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'''Kanasubigi''', possibly read as ''Kanas Ubigi'' or ''Kanas U Bigi'' was a title of the early rulers of the [[Bulgars]].

The title ''khan'' for early [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] rulers is an assumed one, as only the form ''kanasubigi'' or "kanasybigi"<ref>Florin Curta, Roman Kovalev, “The” Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans ; [papers ... Presented in the Three Special Sessions at the 40th and 42nd Editions of the International Congress on Medieval Studies Held at Kalamazzo in 2005 and 2007], BRILL, 2008, p. 363, ISBN 9789004163898</ref> is attested in stone inscriptions. Historians presume that it includes the title ''[[Khan (title)|khan]]'' in its archaic form ''kana'', and there is a presumptive evidence suggesting that the latter title was indeed used in Bulgaria, e.g. the name of one of the Bulgars rulers [[Pagan of Bulgaria|Pagan]] occurs in [[Ecumenical Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople|Patriarch Nicephorus]]'s so-called [[canonical hours|breviarium]] as {{lang|grc|Καμπαγάνος}} (''Kampaganos''), likely an erroneous rendition of the phrase "Kan Pagan".<ref>''Източници за българската история&nbsp;''. Fontes historiae bulgaricae, VI. Fontes graeci historiae Bulgaricae. БАН, София. p. 305 (in [[Byzantine Greek language|Byzantine Greek]] and Bulgarian). [http://kroraina.com/NI/izvori/GIBI_III/GIBI%20III.djvu Also available online]</ref> Among the proposed translations for the phrase ''kanasubigi'' as a whole are ''lord of the army'', from the reconstructed [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] phrase ''*sü begi'', paralleling the attested [[Old Turkic]] ''sü baši'',<ref>[http://www.promacedonia.org/vb/vb_5.html Veselin Beševliev, ''Prabylgarski epigrafski pametnici'' - 5<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and, more recently, "(ruler) from God", from the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] ''*su-'' and ''baga-'', i.e. ''*su-baga'' (an equivallent of the [[Greek language|Greek]] phrase {{lang|grc|ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἄρχων}}, ''ho ek Theou archon'', which is common in Bulgar inscriptions).<ref>[http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-0254.00077 ''Blackwell Synergy - Early Medieval Europe'', vol. 10, issue 1, pp. 1-19, March 2001 (Article Abstract)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> This titulature presumably persisted until the Bulgars adopted [[Christianity]].<ref>Sedlar, Jean W,. [https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0295972904&id=ANdbpi1WAIQC&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&ots=tORepYz_wR&dq=%22rulers+of+Bulgaria+bore+the+pagan+title%22&sig=FN2uD2BdpgIASa_Xm8pWw5tyjro ''East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500''], p. 46</ref> Some Bulgar inscriptions written in Greek and later in [[Old Church Slavonic|Slavonic]] refer to the Bulgarian ruler respectively with the Greek title ''archon'' or the [[Slavs|Slavic]] title ''[[knyaz]]''.<ref>Manassias Chronicle, Vatican transcription, p. 145, see [[Battle of Pliska]]</ref>

== Etymology ==

Etymologically, it may also be associated and well explained with Proto-Turkic word '''''kan''''' meaning "ancestor" (in modern Turkish "blood"). (N.B.: the words '''''khan''''' and '''''kagan''''' don't have the same origin, so that they probably can't explain '''''kana''''', although the meanings similar. The differentiation between '''''kana''''' and '''''kagan/khan''''' can clearly be made whenever these words are contained in [[Bulgar language|Bulgar]] names. The vowel '''''a''''' as junction vowel is common in Turkic languages; '''''su''''' ("water;" "river;" "lake") is pan-Turkic, and '''''bigi''''' might be a variant of ''''''begi'''''', both being variants of '''beyi''' "bey of", "lord of," "head of". Its specific positioning at the end of the word justifies the assumption that '''''bigi''''' means '''''begi''''' (i.e., '''''beyi'''''). Etimologically, structural integrity is supported by the homogeneity of the origins of the words that build the phrase '''kanasubigi'''. It probably was supposed to mean "ancestor of the lord of the rivers". Bulgars language was either a Central Asian Turkic dialect or may only have borrowed names from that language and preserved them after their assumed migration from Central Asia. The words ''kan'', ''su'' and ''bigi'' fit the phonetics and semantics of [[Proto-Turkic]] texts found in Central Asia (created around AD 732), written in the so-called [[Old Turkic script|Orkhon Script]]. It is also possible that it means 'honest (ruler) from God'/'military commander', from the Proto-Turkic roots '''*''su''-''' ("soldier, officer") and '''*''baj''-''' ("rich ruler; god; honest"), i.e. '''*''su-baj'''''.<ref>[http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=subay&x=-1309&y=-174 “subay”] in ''Nişanyan Dictionary''</ref><ref>[http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=bay&x=-1309&y=-174 “bay”] in ''Nişanyan Dictionary''</ref><ref>[http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/alt/turcet&text_number=+651&root=config&encoding=utf-eng “*baj (~ -ń)”], [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/alt/altet&text_number=+124&root=config “*bēǯu”] in [[Sergei Starostin]], [[Vladimir Dybo]], Oleg Mudrak (2003), ''Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'', Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers</ref> This titulature presumably persisted until the Bulgars adopted [[Christianity]].<ref>Sedlar 1994: 46</ref>

Kan/[[khagan]] was an [[Yuezhi]] title. According to Hyun Jin Kim the nomadic [[Yuezhi]] possessed political institutions that closely resemble the [[Xiongnu]] and later Hunnic models. The Chinese refer to the five xihou or Lords of the [[Yuezhi]] who rule the five tribes of their imperial confederation. According to [[Pulleyblank]] the [[Yuezhi]] were Indo-Europeans and they spoke a Tocharian type language.<ref>THE PEOPLES OF THE STEPPE FRONTIER IN EARLY CHINESE SOURCES, Edwin G. Pulleyblank, University of British Columbia, (1999), Summary, page 35</ref> The title xihou corresponds in the pronunciation to what would later become the Turkic title yubgu. This originally Yuezhi royal title appears on the coins of their rulers as IAPGU/yavuga<ref>"The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe", (2013, Cambridge University Press), Hyun Jin Kim</ref> and it came to the Xiongnu from the Yuezhi.<ref>Turks and Iranians: Aspects of Turk and Khazaro-IranianInteraction, Peter B. Golden, page 17, footnote 89, http://www.academia.edu/12349727/Turks_and_Iranians_An_historical_Sketch_in_Turkic-Iranian_Contact_Areas._Historical_and_Linguistic_Aspects_edited_by_Lars_Johanson_and_Christiane_Bulut_Wiesbaden_Harrassowitz_2006_17-38</ref> F. Hirth has successfully compared the transcription sihou (<*khiəp-g’u) with a title yavugo on the [[Yuezhi]]-Kushan coins from Kabulistan and yabγu of the ancient [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] monuments. This title is first of all an [[Yuezhi]] title, and it is a "true Tocharian" title. In the 11 BC an Yuezhi from the [[Xiongnu]] state fell in the Han captivity, he was a "chancellor" with the title sihou (yabgu). After 4 years he returned to the [[Xiongnu]] [[chanyu]]. [[Chanyu]] gave him his former post of a "second (after [[Chanyu]]) man in the state" and retained the title sihou (yabgu). The bearer of this high title did not belong to the [[Xiongnu]] dynastic line, but he was a member of the numerous [[Yuezhi]] autonomous diasporas in the [[Xiongnu]] confederation. This history suggests that in the [[Wusun]] (Asman, [[Ashina]]) state Butszü-sihou also was a yabgu. Among the [[Turkish people|Turks]], the title yabgu gained a new lease of life. In the Turkish inscriptions of Mongolia, it refers to a noble ranking immediately after the qagan.<ref>http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/jabguya</ref> Kuyan/gayan was a "common [[Yuezhi]] symbol for a terrestrial embodiment for the Moon and Milky Way".<ref>Yu. A. Zuev, EARLY TURKS: ESSAYS on HISTORY and IDEOLOGY, page 39</ref> The myth about Milky Way Kagan found some new aspects among [[Turkish people|Turks]] and [[Mongols]] but the essence remained the same.<ref>EARLY TURKS: ESSAYS on HISTORY and IDEOLOGY: Section1 :Yuezhi, Yu. A. Zuev, (2002): "The goddess Sivanmu lived with her grand daughter weaver Chjinui, who was weaving light clouds out of silk, on the spurs of Kunlun, on the bank of a terrestrial Silver river Inhe. Kunlun is sometimes identified with [[Yuezhi]] Tsilyan/Keglen/[[Qilian Mountains]]. On the opposite bank of the river lived a lonely oxen shepherd Nulan, passionately in love with the goddess-weaver. Crossing the river from time to time, once the oxen shepherd attained that she became his wife. Learning about the marriage of a simple shepherd with her grand daughter, Sivanmu became furious. To end the love encounters of the young, she moved the Silver river to the sky, and scratched it with her golden hairpin. The quiet smooth surface of the river became an insurmountable wild stream. The separated shepherd and weaver suffered so much that they became Oxen Shepherd (the star Altair of Aquila) and Weaver (the star Vega of Lyra) constellations on the opposing banks of the Silver river - Milky Way. The faithful Shepherd till now have not lost his hope to meet his beloved. Every night he tries in vain to drain water from the Silver river with a ladle, to cross to other bank."</ref>

[[Edwin G. Pulleyblank]], [[Yury Zuev]] and some modern [[Bulgaria]]n scholars identify the [[Bulgar]] [[Utigurs]] as one of the tribes of the [[Yuezhi]].<ref>Yu. A. Zuev, EARLY TURKS: ESSAYS on HISTORY and IDEOLOGY, p.38 and p.62 : " The Utigurs of Menandr are Uti, associated with Aorses of the Pliny "Natural history" (VI, 39). The word Uti was a real proto-type of a transcription Uechji < ngiwat-tie < uti (Pulleyblank, 1966, p. 18) "</ref><ref>http://www.protobulgarians.com/Kniga%20AtStamatov/Prarodina.htm</ref><ref>http://www.bulgari-istoria-2010.com/booksBG/P_Golijski_Tarim_i_Baktria.pdf</ref> According to [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank]] and [[Yury Zuev]] the Utigurs of Menandr are Uti, and the word Uti was a real proto-type of a transcription [[Yuezhi]] '''< Uechji < ngiwat-tie < uti'''.<ref>Pulleyblank, 1966, p. 18</ref>

*Hanswilhelm Haefs, ''Das goldene Reich der Pamir-Bulgaren an Donau und Wardar'' (p.&nbsp;120), ISBN 3-8334-2340-4