Shamsiddin Kamoliddin (Üzbég Tudomáyos Akadémia, Taskent)
On the Origin of the place-Name Buxārā*
This work is executed as a result of the scientific researches lead by the author in the British library (London) and the library of SOAS (London university), thanks to the special grant, given to the author in 2004 – 2005 by the Committee for Central and Internal Asia of the Cambridge university (Great Britain), for what the author brings to this university and its committee his sincerely gratitude
1. rész
There are several ancient place-names in Central Asia such as Āmū, Chāch, Xīwa, Samarqand, Chaghāniyān and some others, the origin of which till now remains unknown. Name of Buxārā, which is one of largest cities of the region, also belongs to this number. This name was mentioned for the first time on the earliest copper coins of Buxārā (4th – 5th c. AD) [Naymark, 1995, p. 37] with Sogdian inscriptions in forms Pugar (pwγ’r) and Puxar (pwx’r) [Smirnova, 1981, p. 34 (792 – 796); Smirnova, 1982, с. 143],. In the Sogdian sources (early 8th – 9th centuries AD) it was mentioned in forms Puγar (pwγ’r) and Puxar (pwx’r) [Sogdiyskie dokumenty, p.182; Henning, 1940, p. 10], and in the inscription of Kül-tegin (early 8th c. AD) – in form Buqar (buqar) [Malov, 1951, p. 19 – 20].
It was supposed, that this name originated from the Sanskrit word vihara, that means "a Buddhist monastery" [Frye, 1956, p. 106 – 119]. However, according to the norms of the Sogdian language, this name could not be transformed from a word vihara for which in the Sogdian used the word βrx’r [Lurje, 2004, p. 20]. In the New Persian language this word is transferred in form ﺭﺎﺨﺭﻓ farxār [Baevskiy, 1980, p. 88] or ﺭﺎﻬﺑ bihār [Hudūd al-‘ālem, f. 27A; Hudud al-‘Alam, p. 108], and in Arabic – in form ﺭﺎﻬﺑﻟﺍ al-bahār or al-buhār [al-Khowarezmi, p. 34]. Consequently, the writing pwx’r transfers the name sounding as buxar (buγar, buqar) or puxar (puγar, puqar), formed on the basis of a word of non-Sogdian [Tremblay, 2004, p. 122], probably, the Hephtalit origin [Livshits, Каufman, Diakonov, 1954, c. 155, 157]. There is a place-name Puxar in Siberia originated from the word (puxar), which in the Yeniseic languages (hanty) means "an island" [Мurzaev, 1984, p. 470]1.
In this connection the data of some sources which can throw light on a true origin of this word are of interest. According to Juwayni, the word ﺭ ﺎﺨﺑ (buxār), underlying the name Buxārā (ﺍﺭ ﺎﺨﺑ), meant in the language of the Mughs (ba-lug’at-i muγān) «the assembly of a science» (majma‘ ‘ilm), and in the language of the Buddhists (ba-lug’at-i but-parastān), the Uighur and the Chinese, it used for a designation of their temples where their idols (ma‘ābid ishān ke mawzi‘-i butān) were located. Therefore this city was named Buxārā, and formerly its name was Banuğkath بنجكث [Juwayni, vol. 1, p. 76; Bartold, 1963, p. 214]. In the old Uighur language the word ﺭ ﺎﺨﺑ (buxār) had a meaning "a temple" or "a chapel" [Budagov, 1869, vol. 1, p. 285]. Маhmūd Kāšgharī marked, that the city of Buxārā was named so because of the Buddhists temple, which was located there [Kašgarli, p. 111].
From these data follows, that name of the city of Buxārā could be originated from the word buxār, which was not a Sogdian, but a Turkic (Uighur) transfer of the Sanskrit word vihara (a Buddhist monastery). Consequently, it is possible to assume, that occurrence of this name has been connected with activity of some Turkic ruler, who reigned in pre-Islamic time in the Bukhara oasis.
1 There is an opinion, that many ancient place names of Central Asia have the Yenisei origin, and carriers of the Yeniseic languages made a significant part of the pre-Indoeuropeic population of Central Asia. See: Yaylenkо, 1990, p. 37 - 49.
