Scythian languages

Scythian
Ptolemy's Scythia
Native to	Sarmatia, Scythia, Sistan, Scythia Minor, Alania
Region	Central Asia, Eastern Europe
Ethnicity	Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans
Era	Classical antiquity, late antiquity
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Iranian Scythian
Dialects	(Western) Alanian (Eastern) Scytho-Khotanese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: xsc – Scythian xln – Alanian oos – Old Ossetian
Linguist list	xsc Scythian
	xln Alanian
	oos Old Ossetian
Glottolog	oldo1234  (Old Ossetic)
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The Scythian languages (/ˈsɪθiən/ or /ˈsɪðiən/) are a group of Eastern Iranian languages of the classical and late antiquity (Middle Iranian) period, spoken in a vast region of Eurasia named Scythia. Except for modern Ossetian, which descends from the Alanian variety, these languages are all considered to be extinct. Modern Eastern Iranian languages such as Wakhi, however, are related to the eastern Scytho-Khotanese dialects attested from the kingdoms of Khotan and Tumshuq in the ancient Tarim Basin, in present-day southern Xinjiang, China.

The location and extent of Scythia varied by time, but generally it encompassed the part of Eastern Europe east of the Vistula river and much of Central Asia up to the Tarim Basin. The dominant ethnic groups among the Scythians were nomadic pastoralists of Central Asia and the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Fragments of their speech known from inscriptions and words quoted in ancient authors as well as analysis of their names indicate that it was an Indo-European language, more specifically from the Iranian group of Indo-Iranian languages. Alexander Lubotsky summarizes the known linguistic landscape as follows: