Editing Bulgars (section)

== Language ==
{{Main|Bulgar language}}
[[File:Copy of Chatalar Inscription.jpg|thumb|right|The reconstructed copy of [[Chatalar Inscription]] by Khan [[Omurtag of Bulgaria|Omurtag]] (815–831). It is written in Greek, and top two lines read: "Kanasubigi Omortag, in the land where he was born is archon by God. In the field of Pliska...".]]

The origin and [[Bulgar language|language of the Bulgars]] has been the subject of debate since around the start of the 20th century. It is generally accepted that at least the Bulgar elite spoke a language that was a member of the [[Oghur languages|Oghur]] branch of the [[Turkic languages|Turkic language family]], alongside the now extinct [[Khazar language|Khazar]] and the solitary survivor of these languages, [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]].{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Detrez |first=Raymond |author-link=Raymond Detrez |year=2005 |title=Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs. Divergence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C |publisher=Peter Lang |pages=29|isbn=9789052012971 }}</ref><ref name="Rashev">{{citation |last=Rashev |first=Rasho |date=1992 |title=On the origin of the Proto-Bulgarians |url=http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/rashev.html |journal=Studia Protobulgarica et Mediaevalia Europensia |place=Veliko Tarnovo |pages=23–33 |access-date=2006-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718213232/http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/rashev.html |archive-date=2012-07-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Petrov 1981: [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/pp2/pp_1_2_1.htm §A.II.1]</ref><ref>Angelov 1971: [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/da_2_2.htm §II.2]</ref><ref>Runciman 1930: [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/sr_1_1.htm §I.1]</ref>

Although there is no direct evidence, a group of linguists believe that Chuvash may be descendant from a dialect of Volga Bulgar<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Agyagási |first=K. |date=2020 |title=A Volga Bulgarian Classifier: A Historical and Areal Linguistic Study |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338899820 |journal=University of Debrecen |language=en |volume=3 |pages=9 |quote="Modern Chuvash is the only descendant language of the Ogur branch.The ancestors of its speakers left the Khazar Empire in the 8th century and migrated to the region at the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers, where they founded the Volga Bulgarian Empire in the 10th century. In the central Volga region three Volga Bulgarian dialects developed, and Chuvash is the descendant of the 3rd dialect of Volga Bulgarian (Agyagási 2019: 160–183). Sources refer to it as a separate language beginning with 1508"}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Marcantonio |first=Angela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp-tB08yd2EC&pg=PA167 |title=The Uralic language family: facts, myths and statistics |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2002 |isbn=0-631-23170-6 |page=167}}</ref><ref name=":33">{{cite book |last=Price |first=Glanville |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29BAeKHwvuoC&pg=PA88 |title=Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2000 |isbn=0-631-22039-9 |page=88}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite book |last=Clauson |first=Gerard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJ-7yFXRpiYC&pg=PA38 |title=Studies in Turkic and Mongolic linguistics |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2002 |isbn=0-415-29772-9 |page=38}}</ref> while others support the idea that Chuvash is another distinct [[Oghuric languages|Oghur Turkic]] language.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003243809/turkic-languages-lars-johanson-%C3%A9va-csat%C3%B3 |title=The Turkic Languages |year=2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781003243809 |editor-last=Johanson |editor-first=Lars |doi=10.4324/9781003243809 |quote="Another Turkic people in the Volga area are the Chuvash, who, like the Tatars, regard themselves as descendants of the Volga Bulghars in the historical and cultural sense. It is clear that Chuvash belongs to the Oghur branch of Turkic, as the language of the Volga Bulghars did, but no direct evidence for diachronic development between the two has been established. As there were several distinct Oghur languages in the Middle Ages, Volga Bulghar could represent one of these and Chuvash another." |editor-last2=Csató |editor-first2=Éva Á}}</ref> Some scholars suggest [[Hunnic language|Hunnish]] had strong ties with Bulgar and to modern Chuvash<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pritsak |first=Omeljan |author-link=Omeljan Pritsak |date=1982 |title=The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036005 |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |publisher=[[Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]] |volume=IV |issue=4 |pages=470 |issn=0363-5570 |jstor=41036005 |quote="The language had strong ties to Bulgar language and to modern Chuvash, but also had some important connections, especially lexical and morphological, to Ottoman Turkish and Yakut" |place=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref> and refer to this extended grouping as separate Hunno-Bulgar languages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Archived|first=Article|title="The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan" (pages 428, ..., 476), author: Omeljan Pritsak|url=https://www.academia.edu/88411462|journal=Ukrainian Studies|volume=VI|number=4|year=1982|publisher=Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University|place=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=430|quote="I was able to establish a Danube- Bulgarian nominative- suffix /A/ from the consonant stems. Recalling that Danube- Bulgarian was a Hunnic language."|access-date=23 April 2023|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423151254/https://www.academia.edu/88411462|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ramer |first=Alexis Manaster |title=Proto-Bulgarian/Danube Bulgar/Hunno-Bulgar Bekven |url=https://www.academia.edu/41975042 |page=1 p |quote="Granberg’s suggestion that we should revive the term Hunno-Bulgar may well became that replacement — once it is clear that Hunnic and Bulgar were closely related and perhaps even the same language." |archive-date=5 January 2023 |access-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105103935/https://www.academia.edu/41975042 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, such speculations are not based on proper linguistic evidence, since the language of the Huns is almost unknown except for a few attested words and personal names. Scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Savelyev |first=Alexander |title=Chuvash and the Bulgharic Languages |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/41762/chapter-abstract/354239965?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false |access-date=2024-03-30 |website=academic.oup.com |date=27 May 2020 |pages=448 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-880462-8}}</ref>{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=88, 89}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=RÓNA-TAS |first=ANDRÁS |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7829/j.ctv280b77f |title=Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages |date=1999-03-01 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-386-572-9 |pages=208|doi=10.7829/j.ctv280b77f }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinor |first=Denis |title=Studies in medieval inner Asia |date=1997 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-0-86078-632-0 |series=Collected studies series |location=Aldershot, Hampshire |pages=336}}</ref>

According to P. Golden this association is apparent from the fragments of texts and isolated words and phrases preserved in inscriptions.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}} In addition to language, their culture and state structure retain many Central Asian features.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}} Military and hierarchical terms such as ''khan/qan'', ''kanasubigi'', ''qapağan'', ''tarkan'', ''bagatur'' and ''boila'' appear to be of Turkic origin.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=16}} The [[Bulgar calendar]] within the ''[[Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans]]'' had a twelve-year animal cycle, similar to the one adopted by Turkic and Mongolic peoples from the [[Chinese calendar|Chinese]], with animal names and numbers deciphered as Turkic.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}} [[Tengri]] (in Bulgar ''Tangra/Tengre'') was their supreme god.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}

Danubian Bulgar inscriptions were written mostly in [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] or [[Cyrillic]] characters, most commonly in Greek or Graeco-Bulgar,{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}} others in the [[Kuban alphabet]] which is a variant of [[Old Turkic script|Orkhon script]].{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=45}} they apparently have a sacral meaning.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=45}} Inscriptions sometimes included Slavic terms,{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=425}} thus allowing scholars to identify some of the Bulgar [[Gloss (annotation)|glosses]].{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}} Altheim argued that the runes were brought into Europe from Central Asia by the Huns, and were an adapted version of the old [[Sogdian alphabet]] in the [[Hunnic language|Hunnic]]/[[Oghuric languages|Oghur Turkic]] language.<ref name="Kim" /> The custom of stone engravings are considered to have Iranic, Turkic and Roman parallels.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=45}}{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=425}} The [[Madara Rider]] resembles work of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] rock [[relief]] tradition, but its actual masonry tradition and cultural source is unknown.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=45, 83}}

According to linguist and academician [[Albina G. Khayrullina-Valieva]] Bulgar language was the first fully proved Turkic language that came into direct contact with South Slavs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Khayrullina-Valieva |first=Albina G. |date=2020-03-31 |title=Turkic lexical elements in the Bulgarian language |journal=Litteraria Copernicana |volume=33 |language=en |issue=1(33)/ |pages=205–211 |doi=10.12775/LC.2020.015 |s2cid=241146294 |issn=2392-1617|doi-access=free }}</ref> The Danubian Bulgars were unable to alter the predominantly Slavic character of Bulgaria,{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=424}} seen in the toponymy and names of the capitals Pliska and Preslav.<ref name="Rashev" /> They preserved their own native language and customs for about 200 years, but a bilingual period was recorded since the 9th century.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=69}}{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=424}}<ref name="Henning" /> Golden argued that Bulgar Turkic almost disappeared with the transition to Christianity and [[Slavicisation]] in the middle of the 9th century.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=268}} When the ruling class abandoned its native language and adopted Slavic, according to Jean W. Sedlar, it was so complete that no trace of Turkic speech patterns remained in Old Slavic texts.{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=424}} The Bulgarian Christian Church used the Slavic dialect from Macedonia.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}}

Among Bulgarian academics, notably Petar Dobrev,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}} a hypothesis linking the Bulgar language to the [[Iranian languages|Iranic languages]] (especially [[Pamir languages|Pamir]]{{sfn|Karachanak, ''et al.''|2013}}) has been popular since the 1990s.<ref>Добрев, Петър, 1995. "Езикът на Аспаруховите и Куберовите българи" 1995</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stamatov |first=Atanas |date=1997 |title=TEMPORA INCOGNITA НА РАННАТА БЪЛГАРСКА ИСТОРИЯ |chapter=ИЗВОРИ И ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ – І–ІІ ЧАСТ |chapter-url=http://www.protobulgarians.com/kniga_Atstamatov.htm |publisher=MGU Sv. Ivan Rilski}}</ref><ref>Димитров, Божидар, 2005. 12 мита в българската история</ref><ref>Милчева, Христина. Българите са с древно-ирански произход. Научна конференция "Средновековна Рус, Волжка България и северното Черноморие в контекста на руските източни връзки", Казан, Русия, 15.10.2007</ref> Most proponents still assume an intermediate stance, proposing certain signs of Iranic influence on a Turkic substrate.<ref name="Rashev" /><ref>Бешевлиев, Веселин. Ирански елементи у първобългарите. Античное Общество, Труды Конференции по изучению проблем античности, стр. 237–247, Издательство "Наука", Москва 1967, АН СССР, Отделение Истории.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Rüdiger |last=Schmitt |date=1985 |title=Iranica Protobulgarica: Asparuch und Konsorten im Lichte der Iranischen Onomastik |publisher=Academie Bulgare des Sciences |place=[[Saarbrücken]] |journal=Linguistique Balkanique |volume=XXVIII |issue=l |pages=13–38}}</ref> The names [[Asparukh (name)|Asparukh]] and Bezmer from the ''[[Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans|Nominalia]]'' list, for example, were established as being of Iranic origin.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=384, 443}} Other Bulgarian scholars actively oppose the "Iranic hypothesis".<ref>Йорданов, Стефан. Славяни, тюрки и индо-иранци в ранното средновековие: езикови проблеми на българския етногенезис. В: Българистични проучвания. 8. Актуални проблеми на българистиката и славистиката. Седма международна научна сесия. Велико Търново, 22–23 август 2001 г. Велико Търново, 2002, 275–295.</ref><ref>Надпис No. 21 от българското златно съкровище "Наги Сент-Миклош", студия от проф. д-р Иван Калчев Добрев от Сборник с материали от Научна конференция на ВА "Г. С. Раковски". София, 2005 г.</ref> According to [[Raymond Detrez]], the Iranian theory is rooted in the periods of [[anti-Turkish sentiment]] in Bulgaria and is ideologically motivated.<ref name="Detrez">{{cite book| first=Raymond| last=Detrez |author-link=Raymond Detrez |title=Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs. Divergence |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C |page=29| isbn=9789052012971 }}</ref> Since 1989, anti-Turkish rhetoric is now reflected in the theories that challenge the thesis of the proto-Bulgars' Turkic origin. Alongside the Iranian or Aryan theory, there appeared arguments favoring an autochthonous origin.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Quest for a Suitable Past: Myths and Memory in Central and Eastern Europe|author=Cristian Emilian Ghita, Claudia Florentina Dobre|year=2016|page=142}}</ref>