Към семантиката на датировката „етх бехти“
About the Semantics of “Eth Behti”

Summary/Abstract: In the article, the well-known chronological information contained in a marginal note by the monk Tudor Doksov from 907 is analyzed. The existing interpretations of the combination етхь вех°тё as a Protobulgarian cyclic year (=865/6) or as a “Glagolitic” year after Creation (=863/4) call for further clarification. The phrase is not exactly the same as the Protobulgarian words for “dog” or for the serial number “fifth”. The “Glagolitic” number for the specific year after Creation does not fit exactly, either. The word етхь may be explained as a reduced writing of the Syrian term for “marking” during a baptism – eththem (the so-called obsignatio). In this case, the word refers to an act at the end of the instruction in the new faith received by prince Boris. The word – вех°тё is a distorted Syrian rendering of a Protobulgarian word for “five”, but with the meaning “fifth indiction”. Thus, the year of “marking” should be 858. This date is supported by domestic and Byzantine sources, and by archaeological data from the martyrium in Pliska.

• Details
• Contents