There is controversy about whether the Getae were Dacian or Thracian speakers and whether those two languages were similar. Strabo claims that the Getae were Thracians.[55] He adds that the Dacians spoke the same language as the Getae.[56] This gave rise to the hypothesis that Thracian and Dacian were essentially the same language (the Daco-Thracian theory). But the modern linguist Vladimir Georgiev disputes that Dacian and Thracian were closely related for various reasons, especially that Dacian and Moesian town names commonly end with the suffix -DAVA, while towns in Thrace proper generally end in -PARA. According to Georgiev, the language spoken by the Getae should be classified as "Daco-Moesian" and regarded as quite distinct from Thracian.[57] Support for the Daco-Moesian theory can be found in Dio, who confirms that the Moesians and Getae on the south bank of the Danube were Dacians.[58] But the scant evidence available for these two extinct languages does not permit any firm conclusions. For the dividing-line between the two placename forms, see the following map (lower map, scroll down): members.tripod.com
Dio LI.24.4: "For not only were they hindered by their waggons, which were in the rear, but their desire to save their wives and their children was also instrumental in their defeat."
