|
The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari; Proto-Bulgarians) were semi-nomadic warrior tribes of Turkic extraction who flourished in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. Emerging as nomadic equestrians in the Volga-Ural region, according to some researchers their roots can be traced to Central Asia. During their westward migration across the Eurasian steppe the Bulgars absorbed other ethnic groups and cultural influences, including Hunnic, Iranian and Indo-European. Modern genetic research on Central Asian Turkic people and ethnic groups related to the Bulgars points to an affiliation with western Eurasian and European populations.〔 The Bulgars spoke a Turkic language, i.e. Bulgar language of Oghuric branch. They preserved military titles, organization and customs of Eurasian steppes, as well as pagan shamanism and belief in the sky deity Tangra. The Bulgars became semi-sedentary during the 7th century in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, establishing the polity of Old Great Bulgaria c. 635, which was absorbed by the Khazar Empire in 668 AD. In c. 679 Khan Asparukh conquered Scythia Minor, opening access to Moesia, and established the First Bulgarian Empire. In the Balkans, the Bulgars became a political and military elite, and merged with previous populations, such as the Thracians and Vlachs, and was Slavicized, thus forming modern Bulgarians. The remaining Pontic Bulgars migrated in the 7th century to the Volga River, where they founded the Volga Bulgaria; they preserved their identity well into the 13th century. The Volga Tatars and Chuvash people claim to be originated from the Volga Bulgars. == Etymology and origin == The etymology of the ethnonym ''Bulgar'' is not completely understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD. It is generally believed to derive from the Turkic ''bulğha'' (to stir, mix, disturb, confuse). From the time of Wilhelm Tomaschek (1873), it was considered Common Turkic ''bulga-'' or ''bulya'' (to mix, to become mixed) and consonant suffix ''-r'' (mixed). Talat Tekin interpreted ''bulgar'' to mean "mixing" rather than "mixed". Both Gyula Németh and Peter Benjamin Golden initially advocated the "mixed race" theory, but later, like Paul Pelliot, considered that "to incite", "rebel", or "to produce a state of disorder", i.e. the "disturbers", would be a suitable name for the nomads. Among the many other theories, D. Detschev supported a Germanic interpretation meaning ''combative people'', attributed by the Gepids and Ostrogoths to the descendants of the European Huns, and G. A. Keramopulos associated the ''burgi'' with the Roman limes. Theorists also speculated that the ethnonym is related to the city name of Balkh in Bactria,〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://s155239215.onlinehome.us/turkic/25Bulgars/BulgarsEthnonymEn.htm )〕 and the river Volga (''yiylga'', "moisture"),〔 while Zeki Velidi Togan considered the unattested form ''bel-gur'' or ''bil-gur'' to be from ''balağur'' (five Oğhur).〔 Németh identified, through ''oğur'', an etymological association between the Kutrigurs (''Kuturgur'' > ''Quturğur'' > '' *Toqur(o)ğur'' < ''toqur''; "nine" in Proto-Bulgaric; ''toquz'' in Common Turkic) and Utigurs (''Uturgur'' > ''Uturğur'' < ''utur/otur''; "thirty" in Proto-Bulgaric; ''otuz'' in Common Turkic) as Oğuric tribes, with the ethnonym Bulgar as their spreading adjective. Karatay interpreted ''gur/gor'' as "country", and noted the Tekin derivation of ''gur'' from the Altaic suffix ''-gir'', which is related to the word ''yir'', meaning "earth, place". Generally, modern scholars consider the tribal terms ''oğuz'' or ''oğur'' to be derived from Turkic '' *og/uq'', meaning "kinship or being akin to". The terms initially were not the same, as ''oq/ogsiz'' meant "arrow", while ''oğul'' meant "offspring, child, son", ''oğuš/uğuš'' was "tribe, clan", and the verb ''oğša-/oqša'' meant "to be like, resemble". Karatay considered the Kutrigurs and Utigurs to be two related, ancestral people, and prominent tribes later in the Bulgaric union, but different from the Bulgars. Golden considered the origin of the Kutrigurs and Utigurs obscure and their relationship to the Onoğurs and Bulgars who lived in the same region, or in its vicinity, as unclear. He noted the assumption of the two tribes being related to the Šarağurs (Oğhur. ''šara'', "White Oğhurs"), and that according to Procopius they were two Hunnic tribal unions of Cimmerians descent. The reason later Byzantine sources frequently linked the names Onoğurs and Bulgars is also unclear. According to Karatay, the "mixed" theory cannot prove the usual explanation by scholars about the making of Bulgars. He considered that the coming of Oğurs tribes and withdrawing Huns, who met in the north of the Black Sea, to be a faulty theory because the Oğurs came to Europe in 463, while Bulgars are first formally mentioned in 482, an overly short time period for such an ethnical process. Sanping Chen explained that the "mixed" and "disturbers" theories may not be mutually exclusive. During the 4th century, the ''Buluoji'' of China, a Barbarian group, was represented as both a "mixed race" and "troublemaker". Peter A. Boodberg noted that the ''Buluoji'' (Middle Chinese ''b'uo-lak-kiei'') in the Chinese sources were recorded as remnants of the Xiongnu confederation, and had strong Caucasian elements. Similarly, Boris Simeonov identified the Tiele/Toquz Oguz tribe Pugu (僕骨; ''buk/buok kwət''; ''Buqut'') with the Bulgars.〔 The Pugu were mentioned in Chinese sources from 103 BC up to the 8th century AD,〔 and later were situated among the eastern Tiele tribes, as one of the highest-ranking tribes after the Uyghurs. According to the ''Chronicle'' by Michael the Syrian, which comprises several historical events of different age into one story, three mythical Scythian brothers set out on a journey from the mountain Imaon (Tian Shan) in Asia and reached the river Tanais (Don), the country of the Alans called Barsalia, which would be later inhabited by the Bulgars and the Pugurs (''Puguraje''). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bulgars」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|