Bactrian Names from Harmatta's "Languages and Scripts in Graeco-Bactria and the Saka Kingdoms"

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.

In the article, Harmatta suggests the following names have an Iranian language background that differs from Old Persian and instead comes from the Kambojas (p. 393). Harmatta goes onto argue that the linguistic patterns make the language 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’.