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Herodotus · Histories §4.117.1

Language and Marriage Customs of the Sauromatae

Passage 681 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

On the origin of the Sauromatae's imperfect Scythian language and their marriage custom, which forbids maidens from marrying until they have killed an enemy.

§4.117.1φωνῇ δὲ οἱ Σαυρομάται νομίζουσι Σκυθικῇ, σολοικίζοντες αὐτῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀρχαίου, ἐπεὶ οὐ χρηστῶς ἐξέμαθον αὐτὴν αἱ Ἀμαζόνες.
The Sauromatae use the Scythian language, but they have spoken it incorrectly from the beginning, since the Amazons did not learn it thoroughly.
τὰ περὶ γάμων δὲ ὧδέ σφι διακέεται. οὐ γαμὲεται παρθένος οὐδεμία πρὶν ἂν τῶν πολεμίων ἄνδρα ἀποκτείνῃ· αἳ δὲ τινὲς αὐτέων καὶ τελευτῶσι γηραιαὶ πρὶν γήμασθαι, οὐ δυνάμεναι τὸν νόμον ἐκπλῆσαι.
Their customs concerning marriage are as follows: no maiden is married until she has killed a man of the enemy; and some of them even die old before marrying, being unable to fulfill the law.

Notes

  1. §4.117.1νομίζουσι — The verb νομίζω with the dative (here φωνῇ ... Σκυθικῇ) means 'to use or practice habitually', rather than its common meaning of 'to believe' or 'to hold as custom'.
  2. §4.117.1ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀρχαίου — The preposition ἀπό combined with the neuter substantivized adjective ἀρχαῖον functions adverbially to mean 'from the beginning' or 'from of old'.
  3. §4.117.1αἳ δὲ τινὲς — The demonstrative pronoun (αἳ δέ, feminine plural of ὁ δέ) combined with the indefinite pronoun τινές, meaning 'and some of them'.
  4. §4.117.1πρὶν ἂ接続法 — Since the main clause is negative (οὐ γαμέεται ... οὐδεμία), the construction πρὶν ἂν with the subjunctive (ἀποκτείνῃ) is used to express 'not... until' or 'not... before'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.117.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.117.1

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