Dacian Language - Sources

Sources

Many characteristics of the Dacian language are disputed or unknown. No lengthy texts in Dacian exist, only a few glosses and personal names in ancient Greek and Latin texts. No Dacian-language inscriptions have been discovered, except some of names in the Latin or Greek alphabet. What is known about the language derives from:

• Placenames, river-names and personal names, including the names of kings. The coin inscription KOΣON may also be a personal name, of the king who issued the coin.
• The Dacian names of about fifty plants written in Greek and Roman sources (see List of Dacian plant names). Etymologies have been established for only a few of them.
• Substratum words found in Romanian, the language that is spoken today in most of the region once occupied by Dacian-speakers. These include about 400 words of uncertain origin. Romanian words for which a Dacian origin has been proposed include: balaur ("dragon"), brânză ("cheese"), mal ("bank, shore"), strugure ("bunch of grapes"). However, the value of the substratum words as a source for the Dacian language is limited because there is no certainty that these are of Dacian origin. This can be seen in the Dicţionar Explicativ al Limbii Române (DEX), which shows multiple possible etymologies for most of the words:

1. Many of the words may not be "substratum" at all, as Latin etymologies have been proposed for them. These are inherently more likely than a Dacian origin, as the Romanian language is descended from Latin, not Dacian e.g. melc ("snail") may derive from Latin limax/proto-Romance *limace (cf. It. lumaca), by metastasis of "m" with "l".
2. Some may derive from other little-known ancient languages at some time spoken in Dacia or Moesia: for example, the Iranic Sarmatian, or the Turkic Avar, Bulgar or Cuman languages, or, conceivably, some unknown pre-Indo-European language(s) of the Carpathians or Balkans. An illustration of the latter possibility are pre-Indo-European substratum (i.e. Iberian/Basque) in Spanish e.g. "fox" = zorro, from Basque azeri, instead of proto-Romance *vulpe. A pre-Indo-European origin has been proposed for several Romanian substratum words e.g. balaur, brad ("fir-tree").
3. About 160 of the Romanian substratum words have cognates in Albanian and therefore may be of Illyrian origin rather than Dacian, as many contemporary scholars consider Albanian to be a modern descendant of the ancient Illyrian language . A possible example is Romanian brad ("fir-tree"), Alb. cognate bradh (same meaning). Duridanov has reconstructed *skuia as a Dacian word for fir-tree, strengthening the possibility that brad may be an Illyrian word for this tree.
4. The numerous Romanian substratum words which have cognates in Bulgarian may derive from Thracian, which may have been a different language from Dacian (see below, Thracian).

Balaur ("dragon"), ascribed a Dacian origin by some scholars, exemplifies the etymological uncertainties. According to DEX, balaur has also been identified as: a pre-Indo-European relic; or derived from Latin belua or beluaria ("beast" cf. It. belva), or ancient Greek pelorion ("monster"); or as a cognate of Alb. buljar ("water-snake") thus possibly of Illyrian origin. DEX argues that these etymologies, save the Albanian one, are dubious, but they are no more so than the unverifiable assertion that balaur is derived from an unknown Dacian word. Another possibility is that balaur could be a Celtic derivation cf. the Irish mythical giant Balor (AKA Balar), who could kill with flashes of light from his eye or with his poisonous breath.

The substratum words have been used, in some cases, to corroborate Dacian words reconstructed from place- and personal names e.g. Dacian *balas = "white" (from personal name Balius), Romanian bălan = "white-haired" However, even in this case, it cannot be determined with certainty whether the Romanian word derives from the presumed Dacian word or from its Old Slavic cognate belu).