THRACIAN TOPONYMIC COMPONENT -PARA AND ANCIENT BULGARIAN WORD BOR

This article offers typological-linguistic comparative analysis of the Thracian toponymic component -PARA and the ancient Bulgarian word BOR. BOR can be seen in Bulgarian and east Iranian settlement names with the meaning ‘fortress embankment‘, ‘stone fence‘, ‘fortress‘, ‘fort‘. The comparison between them shows similar meaning of the Thracian settlement names with component PARA ‘fortified village‘ with initial meaning ‘wall‘, ‘(fortress) embankment, dike‘, ‘stone fence‘. This meaning is confirmed by the definition of the ancient authors for these settlements as ‘castles‘