Първобългарският надпис от Преслав
The Proto-Bulgarian Inscription from Preslav

Summary/Abstract: The paper studies the inscription, found in 1945 in Preslav, and written entirely in the language of the Proto-Bulgarians. It has been published by I. Venedikov, and the competent deciphering and rendering its substance is to his credit. The inscription has also been examined by J. Deny, V. Besevliev, O. Pritsak, T. Tekτωυρτωωin, and others. Some of the words in it however, like ζητκων, χωυμσχη, εστρωγην, τωυρτωυνα πηλε, χλφυβρην have not yet found their proper explanation. The author argues that ζητκων is a Proto-Bulgarian variant of the all-Turkic word ijdgu (good,. noble), that χωυμσχη is a derivative from the all-Turkic root kuyum (to hammer, to found metal); εστρωγην which in another inscription is found in the form of αστρ(ωγην), goes back to the Persian word āstar (lining), and to the Turkic word astar-la-mak (to line). The form χλφυβρην takes us to the Persian ‘kolūhbaran’ which should have the same meaning as in Persian, namely “to throw stones”, “stonethrowing” (machine). As for the letter combination τωυρτωυνα πηλε ξωπαν it contains the well-known title “župan” and this has been pointed out by all researchers. The author recommends that the word τωυρτωυνα be accepted as the verbal noun derived from the all-Turkic verb „türütmek” (to do, to make, to create) and the constituent πηλε, as an imperative-desirable form of the verb “bil (mek)-pil(mek)”. The inscription then should be translated in the following way: “For the noble ičirgu boil: hammered chain armours – 455, helmets – 540, lined chain-armours – 427, helmets – 854. The župan should provide the making of: lined chain-armours – 20, helmets – 40, ring-knitted chain armour – 1, stone-throwing [machine] – 1.”

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