Need help with source for Saka (Scythian) military units names (and names in general)

[deus_eggs]

Hey guys I looked at your bibliography and couldn't seem to find exactly where you guys got the names of the various Scythian units and buildings etc from? Is there anyone on this forum that I can reach for that? Scythian religion sources etc?

[Weltschmerz]

As far as I know, most names have been reconstructed using the comparative method and taking Ossetian as the source language. If you want to know more about what that actually means you can look at Lyle Campbell's Historical Linguistics, although it quite a long read.
For Ossetian and Scythian, Vasilij Abaev's Grammatical Sketch of Ossetian and Harold Bailey's Dictionary of Khotan Saka (i.e.: the only Scythian language attested in scriptures) come to mind. Admittedly, not an easy read if you never studied linguistics.

As for Scythian religious practices, most of what we know comes from the Histories of Herodotus - can't remember what book, sorry. Alternatively, Georges Dumezil's Stories of the Scythians, which draws from the Nart Sagas, Ossetian national legends and tales. I don't know if it's been translated into English, though. There's also a bit on religion in Ellis Minns's Scythians and Greeks.

[Mouzafphaerre]

Alternatively, Georges Dumezil's Stories of the Scythians, which draws from the Nart Sagas, Ossetian national legends and tales. I don't know if it's been translated into English, though.

Came upon John Colarusso's Nart Sagas from the Caucassus, based upon his own translations from the corpus as well as others' work, contemporary and previous, including Dumézil's. Reading now...

[xeofox]

Many names (rulers of the Scythians) have been preserved. The name of the units, I do not know where they are taken from. If the origins of the Ossetian language, then this is close to the Sarmatian dialect - and it most likely differed from the Scythian (Sakae).
If you need the Scythians names (RUS):
https://vk.com/topic-11288890_21661037
https://respublikarso.org/history/12...dolzhenie.html
http://ru-sled.ru/skifskie-imena-iz-...oj-literatury/

As for religions (namely, Saka tribes), everything here is very complicated. Various scintists are trying to worldview the Saka mentality by looking at their artifacts. However, with confidence we can talk about the late Sakae (3-2 century BC) came from Zoroastrianism - Mithraism (its prototypes or origins as the beginning of the modern Asian holiday Nauryz.)
Article (RUS):
https://yadi.sk/i/PMZe5ZUtdutAM

P.S.: All this is complicated by the fact that "Sakae" is not the name of a tribe but the collective name of similar tribeS (sometimes it played the role of a kind of confederation).Everything is possible ... Different nations, different religious beliefs, different times.

[deus_eggs]

Thank you guys so much for the links! Such nice recommendations! If anyone else has anymore I'd be more than glad to take a look at them.