Inscription 3 of the 10th century from Murfatlar (Basarabi village, Romania)

The paper proposes an interpretation of one of the most historically important Cyrillic inscriptions, i.e. the 10th century graffito (No. 3) from a rock monastery near the Murfatlar village (modern Rumania). The inscription consists of two parts. Only the first four lines reporting about the construction of a church dedicated to St. George have been interpreted adequately (K. Popkonstantinov and O. Kronsteiner). A relatively recent interpretation and full restoration of the text by A. A. Zaliznyak has not yet attracted due attention of the scientific community, though it puts this historically unique inscription in the context of relations between the monastery and the local community. The author explains this inscription as a record on tithe or a vow of two peasants in favor of the monastery (the St. George church). The proposed revision of the inscription helps clarify the interpretation of the phrase ‘performs' as ‘cultivates' while the term ‘kryn' (‘kriny) is read as a measure of land based on analogies with Russian medieval written sources rather than a measure of grain or size of stone vessels. The paper draws attention to the mentioning of the rye in the Old Slavic text of the 10th century.