Kurgak I (A-78)
Description
This epitaphic inscription is situated on the northern end of the mountain Kurgak near a winter barn for horses, on a big rock surface with the measurements of 161х100cm, in 150cm from the bottom of the stone.
It was discovered by V.D. Kubarev and Kubarev G.V. in 2001. The inscription is situated near a graffito depicting a hunting scene. The whole composition of the drawing and inscription is carved on a rock surface facing the North. V.D. Kubarev and Kubarev G.V. wrote that there is a late medieval, or modern half destroyed grave. There are also some horse bones (Kubarev & Kubarev 2002: 78). Whether this epitaph has something to do with this grave is unclear.
The inscription is a horizontal one, it consists of 85 signs. The length of the inscription is 83cm, the height of the signs is 1,3–1,7cm. The inscription is well preserved as a whole, some signs were renewed in our times and, thus, destroyed so that the inscription is read not clearly at some places.
Reading С. Г. Кляшторного and Г. В. Kubarevа
Transliteration:
tmr pa oγlm a siz öknčg a ty squl a lp ktrk a öknčg a jgtm a kzm kdmz a b da brlt a b ü a bunsz qldy a öknčg ikrti(m).
Transcription:
temir apa oγlym esiz ökünčig aty soqulu alp ketrek ökünčig jigitim kyzym kedimiz ba ada berilt(t)i be ü bu syz qaldy ökünčig ikirti(m).
Translation:
Oh, my son Temir-Apa! Oh, sorrow, oh, grief! Let his horse be slaughtered (sacrificed)! Оh, the strongest of heroes! Ohm grief! My younger son (lit.: yigit ‘young man’)and my daughter! Let you torn apart your clothes sobbing! Eternal memory of you (lit.: your eternity)stay limitless! Oh, grief! (As for me) I am depressed (for sorrow).
(Kljaštornyj & Kubarev 2002)
Reading of L.N. Tybykova, I.A. Nevskaya and M. Erdal
Runic transliteration:
Transliteration:
t2 m r2 p A U g1 l1 m A s2 I z Ü k2 nč g2 A t1 I m k1 U l1 ŋ2 A l1 p k2 Ü
1 5 10 15 20 25 30
r2 k2 I Ü k2 nč g2 A y2 g2 t2 d2 A y2 z d2 y2 d2 m z A b2 ŋ2 d2 A b2 s2 r2 t2 y2/ŋ2
31 35 40 45 50 55 60
A b2 s1/š1 Ü ŋ2 A b2 U n1 s2 z k1 l1 d1 I/s2 A Ü k2 nč/U g2 I/A s2 z/g1 š1 A
61 65 70 75 80 85
Transcription:
(1–21) t(ä)m(i)r (a)pa ogl(u)m - a (ä)s(i)z ök(ü)nč(ü)g – a / ök(ü)nčgä (a)tïm
(22–46) kul(u)ŋa/kul (a)ŋa //atï+m kol(u)ŋa (a)l(ï)p //(a)lp körki ök(ü)nč(ü)g – a / ök(ü)nčgä y(e)g(ä)td(i) – a/y(i)g(i)t …..
(47–67) y(e)d(i)m(i)z - a (ä)v(i)ŋdä b(e)š (ä)rt(i)ŋ - a b(e)š/b(a)š öŋ - a (ä)v
(68–85) ons(u)z k(a)ldï – a ök(ü)nč(ü)g – a / ök(ü)nčgä
Translation:
(1–21) Temir-Apa, my son! What a pity! What a grief! My name –
(22–46) to your slave / My horse, the slave – to him / my horse – in your hands … / the embodiment of the bogatyr! Oh, grief! (I improved....
(47–67) We ate. In your house you have left the five. The house with five persons stays
(68–85) without you. What a grief! What a pity!’
Comments
1. The exclamtion ökünč is widely spread in Old Turkic epitaphs, see Erdal OTWF: 363–367, 281–2. ÜknčIg2 in E42.1 could also be read as ökünčig from ökünč+sig similar to korkunčïg; the same in E 100,2.
2. Onsïz, should probably be read as ‘without him’, although there is a front consonant in the affix s2z. The front consonant can be explained by the influence of the vowel, and also by the fact the dront and back consonants are not consequently differentiated in this variant of the runic writing. Moreover, a number of affixes have only the front form in the writing.
3. The sequence of signs Ü k2 nč? g2 A: ök(ü)nč(ü)g – a / ök(ü)nčgä can be read in two different ways: A could be a word-divider, or a part of the dative case marker –gä on the word ök(ü)nč, i.e. the meaning of the whole, or ‘Oh, grief’ or ‘to the grief!’.
4. The sequence of signs A l1 p k2 Ü r2 k2 I can be interpreted as alp kü (ä)rki, what could mean 1) ‘undoubtedly, heroism is glory’ (or ‘undoubtedly, warrior’s glory’), where ärki is a lexeme meaing ‘without doubt’ the form of the verb är- ‘to be’; 2) ‘strongman’s glory and power’ or ‘power of heroes and glory’, where ärk ‘power’ + i – Possessive affix of the 3rd person.