𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹

Old Persian

Reliefs depicting the soldiers of the Achaemenid army, Xerxes I tomb, circa 480 BCE. The Achaemenids referred to all nomads to their north as Saka, and divided them into three categories: The Sakā tyai paradraya ("beyond the sea"), the Sakā tigraxaudā ("with pointed caps"), and the Sakā haumavargā ("who lay Haoma around").

Etymology

Literally means "Scythians who are across the Sea", from 𐎿𐎣𐎠 (s-k-a /⁠Sakā⁠/, “Scythian, Sacaean”) + 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 (t-y-i-y /⁠tayaiy⁠/, “who, which”) + 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹 (p-r-d-r-y /⁠paradraya⁠/, “across the sea”), in reference to them living beyond the Black Sea with respect to the Achaemenid Empire.

Compare:

• 𐎹𐎢𐎴𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹 (Yaunā tayaiy paradraya, literally “Greeks who live across the Sea”)
• 𐎿𐎣𐎡𐎲𐎡𐏁 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼 𐏐 𐎿𐎢𐎥𐎭𐎶 (Sakaibiš tayaiy para Sugdam, literally “Scythians who are beyond Sogdiana”)
• 𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭𐎠 (Sakā tigraxaudā, literally “Scythians with pointed caps”)
• 𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐏃𐎢𐎶𐎺𐎼𐎥𐎠 (Sakā haumavargā, literally “Scythians who lay hauma-plants around (the fire)”)
• 𐎭𐏃𐎹𐎠𐎺 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎠 𐏐 𐎱𐎼 𐏐 𐎭𐎼𐎹 (dahyāva tya para draya, literally “Countries which are across the Sea”)

Proper noun

𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹 (Sakā tayaiy paradraya)

1. The Scythians inhabiting the Pontic Steppe
   • DNa 24-29

     𐏐 𐏀𐎼𐎣 𐏐 𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁 𐏐 𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁 𐏐 𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼𐏐
     𐏐 𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁 𐏐 𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐏃𐎢𐎶𐎺𐎼𐎥𐎠 𐏐 𐎿𐎣𐎠
     𐏐 𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭𐎠 𐏐 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢𐏁 𐏐 𐎠𐎰𐎢𐎼𐎠
     𐏐 𐎠𐎼𐎲𐎠𐎹 𐏐 𐎸𐎢𐎭𐎼𐎠𐎹 𐏐 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴
     𐏐 𐎣𐎫𐎱𐎬𐎢𐎣 𐏐 𐎿𐎱𐎼𐎭 𐏐 𐎹𐎢𐎴 𐏐 𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹
     𐏐 𐎿𐎤𐎢𐎭𐎼 𐏐 𐎹𐎢𐎴𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎣𐎲𐎼𐎠 𐏐 𐎱𐎢𐎫𐎠𐎹𐎠

     : z-r-k : h-r-u-v-t-i-š : θ-t-gu-u-š : g-d-a-r :
     : h-i-du-u-š : s-k-a : h-u-m-v-r-g-a : s-k-a
     : t-i-g-r-x-u-d-a : b-a-b-i-ru-u-š : a-θ-u-r-a
     : a-r-b-a-y : mu-u-d-r-a-y : a-r-mi-i-n
     : k-t-p-tu-u-k : s-p-r-d : y-u-n : s-k-a : t-y-i-y : p-r-d-r-y
     : s-ku-u-d-r : y-u-n-a : t-k-b-r-a : p-u-t-a-y-a

     /: Zraⁿka : Harauvatiš : Θataguš : Gaⁿdāra
      : Hiⁿduš : Sakā : haumavargā : Sakā
     : tigraxaudā : Bābirauš : Aθurā
     : Arabāya : Mudrāya : Armina
     : Katpatuka : Sparda : Yauna : Sakā : tayaiy : paradraya
      : Skudra : Yaunā : takabarā : Putāyā/

     
     [...] Drangiana, Arachosia, Sattagydia, Gandhara,
     India, the Scythians who lay around hauma-plants, the Scythians
     with pointed caps, Babylon, Assyria,
     Arabia, Egypt, Armenia,
     Cappadocia, Lydia, Greece, the Scythians who are across the Sea,
     Thrace, the Greeks who wear shield-like hats, Libya [...]

References

• Text: DNa, Part No. 32, Old Persian Corpus, TITUS: Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien