--- g <
george.st@...> wrote:(in response to a post
by Eva)
(Eva)the argument is that the
> Protobulgarians were
> >actually numerous.
>
>(GS) Perhaps they were as numerous as the Hungarians
> (Magyars as
> well as tribes of Turkic and Iranic languages,
> accompanied by
> Slavic emigrants), as these arrived Pannonia around
> 896 (after
> having left Ukraine).
*****GK: I doubt the Proto-Bulgars were as numerous as
the Hungarian complex. With respect to the latter, I
have argued that the Magyars (including other 'Khazar
Ugric' tribes under that label) constituted
approximately 35% of the total. There were substantial
numbers of 'Turks' (incl. Khazar tribes who had joined
the Magyars after rebelling== the story is in
Constantine Porphyrogenitus: these were the so-called
Kabars), and a very important 'West Ugric' component
(nearly 50% of the lot) which had settled on the
steppes of right bank Ukraine in the 7th c., and were,
until the late 9th c., political associates of the
Danubian Bulgars (they are called "concives" of the
latter by a contemporary German Chronicle). And of
course there were the other elements that you
mentioned (Alanic and Slavic). === As to the
proto-Bulgars, the fact that they settled fairly
compactly in the NE (around Pliska) rather than
dispersing throughout the expanding Bulgar state,
helped to preserve their ethnic identity amongst the
Slavic masses they dominated via their military
aristocracy. Perhaps they would have survived even
longer had they not imploded in a couple of
devastating civil wars connected with the problem of
Christianity. Boris (Bogoris) was actually the
gravedigger of the proto-Bulgar ethnos. They were no
longer a significant presence or power (esp. because
of their continued opposition to Christianity) by the
time the Cyrillomethodians arrived in Bulgaria (886
AD). Cyrillomethodianism (esp. in its early phase) was
extraordinarily open to liturgical multilingualism. A
substantial residue of proto-Bulgar speaking people
would have been a fine incentive to produce religious
literature for them in that language. But it never
happened.******
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