Foundations of the New (Old) Concept of Ethnic Origins of the Ancient Bulgarians

Abstract

In contemporary historical studies, ethnic origins of the Ancient Bulgarians are commonly thought to be related to migrants from Central Asia. According to my research, the area where this population was shaped corresponds to that of the Imenkovo culture (Middle Volga region, 4th–8th centuries). Most of its representatives, as G.I. Matveeva found out, were also related to the Zarubinets culture, which in turn let her argue about the preponderance of Slavs in the Imenkovo area. A number of written sources indicate that a large group of Bulgarians migrated to the area north of the Black Sea in the 5th century and subsequently, around the 7th century, settled in the western part of that area where their language was influenced by the local Slavic languages. During the same period, the Bulgarians remaining at the place of their origins experienced linguistic Turkification under the impact of the Khazar Khaganate. In scholarly literature, there is an opinion pointing to the etymological link between the ethnic appellation of Bulgarians and the proto-Slavic name of the Volga river (*Vъlga), and I find it consistent with my own research. It is further likely that the original V- in that ethnic appellation shifted phonetically to B- as the result of adaptation to languages of the Imenkovo culture, or perhaps it was the result of cultural borrowing.