
Komozoi
Father of Daizus.[28] Daizus Comozoi is a "Royal" Dacian name found also with Thracians from south of the Danube.[29]
M[]
Dacian name
Possible etymology
Attestation
Notes
Moskon
Inscription on silver coins about a 3rd-century BC getic king
Mucapor
Inscription at Apulum[20] that reads: Mucatra, son of Brasus, had a son and heir Mucapor Mucatralis[21]
These names are Thracians and Dacians (as Mucapor is attested as Dacian and as Thracian name).[22] The names containing Muca are found in Thracian but also in the proper Geto-Dacian names[38]
Mucatra
Inscription at Apulum[20] that reads: Mucatra, son of Brasus, had a son and heir Mucapor Mucatralis.[21]
These names are probably Thracian, not Dacian, as Mucapor is attested as an ethnic Thracian name (see refs above).[citation needed][22]
N[]
Dacian name
Possible etymology
Attestation
Notes
cf. Sanskrit nata 'bent', de nam 'bend' and cf. Nath 'lean, rely', 'seek for help'[39]
Dacian name of a prince from a Dacian royal family of the tribe of the Costoboci on a Roman inscription (II No. 1801) [39][40]
See also Dacian Natu-spardo (attested with Ammianus)[39]
NOTE: some scholars consider this a Thracian name.[citation needed]
The first element Pie is analogue by initial and vocalism with the name Pie-figoi of a Dacian tribe mentioned by Ptolemy.[41]
The second element Porus is often met with Dacian and also with Bithynian (a Thracian tribe) names. It can be explain by the root *par 'replenish' nourish or *pa-la 'king'[41]
Name of a king of the Costoboci (inscription C.1 Rom. VI, No. 1801).[41][40]
NOTE: some scholars consider this a Thracian name.[citation needed]
Pouridour
Ostracon of Dacian cavalry recruited after the Roman conquest and stationed in East Egypt [15]
R[]
Dacian name
Possible etymology
Attestation
Notes
Rescuturme
The Dacian name Rescuturme can be related to the Aryan word rai "splendor, wealth" and raevant, revant "brilliant", if "-sk" is part of a derivation.[42]
Name of a Dacian woman. Inscription (CIL III 1195),[21][42]
cf. names Resculum (a hamlet from Dacia) and Rascuporis / Rascupolis (name with Sapaean and Bithynian Thracian tribes)[42]
Ostracon of Dacian cavalry recruited after the Roman conquest and stationed in East Egypt [16]
Tsinna, Zinnas, Sinna
Zinnas in IOSPE I2 136, Olbia, late 1st-early 2nd century
Tsinna son of Bassus in ISM V 27, Capidava (Scythia Minor), 2nd century
Titus Aurelius Sinna from Ratiaria (Moesia Superior) in CIL III 14507, Viminacium (Moesia Superior), year 195
Sinna in a military diploma for year 246 (no other details provided, but it was published by Peter Weiss in "Ausgewahlte neue Militardiplome" in Chiron 32 (2002), p. 513-7)
Tsiru
Tsiru son of Bassus in ISM V 27, Capidava (Scythia Minor), 2nd century[47]
The sole surviving sentence from Trajan's campaign journal in the Latin grammar work of Priscian, Institutiones grammaticae [57]
5
Napoca (Napuca)
The following are the most important hypotheses regarding Napoca's etymology:
Dacian name having the same root "nap" (cf. ancient Armenian root "nap") with that of the Dacia's river Naparis attested by Herodotus. It has an augmentative suffix uk/ok i.e. over, great [39]
Name derived from that of the Dacianized Scythian tribe known as Napae[58]
Name probably akin to the indigenous (Thracian) element in Romanian language, the word năpârcă 'viper' cf. Albanian nepërkë, nepërtkë[59]
Name derived from the Ancient Greek term napos (νάπος) "timbered valley"
Name derived from the Indo-European*snā-p- (Pokorny 971-2) "to flow, to swim, damp".[60]
Independent of these hypotheses, scholars agree that the name of the settlement predates the Roman conquest (AD 106).[60]
a) According to Russu 'Flow' / 'moisture' It has probably the same root with Napoca (Nowadays Cluj-Napoca) [63]
b) According to Parvan, after Tomaschek the meaning is similar with Lith. Napras in which there is a high probability of the root nebh-"to spring". [64]
c) According to Bogrea, 'spring' compared with Old Persian napas 'spring' [64]
^"De Imperatoribus Romanis"(Assorted Imperial Battle Descriptions). An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. Retrieved 8 November 2007. Battle of Sarmizegetusa (Sarmizegetuza), A.D. 105. During Trajan"s reign one of the most important Roman successes was the victory over the Dacians. The first important confrontation between the Romans and the Dacians took place in the year 87 and was initiated by Domitian. The praetorian prefectCornelius led five or six legions across the Danube on a bridge of ships and advanced towards Banat (in Romania). The Romans were surprised by a Dacian attack at Tapae (near the village of Bucova, in Romania). Legion V Alaude was crushed and Cornelius Fuscus was killed. The victorious general was originally known as Diurpaneus (see Manea, p.109), but after this victory he was called Decebalus (the brave one).
^Batty, Roger (2007): Rome and the Nomads: the Pontic-Danubian realm in antiquity, Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-814936-0, ISBN978-0-19-814936-1, page 366
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