Kuraj II (A-5)

Description

The inscription on the end decoration of a belt from a medieval kurgan No I of the funeral place Kuraj IV. The diggings were done in 1935 by S.V. Kiselev. The belt decoration consists of several pieces covered with gold. On the inner side of the decoration for the end part of the belt there is a very badly damaged inscription. In the middle part of this decoration the characters are seen better, while the signs on the edge are not clearly seen.

The inscription consists of ca. 11 signs, the runic  signs cannot be seen clearly. It is preserved in the State Historical Museum in Moscow; The index according to the DTS is А 5 (Kuraj II).

Reading С. В. Киселева

Транслитерация and Transcription:

otč^{i a}q kün… quš^a γ

Translation:

Of the owner (master) Ak-Kün …belt…

(Kiselev 1936: 103)

Reading of A.K. Borovkov

Транслитерация and Transcription:

utªč^y künⁱm qop is …

Translation:

Win (obtain), my tribe, many …

(Borovkov 1963: 194)

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

Runic transliteration:

Transliteration:

U t¹ č/I+A/k¹ k² Ü n² m ŋ²+I/k¹ U p/š¹ …? ?

Transcription:

ot č(a)k! kün(ü)m kop ….. // ut(d)(a)č(ï) kün(ü)m kop[…].

Translation:

Make fire (with a firestone)! My days are many …// I have many victory days / my victory day is rising …

Comments

1. The expression ot č(a)k means ‘make fire with the help of firestone’. However, a reading otč(o)k ‘fireplace’ is also possible, but these are less possible readings, not suitable for the object.

2. The second variant seems more probable: ut(d)(a)č(ï) kün(ü)m kop[…]. The verb ut- ‘to win’ in the form of the Future participle ‑(d)(a)čï is an attribute to the word kün(ü)m ‘my day’, i.e. my victory day, the day when I will win a victory. We suppose that the first consonant of the affix got glued with the last consonant of the verb. The sequence of signs U t¹ č can be read as utč(ï), i.e. the future participle–čI of  the same verb. Although this participle is less widely spread that –dAčI, it is encountered in manuscripts written in the runic script. see Irk Bitig 41. The sense of the phrase is the same.

3. The word kop can be the adjective ‘all’, or the verb ‘to rise’. Consequently, we have 2 different interpretations.