Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans
Encyclopedia
The Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans is a short manuscript
containing the names of some early Bulgar
rulers, their clan
s, the year of their ascending to the throne according to the cyclic Bulgar calendar
and the length of their rule, including the times of joint rule and civil war
. It is written in Old Church Slavonic, but contains a large number of Bulgar names and date terms.
The Nominalia was found by the Russia
n scholar Alexander Popov
in 1861, during his research on Russian chronographers. So far, three Russian copies of the document have been found. The earliest of them, the "Uvarov transcript"http://theo.inrne.bas.bg/~dtrif/abv/imenik_e.htm, dates from the 15th century and the other two, the Pogodin
and Moscow
transcripts, from the 16th century. There are certain differences in the names' spellings in the manuscripts. Despite the commonly accepted name of the nominalia, none of them uses the Central Asia
n title khan
. Only Asparuh (the founder of Danube
Bulgaria
) and his five predecessors are assigned a title, and that is the Slavonic title knyaz
.
These five princes ruled the kingdom over the other side of the Danube
for 515 years with shaven heads and after that came to this side of the Danube Asparuh knyaz
and until now (rules).
(An additional ruler is sometimes inserted here, depending on the reading.)
The italicized words are in the Bulgar language as given in the original manuscript and represent the year and month of ascending to the throne of each ruler according to the Bulgar calendar
. Their translation is uncertain, but there appears to be a consensus that they are based on a system similar to the Chinese calendar
(which was also adopted by many Turkic peoples
and by the Mongols
), with a cycle of 12 years, each bearing the name of an animal. The first word in each date is the name of the year, the second is an ordinal number
designating the month.
There are widely diverging translations of the nominalia and especially of the Bulgar dates. This is partly due to the difficulty in identifying word boundaries, but the greatest differences today are due to the contrast between the traditional analysis of Bulgar as a Turkic language and historian Petar Dobrev's recently advanced proposal that it was an Iranian
, more specifically Pamiri language. The "Turkic" reading, along with the "cyclic calendar" interpretation itself, was originally proposed by Finnish Slavist Jooseppi Julius Mikkola in 1913. Later, there have been various modifications and elaborations during the 20th century by scholars such as Géza Fehér, Omeljan Pritsak
, and Mosko Moskov. Dobrev's "Iranian" reading actually preserves all but one of the previous translations of the year names, arguing that the Turkic names of the animals, far from proving that the Bulgars were Turkic, show that the Turkic peoples had borrowed these words from the Bulgars. He does change the numbers of the months.
The following table shows three interpretations - one of the earliest versions of the "classical" Turkic one by Zlatarski (1918, adhering closely to Mikkola), one of the most recent "Turkic" versions by Moskov (1988), and the "Iranian" one by Dobrev (1994).
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
containing the names of some early Bulgar
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
rulers, their clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s, the year of their ascending to the throne according to the cyclic Bulgar calendar
Bulgar calendar
The Bulgar calendar was a calendar system used by the Bulgars, a seminomadic people, originally from Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards dwelled in the Eurasian steppes north of the Caucasus and around the banks of river Volga...
and the length of their rule, including the times of joint rule and civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
. It is written in Old Church Slavonic, but contains a large number of Bulgar names and date terms.
The Nominalia was found by the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n scholar Alexander Popov
Alexander Popov
Alexander Popov may refer to:*Alexander Ivanovich Popov , Soviet physicist and inventor*Aleksandr Sergeyevich Popov , Russian footballer*Alexander Stepanovich Popov , Russian physicist...
in 1861, during his research on Russian chronographers. So far, three Russian copies of the document have been found. The earliest of them, the "Uvarov transcript"http://theo.inrne.bas.bg/~dtrif/abv/imenik_e.htm, dates from the 15th century and the other two, the Pogodin
Mikhail Pogodin
Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin was a Russian historian and journalist who, jointly with Nikolay Ustryalov, dominated the national historiography between the death of Nikolay Karamzin in 1826 and the rise of Sergey Solovyov in the 1850s. He is best remembered as a staunch proponent of the Normanist...
and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
transcripts, from the 16th century. There are certain differences in the names' spellings in the manuscripts. Despite the commonly accepted name of the nominalia, none of them uses the Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
n title khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
. Only Asparuh (the founder of Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
) and his five predecessors are assigned a title, and that is the Slavonic title knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
.
The "Uvarov transcript" text
Авитохолъ житъ лет. ~т. род ему Дуло. а лет ему диломъ твирем. Ирник. житъ лет. ~(ри). род ему Дуло. а лет ему дилом твeримь. Гостунъ наместникь сьï два лета. род ему. Ерми. а лет ему дохсъ. втиремь. Курт: 60 лет дръжа. род ему Дуло. а лет ему шегоръ вечемь. Безмеръ ~г. лет. а род ему Дуло. а лет ему шегоръ вемь. сii ~е княз. дръжаше княженïе обону страну Дуная. летъ. ~ф. ~(еi). остриженами главами. И потом прiиде на страну Дунаа. Исперих княз тожде и доселе. Есперих княз. 61 лет. род Дуло. а лет ему верени алем. Тервен. -к~а. лето. род ему Дуло. а лет ему текучитем. твирем. ~(ки). лет. род ему Дуло. а род ему дваншехтем. Севаръ. ~(еl). лет. род ему Дуло. а лет ему тохалтом. Кормисошь. ~(зi). лет. род ему Вокиль. а лет ему шегоръ твиремь. Сiи же княз измени род Дулов. рекше Вихтунь. Винех. ~з. лет. а род ему Оукиль. а летъ ему имаше Горалемь. Телець. ~г. лета. род Оугаинь. а лет ему соморъ. алтемь. И сïй иного рад. Оуморъ. ~м. днïи. род ему Оукиль а ему дилом тоутом.Translation
- AvitoholAvitoholAvitohol is the first name in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans. Little is known about him. According to the document he is from the Dulo clan and most probably was considered and respected as the forefather of the khans....
lived 300 years. His clan was DuloDulo clanThe Dulo Clan or the House of Dulo was the name of the ruling dynasty of the early Bulgars.This was the clan of Kubrat who founded Old Great Bulgaria, and his sons Batbayan, Kuber and Asparuh, the latter of which founded Danube Bulgaria....
and his year (of ascending to the throne) dilom tvirem. - Irnik lived 150 years. His clan Dulo and his year dilom tverim.
- GostunGostunGostun of the Ermi clan was a regent over the Bulgars for 2 years.Little else is known about him. It is possible that Gostun is an alternative name of Organa, who according to some Byzantine sources was a regent over the Bulgars until Kubrat's return from Constantinople and was also member of the...
, the regent, 2 years. His clan Ermi and his year dokhs tvirem. - KurtKubratKubrat or Kurt was a Bulgar ruler credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in 632. He is said to have achieved this by conquering the Avars and uniting all the Bulgar tribes under one rule....
ruled 60 years. His clan Dulo and his year shegor vechem. - Bezmer 3 years and his clan Dulo and his year shegor vem (vechem).
These five princes ruled the kingdom over the other side of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
for 515 years with shaven heads and after that came to this side of the Danube Asparuh knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
and until now (rules).
- Asparuh knyazKnyazKniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
61 years (ruled). His clan Dulo and his year vereni alem. - Tervel 21 years. His clan Dulo and his year tekuchitem tvirem.
(An additional ruler is sometimes inserted here, depending on the reading.)
- Sevar 15 years. His clan Dulo and his year toh altom.
- Kormisosh 17 years. His clan Vokil and his year shegor tvirem.
- Vinekh 7 years. His clan UkilUokilUokil is one of Yuezhi tribes, defeated and displaced by the Hun's expansion in the 2nd century BC. Uokil may have been one of the two Yuezhi dynastic tribes. Traces of ethnonym "Uokil" are found in the East Mongolia and Manchuria territories in the Syanbi Uokil (Ukil, Vokil, Augal) is one of...
. And his year (imen)shegor alem. - Telets 3 years. His clan Ugain and his year somor altem.
- Umor (ruled) 40 days. His clan Ukil and his year dilom tutom.
The italicized words are in the Bulgar language as given in the original manuscript and represent the year and month of ascending to the throne of each ruler according to the Bulgar calendar
Bulgar calendar
The Bulgar calendar was a calendar system used by the Bulgars, a seminomadic people, originally from Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards dwelled in the Eurasian steppes north of the Caucasus and around the banks of river Volga...
. Their translation is uncertain, but there appears to be a consensus that they are based on a system similar to the Chinese calendar
Chinese calendar
The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well...
(which was also adopted by many Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
and by the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
), with a cycle of 12 years, each bearing the name of an animal. The first word in each date is the name of the year, the second is an ordinal number
Ordinal number
In set theory, an ordinal number, or just ordinal, is the order type of a well-ordered set. They are usually identified with hereditarily transitive sets. Ordinals are an extension of the natural numbers different from integers and from cardinals...
designating the month.
There are widely diverging translations of the nominalia and especially of the Bulgar dates. This is partly due to the difficulty in identifying word boundaries, but the greatest differences today are due to the contrast between the traditional analysis of Bulgar as a Turkic language and historian Petar Dobrev's recently advanced proposal that it was an Iranian
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
, more specifically Pamiri language. The "Turkic" reading, along with the "cyclic calendar" interpretation itself, was originally proposed by Finnish Slavist Jooseppi Julius Mikkola in 1913. Later, there have been various modifications and elaborations during the 20th century by scholars such as Géza Fehér, Omeljan Pritsak
Omeljan Pritsak
Omeljan Pritsak was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.-Career:Pritsak began his academic career at the University of Lvov in interwar Poland where he...
, and Mosko Moskov. Dobrev's "Iranian" reading actually preserves all but one of the previous translations of the year names, arguing that the Turkic names of the animals, far from proving that the Bulgars were Turkic, show that the Turkic peoples had borrowed these words from the Bulgars. He does change the numbers of the months.
The following table shows three interpretations - one of the earliest versions of the "classical" Turkic one by Zlatarski (1918, adhering closely to Mikkola), one of the most recent "Turkic" versions by Moskov (1988), and the "Iranian" one by Dobrev (1994).
| Bulgar date | Turkic theory (Vasil Zlatarski) | Turkic theory (Mosko Moskov) | Iranian theory (Petar Dobrev) |
|---|---|---|---|
| dilom tvirem | Serpent, the 9th | Serpent, the 9th | Serpent, the 4th |
| dokhs tvirem | Boar, the 9th | Boar, the 9th | Boar, the 4th |
| shegor vechem | Ox, the 3rd | Ox, the 3rd | Ox, the 5th |
| vereni alem | Wolf, the 1st | Dragon, additional Leap year A leap year is a year containing one extra day in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year... |
Dragon, the 1st |
| tekuchitem tvirem | Dog, the 9th | Ram, the 9th | Horse, the 4th |
| toh altom | Hen, the 6th | Hen, the 6th | Hen, the 12th |
| shegor tvirem | Ox, the 9th | Ox, the 9th | Ox, the 4th |
| (imen)shegor alem | Horse, the 1st | Horse, additional | Ox, the 1st |
| somor altem | Rodent, the 6th | Rodent, the 6th | Rodent, the 12th |
| dilom tutom | Serpent, the 4th | Serpent, the 4th | Serpent, the 2nd |