The Old Armenian Root “Bulh” and the Bulgars in the Armenian Geography “Ashkharatsuyts” (7th Century AD)

Applied Linguistics / Приложно езикознание

Petar Goliyski

Sofia University

https://doi.org/10.53656/for2025-04-01

Abstract. In 2003, based on the hypothesis that “Bulgars” was originally a religious name, I proposed a new etymology of their name – from two Indo-European word stems *b[h]olk’– „to shine, to blaze“ and b[h]org[h]–  „high, mountain, hill“, which thousands of years ago were interchangeable, since in the religious thinking of ancient man, mountains were associated with wisdom, religious rituals and initiations, and these in turn were directly related to fire, light, and the sun.

The hypothesis that the name „Bulgars“ meant „the high/great~bright/shining ones“ are unexpectedly synchronous with the ethnonym Bułx/Bułkh (Բուղխ, and Bušx/Buškh/Բուշխ in its distorted form in the transcripts), as the ancient Bulgarians are mentioned in the short and extended version of the Armenian geography „Ashkharatsyuyts“ (late 7th century AD). Surprisingly, the orthography of the ethnonym Bulkh is identical to that of the Old Armenian noun bułx/bułkh (բուղխ) „sprouting; growth; gushing“, as well as to the Old Armenian verb błxem/błkhem (բղխեմ) „to spring, to gush; to flow, to flow out“, „to grow, to sprout, to surge; to germinate“, „to rise, to rise“. Which is a hint or a clue that the ethnonym Bułx/Bułkh in „Ashkharatsyuyts“ is an exact and literal translation of the name „Bulgars“.

Most likely, the unusual form Bułx/Bułkh was borrowed by Anania Shirakatsi, the compiler of „Ashkharatsuyts“, from some unknown Middle Persian (Sassanian) source, no later than the mid-6th century. Where and how the author of the Middle Persian source learned the meaning of the name „Bulgars“, however, remains a mystery. It is also a riddle why he insisted on mentioning them in this way, and not as „Bulgars“, a well-known in the 5th–6th centuries AD ethnonym.

Keywords: Indo-Europeans; Bulgars (ethnonym); Proto-Bulgarians; Armenian geography „Ashkharatsuyts“; Old Armenian; Middle Persian; Sassanians; linguodidactology

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