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Originally posted by Scythian
Well, the Alan's language would have been a little different from Old Persian, probably about the same difference as between Swedish and Norse? It's hard to say, since I am not a linguist.
There are, as far as I know, no known written records of the Alans, since they were apparently nonliterate. They had a strong oral tradition, like many of the Indo-Europeans, but had little use for writing.
Thanks, Scythian, for the info. Yes, I'm sure the Alans' dialect wasn't the same as Old Persian - but I just was curious if they were close; it sounds as if they were.
I also figured they were non-literate, and, like most (all?) Indo-Europeans, with a strong oral tradition. Sometimes that oral tradition is recorded though (one of the good things Christianity tended to bring with it was literacy, or at least literate monks who liked recording and preserving things -- Islam, though it may be strange to think it, actually did the same, to some extent -- lots of mediaeval Arab linguists & other scholars).
For something completely (or almost completely) non-related to kukris, but related to oral epics, you can now hear me reading Beowulf in Old English by clicking here
cheers, B.