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It occurred to me that it was strange for sworn enemies like the Romans and the Persians to have the same suffix to their names - us.
Cyrus, Julius, Darius, Tacitus.
Obviously the languages share a common origin, perhaps there is also a common cultural origin. Dictionaries are clueless, do you have any ideas?
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^Stupid me, I just realized that the Greeks used it too - Herodotus.
This might be a help.
The people of Argos and the Persians share the same linage.
Herodotus Book 7 - POLYMNIA
[7.150] Such is the account which is given of these matters by the Argives themselves. There is another story, which is told generally through Greece, of a different tenor. Xerxes, it is said, before he set forth on his expedition against Greece, sent a herald to Argos, who on his arrival spoke as follows: "Men of Argos, King Xerxes speaks thus to you. We Persians deem that the Perses from whom we descend was the child of Perseus the son of Danae, and of Andromeda the daughter of Cepheus. Hereby it would seem that we come of your stock and lineage. So then it neither befits us to make war upon those from whom we spring; nor can it be right for you to fight, on behalf of others, against us. Your place is to keep quiet and hold yourself aloof. Only let matters proceed as I wish, and there is no people whom I shall have in higher esteem than you."
Argos - a city in the southeast Peloponnese. A settlement of great antiquity, Argos has been continuously inhabited for the past 7,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in Greece and Europe.
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The Persians began to take control of many parts of Africa and Europe after 525BC. They ruled Egypt between 525-332BC ( Achaemenid Egypt (525–402 BCE and 343–332 BCE).
Greeks migrated into Turkey. By 499BC they rebelled against the Persians.
The term Darius has many transliterations. In
Elamite: Tariyamauš
Babylonian: Dariamuš
Persian:Darayavauš or Daryawauš
The Greeks got the name Xerxes from the Hebrews
Hebrew: Achashwerosh Babylonian: Achshiyarshu Old Persian: Xsayarš Greek: Xerxes
It appears to me that –us, is the nominative suffix in Old Persian –vaus.
This correspond with the Greek and Latin sigular nominative suffix. For example, Petrus est homo bonus ‘Peter is a good man’; Crustos ‘jailer’, servus ‘jailer’.
It is clear that the I-E singular nominative is related to the Old Persian.
In summary the Persians were in contact with Greeks, for at least 100 years. It appears that the Old Persian nominative suffix vous/vaus> us, may have been lexicalized during this period, or it may be a loan from Hebrew.
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