Getae and Dacians? Are they the same? Or is this unknowable?

[Rumo]

As well, as Ovidius said, if he wanted to talk and understand with peoples in Schytia Minor, either Getae/Dacians or Sarmatians, he needed to learn getic language, meaning that the lingua franca was the dacian one in a areas where dacians meet other cultures around (except romans). So, is much more likely that a was used more languages in gothic army.

Hi R?zvan,

Ovid's exile experience was in Tomis and its hinterland, so whatever interpretation one chooses for his verses, it's no evidence for a lingua franca, Getic or of some other sort. If I'm advocating for a multilingual Gothia, be sure I do the same for pre-Roman Dacia or Scythia Minor 8)

However we shouldn't take his words for granted. He complained his poetry might contain barbarian words, but as far as I know the classicists found none :wink: