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Bulgar language

The Bulgar language, also known as Bulgharic or Oghur Turkic, is an extinct member of the western branch of the Turkic language family, spoken by the Bulgars—a nomadic confederation originating in Central Asia—from approximately the 5th to the 13th centuries across regions including the Pontic-Caspian steppe, the Volga River basin, and the Balkans.^[1] Classified within the Oghur (or Lir-Turkic) subgroup, it is distinguished from the more widespread Common Turkic (or Z-Turkic) languages by characteristic phonetic innovations such as rhotacism (*z > r) and lambdacism (*š > l), which are preserved in its sole surviving relative, the modern Chuvash language—though some scholars debate non-Turkic (e.g., Iranian or Uralic) affinities for the Bulgars.^[1] The language is primarily attested through short inscriptions in the Arabic script from Volga Bulgaria (dating to the 10th–14th centuries), personal names in Byzantine and Slavic sources, and loanwords in neighboring languages like Hungarian and Slavic; these provide evidence of its use in both the Volga Bulgar state and the earlier Danube Bulgar khaganate.^[2] The Bulgars migrated westward in waves during the early medieval period, establishing the Old Great Bulgaria confederation in the Pontic steppe around 630 CE before splitting into groups: one founding Volga Bulgaria (a major trade hub that adopted Islam in 922 CE), and another the Danube Bulgar state in the Balkans, which evolved into medieval Bulgaria.^[3] In Volga Bulgaria, the language persisted longer, influencing Chuvash through dialectal continuity—particularly the western Volga Bulgar dialect (VB3)—despite admixtures from Kipchak Turkic following the Mongol invasion of 1236 CE, which accelerated its decline.^[1] Among the Danube Bulgars, Bulgar was rapidly supplanted by Old Church Slavonic after the Christianization of 864–865 CE, leading to linguistic assimilation by the 10th century, though traces survive in Bulgarian toponyms and anthroponyms.^[2] Overall, Bulgar's extinction by the 14th–15th centuries resulted from political upheavals, including Mongol conquests and Slavicization, leaving Chuvash as the linguistic heir to the Oghur branch.^[3] Linguistically, Bulgar exhibits archaic Turkic features, such as vowel harmony and agglutinative morphology, but with unique developments like spirantization of stops (e.g., *g/ġ > γ) and diphthongization, reflecting early divergence from Proto-Turkic in the 5th century CE.^[1] Scholarly reconstruction relies on comparative analysis with Chuvash and sparse epigraphic material, revealing connections to other Oghur languages like those of the Onogurs and Khazars, though debates persist on the exact internal dialectology and potential Iranian or Uralic substrate influences.^[3] As the progenitor of Chuvash—"the only surviving representative of the western branch of the Turkic languages and dialects"—Bulgar underscores the diversity of medieval Turkic migrations and cultural exchanges in Eurasia.^[1]

Overview and classification

Linguistic affiliation

The Bulgar language is classified as a member of the Oghuric (also known as Lir or Bulgaric) branch of the Turkic language family, distinct from the more widespread Common Turkic branch. This subgrouping is defined by specific phonological innovations that set Oghuric languages apart, including the systematic sound shifts *č > ś/š and *ŋ > n, which differentiate them from the sibilants and velars preserved in Common Turkic varieties.^[4] The closest linguistic relative to Bulgar is the Chuvash language, the sole surviving Oghuric language, spoken today in the Volga-Ural region of Russia; Bulgar is widely regarded as the direct ancestor of Chuvash, with lexical and morphological continuities evident in historical records from the Volga Bulgar state. Key phonological isoglosses reinforcing Bulgar's Turkic affiliation include rhotacism, where *z > r and *ž > r (as in Oghuric *ar- corresponding to Common Turkic *az- 'hunger'), and various sibilant changes that align it with the broader Turkic family's Proto-Turkic roots while marking Oghuric divergence. These features, such as the r/z and l/š correspondences, further distinguish Oghuric from Common Turkic and support its internal coherence.^[5]^[4] Within the Turkic family tree, Bulgar traces its origins to Proto-Turkic, the reconstructed common ancestor of all Turkic languages, which linguistic evidence places around the end of the 1st millennium BCE, with the Oghuric branch diverging early—potentially as far back as 500 BCE—prior to the expansions of Common Turkic groups. This early split is inferred from Bayesian phylolinguistic models analyzing lexical and phonological data across Turkic varieties, positioning Oghuric as a western offshoot that developed in isolation from the eastern Common Turkic continuum.^[6]^[7]

Evidence and scholarly debates

The primary evidence for the Bulgar language derives from personal names, toponyms, and titles recorded in external historical sources, including Byzantine chronicles such as those of Theophanes the Confessor, Armenian texts like the history of Movses Kagankatvatsi, and Arabic accounts by authors like al-Mas'udi. These attest ruler names like Asparukh (possibly meaning "having noble steeds" in a Turkic context) and Krum (linked to "strength" or "power"), as well as place names such as Pliska and toponyms reflecting tribal designations like Onogur. Such onomastic material provides the bulk of the linguistic corpus, with titles like khan and boila (noble) offering insights into social terminology. The limitations of this evidence are significant: no complete texts or extended prose survive, and the attested vocabulary comprises only a few hundred words, predominantly proper nouns and short phrases from inscriptions like the Nominalia of the Bulgarian Khans or Volga Bulgar runic stones. This scarcity hampers systematic analysis, as most data are mediated through non-native scripts and potentially distorted by transcribers, with fewer than 100 securely identifiable lexical items beyond onomastics. Scholar Peter B. Golden emphasizes that this fragmentary nature restricts reconstruction to comparative linguistics rather than direct textual study. Alternative theories challenging the Turkic classification include the Iranian hypothesis, advanced by Bulgarian scholars such as Veselin Beshevliev and Petăr Dobrev, who argue for Scythian or Sarmatian origins based on onomastic parallels like Asparukh resembling Iranian aspa-raka ("horse-driver") and cultural affinities to Zoroastrianism. These proponents cite similarities in anthroponyms and potential substrate elements in Bulgar nomenclature, suggesting an Indo-Iranian core overlaid by Turkic layers. However, critiques, including those from András Róna-Tas, reclassify these as loanwords from prolonged contact with Iranian-speaking nomads rather than evidence of primary affiliation, noting that systematic comparisons favor Turkic etymologies for most terms.^[8] The modern linguistic consensus overwhelmingly supports classifying Bulgar as an Oghuric branch of Turkic, established through the comparative method by matching attested forms to Chuvash and other Oghuric remnants, such as sound shifts like š to l (e.g., *koš > Chuvash kăl "summer"). Scholars like Golden and Róna-Tas affirm this via regular correspondences in vocabulary and morphology, with debates focusing on the degree of substrate influences—primarily Iranian from steppe interactions and later Slavic elements in the Danubian context—rather than the core genealogy. These influences are evident in potential borrowings but do not alter the Turkic framework, as confirmed by etymological dictionaries of Turkic languages.^[9]

Historical development

Origins and migrations

The Proto-Bulgars emerged in the Eurasian steppes during the 4th and 5th centuries CE, where they were associated with Oghuric Turkic tribes, particularly the Onogurs, who formed part of a broader nomadic confederation in the Eurasian steppes.^[10] These groups, speaking an early form of Oghuric Turkic, emerged amid interactions with neighboring Iranian-speaking nomads like the Sarmatians, contributing to the ethnolinguistic formation of the Bulgars as semi-nomadic warriors.^[11] Recent paleogenetic analyses (as of 2025) indicate a primarily Western Eurasian genetic profile for early Bulgars, with Sarmatian-Iranian components dominant and minor Central Asian admixture, supporting a complex steppe ethnogenesis.^[10]^[12] Historical records indicate that by the late 4th century, Proto-Bulgar elements had begun consolidating in the region north of the Caucasus, influenced by the shifting dynamics of steppe polities. Following the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the mid-5th century CE, Western Bulgar groups migrated westward into the Pontic-Caspian steppe, establishing a presence among the fragmented successor states and absorbing elements from local tribes.^[13] This movement positioned the Bulgars as key players in the post-Hunnic vacuum, with their nomadic lifestyle facilitating further expansion across the steppe. By the 7th century, internal divisions led to a major split: one faction under Asparukh moved southward toward the Danube, while another headed eastward to the Volga River region, marking the divergence into the Danubian and Volga Bulgar groups.^[11] A pivotal event was the dissolution of Old Great Bulgaria, founded by Khan Kubrat around 632 CE in the Pontic steppes, which fragmented under pressure from Khazar incursions in the 660s CE.^[14] Kubrat's death prompted his sons to lead separate migrations; his third son, Asparukh, crossed the Danube in 680 CE, defeating Byzantine forces and securing the territory of Moesia, thereby founding Danubian Bulgaria and gaining imperial recognition by 681 CE.^[15] Concurrently, Kubrat's other successors, including those leading the eastern branch, settled along the Volga, establishing the Volga Bulgar polity amid interactions with Finno-Ugric and Khazar populations.^[16] During these steppe migrations, the Bulgar language, an Oghuric Turkic variety, underwent influences from surrounding languages, notably acquiring Iranian loanwords from Sarmatian and Alan contacts that enriched its early lexicon with terms related to nomadic life and administration.^[17] These interactions laid the groundwork for substrate influences in Bulgar vocabulary before the groups' later sedentarization.^[10]

Spread, use, and extinction

Following the settlement of Bulgar tribes in the Balkans around 680 CE, the Danubian branch of the Bulgar language became the tongue of the ruling elite in the newly formed First Bulgarian Empire, spanning the 7th to 10th centuries. This empire, centered in the region of modern Bulgaria and extending into parts of Romania and Serbia, featured a bilingual sociolinguistic environment where Bulgar coexisted with the Slavic languages spoken by the majority population. Bulgar was primarily used in administration, military commands, and among the nobility, as evidenced by personal names, titles, and inscriptions from sites like Pliska and Preslav.^[18] The spread of Danubian Bulgar was limited by the demographic dominance of Slavic speakers, leading to a gradual linguistic shift. Christianization under Khan Boris I in 864 CE accelerated this process, as the adoption of Old Church Slavonic—promoted through the missionary work of Cyril and Methodius—became the language of liturgy, education, and official documents. By the 10th century, Bulgar had been fully replaced by Old Church Slavonic in the Danube region, marking its extinction as the Bulgar nobility assimilated into the Slavic majority. This replacement was facilitated by the lack of a standardized written form for Bulgar and the empire's political need for unity under a shared religious language.^[5] In parallel, the Volga Bulgars established a khanate in the Middle Volga region from the 8th to 13th centuries, where their language spread through trade hubs such as Bolghar and Bilyar, key nodes on the Silk Road connecting Europe and Asia. Bulgar served as the administrative and commercial language among the ruling class and merchants, interacting with Finnic-speaking populations and later incorporating Arabic influences following the official adoption of Islam in 922 CE. Inscriptions on 13th- and 14th-century tombstones in Arabic script demonstrate its continued use in funerary and possibly legal contexts.^[2] The extinction of Volga Bulgar occurred more gradually than in the Danubian branch, persisting until the mid-14th century. The Mongol invasions of 1236–1237 CE destroyed the khanate's political structures, disrupting linguistic continuity, while Islamic conversion shifted elite literacy toward Arabic and Persian. Assimilation into emerging Tatar and Chuvash-speaking communities, combined with the absorption of Bulgar substrate elements into local Finnic and Turkic varieties, contributed to its disappearance, leaving no direct descendants but influencing modern Chuvash as a related Oghuric Turkic language.^[2]

Varieties

Danubian Bulgar

The Danubian Bulgar language, an Oghuric Turkic variety, was spoken by the Bulgars following their settlement in the Balkans in 680 CE under Khan Asparukh, who founded the First Bulgarian Empire. Geographically centered in the northeastern regions around Pliska (the initial capital) and later Preslav, it persisted until approximately 900 CE amid the empire's consolidation and Christianization. This branch reflects the linguistic heritage of the nomadic Bulgar tribes who migrated from the Pontic-Caspian steppes, adapting to a sedentary state in a multiethnic environment dominated by Slavic populations. ^[5] In sociohistorical terms, Danubian Bulgar functioned primarily as the language of the ruling aristocracy and military elite within a Slavic-majority society, preserving Turkic administrative and cultural elements during the empire's pagan phase. It appeared in official contexts, such as commemorative monuments and royal nomenclature, underscoring the Bulgars' initial dominance before broader assimilation. Early inscriptions, often carved in stone, highlight its use in pagan rituals and state propaganda, contrasting with the Greek employed for diplomacy with Byzantium.^[19] The surviving corpus is sparse and fragmentary, consisting mainly of onomastic evidence like ruler names—e.g., Tervel (r. ca. 700–721 CE), Krum (r. 803–814 CE), and Omurtag (r. 814–831 CE)—which preserve Turkic etymologies such as *ter- ("to hold") for Tervel and *omur ("life") for Omurtag. Short inscriptions in Greek script, including fragments from Silistra and Garvan (post-883 CE), provide glimpses of nominal forms and possible verbal elements but lack full sentences or complex syntax. No extended prose or literary texts exist, limiting analysis to proper nouns and isolated lexemes.^[19] Distinctive traits of Danubian Bulgar include potential early Slavic loanwords, such as terms for local flora or administrative concepts, signaling bilingualism among the Bulgar elite who interacted closely with Slavic subjects. This contact facilitated code-switching in inscriptions, where Greek letters rendered Bulgar words alongside Slavic or Hellenic elements. The language's rapid extinction by ca. 900 CE stemmed from the Cyrillo-Methodian mission of 863 CE, which introduced Glagolitic script and Old Church Slavonic as the liturgical and administrative medium, accelerating the shift to Slavic among the nobility and eroding Bulgar as a distinct vernacular.^[5]

Volga Bulgar

The Volga Bulgar language, an Oghuric branch of the Turkic family, was primarily spoken in the Middle Volga region, encompassing southern Tatarstan and northern Ulyanovsk oblast, with its heartland in the Volga-Ural area where the Bulgar state maintained capitals at Bolghar and Bilyar.^[3]^[2] This variety persisted from the 7th century CE, following Bulgar migrations into the region, through the 14th century, though its prominence waned after the Mongol invasion of 1236 CE that dismantled the Bulgar state.^[3] Sociohistorically, it served as the vernacular of a prosperous mercantile Islamic polity, which adopted Islam in 922 CE under the influence of the Abbasid Caliphate, as documented by the traveler Ibn Fadlan during his mission to the Volga Bulgars.^[3] In this context, Volga Bulgar functioned in administration, international trade along the Volga River routes connecting Europe to Central Asia, and religious practices, where it coexisted with Arabic as the liturgical language while retaining its role in daily and commercial affairs.^[2]^[20] The attested corpus of Volga Bulgar is more extensive than that of its Danubian counterpart, comprising primarily epigraphic materials in Arabic script adopted after Islamization, which replaced earlier runic systems.^[2] Key survivals include gravestone inscriptions from the 13th and 14th centuries, such as epitaphs dated 1281–1350 CE containing Turkic personal names and phrases, and a notable 1308 CE inscription from the Volga Bulgaria region featuring short sentences in the language.^[3]^[2] Numismatic evidence from coins minted between 907 and 980 CE also bears legends in Volga Bulgar, attesting to its use in state economy, while traveler accounts like Ibn Fadlan's 921–922 CE report provide indirect lexical glimpses through reported dialogues.^[3] These artifacts, concentrated in archaeological sites around Bolghar and Bilyar, offer glimpses into personal and funerary contexts, though no extended literary texts survive.^[20] Linguistically, Volga Bulgar retained core Oghuric features, such as rhotacism and lambdacism (e.g., r/l correspondences instead of Common Turkic z/š, as in Chuvash toär for "nine" versus Turkish dokuz, and tul for "stone" versus Turkish taş), alongside unvoiced consonants and phonetic shifts like r > š and s > č.^[3] Post-922 CE Islamization introduced Persian and Arabic influences, evident in loanwords for religious and administrative terms integrated into the lexicon, while interactions with neighboring Kipchak Turkic speakers led to partial Kipchakization, such as kh > k shifts in 13th–14th century inscriptions.^[2] By the 13th century, the language had begun transitioning into proto-Chuvash dialects among surviving Bulgar populations, preserving Oghuric substrates amid broader Turkic convergence in the Volga-Kama area.^[3] This evolution underscores its role as the direct antecedent to modern Chuvash, the sole surviving Oghuric language.^[20]

Linguistic features

Phonology

The phonological system of the Bulgar language, belonging to the Oghuric branch of Turkic, has been reconstructed through comparative analysis of loanwords in neighboring languages, surviving inscriptions, and its descendant Chuvash, revealing an inventory shaped by innovations from Proto-Turkic. The consonant system comprised approximately 20-22 phonemes, including stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids, and approximants, with Oghuric-specific developments distinguishing it from Common Turkic branches.^[21] Characteristic sound changes in consonants included rhotacism, whereby Proto-Turkic *z shifted to r early in the Oghuric lineage (before the 2nd century AD), as evidenced in forms like *yaz 'summer' > *yar and *kozi 'goat' > *kori. Lambdacism transformed *š to l in certain positions, contributing to unique Oghuric profiles. Sibilants exhibited palatalization, with *s > ś and *č > š; additional shifts involved si > ši and ti > či, particularly in Volga Bulgar, alongside y- > ǰ- > č́- > ś- in initial positions across dialects. Labial developments featured *b > w (a labial fricative) or v intervocalically, and *b- > m- in nasal environments, while *d > z > r occurred in specific intervocalic or post-vocalic contexts; post-Mongol influences later yielded b > p in some Volga areas. Velars and uvulars shifted as g/ġ > γ > Ø or w regionally, and q > χ in late Oghuric stages.^[22]^[21] The vowel system included 6-8 phonemes, organized around vowel harmony with front/back distinctions (a/ä, o/ö, u/ü, i/ï, e), typical of Turkic but subject to reduction and restructuring in Oghuric. Short vowels persisted as a core set, with innovations like a > ȧ > ï or a > å > u in Volga Bulgar dialects, o > u, and ö > ü; the i:ï opposition was lost by late Old Turkic stages, yielding forms like ï > ě in Chuvash descendants. Long vowels (ā, ē, ī, ō, ü) showed a shortening tendency from Proto-Turkic, often with prothesis: illabial longs developed y- glides (e.g., *ī- > y-ī-), while labials gained ṷ/ṷ̈ > w > v (e.g., *ū- > w-ū-). Possible nasal vowels appeared in Volga Bulgar, and harmony rules emphasized labial and palatal features, though reduction altered patterns in later varieties. These changes are illustrated in forms like Proto-Turkic *yaz 'summer' > Bulgar *yar.^[22]^[21] Prosody in Bulgar likely featured initial or root-initial stress, consistent with Turkic patterns and without tonal elements. The Danubian Bulgar variety preserved more conservative features akin to West Old Turkic, such as less advanced vowel shortening and sibilant stability, while Volga Bulgar displayed greater diversity across three reconstructed 10th–13th-century dialects: one with a > å, e > i, o > u, and č > ś; another retaining ǰ : č distinctions with v-prothesis; and a third antecedent to Chuvash, where long-short oppositions weakened and q > χ prevailed. These differences highlight areal influences in the Volga region.^[22]

Grammar and morphology

The Bulgar language, as an Oghuric Turkic language, exhibited an agglutinative typology characterized by the sequential addition of suffixes to roots and stems to denote grammatical categories, with no prefixal morphology.^[23] Vowel harmony operated between front and back vowels, influencing suffix allomorphy (e.g., /a/ alternating with /e/), a feature shared with its closest relative, Chuvash, and inferred for Bulgar from sparse attestations.^[23] The basic word order was subject–object–verb (SOV), typical of Turkic languages, though flexible for topicalization or emphasis in limited inscriptional evidence.^[24] Morphology was predominantly suffixing, with nominal cases marked by dedicated endings following a standard Turkic pattern of 6–7 cases, including nominative (unmarked), genitive (-nïŋ or variants), accusative (-nï or -ne/-na in Volga Bulgar), dative (-ga/-ka), locative (-da/-ta), ablative (-dan/-tan), and instrumental (-n or -ïn).^[24]^[25] In Volga Bulgar inscriptions, the dative-locative often merged functionally and formally as -a/-e, while the ablative appeared as -tan or -ran; these forms are attested in tombstone epitaphs, such as iš-ne (personal name-accusative).^[25] Possession was expressed via suffixes like -m (1st person singular, e.g., reconstructed *özüm 'myself') or -ï (3rd person singular), preceding case markers in a fixed order (possessive + number + case), paralleling Chuvash -əm and -ə/-ï.^[23]^[24] Plurality was indicated by -sem (e.g., ulamā-sem-ne 'tombs-accusative-plural' in a 14th-century inscription), a marker unique to Oghuric languages and not subject to vowel harmony, distinct from the Common Turkic -lar.^[25]^[23] Verbal morphology featured person and tense suffixes appended to stems, with limited direct attestations in Bulgar; reconstructions draw on Chuvash parallels, positing conjugations like 1st person singular -m/-əm (e.g., future/present) and -men for certain paradigms.^[23] Sparse verbal forms appear in Volga Bulgar texts, such as potential infinitives or participles inferred from compounds like tüweti- (related to 'four'), but no complete paradigms survive.^[25] Nominal compounding occurred via genitive or possessive constructions (e.g., N-genitive + N-possessive.3sg), as seen in reconstructed Oghuric patterns.^[23] Postpositions governed case-marked nouns for spatial and relational functions, with no grammatical gender in nouns or verbs.^[24] Diminutive elements like -isk appear in personal names from inscriptions, suggesting derivational suffixation for endearment or size.^[24] Due to the scarcity of texts—primarily names, titles, and short phrases in Volga and Danubian Bulgar inscriptions—full grammatical paradigms remain unattested, and analyses rely heavily on comparative reconstruction with Chuvash, assuming shared Oghuric innovations like the plural -sem and case mergers.^[23]^[25]

Vocabulary

The Bulgar language's core vocabulary derives from Oghuric Turkic roots, with many terms reconstructible through comparative analysis with Chuvash, the modern descendant of Volga Bulgar. Basic nouns include at 'horse', su 'water', and yag 'enemy', reflecting everyday and nomadic life concepts shared across early Turkic branches. Numerical terms follow Proto-Turkic patterns, such as bir 'one' and eki 'two', preserved in inscriptions and toponymic evidence. Other core items encompass wäkär 'ox', yät 'name', and tiāʟ 'stone', drawn from lexical comparisons with Common Turkic and Oghuric reflexes.^[26]^[27] Loanwords in Bulgar reveal extensive cultural contacts, particularly in the Danubian and Volga varieties. Iranian substrates appear in political and administrative terms, exemplified by xan 'ruler', borrowed from Sarmatian or related Scythian-Sarmatian sources during steppe migrations. In Danubian Bulgar, Slavic influences emerged through assimilation, and place names such as those derived from tribal designations. Volga Bulgar incorporated Arabic and Persian elements via trade, such as terms for commerce and governance, though specific attestations remain sparse due to limited texts. Additional loans include kïtsi 'lady, wife' from Xiongnu and ńiāt₂ă 'new-born child' from Chinese, indicating early Eurasian interactions.^[26]^[27] Prominent semantic domains in surviving attestations include warfare and kinship, underscoring the Bulgars' nomadic and tribal society. Warfare-related vocabulary features čerig 'army' and qaγan 'lord' or 'ruler', often linked to hierarchical structures. Kinship terms emphasize communal ties, with bulga 'tribe' denoting ethnic or clan identity. Toponyms like Itil (the Volga Bulgar capital) and Danube-region derivatives (e.g., from bulga) preserve lexical traces in successor languages. These domains dominate the fragmentary records, highlighting socio-political priorities.^[27] Reconstruction of the Bulgar lexicon employs comparative methods with Chuvash and other Turkic languages, leveraging loanwords into Hungarian, Slavic, and Mongolic for verification. This approach has yielded an estimated 100-200 reconstructible words, primarily nouns and basic verbs, from historical inscriptions and etymological studies. Morphological attachments, such as suffixes for derivation, aid in expanding these roots but are secondary to lexical comparison.^[26]^[27]

Writing systems and inscriptions

Scripts employed

The Bulgar language, spoken by Turkic nomadic tribes on the Pontic-Caspian steppe, was recorded in its early phases using runic scripts akin to the Orkhon runes during the 5th to 7th centuries, particularly among the steppe Bulgars who formed entities like Old Great Bulgaria.^[28] These runes, derived from Central Asian Turkic traditions, were employed for short dedications and memorials, reflecting the semi-nomadic lifestyle and limited literary output of the period.^[28] Following the migration to the Danube region in the late 7th century, the Danubian Bulgars adapted the Greek script for official inscriptions from the 8th to 9th centuries, as evidenced by the Madara Rider monument and related rock carvings, which include Bulgar titles and names transliterated into Greek letters.^[29] This script served administrative and diplomatic purposes in interactions with the Byzantine Empire, though it lacked full phonetic adaptation for Bulgar's Turkic vowel harmony and consonants.^[29] In the Volga Bulgar Khanate, after the official conversion to Islam in 922 CE, the Arabic script became predominant from the 10th century onward, replacing earlier runic usage and appearing on gravestones, coins, and epitaphs.^[30] Adaptations included modifications to the Perso-Arabic alphabet to better represent Oghuric Turkic phonemes, such as vowel distinctions and harmony, often through diacritic marks or letter substitutions, though no fully standardized orthography emerged. Overall, these borrowed scripts were pragmatically adapted without comprehensive phonetic reforms, limiting the depth of Bulgar literary preservation.

Surviving texts and artifacts

The surviving texts and artifacts of the Bulgar language are sparse, primarily consisting of epigraphic materials from the Danubian and Volga Bulgar branches, with the former featuring Greek-script renderings of Bulgar terms and the latter employing Arabic script after the adoption of Islam.^[31] These remnants, totaling around 20 known items for the Danubian Bulgars and approximately 100 for the Volga Bulgars, provide critical but fragmentary evidence of the language's use in official, commemorative, and funerary contexts.^[32] Discovery efforts began in the 19th century through archaeological surveys in Bulgaria and intensified in the 20th century with systematic excavations in regions like Pliska, Madara, and Tatarstan's Volga sites, revealing these artifacts amid broader historical digs.^[33] Danubian Bulgar artifacts are dominated by stone inscriptions from the 8th and 9th centuries, often bilingual or with phonetic transcriptions of Bulgar words into Greek script, reflecting interactions with the Byzantine Empire. The Madara inscriptions, carved on cliffs near the Madara Rider monument in northeastern Bulgaria, date to the early 8th century and include triumphal accounts of Bulgar rulers like Krum and Omurtag, with Bulgar titles such as kanasybigi (high prince) rendered phonetically in Greek letters.^[32] Omurtag's inscription (ca. 814–831 CE), for instance, commemorates military victories and building projects, incorporating Bulgar personal names and terms like kavhan (viceroy) in a Greek matrix, offering glimpses of Bulgar onomastics and titulature.^[29] Namenssteine, or name stones, comprise a subset of these, featuring short inscriptions with individual Bulgar names like Erdem or Bayar, typically on grave markers or building fragments from sites like Pliska; these ~15–20 items, cataloged by Veselin Beshevliev in his 1981 corpus, highlight the language's role in personal commemoration before its assimilation into Slavic.^[33] Volga Bulgar survivals, dating from the 10th to 14th centuries, are more numerous and tied to Islamic influences, with most texts on tombstones (kitabeler) using Arabic script adapted for Bulgar phonology. Excavations at Bilyar (the medieval capital) and other Volga sites in the 20th century uncovered around 100 such tombstones from the 12th–14th centuries, bearing epitaphs that mix Arabic religious phrases with Bulgar personal names and dates, such as the 1244 CE stone invoking Bulgar terms for kinship and legacy.^[34] Coin legends from the 10th century, like those on dirhams minted under rulers such as Ja'far b. Abdallah (ca. 900–930 CE), feature Arabic imitations but occasionally include Bulgar ethnic markers or tamgas, evidencing state administration. A key early record is the 922 CE conversion document from Ibn Fadlan's embassy, preserved in Arabic with Bulgar king Almush's responses transcribed, marking the official adoption of Islam and including phonetic Bulgar phrases in diplomatic exchanges.^[35] Interpretation of these artifacts faces challenges from code-switching between Bulgar and dominant scripts (Greek or Arabic), as well as erosion and limited corpus size, complicating full decipherment; 20th-century scholars like Talat Tekin analyzed Volga tombstones for linguistic reconstruction, revealing Turkic substrate in epitaph prayers that blend Arabic invocations with Bulgar verbs like ul- (to die).^[36] Danubian pieces, studied via Beshevliev's editions, similarly require cross-referencing with Byzantine sources to parse Bulgar elements, underscoring the language's transitional role in multilingual environments.^[19]

Legacy

Influence on successor languages

The Bulgar language exerted a limited but notable lexical influence on modern Bulgarian, primarily through substrate elements retained after the Slavicization of the Bulgar population in the Balkans during the 9th-10th centuries. A small number of Proto-Bulgar words persist in contemporary Bulgarian vocabulary, often in domains related to administration, warfare, agriculture, and daily life.^[37] Examples include kuče ('dog'), from köčäk or related Oghur form; and kuman ('heap' or 'mound'), linked to kümän. Toponyms such as Vidin (from bide or vidin, meaning 'white' or a personal name) and toponyms incorporating kan- ('ruler') like Knyaz (influencing Slavic titles) demonstrate enduring place-name legacies. Phonological traces appear in vowel adaptations, where Proto-Bulgar short a often shifted to Slavic o in early loans (e.g., kovǎč 'smith' from qabïč), contributing to regional dialectal variations, though the yat vowel (ę) evolution in Bulgarian remains predominantly Slavic with minimal Bulgar impact.^[38] In the Volga region, the Volga Bulgar variety directly ancestral to modern Chuvash represents the most substantial linguistic continuity, with Chuvash classified as the sole surviving descendant of the Bulgharic branch of Oghuric Turkic. This descent traces back to the 7th-8th century migration of Bulgar tribes to the Volga-Kama area, where the language evolved through stages of Volga Bulgarian and Middle Chuvash. Core vocabulary sharing is extensive, with 70-80% overlap in basic lexicon attributable to their common Proto-Turkic roots, augmented by Bulgar-specific retentions like sakər ('eight') from Volga Bulgar sekir (contrasting Common Turkic sekiz). Grammatically, both exhibit agglutinative suffixing structures with possessive suffixes preceding case markers (e.g., Chuvash tus-ə-sem-pe 'in my house'), preserving Bulgar-era features like the lack of vowel harmony in certain paradigms. Phonologically, Chuvash mirrors Bulgar rhotacism (*z > r, e.g., Chuv. śura 'law' from sūz) and lambdacism (*š > l, e.g., pıl 'son' from oğul), distinguishing it from Common Turkic while retaining early divergences from Proto-Turkic around 100 BCE.^[23]^[39] Beyond direct descent, Bulgar contributed a number of Turkic loanwords to Hungarian through Pontic Steppe contacts during the 7th-10th centuries, prior to the Magyars' westward migration. These Bulgar-Hunnic loans are identifiable by Oghuric phonological traits like r/l correspondences (e.g., Hungarian bél 'intestine' from Proto-Bulgar bil), often in kinship, animal husbandry, and military terms, comprising part of Hungarian's pre-Conquest Turkic stratum.^[40] In the Volga-Kama region, interactions with Finno-Ugric groups yielded traces in Mari and Udmurt languages, where Volga Bulgar dominance from the 10th-13th centuries introduced lexical borrowings, particularly in Mari (e.g., terms for metals and agriculture like Mari kugu 'ram' from Bulgar koč). These influences manifest as substrate elements in phonology, such as stress patterns and vowel reductions copied from Bulgar into Mari, and scattered nouns in Udmurt reflecting administrative and trade vocabulary.^[7]^[41] Culturally, Bulgar linguistic elements persist in Slavic epic traditions and Volga folklore, embedding terms in narrative motifs. In Bulgarian oral epics like those of the boyana (warrior) cycle, Bulgar-derived words such as khan (ruler) and bogat ('wealthy hero', from baγatur) appear in heroic genealogies, symbolizing pre-Slavic steppe heritage. Similarly, Volga Bulgar terms surface in Chuvash and Mari folklore, such as ritual songs invoking kan titles or animal names like koč ('ram') in harvest epics, preserving communal memory of Bulgar ethnogenesis.^[42]^[43]

Modern research and reconstruction efforts

Modern research on the Bulgar language, an extinct Oghur branch of Turkic, has primarily relied on comparative linguistics and epigraphic analysis since the mid-20th century. Key contributions include the etymological work of Gerard Clauson, whose An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish (1972) examines Bulgar vocabulary and its relations to other early Turkic dialects, providing foundational reconstructions of terms preserved in loanwords. András Róna-Tas advanced Oghuric studies through analyses of Turkic influences in Hungarian, identifying Bulgar-derived elements in early medieval contexts, as detailed in his Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages (1999). Bulgarian scholar Veselin Beshevliev contributed significantly to the interpretation of Proto-Bulgarian inscriptions, compiling and analyzing runic and Greek-script texts in Die protobulgarischen Inschriften (1981), which elucidates grammatical features from limited epigraphic evidence. Reconstruction efforts center on the comparative method, leveraging Chuvash—the sole surviving Oghur language—as a primary cognate for Bulgar phonology and lexicon. Scholars like Alexander Savelyev have used Chuvash data alongside loanwords in neighboring languages to reconstruct Volga Bulgar forms, such as in studies tracing sound shifts from Proto-Turkic, as outlined in "Chuvash and the Bulgharic Languages" (2020) and subsequent works on Chuvash historical phonetics (2021).^[1] This approach has yielded insights into Bulgar's distinctive r/l alternation and vowel harmony, distinct from Common Turkic patterns. Recent lexical reconstructions, including Middle Chuvash intermediaries, further refine Volga Bulgar vocabulary through etymologies of shared roots in Uralic and Slavic substrates.^[44] Ongoing debates in Bulgar scholarship include the extent of Iranian substrate influence on its Turkic core, with some researchers positing significant Alanic or Sarmatian lexical borrowings based on onomastic and toponymic evidence from the Pontic steppe.^[8] This hypothesis, explored in 21st-century analyses, suggests cultural interactions shaped Bulgar's ethnolinguistic profile, though the precise degree remains contested due to sparse direct attestations. Challenges persist from interpretive biases in regional historiography, particularly in Bulgarian and Russian traditions, which sometimes prioritize national narratives over linguistic evidence. Key resources include epigraphic corpora of inscriptions, such as those cataloged by Beshevliev, which serve as primary data for onomastic studies despite their fragmentary nature.

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