Ceramic Fragment with a Proto-Bulgarian Inscription from Pliska

Authors:

Pages: 33-43
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/HRXM4579

Abstract:

The first information that the language of the Danube Bulgarians had its own writing dates back to 1957. Few such inscriptions have been found since then. This publication examines the last one that has been discovered. It was found on the territory of the capital of the First Bulgarian Kingdom—Pliska, in 2012. It is a fragment of a clay vessel on which a short inscription was applied with a sharp object. The inscription is a private message from a person of low social status named Oygun about an action he performed. The publication offers a decipherment of the content of the inscription and a commentary. Despite its brief content, the inscription is a valuable epigraphic record of the language of the Danubian Bulgarians. This language belongs to the r/l group of Old Turkic languages (and probably its only representative)but is poorly known. This publication expands the area of distribution of this writing, testifies to its dissemination among the common population, and contains new data on the phonetic composition of this language, as well as new, previously unrecorded script signs.

Keywords:

Danube Bulgarian language; Danube Bulgarian inscriptions; First Bulgarian Kingdom.

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