List of Dacian names


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 Dacian and the extent to which it differed from Thracian.

Anthroponyms

Around 1150 Dacian anthroponyms and 900 toponyms have been preserved in ancient sources. As far as the onomastic of Dacians and Thracians is concerned, opinions are divided. According to Crossland, 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. Mateescu, Rosetti sustain that Thracian onomastic include elements that are common to Geto-Dacians and Bessians. A part of researchers support that onomastically, Dacians are not different from the other Thracians in Roman Dacia's inscriptions. 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.
In Georgiev's opinion Dacian placenames and personal names are "completely different" from their Thracian counterparts.
Several Dacian names have also been identified with ostracons of Dacian cavalry recruited after the Roman conquest and stationed in East Egypt, i.e. Dadas and Dadazi, Zoutoula, Dotos and Dotouzi, Dieri and Diernais, Diengis, Dida, Blaikisa, Blegissa, Diourdanos, Thiadicem, Avizina, Dourpokis, Kaigiza, Dardiolai, Denzibalos, Denzi-balus, Pouridour, Thiaper and Tiatitis, Dekinais, *Rolouzis,

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Toponyms

NoDacian nameEtymologyModern city/LocationAttestationNotes
1Acidava Enoșești, Olt County, RomaniaTabula Peutingeriana
2Amutria Hypothetically located at one of the following sites in Oltenia :
Ptolemy's Geographia, Tabula Peutingeriana
3Apula Piatra Craivii, 20 km North of Alba-Iulia, RomaniaTabula PeutingerianaApulum in Latin, see also Apuli
4Bersobis "White, shine" including birch-tree from root *bhereg > berz Alternatively, it could be compared with Berzama, place name from Thrace between Amhialos and Kabyle and Bactrian Bareza 'height' Modern Berzovia village in Caraș-Severin County, on the bank of river Bârzava, RomaniaThe sole surviving sentence from Trajan's campaign journal in the Latin grammar work of Priscian, Institutiones grammaticae
5Napoca The following are the most important hypotheses regarding Napoca's etymology:
  • Dacian name having the same root "nap" with that of the Dacia's river Naparis attested by Herodotus. It has an augmentative suffix uk/ok i.e. over, great
  • Name derived from that of the Dacianized Scythian tribe known as Napae
  • Name probably akin to the indigenous element in Romanian, the word năpârcă 'viper' cf. Albanian nepërkë, nepërtkë
  • Name derived from the Ancient Greek term napos "timbered valley"
  • Name derived from the Indo-European *snā-p- "to flow, to swim, damp".
Independent of these hypotheses, scholars agree that the name of the settlement predates the Roman conquest.
Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaTabula Peutingeriana

Hydronyms

Dacian nameModern nameEtymologyAttestation
Alutus, AloutasOltPossible etymology: Sanskrit alu, meaning "float, raft, water pot, small water jar"Ptolemy, Jordanes
Amutrion, AmutriaMotruSkt. *mūtra "dripping water, urine", Skt. Jīmūta, "clouds that cause rain but not thunder"
Argessos, OrdessosArgeș
BuseosBuzăuOriginally Μουσεος, where Μπ is pronounced as B
CrisusCriș
DonarisUpper Danube
Hyerassus, Tiarantos, Gerasus, SeratosSiret
IstrosUpper DanubeThe Ancient Greek Istros was a borrowing from Thracian/Dacian meaning "strong, swift", akin to Sanskrit is.iras "swift".
Maris, MarisosMureșHerodotus, Strabo
NaparisIalomițaa) According to Russu, 'flow' / 'moisture'. It has probably the same root with Napoca
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".
c) According to Bogrea, 'spring' - compared with Old Persian napas 'spring'
Herodotus,
Patissus, Pathissus, TisiaTisa
Pyretus, Pyretos, Pyresos, PorataPrut
RabonJiu
SamusSomeș
SargetiaStrei
TyrasNistru
TibisisTimișHerodotus

Ancient

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Modern

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