English 
Русский For citation: Mikheev, Savva Mikhaylovich. Are there any Glagolitic letters in two inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina and on stones from Bregalnica valley?, in Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2021. № 2. Pp. 105-115. DOI https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu19.2021.207
| Title of the article | Are there any Glagolitic letters in two inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina and on stones from Bregalnica valley? | ||||||||
| Authors |
Mikheev, Savva Mikhaylovich — PhD in History, Senior Researcher, Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (RANEPA), Moscow, Russia, Orc ID 0000-0002-1530-2808, Researcher ID J-9824-2018, Scopus ID 57216320133, SPIN-code 8084-4626; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
||||||||
| In the section | Miscellanea / Miscellanea | ||||||||
| Year | 2021 | Issue | 2 | Pages | 105-115 | ||||
| Type of article | RAR | Index UDK; BBK | UDK 930.27; BBK 63.229(0)4 | Index DOI | https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu19.2021.207 | ||||
| Abstract | Two inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina (from the vicinities of Livno and Ljubuški) and a group of graffiti from the Bregalnica river basin in the eastern part of North Macedonia are examined in this paper. It has been suggested by previous scholars that all of these inscriptions contain Glagolitic letters. The first part of the paper offers grammatical analysis and a new translation of the inscription on the tomb of a priest named Těhodrag. The tomb was unearthed in 2003 around Livno, 50 km northeast of Split. In the second section the author examines the graphics of the donor inscription on the Humac tablet from the vicinity of Ljubuški, 30 km southwest of Mostar, and proposes a revised reading of the text. The third part offers an interpretation of enigmatic signs on stones from the Bregalnica river basin, northeast of Štip. The author comes to the conclusion that none of the examined epigraphic sources contain Glagolitic letters. Both inscriptions from Bosnia and Herzegovina are in Cyrillic with some letters written in mirror image. The letter «есть» is turned 180 degrees in both graffiti, and there is one mirror «вѣдѣ» and two mirror «нашь» at the end of the inscription on the Humac tablet. The abundance of mirror-image letters probably stems from the unique shape of the Humac inscription itself: its tiered lines go around the fours sides of the tablet, forming something like a squared spiral. As for the supposedly «Glagolitic» signs on stones from the Bregalnica river basin, closer study reveals that they are tamgas, most likely carved by bearers of the Turkic cultural tradition, the Bulgars. | ||||||||
| Keywords | Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Slavic writing, epigraphy, Glagolitsa, Cyrillic, turkic tamgas, cultural studies, historical sources | ||||||||
 |
Full text version of the article. | Article language | Russian | ||||||
| Bibliography |
Aleksova, Blaga. Episkopiјata na Bregalnica: Prv slovenski crkoven i kulturno-prosveten centar vo Makedoniјa [Episcopacy on Bregalnica: The first Slavic religious and cultural centre in Macedonia]. Prilep: Institut za istrazhuvanje na staroslovenskata kultura Press, 1989. 352 p. (in Macedonian). Čigoјa, Brankica. Naјstariјi srpski ćirilski natpisi. (Grafiјa, ortografiјa i јezik) [The oldest Serbian Cyrillic inscriptions. (Graphics, orthography and language)]. 2nd ed. Beograd: Čigoja štampa Publ., 1995. 128 p. (in Serbian). Čigoјa, Brankica. Naјstariјi srpski ćirilski natpisi. XI–XV vek. (Grafiјa, ortografiјa i јezik) [The oldest Serbian Cyrillic inscriptions. 11th–15th centuries. (Graphics, orthography and language)]. Beograd: Čigoјa štampa Publ., 2014. (Biblioteka Ortograf. Vol. 3). 275 p. (in Serbian). Fučić, Branko. Glagoljski natpisi [Glagolitic inscriptions]. Zagreb: Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti Publ., 1982. (Djela Jugoslavenske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti [Works of the Yugoslav academy of sciences and arts]. Vol. 57). 434 p. (in Croatian). Gippius, Aleksey Alekseevich; Mikheev, Savva Mikhaylovich. O podgotovke svoda nadpisey-graffiti Novgorodskogo Sofiyskogo sobora [On the preparation of a corpus of graffiti inscriptions of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral], in Pismennost’, literatura, fol’klor slavyanskikh narodov. Istoriya slavistiki: XV Mezhdunarodniy s’ezd slavistov. Minsk, 20–27 avgusta 2013 g.: Doklady rossiyskoy delegatsii [Writing, literature, and folklore of the Slavic peoples. History of slavistics: 15th international congress of slavists. Minsk, August, 20–27, 2013: Reports of the Russian delegation]. Moscow: Drevlekhranilishche Publ., 2013. Pp. 152–179. (in Russian). Greenberg, Marc Leland. A Historical Phonology of the Slovene Language. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter Publ., 2000. (Historical Phonology of the Slavic Languages. 13). 199 p. Grković, Milica. Rečnik imena Banjskog, Dečanskog i Prizrenskog vlastelinstva u XIV veku [Dictionary of names of the Banjska, Dečani and Prizren estates in the 14th century]. Beograd: Narodna knjiga Publ., 1986. 232 p. (in Serbian). Koch, Сhristoph. Das morphologische System des altkirchenslavischen Verbums [The morphological system of the Old Church Slavonic verb]. Vol. 2: Anmärkungen [Comments]. München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag Publ., 1990. (Münchener Universitätsschriften: Reihe der Philosophischen Fakultät [Munich university writings: Series of the Philosophical faculty]. Vol. 22/II). 298 p. (in German). Marić, Marija; Šimić, Marinka; Škegro, Ante. Pop Tjehodrag i njegov natpis [Priest Tjehodrag and his inscription], in Povijesni prilozi [Historical contributions]. Vol. 33. 2007. Pp. 9–32. (in Croatian). Mošin, Vladimir. Najstarata kirilska epigrafika [The oldest Cyrillic epigraphy], in Slovenska pismenost: 1050-godišnina na Kliment Ohridski [Slavic writing: 1050 th anniversary of Clement of Ohrid]. Ohrid: Naroden muzej Ohrid Publ., 1966. Pp. 35–44. (in Macedonian). Popkonstantinov, Kazimir. Zaklinatelni molitvi vrhu olovni amuleti ot srednovekovna Blgarija i paralelite im v Trebnici ot srednovekovna Srbija [Incantation prayers on lead amulets from medieval Bulgaria and their parallels in medieval Serbian Euchologia], in Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta [Proceedings of the Institute of Byzantine studies]. Vol. 46. 2009. Pp. 341–350. (in Bulgarian). Rupčić, Bonicije. Ubikacija Vrulje, stare, dosad nepoznate župe kod Ljubuškoga [Localization of Vrulja, old, still unknown župa near Ljubuški], in Rad Jugoslavenske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti [Work of the Yugoslav academy of sciences and arts]. Vol. 322. 1961. Pp. 265–284. (in Croatian). Samashev, Zainolla; Bazylkhan, Napil; Samashev, Samat. Drevnetyurkskie tamgi = Kөne tүrіk taӊbalary [Ancient turkic tamga-signs]. Almaty: ABDI Company Publ., 2010. 168 p. (in Russian). Škegro, Ante; Marić, Marija; Šimić, Marinka. Epigraphica nova Pelvensia, in Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu [Bulletin of the Archaeological museum in Zagreb]. Ser. 3. Vol. 41. 2008. Pp. 259–288. (in English). Toporov, Vladimir Nikolaevich. Praslavyanskaya kul’tura v zerkale sobstvennykh imen (element *mir-) [Proto-Slavic culture in the mirror of proper names (element *mir-)], in Istoriya, kul’tura, etnografiya i fol’klor slavyanskikh narodov: XI Mezhdunarodniy s’ezd slavistov. Bratislava, sentyabr’ 1993 g.: Doklady rossiyskoy delegatsii [History, culture, ethnography and folklore of the Slavic peoples: 11th international congress of slavists. Bratislava, September 1993: Reports of the Russian delegation]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1993. Pp. 4–118. (in Russian). Vego, Marko. Zbornik srednjovjekovnih natpisa Bosne i Hercegovine [Collection of medieval inscriptions of Bosnia and Herzegovina]. Vol. 1. Sarajevo: Izdanje Zemaljskog muzeja Publ., 1962. 72 p. (in Croatian). Velčeva, Borjana. Humačkata ploča [The Humac tablet], in Zbornik Matice srpske za filologiјu i lingvistiku [Matica Srpska journal of philology and linguistics]. Vol. 33: Posvećeno profesoru dr Aleksandru Mladenoviću povodom 60-godišnjice zhivota [Dedicated to professor Dr. Aleksandr Mladenović on the occasion of his 60th anniversary]. 1990. Pp. 61–63. (in Bulgarian). Yatsenko, Sergey Aleksandrovich. Marks of the Ancient and Early Medieval Iranian-Speaking Peoples of Iran, Eastern Europe, Transoxiana and South Siberia, in Traditional Marking Systems: A Preliminary Survey. London; Dover: Dunkling Books Publ., 2010. Pp. 133–154. Zholobov, Oleg Feofanovich. Chislitel’nye [Numerals]. Moscow: Azbukovnik Publ., 2006. (Istoricheskaya grammatika drevnerusskogo yazyka [Historical grammar of the Old Russian language]. Vol. IV). 358 p. (in Russian). |
||||||||
Tags: medieval studies, MISCELLANEA / MISCELLANEA, historical source, Cyrillic graphics, Macedonia, cultural studies, Bosnia and Herzegovina