Jurcae

JURCAE (Ἴυρκαι), mentioned by Herodotus (Hdt. 4.22) as lying contiguous to the Thyssagetae, who lay beyond the Budini, who lay beyond the Sauromatae of the Palus Maeotis and Lower Tanaïs. Their country was well-wooded. They were hunters, and had horses. This points to some portion of the lower Uralian range. They were probably tribes of the Ugrian stock, akin to the present Morduins, Tsherimiss, Tshuvashes, of which they were the most southern portion. The reason for for this lies in the probability of the name being a derivative from the root -kr- (as in Ukraine and Carin-thia)= border, or boundary, some form of which gave the Slavonic population their equivalent to the Germanic name Marcomanni = Marchmen. [R.G.L]