1

Etymology of the ethnonym “Bulgarian”

Chavdar Ivaylov Georgiev from Vratsa, Bulgaria [enlarged & corrected version Jan.12, 2023]
e-mail: chavdar.georgiev.66@gmail.com

ABBREVIATIONS
PIE. = Indo-European protolanguage
PII. = Indo-Iranian (Aryan) protolanguage
OIA. = Old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit) language
PIr. = Iranian protolanguage
OIr. = Old Iranian languages
OWIr./OEIr. = Old West-Iranian/Old East-Iranian languages
IrBg. = Irano-Bulgarian (Euro-Huno-Bulgarian, Ancient Bulgarian, Proto-Bulgarian) language
PSlv. = Slavic protolanguage
OBg. = Old Bulgarian language

Bulgarian and foreign linguists propose different hypotheses for the

linguistic origin of the ethnic self-designation of the Bulgarians,
preserved in an unchanged form from 6th century a.D. to present day,
as seen from the inscription “Bolgar” on a ceramic tile from Vinichko
kale (Vinitsa fortress) in Northern Macedonia. The proposed
etymologies are not convincing, some are absurd from a semantic point
of view, because: 1. They proceed from the completely wrong theory
that the language of the Ancient Bulgarians (Proto-Bulgarians) was
Türkic – in reality it was IRANIAN. 2. They don’t pay attention to the
testimony of the Roman-Gothic historian Jordanes, who in the middle of
6th century “translated” into Latin two self-designations of the Huns,
settled as federates of Eas-tern Roman Empire in the provinces of
“Coastal Dacia” (today North-Western Bulgaria) and “Scythia Minor”
(today Dóbrudja) in the 60s – 70s of 5th cent. – this Latin “translation”
suggests an exact Iranian etymology of Bulgarian ethnonym, if we
accept the hypothesis that the EUROPEAN HUNS, of which the
Ancient Bulgarians were a part, were an IRANIAN community of
tribes around Caspian Sea {these Huns were menti-oned by Greco-
Roman authors Pliny the Elder (before 79 a.D.) – thuni, Dionysius
Periegetes (early 2nd cent.) – θυνοι ~ θοῦν(ν)οι ~ ὧν(ν)οι, Claudius
Ptolemy (mid 2nd cent.) – χοῦνοι, Hippolytus of Rome (early 3rd cent.) –
οὐεννοί (a scribal error οὐεννοί instead of *οὑννοί), from 5th cent.
onwards the Late Antiquity’s authors regularly wrote Gr. οὗν(ν)οι = Lat.
hun(n)i 1 – see my publication “Европейските хуни” (“The European
Huns”) on www.academia.edu}.
1
Mänchen-Helfen, Otto: The World of the Huns, University of California press, 1973, pp.444-448
Atwood, Christopher: Huns and Xiōngnú: new thoughts on an old problem – in: Studies in history and culture in honor of
Donald Ostrowski, Brian Boeck, Russell Martin, Daniel Rowland eds. Bloomington, Slavica Publishers 2012, pp.27-52
 2

Here’s what Jordanes wrote: “Also Hernac (Latin voiceless laryngeal

h substitutes the Greek inspiratory graphic symbol [‛] – notes and italics
mine, Ch.G.), a younger son of Attila, with his people chose for
settlement the remotest part of Scythia Minor. His kinsmen Emnetzur
and Ultzin-dur conquered Utus, Iscus and Almus in Coastal Dacia.
Then many of the Huns, having invaded various places, surrendered
themselves in Romania (surrendered to the power of Roman Empire –
my note, Ch.G.). From the latter descended those who even now are
called Sacromontisi[i] and Fossatisii.” The etymology of Emnetzur and
Ultzindur is Iranian – Emnetzur: PIE.*h1ei̯ - ‘go, walk’ + suff.*-men-
→ *h1éi-men- ‘a course, a walk, a way’ + possessive suff.*-ó- →
(word-formation R(z)S(z)-ó-) *h1i-mn-ó-s ‘which refers to a course,
going, walking, travelling’ → PII.*imnás → (substantivization with
“contrastive shifted accent” and vr̥ddhi) *ái̯mnas or (substantiviz. with
“contrast. shifted accent” without vr̥ddhi) *ímnas ‘traveller’ →
PIr.*ái̯mnah ~ *ímnah {*ímnah → IrBg.*ímnəh → *ímnə̯ → ímən →
имен [imen] in the compilation of Volga-Bulgarian chronicles “Jagfar
tarihy” 2 with credible onomastics, but with late dating and obscure
sources} → (N.plur.) *ái̯mnaːh ‘travellers → nomads’ in a word-
combination with attributive function of the first noun *ái̯mnaːh
*ʧau̯ráh ‘tribe of travellers → nomadic tribe’ → IrBg.*ǽːmnəːh
*ʧou̯ráh → *ɛ́ːmnəː *ʧʊːrá → *ɛ́ːmnəː *ʧúːrə̯ → (univerbation)
ɛ́ːmnəːʧuːr ‘nomadic tribe’; Ultzindur – error of a transcriber instead of
*Ultzindzur: PIE.*u̯erĝ-/*u̯orĝ-/*u̯r̥ĝ-/ (dial.)*urĝ-3 ‘do, work,
produce’ + suff.*-tro- → *u̯r̥ĝ-tró- ~ *urĝ-tró- ‘a work, a labour;
(something) produced’ → PII.*u̯r̥ʃtrá- ~ *urʃtrá- + suff.*-ín- →
(N.plur.) *urʃtrínas ‘labouring, producing, i.e. producers, settled
people’ → PIr. *urʃtrínah in word-combination with attributive
function of the first noun *urʃtrínah *ʧau̯ráh ‘tribe of producers →
settled tribe’ → (OIr.*tri → IrBg.*tr̝ji → *tɕi → ʧi) IrBg.*uɬtr̝jínəh
*ʧou̯ráh → *uɬtɕínə *ʧʊːrá → *uɬtɕínə *ʧúːrə → *uɫʧínə̯ *ʧúːrə̯ →
(univerb. + *nʧ → nʤ) uɫʧínʤuːr ‘settled tribe’ (Gr. τζ and Lat. tz in
the Late Antiquity were read both as ts [ʦ] and as dz [ʣ], replacing ch
[ʧ] and j [ʤ] in foreign words and names).

2
Bahshi Iman: Jagfar tarihy, Kama publ., Sofia 2005 (originally [ʤaʕfar taʔriːx-ɨ]), p.14
3
Kroonen, Guus: Etymological dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, Leiden/Boston 2013, p.600
 3

The “remotest part of Scythia Minor” is Dobrudja at the Danube’s

delta, where after more than two centuries, kaná Aspavrúk settled. The
etymology of his name, established in the historiography inaccurately as
“Asparukh”, is: PIE.*h1ék̂u̯-o-s ‘horse’ + (Nostratic protolanguage
*bal-/*bəl- →) PIE.*bhl-eu̯-/*bhl-ou̯-/*bhl-u- ‘to well up, surge, swell,
overflow, pour (over), flow’ → ‘to grow, increase, multiply → to teem
with, abound’ 4 + suff.*-ko- → *h1ek̂u̯o-bhlu-kó-s ‘one who abounds
in horses, teems with horses’ → PII.*aʨu̯abhlukás ~ *aʨu̯abhrukás →
PIr.*aʦu̯abrukáh → OWIr.*aspabrukáh → borrowing with an early
dialect accent shift “to the left” in OEIr.*aspaβrúkəh ~ *aspavrúkəh
{pit’iaxʃi (Gr. πιτιαξης) Ασπαυρουκις [aspaβrukis ~ aspavrukis] from
Ancient Georgia, 2nd cent. a.D.} → IrBg.*aspavrúkə → *aspavrúkə̯ →
aspavrúk ~ ɐspɐvrúq ‘a horses-abundant man’ → Gr.*Ἀσπαυρούκ/
*Ἀσπαβρούκ → transcriber’s error *Ἀσπαῤῥούκ – only this way can
be logically explained Old Armen. recording Asparhruk 5 (end of 7th
cent.). Later [β/v] was dropped (elision) and got ɐspɐrúq ~ ɐspɐrúɢ ~
əspərúq ~ əspərúx: ɐspɐrúq → Gr. Ἀσπαρούχ (8th cent.), əspərúx →
Gr. *Ἐσπερύχ → (transcriber’s errors) OBg. Есперихъ ~
Исперихъ, əspərúq → Lat.*Esperuc → (transcr.’s errors) *Isporus
→ OBg. Испоръ (12th cent.), ɐspɐrúɢ → (transcr.’s error)
Asparigus (9th cent.).

4
Bomhard, Allan R. A comprehensive introduction to Nostratic comparative linguistics, with special reference to
Indo-European (4th ed. 2021), vol. 2, part 3: comparative vocabulary (1st half), §22.2. Proto-Nostratic *b, № 19:
*bal- (~ *bəl-) ‘to well up, to surge, to overflow, to pour over’ → PIE.*bhl-ew-/*bhl-ow-/*bhl-u- ‘to overflow, to pour
over, to flow’, pp. 24-25
5
Goliyski, Peter: The settlement of the Bulgarians on the Balkan peninsula IV – VII century, vol.1,
Tangra TanNakRa publ., Sofia 2014, pp.118-121
 4

It’s evident from the context that the Huns who surrendered to the
Roman Empire were probably either part of, or related to, those who
were settled in Coastal Dacia – the province encompassed present-day
northwestern Bulgaria and part of northern Serbia (Almus is present-
day Lom). Jordanes did not correctly understand his source – it is logical
to read “his relatives from Emnetzur and Ultzindzur”, because these
are not personal names but tribal names:
PIE.*(s)keu̯r-/*(s)kou̯r-/*(s)kur- “give birth to, be born” 6 → *keu̯r-ó-
s ‘clan, tribe’ → PII.*ʧau̯rás → PIr.*ʧau̯ráh → IrBg.*ʧou̯ráh →
*ʧʊːrá → *ʧúːrə → *ʧúːrə̯ → ʧuːr ~ ʤuːr ‘clan, tribe’ → Lat. -tzur ~
-dzur, with allomorphic variant PIE. *kou̯r-ó-s → PII.*kau̯rás →
PIr.*kau̯ráh → IrBg.*kou̯ráh → *kʊːrá → *kúːrə → *kúːrə̯ → kuːr
~ guːr ‘clan, tribe’ → Lat. -cur ~ -gur, etymological cognates to
PIE.*proː-skewr-ó-s → PSlv.*praskjúrʉ̯ ‘forefather, ancestor’ → Old
Russian пращоуръ [praʃʧúrʉ̯] ‘forefather, ancestor’,
Russian/Ukrainian пращур [praʃʧúr] ‘forefather, distant ancestor’.
Jordanes further wrote: “As soon as the king (exactly rex is written: Lat.
rex means ‘king’ in Antiquity, ‘king, prince’ in Middle Ages, not
‘chief’ – my note, Ch.G.) of the Huns, Dintzic, the son of Attila, knew
it, he gathered together those who seem still to have remained under
his rule, although they were few in number – Ultzinzures (transcriber’s
error instead of *Ultzindzures – my note, Ch.G.), Angisciros,
Bittugures, Bar-dores...” 7. Comparing the records of the name Dintzic ~
Gr. Δινζίχ with Lat. Denzicis by Marcellinus Comes (late antique
reading [denʣikis]), and with Gr. Δεγγιζίχ by Priscus the Thracian in
the middle of 5th cent.8, we derive the original pronunciation Denjik
[dɛnʤík ~ dеnʤíq]. The etymology of Denjik is Iranian: PIE.*dhengh-
‘ to rise, to grow’ 9 + suff. *-iko- → *dhеngh-íko-s ‘one who rises,
6
Расторгуева, Вера & Эдельман, Джой: Этимологический словарь иранских языков (ЭСИЯ), т.1-3
(Rastorgueva, Vera & Edelman, Joy: Etymological dictionary of Iranian languages, vol.1-3) , Эдельман, Джой:
ЭСИЯ, т.4-6 (Edelman, Joy: Etymological dictionary of Iranian languages, vol.4-6), Восточная литература,
Москва 2000-2020 (Publ. Oriental literature, Moscow 2000-2020) → ЭСИЯ, vol.4, pр.374-375
Cheung, Johnny: Etymological dictionary of the Iranian verb (EDIV), Brill, Leiden/Boston 2007, pp.250-251
Blažek, Václav: Synové Indoevropanů, pp.100-101, 119 – in: Linguistica Brunensia, 58 (2010), 1-2, pp.93-120
Трубачëв, Олег: История славянских терминов родства и некоторых древнейших терминов
общественного строя, Изд. Академии наук СССР, Москва 1959 (Trubachev, Oleg: History of Slavic kinship
terms and some of the most ancient terms of social structure, Academy of Sciences of USSR, Moscow 1959),
pр.72-73
7
Latin sources for Bulgarian history, vol.1, Bulgarian Academy of sciences, Sofia 1958, pp.358-359, 361
8
Moravcsik, Gyula: Byzantino-Turcica, vol.2 (3th ed.), Brill, Leiden 1983, pp.117-119
9
Kümmel, Martin: Addenda und corrigenda zu LIV2, http://www.martinkuemmel.de/liv2add.html 2017:
*dhengh- ‘sich erheben, wachsen’
 5

grows → a tall, large man’ → PII.*danʤhíkas → PIr.*danʤíkah →

IrBg.*dænʤíkəh → *dɛnʤíkə → *dɛnʤíkə̯ → dɛnʤík ~ denʤíq ‘a
tall, large man’ – a distant echo of Denjik is today’s Bulgarian name
Денчо [dɛ́nʧɔ].
Immediately after reporting the settlement of Coastal Dacia by the
tribes Emnechur and Ulchinjur, Jordanes continues: “then many of
the Huns” – it’s logical to mean by “Huns” those tribes he has just
mentioned, and immediately he continues that “from the last (i.e. those
just mentioned – my note, Ch.G.) descended those who are still called
Sacromontisii and Fossatisii”. On the one hand, Hernac is related by
blood (Lat.“consanguinei eius”) to the tribes Emnechur and
Ulchinjur, hence he was an ancestor of Sacromontisii and Fossatisii –
on the other hand, the “Nominalia/Name-list of the Bulgarian kaná’s”
states that this same Ирникъ [irnik] (because Gr. Ἡρνάχ, Lat.
Hernac and OBg. Ирникъ are records of IrBg. Hərnáq with a
phonetic variant Hərnə́k) was a Bulgarian ruler who personified a
whole epoch, who “lived” 150 years (464 – 614 a.D.). Therefore, is it
possible that there is something in common between Sacromontisii,
Fossatisii and Bulgarians?! This precious information of Jordanes
suggested to me an exact Iranian etymology of the Bulgarian ethnic
self-designation: PIE.*bhleh2- ‘to call, appeal, invoke, pray’ 10 + suff.*-
es- → *bhláh2-es- ‘a call, invocation, appeal, supplica-tion to deity →
ritual to deity, sacred action’ + possessive suff.*-ó- → (word-formation
R(z)S(z)-ó-) *bhl̥ h2-s-ó- ‘holy, sacred’ plus PIE.*gworh-/*gwr̥h-
‘mountain’ {*gworh-áː → OBg. гора [gɒrá] ‘mountain’} +
compositive suff.*-ó- → *bhl̥ h2so-gworh-ó-s ‘holy-mountainous,
sacred-mountainous’ → PII.*bhəlʃa-garás → {substantivization with
“contrastive shifted accent”} *bhəlʃa-gáras ‘(one who is) related to a
holy mountain, sacred-mountaineer’ → PIr.*bərʃa-gárah (PIr.*rʃ →
IrBg.*ɬ → l ~ ɫ) IrBg.*bəɬɐgárəh → *bɵɬəgárə → *bɵɬə̯gárə̯ → bɵɫgár
‘sacred-moun-taineer’ → Lat. literal translation sacromontisii: sacro-
‘sacred’ + mont- ‘mountain’ + Nom. plur. suff. -isii (PIE.*-etó- + -
i(j)o- + -s → *-etijos → Old Gr. -έσιος 11 → borrowing in Latin -isius).

10
Schaffner, Stefan: Der lateinische Priestertitel flāmen, Graeco-Latina Brunensia 15, 2010/1, pp.87-105
11
Vine, Brent: Aeolic ὄρπετον and deverbative *-etó- in Greek and Indo-European, Institut für Sprachwissenschaft
der Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck 1998
Lühr, Rosemarie (ed.), Balles, Irene & Matzinger, Joachim: Nominale Wortbildung des Indogermanischen in
Grundzügen, vol.1, Verlag Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 2008, p.307, § A-98
 6

The second self-designation mentioned by Jordanes is an almost

complete homonymic form of the first (pronounced the same, but
doesn’t derive from the same root): PIE.*bhedh(h2)- ‘to dig; to stab’ →
*bhódh-o-m (nomen actionis τóμος-type, acc.sing.m./n.) ‘a digging →
trench, ditch, moat’ plus PIE.*kwer- ‘to make, work’ → (determinative
compound abhayaṃkará-type) *bhodhom-kwor-ó-s ‘one who makes a
trench, ditch, moat’ → PII.*baːdham-kaːr-á-s → *baːdhaŋ-kaːrás →
PIr. *baːdaŋkaːráh → {PIr.*d intervocalic → IrBg.*ð (as in Eng. the)
→ l ~ ɫ} IrBg.*bɒːðɒŋgaːráh → *bɔːlɔŋgaːrá → (accent shift “to the
left”) *bɔːlɔŋgáːrɐ → *bɔːlɔgáːrə → *boːlo̯gáːrə̯ → boːɫgáːr ‘one who
makes an excavation structure, ditch/moat-builder’ → Lat. liter.
translation fossatisii: fossatum [fɔssáːtum] ‘ditch, moat’ 12 + N. plur.
suffix -isii.
Sacromontisii and fossatisii are literal Latin translations of the
ethnonym “Bulgarian”, made by a (Bulgarian?) informant of Jordanes
more than 1470 years ago, which remain unnoticed by the Bulgarian
and the foreign linguists!

Here’s a curious testimony about Hərnáq ~ Xərnák: in 448 a.D., in

the palace of Attila himself, Priscus the Thracian, a diplomatic envoy of
the Roman Empire, personally knew a very curious prophecy – “{...
Zérkon the Maurusian} made everyone laugh, and made them burst into
uncontrollable laughter, except Attila (Αττήλα). He remained motion-
12
Дворецкий, Иосиф X.: Латинско-русский словарь (изд. 2-ое, перераб. и доп.), Изд. “Русский язык”,
Москва 1976 /Dvoretsky, Joseph Kh.: Latin-Russian dictionary (2nd ed., revised and enlarged), “Russian
language” publ., Moscow, р.438
 7

less, did not change the appearance (of his face) and said nothing, nor
even laughed. Only when the youngest of his sons entered, named
Irnás {the last letter is wrong: Ἡρνάς instead of Ἡρνάχ – my note,
Ch.G.}, he (Attila) pinched him on the cheek and looked at him with a
merry look. I expressed my astonishment that he neglected his other
children and paid attention only to him. And the barbarian who sat
beside me and understood the language of the Ausones {i.e. of the
Ancient Italian peoples: Priscus implied the Latin – my note, Ch.G.},
having warned me to say nothing of what he was about to tell me, said
that the (priests) soothsayers had predicted to Attila that his clan
would have perished, but would be raised up by this son”. 13 The priests
were indeed seers-prophets – Hərnáq ~ Xərnák (Ἡρνάχ ~ Hernac ~
Ирникъ ~ *Хърнакъ) was the progenitor of the Early-Medieval
Bulgarian statehood!
Supposing that Priscus the Thracian in 448th recorded his name as
Ἡρνάχ – with inspiratory symbol [‛] = h-, as is suggested not only by
Lat. Hernac, but also by a recording of the name in “Jagfar tarihy” as
Бел-Кермек [beɫ kermek]14 ‘the great Xərnək’{PIE.*bherĝh-ó-s
(adjective λευκός-type) ‘tall, big, large → great’ → PII.*barʥhás →
PIr.*barʣáh → {PIr.*rʣ → IrBg.*rz → *ʫ → l ~ ɫ} IrBg.*bærzáh →
*bærzá → (ac-cent shift to the left) *bǽrzə → *bǽʫə ~ *bέʫə →
*bǽlə̯ ~ *bέlə̯ → bæɫ ~ bεɫ ‘tall, big, large → giant; great’} – Kermek
was an inaccurate recording or transcriber’s error in the lost Arabic
original of “Jagfar tarihy”; and it’s also suggested by the personal
name Хърнак [xərnak] in an Ottoman register (early 16th cent.) 15: in
such case, it’s most plausible that the name wishes “hwarnah” to him
who bears it – this concept, typical for the Iranian peoples, originally
meant “the power of the Sunlight”, according to today’s terms, the
solar energy: PIE.*s(h2)u̯el-nes- → PII. *su̯arnas- → PIr.*hu̯arnah-
→ OIr.*hwarnah- → Av. xwarǝnah- ‘a sun-shine, radiance;
magnificence, majesty; royal glory’, in other Iranian languages, in
addition to the listed meanings, also means ‘success, prosperity,
happiness’ 16. Consequently, the etymology of this ancient Bulgarian
13
Greek sources for Bulgarian history, vol.1, Bulgarian Academy of sciences, Sofia 1954, pp.116-117
14
Bahshi Iman: Jagfar tarihy, Kama publ., Sofia 2005 (originally [ʤaʕfar taʔriːx-ɨ]), pp.19-20
15
Turkish sources for Bulgarian history, vol.3, Bulgarian Academy of sciences, Sofia 1972, p.402
Goliyski, Peter: The settlement of the Bulgarians on the Balkan peninsula IV – VII century, vol.1,
Tangra TanNakRa publ., Sofia 2014, pp.141-142
16
ЭСИЯ.3, pр.440-441
 8

name is: PIE.*s(h2)u̯elnes- + suff.*-ko- → *su̯еlnes-kό-s ‘(one who is)

brilliant, magnificent, prosperous, glorious, happy’ → PII.*su̯alnaskás
~ *su̯arnaskás → PIr.*hu̯arnaskáh → OIr.*hwarnaskáh → {PII.*su̯
→ PIr.*hu̯ → OIr. hw → IrBg. hw ~ xw → h ~ x ([x] is as Slavic х, it’s
not ks)} IrBg.*hwɐrnaskáh → (earlier accent shift to the left)
*hwɐrnáskəh → *hwərnáskə ~ *xwərnáskə → *hərnáskə̯ ~ *xərnáskə̯
→ hərnák ~ hərnáq ~ xərnák ~ xərnáq ‘brilliant, magnificent,
prosperous, glorious, happy man’ {in some dialects there was a
phonetic doublet form – IrBg.*hwɐrnaskáh → *hwɐrnɐská →
*hwərnəská → (later accent shift to the left) *hwərnə́skə ~ *xwərnə́skə
→ *hərnə́skə̯ ~ *xərnə́skə̯ → hərnə́k ~ hərnə́q ~ xərnə́k ~ xərnə́q}:
Hərnáq → Greek *‛Ηρνάχ, Hərnák → Lat. Hernac, Hərnə́k → OBg.
Ирникъ, Xərnák → OBg.*Хърнакъ in the Ottoman register,
Xərnə́k → *Q.r.n.k → Кермек in “Jagfar tarihy”.

Nikolaev, Alexander: Studies in Proto-Indo-European noun morphology,

Science publ., St.Petersburg 2010, pр.115-118