Buyla inscription

Buyla inscription
The buckled bowl bearing the Buyla inscription.
MaterialGold
CreatedMiddle or Late Avar Period (670 AD – 800 AD)
Discovered1799 near Nagyszentmiklós (today Sânnicolau Mare in Timiș County, Romania)
Present locationKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The Buyla inscription is a 9-word, 56-character inscription written in the Greek alphabet but in a non-Greek language. It is found on a golden buckled bowl or cup which is among the pieces of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós[1][2] which are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.[1][3] The bowl is 12 cm in diameter and weighs 212 g, and has a handle or buckle, perhaps for hanging on a belt. The inscription is found around the outside of a circular design in the middle of the bowl. In the place where the inscription begins and ends, there is a cross. The inscription reads: ΒΟΥΗΛΑ·​ΖΟΑΠΑΝ·​ΤΕϹΗ·​ΔΥΓΕΤΟΙΓΗ·​ΒΟΥΤΑΟΥΛ·​ΖΩΑΠΑΝ·​ΤΑΓΡΟΓΗ·​ΗΤΖΙΓΗ·​ΤΑΙϹΗ.[4]

Prevailing opinion is that the language of the text is the West Old Turkic (and thus distinct from both Old Turkic and the ancestor of the modern-day Common Turkic languages),[5][6] and several translations have been proposed, but it has not been deciphered and the exact classification of the language has been a subject of debate.[1][7][2] Vilhelm Thomsen translated the inscription: "Boila zoapan finished this bowl [this drinking cup], which Boutaoul zoapan made suitable for hanging up."[8] Nikola Mavrodinov translated it: "Bouila zoapan made this cup; Boutaul Zoapan made this cup suitable for drinking from."[8] Gyula Németh translated it: "Boila chaban's bowl, which was made to his order; Boutaoul had a buckle made for it, and this is his bowl."[8] Paul Lazăr Tonciulescu translated it: "Jupan Buila [has] all rights, jupan Butaul [has the right of] entering [in] all towns.[9]

  1. ^ a b c Alemany 2009, p. 5.
  2. ^ a b Róna-Tas 1999, pp. 131–132.
  3. ^ Daim 2003, p. 515.
  4. ^ Gyula Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica: Sprachreste der Türkvölker in den byzantinischen Quellen (1983)
  5. ^ Deliyannis, Deborah (2019). Fifty Early Medieval Things. Cornell University Press. p. 171.
  6. ^ Helimski 2000, p. 45.
  7. ^ Göbl & Róna-Tas 1995, p. 19.
  8. ^ a b c according to Gyula László and István Rácz (The treasure of Nagyszentmikloś, 1984)
  9. ^ Paul Lazăr Tonciulescu - "De la Țara Luanei la Ieud", Editura Miracol, București, 1998