08-24-2013, 06:21 PM
Alanus wrote:
I know I am drifting off-topic but in regards to the name Aspar. “Horse man" or “horse master".With the names mentioned above I add Aspurgus who was a "Bosporan king" with a Sarmatian mother who prided himself on being a friend of Rome during the time of Augustus & Tiberius. Name was popular among Goths & I accidentally found out while looking for Icelandic male names that Aspar is one of the most popular male names in Iceland & they can't trace it's origin. Don't know if there was a connection or contact between Norsemen & Sarmatians/Alans but I am curious as to how an Old Iranic name got to be so popular in Iceland of all places. I shall post link below of an article of possible Central Asian links with Scandinavians which was interesting. Iceland has a large horse population even today “Icelandic horses" with a population of 80,000 horses to 317,000 people. So maybe there was a tradition among later horse herders of calling their sons Aspar. Possibility that Aspar was a name of Sarmatian/Saka diety who protected horses or even a long forgotten Sarmatian/Saka hero. Speculating now. Maybe the origins of word goes back much further to “Indo-European" roots?
http://www.davidkfaux.org/CentralAsiaRoo...idence.pdf
In case anyone is interested in horse breeds here is Wikipedia entry about “Icelandic horse" & the ruthless way they maintained the integrity of the breed by allowing the stallions to fight with the winner getting breeding rights. This was an old practice & is discontinued now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_horse
Apologies for drifting.
Regards
Michael Kerr
Quote:Notice the "aspar" in the king's name, which I think denoted "horseman
I know I am drifting off-topic but in regards to the name Aspar. “Horse man" or “horse master".With the names mentioned above I add Aspurgus who was a "Bosporan king" with a Sarmatian mother who prided himself on being a friend of Rome during the time of Augustus & Tiberius. Name was popular among Goths & I accidentally found out while looking for Icelandic male names that Aspar is one of the most popular male names in Iceland & they can't trace it's origin. Don't know if there was a connection or contact between Norsemen & Sarmatians/Alans but I am curious as to how an Old Iranic name got to be so popular in Iceland of all places. I shall post link below of an article of possible Central Asian links with Scandinavians which was interesting. Iceland has a large horse population even today “Icelandic horses" with a population of 80,000 horses to 317,000 people. So maybe there was a tradition among later horse herders of calling their sons Aspar. Possibility that Aspar was a name of Sarmatian/Saka diety who protected horses or even a long forgotten Sarmatian/Saka hero. Speculating now. Maybe the origins of word goes back much further to “Indo-European" roots?
http://www.davidkfaux.org/CentralAsiaRoo...idence.pdf
In case anyone is interested in horse breeds here is Wikipedia entry about “Icelandic horse" & the ruthless way they maintained the integrity of the breed by allowing the stallions to fight with the winner getting breeding rights. This was an old practice & is discontinued now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_horse
Apologies for drifting.
Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"