Are there any Glagolitic letters in two inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina and on stones from Bregalnica valley? Cover Image

Есть ли глаголические буквы в двух надписях из Боснии и Герцеговины и на камнях из долины Брегальницы?
Are there any Glagolitic letters in two inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina and on stones from Bregalnica valley?

Author(s): Savva Mikhaylovich Mikheev
Subject(s): History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Cultural history, Ethnohistory, Local History / Microhistory
Published by: Издательство Исторического факультета СПбГУ
Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; North Macedonia; Slavic writing; epigraphy; Glagolitsa; Cyrillic; turkic tamgas; cultural studies; historical sources;

Summary/Abstract: Two inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina (from the vicinities of Livno and Ljubuški) and a group of graffiti from the Bregalnica river basin in the eastern part of North Macedonia are examined in this paper. It has been suggested by previous scholars that all of these inscriptions contain Glagolitic letters. The first part of the paper offers grammatical analysis and a new translation of the inscription on the tomb of a priest named Těhodrag. The tomb was unearthed in 2003 around Livno, 50 km northeast of Split. In the second section the author examines the graphics of the donor inscription on the Humac tablet from the vicinity of Ljubuški, 30 km southwest of Mostar, and proposes a revised reading of the text. The third part offers an interpretation of enigmatic signs on stones from the Bregalnica river basin, northeast of Štip. The author comes to the conclusion that none of the examined epigraphic sources contain Glagolitic letters. Both inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina are in Cyrillic with some letters written in mirror image. The letter «есть» is turned 180 degrees in both graffiti, and there is one mirror «вѣдѣ» and two mirror «нашь» at the end of the inscription on the Humac tablet. The abundance of mirror-image letters probably stems from the unique shape of the Humac inscription itself: its tiered lines go around the fours sides of the tablet, forming something like a squared spiral. As for the supposedly «Glagolitic» signs on stones from the Bregalnica river basin, closer study reveals that they are tamgas, most likely carved by bearers of the Turkic cultural tradition, the Bulgars.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 2(30)
  • Page Range: 105-115
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Russian