Modern historians speculate on historical identities that may be selectively extracted from the brief account of "Arimaspi". Herodotus recorded a detail recalled from "Arimaspea" that may have a core in fact: "the Issedones were pushed from their lands by the Arimaspoi, and the Scythians by the Issedones" (iv.13.1). The "sp" in the name suggests that it was mediated through Iranian sources to Greek, indeed in Early Iranian "Arimaspi" combines "Ariama" (love) and "Aspa" (horses). Herodotus or his source seems to have understood the Scythian word as a combination of the roots "arima" ("one") and "spou" ("eye") and to have created a mythic image to account for it. Similarity of name and location, could identify them with the ancestors of the local Uralic people, the Mari.