# Bulgar language

Bulgar (also known as Bulghar, Bolgar, or Bolghar) is an extinct Oghur Turkic language spoken by the Bulgars.
The name is derived from the Bulgars, a tribal association that established the Bulgar state known as Old Great Bulgaria in the mid-7th century, giving rise to the Danubian Bulgaria by the 680s. While the language initially went extinct in Danubian Bulgaria (in favour of Old Bulgarian), it persisted in Volga Bulgaria, but even there it was eventually replaced by the modern Chuvash language. Other than Chuvash, Bulgar is the only language to be definitively classified as an Oghur Turkic language.
The inclusion of other languages such as Hunnish, Khazar and Sabir within Oghur Turkic remains speculative owing to the paucity of historical records. Some scholars suggest Hunnish had strong ties with Bulgar and to modern Chuvash and refer to this extended grouping as separate Hunno-Bulgar languages. 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, which are Indo-European in origin, and personal names. Thus, scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable.

## Affiliation

Mainstream scholarship places Bulgar among the "Lir" branch of Turkic languages referred to as Oghur Turkic, Lir-Turkic or, indeed, "Bulgar Turkic", as opposed to the "Shaz"-type of Common Turkic. The "Lir" branch is characterized by sound correspondences such as Oghuric /r/ versus Common Turkic (or Shaz-Turkic) /z/ and Oghuric /l/ versus Common Turkic (Shaz-Turkic) /š/. As was stated by Al-Istakhri (c. 10 century CE), "The language of the Khazars is different than the language of the Turks and the Persians, nor does a tongue of (any) group of humanity have anything in common with it and the language of the Bulgars is like the language of the Khazars, but the Burtas have another language."
The only surviving language from this linguistic group is Chuvash. He concludes that the language of the Bulgars was from the family of the Hunnic languages, as he calls the Oghur languages. According to the Bulgarian Antoaneta Granberg, the Hunno-Bulgar linguistic situation is further complicated by the extensive migration of nomadic communities of Hunnic and Oghuric peoples from East to West. This migration brought them into contact with a variety of different lands, neighbors, cultures, and languages, including China and Rome. Linguistic individuation of the Hunno-Bulgaric language family has yet to be conclusively established. A Hunno-Bulgar language is believed to have formed on the North-Western borders of China in the 3rd-5th c. BC.

## Danubian Bulgar

The language of the Danube Bulgars (or Danubian Bulgar) is recorded in a small number of inscriptions, which are found in Pliska, the first capital of First Bulgarian Empire, and in the rock churches near the town of Murfatlar, in present-day Romania. Some of these inscriptions are written in the Greek characters, others in the Kuban alphabet which is a variant of Orkhon script. Most of these appear to have been of a private character (oaths, dedications, inscriptions on grave stones) and some were court inventories. Although attempts at decipherment have been made, none of them has gained wide acceptance. These inscriptions in Danubian Bulgar are found along with other, official ones written in Greek; which was used as the official state language of the First Bulgarian Empire until the end of the ninth century, when it was replaced by the Old Church Slavonic, (also called Old Bulgarian).
The language of the Danubian Bulgars is also known from a small number of loanwords in the Old Bulgarian language, as well as terms occurring in Bulgar Greek-language inscriptions, contemporary Byzantine texts, and later Slavonic Old Bulgarian texts. Most of these words designate titles and other concepts concerning the affairs of state, including the official 12-year cyclic calendar (as used in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans). The language became extinct in Danubian Bulgaria in the ninth century as the Bulgar nobility became gradually Slavicized after the Old Bulgarian tongue was declared as official in 893.
Terms borrowed from Danube Bulgar by Old Church Slavonic :
| | Old Church Slavonic | Chuvash | Hungarian | Common Turkic |
| token, trace | БЕЛЕГ (beleg), БИЛЕГ (bileg) | палӑк (palăk) | bélyeg | *belgü |
| bracelet | БЕЛЬЧҮГ (bel'čug) | – | – | *bileçüg |
| pillow | ДОХЬТОРЬ (dox'tor') | ҫытар (śïtar) | – | *yogtu |
| image, icon | КАПЬ (kap') | кап (kap) | kép | *kēp |
| honour | САНЬ (san'), САМЬ (sam') | сум (sum) | szám | *sān |

### Phonology

Unlike Volga Bulgarian and Chuvash, d'ization is seen in the /j/ sounds at the beginning of words. Talât Tekin argues that this sound corresponds to the initial gy sound in Hungarian and is pronounced close to it.
Comparison of initial /j/ :
| | Danube Bulgar / Old Church Slavonic | Volga Bulgar | Chuvash | Common Turkic |
| snake | ДИЛОМЬ (dilom') | – | ҫӗлен (śílen) | *yï̄lan |
| pillow | ДОХЬТОРЬ (dox'tor') | – | ҫытар (śytar) | *yogdu (Mongolian зогдор) |
| horse | ΔΥΑΝ (dwan) | – | – | *yunt |
| An ethnicity | ΔΟΥΑΡΗⲤ (dovaris) | يوارى (yuwāri) | – | – |
| seven | ЧИТ (čit) | جىَاتِ (čyeti) | ҫиччӗ (śiččĕ) | *yẹti |

## Volga Bulgar

The language spoken by the population of Volga Bulgaria is known as Volga-Bulgar. There are a number of surviving inscriptions in Volga-Bulgar, some of which are written with Arabic letters, alongside the continuing use of Orkhon script. These are all largely decipherable. That language persisted until the 13th or the 14th century. In that region, it may have ultimately given rise to the Chuvash language, which is most closely related to it and which is classified as the only surviving member of a separate "Oghur-Turkic" (or Lir-Turkic) branch of the Turkic languages, to which Bulgar is also considered to have belonged (see above). Still, the precise position of Chuvash within the Oghur family of languages is a matter of dispute among linguists. Since the comparative material attributable to the extinct members of Oghuric (Khazar and Bulgar) is scant, little is known about any precise interrelation of these languages and it is a matter of dispute whether Chuvash, the only "Lir"-type language with sufficient extant linguistic material, might be the daughter language of any of these or just a sister branch.
Numbers and Vocabulary in Volga Bulgar :
| | Volga Bulgar – البلغَاڔِى | Chuvash – Чӑвашла | Proto-Turkic | | Volga Bulgar – البلغَاڔِى | Chuvash – Чӑвашла | Proto-Turkic |
| one | بیر (bīr) | пӗр (pĕr) | *bīr | monument | بَلُو (belüv) | палӑк (palăk) | *belig |
| two | اَكِ (eki) | иккӗ (ikkĕ) | *ẹki | water | شِو (šïv) | шыв (šyv) | *sub |
| three | وج (v$^e$č) | виççӗ (viśśĕ) | *üč | son | اَول (av$^ï$l) | ывӑл (yvăl) | *ogul |
| four | تُوات (tüvet) | тăваттă (tăvattă) | *tȫrt | daughter | هِير (hīr) | хӗр (hĕr) | *kï̄ŕ |
| five | بيال (b$^i$yel) | пиллӗк (pillĕk) | *bẹ̄ĺ(k) | day | كُوَان (küven or kön) | кун (kun) | *kün |
| six | اَلطِ (altï) | улттӑ (ulttă) | *altï | week | ايرنى (ērne) | эрне (erne) | (from Persian آدینه (âdine)) |
| seven | جیَاتِ (čyeti) | ҫиччӗ (śiččĕ) | *yẹti | month | اَيخ (ay$^ï$x) | уйӑх (ujăh) | *āń(k) |
| eight | سَكِر (sekir) | саккӑр (sakkăr) | *sekiŕ | year | جال (čal) | ҫул (śul) | *yāĺ |
| nine | طُخِر (tuxïr) | тӑххӑр (tăhhăr) | *tokuŕ | history | تَارِيخ (tārix) | истори (istori) | (from Arabic تَارِيخ (tārīḵ)) |
| ten | وان (van) | вуннӑ (vunnă) | *ōn | to become | بَل (bal) | пул (pul) | *bōl- |
| twenty | جِيِرم (čiyir$^i$m) | ҫирӗм (śirĕm) | *yẹgirmi | to do, make | طَن (ta-n) | ту (tu) | - |
| thirty | وطر (v$^u$t$^u$r) | вӑтӑр (vătăr) | *otuŕ | to go | بَر (bar) | пыр (pyr) | *bar- |
| forty | حرح (x$^ï$r$^ï$x) | хӗрӗх (hĕrĕh) | *kïrk | to love | سَو (sev) | сав (sav) | *seb- |
| fifty | الو (el$^{lü}$v), اَلُّ (ellü) | аллӑ (allă) | *ellig | to die | وَل (vel) | вил (vil) | *öl- |
| hundred | جُور (čǖr) | ҫӗр (śĕr) | *yǖŕ | to migrate | كُوَج (küveč or köč) | куҫ (kuś) | *köč- |
Cases in Volga Bulgar :
| Case | Volga Bulgar | Examples in words |
| Genitive | -∅ or -(ı)n | اَغَان (ağā-n), يغقوُتن (yaquut-ın) |
| Accusative | -ne/na | مَسجِدسَمنَ (mesčidsem-ne) |
| Dative-locative | -a/e and -ne/na | اِشنَ (iš-ne), بَجنَ (bač-na), جَالَ (čāl-a) |
| Ablative | -ran, -ren; -tan, -ten | دنيَارَان (d$^ö$nyā-ran) |
| Third person possessive | -i, -ı; -si, -sı | هِيرِ (hīr-i), اِلغِجِسِ (ılğıčı-sı) |
Definition of verbs in Volga Bulgar :
| Tenses and moods | Volga Bulgar | Examples in words |
| Past tense | -ti/tı, -ri/rı | وَلتِ (vel-ti) |
| Past tense 2 | -ruvı/rüvi (<*-dugı), -tuvı/tüvi (<*-tugı) | كُوَجروُي (küveč-rüvi), بلطُوى (bal-tuvı) |
| Adjective form of verb | -an/en | طَنَان (tan-an), سَوَان (sev-en) |
| Adverb form of verb | -sa/se | بَرسَ (bar-sa) |
| Third person imperative | -tur/tür | طَنْطُرْ (tan-tur) |