A re-evaluation of the vocabulary of the Khüis Tolgoi and Bugut inscriptions
with an emphasis on Turkic loanwords
(66th Annual Meeting of the PIAC Göttingen, 2024)
The collaborative fieldwork conducted by Alexander Vovin, Mehmet Ölmez, Dieter Maue, and Étienne de la Vaissière in 2014 and their subsequent publications in Journal Asiatique in 2018 provided us with valuable information on the content and historical context of the long-known inscriptions of Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi. The authors also provided interpretations for two short inscriptions recently discovered on the Keregentas River. The new readings and interpretations of the Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi inscriptions achieved through the use of 3D photography can be described as the most exciting development in Altaic studies in recent decades. However, as with almost every first attempt, Alexander Vovin’s interpretations stand on fragile ground and will need to be discussed and revised until they may lead to a consensus.
In this study, I will attempt to demonstrate the incoherence that can be observed in Alexander Vovin’s interpretations, with an emphasis on Mongolic words of Turkic origin. This emphasis is due to the fact that more than a third of the vocabulary of the Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi inscriptions has solid Turkic comparands. These words account for 37 of the 108 lexemes glossed by Alexander Vovin, who only occasionally referred to their Turkic cognates. Considering the common vocabulary, the accuracy of Vovin’s interpretations and the affiliation of the language underlying both inscriptions are called into question.