Cepenkov, Marko, 1829-1920

Marko Kostov Tsepenkov (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Марко Костов Цепенков; 1829 – 1920) was a Bulgarian folklorist from Ottoman Macedonia. In his own time, he identified himself, his compatriots and his language as Bulgarian. He was born in Prilep. After WWII, his native dialect was reclassified as part of the newly codified Macedonian language, and according to the subsequently developed Macedonian historiography, he was an ethnic Macedonian writer and poet. Nevertheless, according to the Macedonian researcher Blaže Ristovski, who was director of the Institute of folklore "Marko Cepenkov" in Skopje, there is no document where Tsepenkov presented himself as an ethnic Macedonian.