The treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

The treasure of Nagyszentmiklós, of which the bowl is a part, consists of 23 decorated gold vessels weighing around 10 kg.^[10][11][3] It was found in 1799 on the banks of the Aranca river, near Nagyszentmiklós (today Sânnicolau Mare in Timiș County, Romania),^[12][3][13] in the region of Avar settlement in the Carpathian Basin.^[14] It was also attributed to the lower Danube Bulgars,^[15] but the current view is that the treasure is of Avar origin and closely related to the Avar culture.^{[16][14][15][17]}

The objects were made by specialized craftsmen in the 7th and 8th centuries^[16][18][14] and were hoarded by local lords.^[19][20] The treasure was last "used" and buried in the second half of the 8th century or perhaps in the early 9th century.^[14][20]

Some of the vessels bear runiform inscriptions. Similar characters can be found on a bone needlecase excavated in the Late Avar cemetery of Szarvas (in Békés County, Hungary) and dated to the second half of the 8th century.^[10][21] Based on this evidence, some scholars proposed a similar date for the Nagyszentmiklós inscriptions.^[10][13]

The inscription

The Buyla inscription is engraved in Greek letters on the inner bottom of a round buckled bowl (no. 21 in József Hampel's list), on a flat ring surrounding a lavishly decorated disk.^[22][23]

The inscription has the following text, easily readable, and uses a C-shaped glyph for sigma:^[24][25][23]

† ΒΟΥΗΛΑ • ΖΟΑΠΑΝ • ΤΕϹΗ • ΔΥΓΕΤΟΙΓΗ • ΒΟΥΤΑΟΥΛ • ΖΩΑΠΑΝ • ΤΑΓΡΟΓΗ • ΗΤΖΙΓΗ • ΤΑΙϹΗ

The lower case equivalent is:

† βουηλα • ζοαπαν • τεση • δυγετοιγη • βουταουλ • ζωαπαν • ταγρογη • ητζιγη • ταιση

The transliteration is:

† bouēla • zoapan • tesē • dugetoigē • boutaoul • zōapan • tagrogē • ētzigē • taisē

Paleographic and epigraphic considerations

Some of the letters of the inscription have distinctive shapes. The letters sigma and epsilon have broad arcs.^[26] The base line of delta juts out on both sides.^[27] Beta has also a prominent base line, a form found in the Greek inscriptions from Bulgaria dated to the early 9th century,^[26][28][29] but otherwise it is rarely attested in the Greek-writing world: only^[26][28] on several Cherson coins of the Byzantine emperor Basil I (867-886)^[28][29][30] and also on one inscription of the same emperor, found in Mesembria (today Nesebar, Bulgaria).^[28][31] The shape of alpha is also attested on the 9th century Greek inscriptions from Bulgaria.^[26] On the other hand, omega's unusual shape, with a middle vertical line higher than the rounded sides, is specific for the 6th century Greek inscriptions and the oldest forms of the Greek Uncial script.^[26][32]

Buyla

It is generally agreed that the first word is the Turkic title buyla or boyla (also spelled boila^[50]) which is attested on several Old Turkic and Danube Bulgar inscriptions^[51][52] and also mentioned by some 9th and 10th centuries Byzantine authors.^[51][53] Some scholars proposed that Buyla should be read as a personal name in this text, as titles were often taken as personal names.^[2][51] There are more vessels in the treasure of Nagyszentmiklós that mention the name Buyla, such as a goblet.

Butaul

Butaul is usually read as a personal name.^[2][54][55] It may be interpreted as "son of Buta" with the final -ul being a development of the Turkic oğul = "son".^[54][55] This etymology was challenged based on the observation that according to the predominant model of construction of Turkic patronymics, the possessive forms oğlu or oğli are expected.^[54][56] Based on the names attested on Old Turkic inscriptions, Erdal posited the reading But Aul.^[54]

Zoapan

In 1900, Karl Brugmann derived the Common Slavic *županъ from župa "district, small administrative region",^[57] an etymology that was accepted by many linguists.^[58]