Coitæ
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Coitæ was a tribe of Eastern Europe mentioned by Pliny.[1]
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Koit = Coitæ (Pliny.vi.7)
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[2] mentions Lake Mieotis and the adjoining nations....Next to them (Sauromatæ) are the Ævazæ 5, the Coitæ6, the Cicimeni, the Messeniani, the Costobocci, the Choatræ, the Zigæ7, the Dandarii, the Thyssagetæ, and the Iyrcæ8, as far as certain rugged deserts and densely wooded vallies, beyond which again are the Arimphæi9, who extend as far as the Riphæan Mountains.10
5 Hardouin suggests from εὑάζω, "to celebrate the orgies of Bacchus."
6 Perhaps from κοίτν, a "den" or "cavern," their habitation.
7 Parisot suggests that they may have been a Caucasian or Circassian tribe, because in the Circassian language the word zig has the meaning of "man." He also suggests that they were probably a distinct race from the Zingi previously mentioned, whom he identifies with the ancestors of the Zingari or Bohemians, the modern Gypsies.
8 The more common reading is "Tureæ" a tribe also mentioned by Mela, and which gave name to modern Turkistan.
9 The Argippæi of Herodotus and other ancient authors. These people were bald, flat-nosed, and long-chinned. They are again mentioned by Pliny in C. 14, who calls them a race not unlike the Hyperborei, and then, like Mela, abridges the description given by Herodotus. By different writers these people have been identified with the Chinese, the Brahmins or Lamas, and the Calmucks. The last is thought to be the most probable opinion, or else that the description of Herodotus, borrowed by other writers, may be applied to the Mongols in general. The mountains, at the foot of which they have been placed, are identified with either the Ural, the western extremity of the Altai chain, or the eastern part of the Altai.
10 Generally regarded as the western branch of the Ural Mountains.