Самсисът

The word самсис / samsis, а title of obscure origin and meaning, dating back to the First Bulgarian State, is given a first successful interpretation through similar or related words of the eastern branch of the Altaic languages. In them the word sam/samà means ‘line, letter, sign’, sis/siz/cis/ciz/{\v c}is/{\v c}iz/sizmak ‘draw, write and guess and read’. Because of these meanings the word as a whole means ‘drawing and guessing the signs’, i. e. it corresponds exactly to the well-known expression used by {\v C}ernorizec Hrab{\u a}r which says that the old Bulgarians „with lines and notches used to read and guess like real pagans“. The people who bore this title were probably court annalists who were able to understand and write Greek and Huns’ runic characters.