Kalbak-Tash XIX (A-42)

Description

It is a vertical inscription consisting of 13 signs; it is located on plane III. The length of the line is 16cm, the height of the characters is 0,6-1,7cm. It was discovered by V.D. Kubarev in 1987 (Kubarev & Jacobson 1996: fig. 384). D.D. Vasil’ev studied this inscription together with V.D. Kubarev in 1991, and they did a copy of it together. D.D. Vasil’ev considers that this is an inscription consisting of three lines while I. L. Kyzlasov considers each line to be a separate inscription (Kalbak-Tash XIX, XX, XXI). D.D. Vasil’ev published these three lines and his reading of them as А-48 (Vasil’ev 1995: 92–93).

Reading of D.D. Vasil’evа

Runic transliteration:

Transcription:

1) igü bičig ili: kara bölöng ili (Калбак Таш XXI)

2) igening: bediz kan eli: uz ermiş: (Калбак Таш XX)

3) bert apaka ben bitidim (Калбак Таш XIX)

Translation into Turkish, Russian and English (the latter two were made by the authors of the catalogue):

1) Tanrıyı öven yazıtlar ülkesi, Kara Tibetli ülkesi(dir).

Страна надписей, славящих Бога – это страна черных тибетцев.

The land of inscriptions praising the God is the land of black Tibet people.

2) Tanrıya ait güzel han ülkesi ustaca yarat(ıl)mış.

(Это) страна прекрасного хана, которая принадлежит Богу, искусно созданная.

(This) is the land of a beautiful khan that belongs to the God, it is skillfully created.

3) Bert-apa için, ben yazdım.

Я написал для Берт-апа.

I wrote this for Bert-Apa.

(Vasil’ev 1995: 92–93)

.

Reading of I. L. Kyzlasov

Transliteration:

b² r² t² p q a b² n² b² t² d² m ä(a)

Transcription:

b(e)rt(i)p (a)qa b(e)n b(i)(i)d(i)m

Translation:

(I) Bertip Aka. I wrote (this).

(Kyzlasov 2002: 117–119)

Reading of  L.N.Tybykova, I.A. Nevskaya and M. Erdal

Runic transliteration:

Transliteration:

b² r² t² p k¹ A b² n² b² t² d² m A

Transcription:

b(e)rt(i)p (a)ka b(ä)n b(i)t(i)d(i)m-a / b(e)rt (a)p(a)ka b(ä)n b(i)t(i)d(i)m-a

Translation: ‘I, Bertip Aka, wrote (this).

/ I wrote (this) for Bert-Apa.’

Comments

We cannot say for sure whether the sequence of signs b² r² t² p k¹ A is a name. the word aka is a Mongolian loan word. In Old Turkic, it is used only in economic documents, probably, of the Mongol times. Was the Runic writing still used at that time? If yes, the only explanation for this could be the fact that Siberian Turkic peoples lived in isolation and could preserve the writing longer than the rest of the Turks. However, k¹ A could also be a dative case marker.