Dava (Dacian)
Dava (
Latinate plural davae) was a Geto-Dacian name for a city, town or fortress.[1] Generally, the name indicated a tribal center or an important settlement, usually fortified. Some of the Dacian settlements and the fortresses employed the Murus Dacicus
traditional construction technique.
Most of these towns are attested by Ptolemy, and therefore date from at least the 1st century CE.
The dava towns can be found as south as the cities of Sandanski and Plovdiv in present-day Bulgaria. Strabo specified that the Dacians ("Daci") are the Getae. The Dacians, Getae and their kings were always considered as Thracians by the ancients (Dio Cassius, Trogus Pompeius, Appian, Strabo, Herodotus and Pliny the Elder), and were both said to speak the same Thracian language.
Etymology
Many city names of the Dacians were composed of an initial
PIE *dʰeh₁-, "to set, place").[2][page needed] Therefore, dava 'town' derived from the reconstructed proto-Indo-European *dhewa 'settlement'.[3] A non-Indo European, Kartvelian solution has also been briefly mentioned, but dismissed as a random occurrence (Tomaschek 1893, p. 139) e.g., see comparison with *daba, 'town, village'.[4]
List of davae
Below is a list of Dacian towns which include various forms of dava in their name:
- Enoșești, Olt County, Romania
- )
- Aiadava[2] (Aiadaba or Aeadaba, Greek: Αἰάδαβα[8]), was a locality in the Remesiana region, present Bela Palanka, Serbia.[9]
- 's court/capital
- Ancient Greek: Ἀργίδαυα, Αργεδαυον, Σαργεδαυον), potentially Burebista's court/capital, located in today's Vărădia, Caraș-Severin County, Romania
- Bregedaba
- Buricodava[5]
- Burridava, today's Ocnele Mari, Romania
- Buteridava[5]
- Kapidaua, a fortress town on the southern side of the lower Danube
- Carsidava or Karsidaua
- , Romania
- Dausdava, Dausadava or Dausdavua,[5] "The shrine of wolves", a fortress town close to the Danube
- Desudaba
- Docidava or Dokidaua
- Gildoba, located alongside the Vistulariver
- Giridava[12]
- Jidava,[5] near Câmpulung Muscel, Romania
- Jidova[5]
- Klepidaua
- Kuimedaba
- Marcodava or Markodaua
- Murideba
- Netindaua, ancient Slobozia, Romania
- Nentivava,[5] ancient Oltenița, Romania
- Patridava or Patridaua
- Pelendava[5] or Pelendova, ancient Craiova, Romania
- Perburidava
- Piatra Neamţ
- Piroboridava or Piroboridaua
- Pulpudeva, originally named Eumolpias by the Dacians. Philip II of Macedon conquered the area in 342–341 BC and renamed the city Philippoupolis (Greek: Φιλιππούπολις), of which the later Dacian name for the city, Pulpu-deva, is a reconstructed translation. Today's city of Plovdivin Bulgaria.
- Quemedava, mentioned by Procopius in Dardania[13]
- Ramidava or Rhamidaua
- Recidava
- Rusidava[5] or Rusidava
- Sacidava or Sacidaba
- Sagadava
- Sandava
- Sangidaua
- Scaidava or Skedeba
- Setidava[5] or Setidaua, mentioned by Ptolemy as a thriving settlement
- Singidava or Singidaua
- Sucidava,[5] Suvidava or Sukidaua located in Corabia, Olt County, Romania
- Susudava,[5] mentioned by Ptolemy as a thriving settlement
- Sykidaba
- Tamasidava or Tamasidaua
- Utidava or Utidaua
- Zargidava or Zargidaua
- Ziridaua
- Zisnedeva,[5] Zisnudeva or Zisnudeba, located in Dacian Moesia
- Zucidaua
- Zisnudeba
- Zusidava
See also
References
Citations
- ^ "Bronze Age Tomb Finds Thrill Romanian Historians". Balkan Insight.
- ^ a b c Olteanu.
- ^ Polome 1982, p. 886.
- ^ Berzovan 2020, pp. 99.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Grumeza 2009, p. 13.
- ^ "Considerations regarding the etymology of the Dacian word dava / deva / daba. A Historical and Linguistic Journey from the Lower Danube to Anatolia and Transcaucasia". ResearchGate.
- ^ Velkov 1977, p. 92.
- Teubner, 1976-64. Greek text.
- ^ TSR9, Proc. 123. 26
- ^ Grumeza 2009, p. 88.
- ^ a b c Grumeza 2009, p. 12.
- ^ a b c Grumeza 2009, p. 14.
- ISBN 0-88033-146-1,page 223
- ISBN 9780862994679.
Stuart Jones noted the Dacian – sounding place – name ' Thermidava ' on the Lissus Naissus road : but see Miller col . 557 , for the evidence on this. The place was most probably called ' Theranda ' and there is no evidence for any settlement there of pro-Roman Dacians now, nor is it very likely. (..) Most scholars , however , have supposed , as did Cichorius , that we are now north of the Danube , somewhere in the Banat area where the local inhabitants are frightened that they may lose their recently acquired 'liberty'.
Bibliography
- Berzovan, Alexandru (2020). "Considerations regarding the origin of Dacian Term dava / deva / daba. A Historical and Linguistic Journey from the Lower Danube to Anatolia and Transcaucasia". The Thracians and their neighbours in antiquity. Archaeology and history. Studies in honor of Valeriu Sîrbu at his 70th anniversary. Romania: Editura Istros , Brăila.
- ISBN 978-0-7618-4465-5.
- Olteanu, Sorin. "Linguae Thraco-Daco-Moesorum – Toponyms Section". Linguae Thraco-Daco-Moesorum (in Romanian and English). Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
- ISBN 978-0-521-22496-3.
- Van den Gheyn, Joseph (1885). "Les populations Danubiennes". Revue des questions scientifiques. 17–18. Brussels: Société scientifique de Bruxelles.
- ISBN 90-256-0723-3.
- Tomaschek, Wilhelm (1883). "Les Restes de la langue dace". Le Muséon. 2. Belgium: "Société des lettres et des sciences" Louvain, Belgium.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dacian and Dacians.
- Dacian Davae in Enciclopedia Dacica (Romanian)
- Dacian materials and construction techniques in Enciclopedia Dacica (Romanian)
- Sorin Olteanu's Project: Linguae Thraco-Daco-Moesorum – Toponyms Section (Romanian, partially English)
- Lists of Dacian fortresses, towns and citadels Archived 20 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine
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