I had to go through my books to find where I had read that, and found it in Zeki Velidî Togan's
Umumî Türk Tarihi'ne Giriş (Introduction to General Turkic History), printed by the Enderun Kitabevi in Istanbul, 1981, pp.40-41 (the book was first published in 1946). Here, Togan gave a list of ethnonyms and place names from Volga to the borders of China given by Greco-Latin geographers such as Strabon (63 BC-19 AD), Cl. Ptolemeus (2nd century AD), Plinius the Great/Elder (23-79 AD) and Pomponius Melae (wrote his work at 42 AD); he identifies these as Turkic, but I am not sure if all designations are accurate at all:
- Oxianoi = Oghuz
- Pasiak (Pestik and Pesik) = Pechenek
- Dahae (Dae) = Adaghï, Aday (a Kazakh tribe)
- Camac = Kemak (the Kimäks)
- Uran = Uran (I think these are among the Kazakhs)
- Coman = Koman (Cumans)
- Comar = Komar (I don't know what they are)
- Kumith = Kümidh
- Cam = Kang (must be the Qañlï [Qangli], a branch of the Qypchaqs)
- Kotier (or Kasir) = Khazar
- Pisuut = Bisuut (a Mongol tribe)
- Matien = Müyten (
)
- Derbik = Derbek (
)
- Kirrath = Kirder (
)
- Carat = Karat (
)
- Argas = Argayas (
)
- Tabyn = Tabïn (an 11th century Turkic people)
- Giöynö (
) = Geyne (
)
- Khun = Hun
- Phun = Hun
- Sabir = Sabir (Sabars)
- Borsusk = Boruch (
)
- Avarin = Avar
- Suun = Suvun (
)
- Anar = Amar/Yamar (
)
- Askat = Azïgart (
)
- Daikh = Yayïq (Volga)
- Oykhard = Uyghur
- Kasia = Kaz
- Turcae/Nurcae = Turk
He also indicated that the -t particle in the names
Asiut and
Masaget might have been the (Mongolian) plurality suffix.
However, I am myself very sceptical about these identifications, because I am not familiar with some of the names (
Komar,
Müyten,
Derbek,
Kirder,
Karat,
Argayas,
Geyne,
Boruch,
Suvun,
Amar and
Azïgart) and some others are much later Turkic names (Oghuz, Pechenek, Kimek, Cuman, Qañlï, Uyghur and Khazar). The name Oghuz might be a bit more realistic actually, because before the Huns came to Europe in the 4th century, there were the Oghurs living in the Pontic-Caspian steppe alongside the Sarmatians; however, this doesn't mean that the
Oxianoi were the same with the Oghuz Turks that came to the Middle East in the 11th century. As for the identification of the Dahae with the Aday, it's quite hard but not impossible. The Usun tribe among the Kazakhs might be the descendents of the ancient Wusun people, and it's not impossible for some Dahae to survive in the later centuries and merge into the Kazakhs (though one has to trace them between the ancient times and the early modern age when the Kazakh union was formed). Among these identifications, only Hun, Sabar and Yayïq seem more believable for me.
Akdes Nimet Kurat in his book
IV-XVIII. Yüzyıllarda Karadeniz Kuzeyindeki Türk Kavimleri ve Devletleri ("Turkic Peoples and States North of the Black Sea During 4th-18th Centuries") printed by Murat Kitabevi Yayınları in Ankara, 2002, pp.7 gave brief information about the Scythians and Sarmatians. About the Scythians, he commented that most of them were Iranic, but they included elements from other peoples and it's not a far probability that there were Turkics among them. For the Sarmatians, he wrote similar things, saying that they were Iranic, and it was not possible to detect if there were any Turkic elements among them or not. For him, it was "obvious that the Roxolani were Iranic", and while it was claimed that the Iaziges were Iranic, they might have been Turkic as well (here, he identified the name
Iaziges as Turkic
Yazïgh or
Yazïq). On the other hand, the famous conservative historian İbrahim Kafesoğlu does not make any comments regarding the Scythians in his book
Türk Millî Kültürü ("Turkic National Culture") printed by Ötüken Neşriyat in Istanbul, 2002, and several times he clearly states that the Sarmatians were an Iranic people. The only scholar who really studied the Scythians and Sarmatians in Turkey is İlhami Durmuş, but right now I don't have time to read his books and transfer all his views here. I will, however, give his list (in his book
İskitler ["Scythians"], Kaynak Yayınları, Istanbul, 2007) of Scythian words recorded in tablets found at Susa and it's vicinity (I will correct myself here as in the previous posts, I wrote "Assyrian"), which he identifies as "Turkish words" (note that the meanings I give are made by myself; he just gave the Turkish words):
- Anira (identified as
Onarmak meaning "to repair")
- Arta (identified as
Oturmak meaning "to sit")
- Artak
- Ata (identified as
Ata meaning "father")
- Attata (identified as
Ata)
- Artari (identified as
Ata)
- Ativa (identified as
Ortasında meaning "in the middle")
- Atza (identified as
Uzak meaning "far" and
Uzun meaning "long")
- Atzasni
- Atzakka
- Balu (identified as
Baru but I don't know what it means)
- Dal (no identifications made, but this word means "branch")
- Dalva (identified as
Dolu meaning "full" and "drinking cup")
- Dalva Achtu (identified as
Dolduruldu meaning "it has been filled up")
- Daldu (identified as
Doldurmak meaning "to fill in")
- Dalduk (identified as
Doldu meaning "it is filled up")
- Du (identified as
Tutmak meaning "to hold")
- Evidu (identified as
Tutmak)
- Gami (identified as
Gemi meaning "ship")
- Gamina
- Gik (identified as
Gök meaning "blue")
- Gikka (identified as
Gök)
- I (identified as
Irmak meaning "river")
- Irchikki
- Irchigifana
- Irchigi (identified as
Artık meaning "remain" and
Artmak meaning "rising")
- Ivaka (identified as
Ayaklanmak meaning "to revolt")
- Kappika (identified as
Kapamak meaning "to close")
- Karata (identified as
Kart meaning "old")
- Katzavana (identified as
Kazımak meaning "to scratch")
- Kichi (identified as
Kişi meaning "person")
- Kichirranna
- Kichirana
- Kichirra
- Kutis (identified as
Getirmek meaning "to bring")
- Kutta (identified as
Katmak meaning "to add")
- Piri (identified as
Barmak/Varmak meaning "to reach")
- Pirij
- Piris
- In-pigurat
- In-pirik
- Pirifa
- Ap-pirik
- Rilu (identified as
Yazmak meaning "to write")
- Riluva
- Rilucha
- Riluk
- Rup
- Rupuchaghri
- Chaghri (identified as
Oğul meaning "son", but this looks like
Çağrı meaning "falcon" or "call")
- Charak
- Charakappika (identified as
Kapamak)
- Chatanika (identified as
Uzun,
Uzatmak meaning "to lengthen" and
Çatmak meaning "to run against", "knit", "slap", etc)
- Takaparrapa (identified as
Tuğ meaning "animal-hair banner")
- Taka
- Tan (identified as
Tanrı/Täñri meaning "Sky" and "God")
- Tanri
- Tanripi
- Tanrik
- Tannijat
- Tanpafa
- Tap (identified as
Tap meaning "to serve")
- Tari (identified as
Talamak but I don't know it's meaning)
- Tarista
- Tarinti
- Tarna (identified as
Tanışmak meaning "to meet")
- Tarnainti
- Tarnas
- Tarnasti
- Tarnampi
- Tarti (identified as
Tartınmak meaning "to be weighed")
- Tartinti
- Tartinta
- Taufa (identified as
Dayamak meaning "")
- Tauvalufa
- Tiri (identified as
Demek meaning "to say")
- Tirij
- Tirinti
- Tiris
- Tirira
- Tirinta
- Tirichcha
- Tirikka
- Tarrika
- Tirimaniun
- Tirimapi
- Tiristi
- Tirijs
- Ufarri (identified as
Obiri but I don't know it's meaning)
- Ut (identified as
İtmek meaning "to push")
- Utta
- Uttas
- Uttaut
- Uttutta
- Uttiut
- Uttara
- Uttasti
- Uttasta
- Uttirti
- Uttis
- Uttainti
- Uttivara
- Uttiniunupa
- Vara (identified as
Dedi meaning "he/she said" and
Dedim meaning "I said")
- Val (identified as
Yol meaning "road")
- Vartarakka
- Tarra (identified as
Töre meaning "traditional law, order")
- Vit (identified as
Gitmek meaning "to go")
- Vita
- Vitgini
- Vitas
- Vurun (identified as
Urun which he gives the meaning "place")
However, he didn't really identifiy that much of the words, plus most of his identifications are quite dubious. Bad thing is that I couldn't see any explanations of how he did these identifications. Yet, some of them seem logical to me.
Hmmm I see.
I mean, did anyone make a comparison of Scythian, Saka and Sarmatian words recorded in various sources?
I wonder if a connection between the Sakha and the Saka really exists?
Ok, this is what he wrote:
"The language of the Sauromatae is Scythian, but not spoken
in its ancient purity, since the Amazons never learned it correctly."