Bactrian Names from Harmatta's "Languages and Scripts in Graeco-Bactria and the Saka Kingdoms," ca. 327 BCE to 120 BCE
The following list of names comes from:
Harmatta, J. (1994). Languages and scripts in Graeco-Bactria and the Saka kingdoms. History of Civilizations in Central Asia, 2.
Harmatta does not provide any specific dates for the names in this list, but he notes that he draws on “Iranian terms and names occurring in Aramaic and Greek documents of ancient Graeco-Bactria or mentioned as Bactrian in ancient Greek literature” (p. 394). As a result, I am estimating the date range for the names from the time of Alexander’s conquest in ~327 BCE until the Yuezhi expansion into the region in 120 BCE.
He also suggests the names have an Iranian language background that differs from Old Persian (p. 393) but is very similar–“essentially identical”–to Avestan (p. 394).
Names in bold are women’s names, although Harmatta does not explicitly note them as such in his article.
Note from Harmatta re: transcription/transliteration:
“(In Greek transcription: (ē = eta (η), o ̄ = omega ( ̄ ω), y = ypsilon (υ), ou = omicron + ypsilon (oυ))” (p. 392)
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
| Aitatēs | *Ētat, by haplology from *Aitatāt- ‘glitter, lustre’ ~ Avestan aēta- ‘glittering’. |
| Apama | *Apamā ‘supreme’ < *Upamā- ~ Avestan up∂ma- ‘highest’. |
| Artabazos | *Arta-bāzu - ‘whose stay is Arta’ ~ Avestan ar∂ta- ‘right, law, holy right’ and Avestan bāzu- ‘arm, stay.’ |
| Artanēs | (read Aryandēs formerly) *Artāna- ‘righteous’ (cf. Avestan ar∂ta- above). |
| Artasouras | *Arta-sūra ¯ - ‘mighty by Arta’ ~ Avestan ar∂ta- ‘holy right’ and Avestan sura- ‘mighty’. |
| Atrosōkēs | *Atr∂-sauka- ~ Avestan ātr∂.saoka- ‘firebrand’. |
| Barzandēs | *Barzand- ~ Avestan b∂r∂zant- ‘high’. |
| Dataphernēs | *Dāta-farnah- ‘who has glory by right’ ~ Avestan, Old Persian dāta ¯ ‘right’, Old Persian (from Median) farnah- ‘glory’. |
| Itanēs | *Vitana- ‘corpulent’ ~ Avestan tan- ‘to extend’. |
| Katanēs | *Kātana ¯ - ‘honourable’ ~ Avestan kāta ¯ - ‘honoured’. |
| Mithroaxos | *Miθra-vaxša- ‘advancing by Mithra’ ~ Avestan vaxš- ‘to grow, rise, advance’. |
| Oxyartēs | *Vaxšu-varta- ‘chosen by Vaxšu’ ~ Avestan var- ‘to choose’. |
| Oxēboakos | < *Uxšya-bavaka- ‘grain growing’; cf. above. |
| Oxydatēs | < *Vaxšu-dāta- ‘begotten by Vaxšu’. |
| Orsodatēs | < *Ŗ šva-dāta- ‘legitimately begotten’ ~ Avestan ∂r∂šva- ‘legal, legitimate’. |
| Oumanēs | < *Vohu-manah- ∼ Avestan Vohu-manah-. |
| Xaranos | < *Xšarana- ‘seedy’ ~ Saka şara ‘seed’, Ossetic äxsär ‘nut’. |
| Parzos | *Parza- < *Parča- ‘donor’; cf. Old Indian parc- ‘to mix, fill, increase, etc.’, parka- ‘mixture, gift’. |
| Rōxanē | *Roxšanā ‘brightness’; cf. Avestan raoxšnā- ‘light’. |
| Sinokratēs | (Hellenized from *Sinochratēs) Čina-xratu- ‘who has wish for wisdom’ ~ Avestan činah- ‘desire, wish’, xratu- ‘wisdom’. |
| Sochrakēs | (on a potsherd found at Dushanbe) *Suxrak ‘red’ ∼ Avestan suxra- ‘red’. |
| Spitamenēs | *Spita-manah- ‘of splendid intelligence’. |
| [Te]irixarēs | *Tīri-xšara- ‘progeny [seed] of Tīr’; cf. above. |
| Hyspasinēs | *Hu-spas-ina- ‘keen observer, spy’ or *Hispas-ina- ~ Avestan spas-, Pres. hispas- ‘to watch’. |