Comparative analysis - signs from Early Medieval Bulgaria.

According to the classification of some non-Bulgarian linguists, the runic inscriptions found on the territory of Early Medieval Bulgaria fall into three geographical groups: Carpathian - the inscriptions from Nagy Saint Miklos and Sarvash, Dobruja - the Murfatlar inscriptions and Eastern Bulgarian - the inscriptions found in the area of the old Bulgarian capitals Pliska and Preslav (Rona- Tas A. 1988, Tryjarski E. 1995). Bulgarian scholars tend to consider the inscriptions from the First Bulgarian Kingdom in one group, assuming that the runic alphabets are several variants (Popkonstantinov K. 1993) or belong to one script with local variants and significant changes over time (Granberg A. 2005 ).

The table below compares the 44 Murfatlar signs with the runic signs of Early Medieval Bulgaria. I have separated the columns as follows: in the second - the inscriptions from Ravna (Popkonstantinov K. 1993, Popkonstantinov K. 1997); in the third - the inscriptions from Byala, Shudikovo, Kukri Zaba, Silistrensko, Pliska (Popkonstantinov K. 1993) and Oryakhovo (Ivanov P. 1997), in the fourth the inscriptions from Krepcha (Popkonstantinov K. 1993), in the fifth - the inscription from Sofia (Sefterski R. 1999) and in the sixth the inscription from a ring from Shumensko (Venedikov I. 1995-97). Seventeen of the Murfatlar signs match in form with the runes of Early Medieval Bulgaria.

Comments

Runiform Inscriptions from Madara

Since Felix Kanitz discovered for the science the Madara Rider, the area around the village of Madara (District Shumen, Bulgaria) cached the attention of Bulgarian archaeologists. Karel Skorpil believed that the Madara Rider had an ancient origin and belonged to the Thracian culture. However, discovered around the Relief Greek inscriptions containing the names of early Bulgarian rulers led the opinions in the direction of the Bulgarian origin of the monument. Soon several caves and ruins of buildings were discovered in the area. Bulgarian archaeological circles grew the idea that the surroundings of the village of Madara, which was situated some 20 km. from the capital, Pliska had great importance in Medieval times. Thus in 1925, the Bulgarian archaeological institute decided to start excavations. The research took place in 1925 and 1926 and continued in 1936. The cultural layers discovered there began in the Neolithic and, without interruption, continued to the Ottoman period. A...

The Byala Inscription

At the beginning of the 20th century , young Bulgarian archaeology brought new discoveries in the field of Runiform script. It thus enriched the collection of Runiform inscriptions found at Pliska. This time findings came from the ramparts near the Black Sea shore, built by the Early Bulgarian state. The Byala Inscription Newly found inscriptions were two. The first was incised on a column found at the rampart near Varna. It consists of three graphemes well known from the materials from Pliska ( ). The second inscription not only brought to light two new characters ( and ), but its length was sensational: five graphemes. The discovery came from the rampart near the small town of Byala. The inscription is engraved carefully on a stone block of yellow limestone. At the time of discovery, there was still some red plaster in the grooves of the inscription, which indicates that the inscription initially appeared red on ...

Aboba 1899 - the Beginning (Part 2)

However, some of the graphic materials found in 1899 at Pliska give reason to think that the system of “signs” is more than masonry marks. For example, some characters are incised in groups of two or three and sometimes form a ligature. However, the researchers of the time were digging into ruins filled with hundreds of pieces of Greek, Roman and Cyrillic inscriptions. The dilemma of the character of the newly discovered system of signs could be only: masonry marks or letters of an alphabet. Even if some of those signs were letters of an unknown alphabet, a string of three letters can barely make a word, and of course, it is hard to be assumed as an inscription. Ruins of Pliska This is probably why they didn’t notice that the same system of "signs" was used in drawings they discovered on the walls and bricks of Pliska. It is true that those signs are incorporated into the pictures and usually look like random scratches, and when Skorpil noticed that there were signs in the ...

Runica Bulgarica

Search This Blog