The Hunno-Bulgar (also called Hunno-Proto Bulgarian or Hunno-Bolgar) is a proposed

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hist ...

that would include the Hunnic, Bulgar eventually the Chuvash and possibly also the Khazar, and other Oghuric languages (Notably the Sabir and Avar). Hunno-Bulgar language was formed on the North-Western borders of China in the 3rd-5th c. BC. One of the earliest written sources which mentioned Bulgars is the Chronography of 354 AD which led scholars to think Bulgars came to Europe together with the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

instead of absorbed Hunnic tribes, perhaps even speak the same language. The term ''Hunno-Bulgar'' has often been used to designate Hunnic and

Bulgar language Bulgar (also known as Bulghar, Bolgar, or Bolghar) is an extinct Oghur Turkic language spoken by the Bulgars. The name is derived from the Bulgars, a tribal association that established the Bulgar state known as Old Great Bulgaria in the mid ...

while the term ''Oghuric'' used to disambiguate the Oghuric languages proper. The Huns and Bulgars spoke closely related languages different from others “barbarian” languages. The relations between the language of Bulgars and Huns were studied by

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

professor Pritsak in his notable work "The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan". He termed the language of Bulgars as Hunno-Bulgar. Pritsak analyzed the 33 survived Hunnic personal names and concluded that the language of the Bulgars was Hunnic language and supported by some.

Origin

According to Antoaneta Granberg ( University of Gothenburg) the Hunno-Bulgar language was formed on the North-Western borders of China in the 3rd-5th c. BC. Analyzing the loan-words in Slavonic, she concluded that Bulgar language was directly influenced by various languages: Turkic, Mongolic,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

. In the 6th century. Granberg observes that "Altaic has no initial consonant clusters, while Hunno-Bulgar does. Unlike Turkic and Mongolic, Hunno-Bulgar language has no initial dental or velar spirants. Unlike Turkic, it has initial voiced b-: bagatur (a title), boyla (a title). Unlike Turkic, Hunno-Bulgar has initial n-, which is also encountered in Mongolic: Negun, Nebul (proper names). In sum, Antoaneta Granberg concludes that "Hunno-Bulgar language has no consistent set of features that unite it with either Turkic or Mongolic. Neither can it be related to Sino-Tibetian languages, because it obviously has no monosyllabic word structure." Often Hunno-Bulgar language is termed Turkic, specifically the

Oghuric The Oghuric, Onoguric or Oguric languages (also known as Bulgar, Pre-Proto-Bulgaric or Lir-Turkic and r-Turkic) are a branch of the Turkic language family. The only extant member of the group is the Chuvash language. The first to branch off from ...

, to her

Altaic Altaic (; also called Transeurasian) is a controversial proposed language family that would include the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families and possibly also the Japonic and Koreanic languages. Speakers of these languages are c ...

is more to the point.

References

{{Reflist Hunno-Bulgar languages