Bulaqs

According to the dictionary of Mahmud al-Kashgari, their name, Bulaq, means "broad-backed horse" Károly Czeglédy and Lajos Ligeti deciphered the ethnonym from the Chinese sources (Old Chinese miə̯u-lâk Middle Chinese bu-lâk>Arabic bulaq) as mou-lo 謀落 or mou-la 謀剌. Omeljan Pritsak came to the same conclusion without referring to the previous scholar's works. As already Gyula Németh noted, the mi̯əu-lôk or miə̯u-lâk ~ bulaq is etymologically related to the colour of horses which was a usual tribal designation on the steppe. Dezső Pais states that the name originates from the Turkic balxu, (bal ("slice")+-ku or -xu suffix) meaning "branch" or "part". This was adopted by the Slavs as blach (singular) and blasi (plural). Turkologist László Rásonyi dismisses this claim and notes that Bulaq meant "white-piebald" horse in some Turkic languages and in Mongolian, while in Chagatai, "white-legged horse". ==History==

The people formed in the Lop Nor region, from where they migrated away around year zero due to desertification. The Chinese and Arab manuscripts mentioned the tribal names of the Karluks. According to the Chinese sources, the Bulaqs were one of the three core tribes of the Karluk confederation who lived in the Altai Mountains and were among the Western Turkic troops who were defeated in the Tang campaigns against the Western Turks in 650. In 657 CE, the Tang dynasty set up a Yinshan dudufu (district/prefecture; Yinshan mean "the dark mountain", Ildikó Ecsedy considers northern slopes of Tarbagatai Mountains Between 690s and 718 the three tribes allied themselves with the Göktürks (Second Turkic Khaganate) or Tang dynasty, while in 718 were conquered by Bilge Khagan and the Tang-aligned chiefs were replaced. Between mid-6th and mid-7th century the Karluk tribes migrated between Mongolian plateau, Altai, and regions south and west, depending on the political-diplomatic orientations of the Karluk yabgu. By 766 they were in possession of the cities of Suyab and Talas (in Arabic record: T. w. l. s., in Chinese: To-lo-se According to him, the Bulaqs became captives of the Kipchaks, but later regained their independence and thus came to be called with the former name. According to Rásonyi the name should be spelled as Ärkä Bulaq. which István Ferenczi related to the Bulaqs. Ferenczi argued that the records of slave sales from Kaffa also suggest that the word "Ivlach" denotes the Bulaqs, as well the Aulâq people, mentioned by Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur with the Russians, Hungarians and Bashkirs. The cartographers Johannes Schöner (1523) and Pierre Desceliers (1553) located the Blaci'' people north of the Caspian Sea. Rásonyi located Magna Blacia, Magna Bulgaria and Magna Hungaria as neighboring Bashkiria, based on missionaries' works from the Middle Ages. The Bulaqs are mentioned for the last time shortly after their conquest by the Russians in 1592. They lived in modern-day Tomsk Oblast, east of the Bashkirs and the Urals. ==Confusion with Vlachs==

depicted on Oroncé Finé's world map Nova Universi Orbis Descriptio (1531) According to the accounts of William of Rubruck and Roger Bacon, during the Huns migration to Europe "also came the Blacs, the Bulgars and the Vandals. For from that Greater Bulgaria come the Bulgars, who are beyond the Danube near Constantinople. And near the land of Pascatir (Magna Hungaria i.e. somewhere around the Ural Mountains and the Volga River from where came the Huns) are the Iliac (Blachi from greater Blachia, from which came the Blachi in the land Assani between Constantinople and Bulgaria and lesser Hungary depicted on the Johannes Schöner's terrestrial globe (1523/24) The remark by Simon of Kéza from his work Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum about the Székelys living in the mountains which they shared with the Vlachs, where mingled with them, and adopted their alphabet, sparked a controversy about the Old Hungarian script (Rovás), while other scholars noticed that Simon did distinguish between Ulahis (Vlachs) and Blackis while some scholars identified the Blacki people with the Bulaqs. Moreover, the Old Hungarian script is deemed as related to the Old Turkic script by linguists. Johannes de Thurocz, in his work Chronica Hungarorum called the alphabet of the Székelys "Scythian letters". Prominent Hungarian linguist, Gyula Németh notes in his work A magyar rovásírás that the writings found in the Talas river valley show close similarity. A diploma of King Andrew II and a letter of Pope Innocent III, both written in 1222, mention the "land of the Blacs" () between the Olt and the Carpathians. In 1223, another diploma of the king "exempts from the Blacs" () and gifts part of this land to the Order of the Cictercians. The document provides details of the territory, no toponyms mentioned originate from the Romanian language. while Ervin Láczay believes that Sturluson referred to the "forest of the Blacs and Pechenegs" (), to which the Transylvanian Saxons were given access in 1224. Géza Nagy continues his theory, saying that the possible early name of the Bulgarians, alogo ("great", see Alogobotur), was confused by documenters. French sinologist Paul Pelliot also tried to prove that the Illac and Lac recorded by Marco Polo, William of Rubruck and Roger Bacon aren't identical with the Ulac (Vlach). Anonymus writes about the Blacs "the inhabitants of the land, seeing the death of their lord, giving the right hand of their own free will chose to themselves as lord Tuhutum, father of Horca, and in that place which is called Esculeu, they confirmed their pledge with an oath...". This conforms the Turkic custom, but would've been impossible for the Vlachs. László Rásonyi, after protractedly analyzing Transylvanian toponyms and personal names, found the linguistic evidence to prove Bulaq presence there sufficient. György Bodor says that diplomas verify that in 1225 the Transylvanian Bulaqs, along with many other border guarding peoples were annexed by the Székely seats and assimilated. György Györffy wrote in his work that "regarding the Blak ethnicity, Mongol sources can be brought up to testify that they talk about the Turkic Blak, Ulaq element". Criticism According to Romanian historian Victor Spinei, beside the etymological and historical differences between the terms Blaci and Bulaqs, there is not a single historical or archaeological indication for a possible Bulaqs migration towards the Carpathian-Balkan area. Also, it is impossible to explain how such insignificant population was unassimilated for several centuries far from the place of origin. László Makkai wrote that although "there has been some speculation that Anonymus' Blaks were the Turkic people who are mentioned in medieval sources as bearing the same name and living east of the Carpathians, but this hypothesis does not bear the test of scholarly scrutiny". István Vásáry noted that Rásonyi tried to prove the '' of Transylvania were not the Vlachs, but Turkic people Bulaqs'' who were confused with the Vlachs. He said that "in the case of the term , we cannot but conclude that it was used to designate the Vlakhs". ==See also==