Old Hungarian script

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The Old Hungarian script or Hungarian runes (Template:Langx, 'székely-magyar runiform', or Script error: No such module "Lang".) is an alphabetic writing system used for writing the Hungarian language. Modern Hungarian is written using the Latin-based Hungarian alphabet. The term "old" refers to the historical priority of the script compared with the Latin-based one.[1] The Old Hungarian script is a child system of the Old Turkic alphabet.

The Hungarians settled the Carpathian Basin in 895. After the establishment of the Christian Hungarian kingdom, the old writing system was partly forced out of use during the rule of King Stephen, and the Latin alphabet was adopted. However, among some professions (e.g. shepherds who used a "rovás-stick" to officially track the number of animals) and in Transylvania, the script has remained in use by the Székely Magyars, giving its Hungarian name Script error: No such module "Lang".. The writing could also be found in churches, such as that in the commune of Atid.

Its English name in the ISO 15924 standard is Old Hungarian (Hungarian Runic).[2][3]

Name

In modern Hungarian, the script is known formally as Script error: No such module "Lang". ('Szekler script').[4] The writing system is generally known as Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang".,[4] and Script error: No such module "Lang". (or simply Script error: No such module "Lang". 'notch, score').[5]

History

Origins

The precise date or origin of the script is unknown.

File:Campagna-bronz-fokostarto.jpg
Axe socket found near Campagna.

Origins of the Turkic scripts are uncertain. According to some opinions, ancient Turkic runes descend from primaeval Turkic graphic logograms.[6] Linguist András Róna-Tas derives Old Hungarian from the Old Turkic script,[7] itself recorded in inscriptions dating from Template:Circa. Speakers of Proto-Hungarian would have come into contact with Turkic peoples during the 7th or 8th century, in the context of the Turkic expansion, as is also evidenced by numerous Turkic loanwords in Proto-Hungarian.

All the letters but one for sounds which were shared by Turkic and Ancient Hungarian can be related to their Old Turkic counterparts. Most of the missing characters were derived by script internal extensions, rather than borrowings, but a small number of characters seem to derive from Greek, such as eF 'eF'.[8]

The modern Hungarian term for this script (coined in the 19th century), Script error: No such module "Lang"., derives from the verb Script error: No such module "Lang". ('to score') which is derived from old Uralic, general Hungarian terminology describing the technique of writing (Script error: No such module "Lang". 'to write', Script error: No such module "Lang". 'letter', Script error: No such module "Lang". 'knife, also: for carving letters') derive from Turkic,[9] which further supports transmission via Turkic alphabets.

Medieval Hungary

File:Rovasmap 9th century.jpg
The area of Rovas script usage in the 9th and 10th centuries
File:Nikolsburg.gif
The alphabet of Nikolsburg, 1483

Epigraphic evidence for the use of the Old Hungarian script in medieval Hungary dates to the 10th century, for example, from Homokmégy.[10] The latter inscription was found on a fragment of a quiver made of bone. Although there have been several attempts to interpret it, the meaning of it is still unclear.

In 1000, with the coronation of Stephen I of Hungary, Hungary (previously an alliance of mostly nomadic tribes) became a kingdom. The Latin alphabet was adopted as official script; however, Old Hungarian continued to be used in the vernacular.

The runic script was first mentioned in the 13th century Chronicle of Simon of Kéza,[11] where he stated that the Székelys may use the script of the Blaks.[12][13][14] Johannes Thuróczy wrote in the Chronica Hungarorum that the Székelys did not forget the Scythian letters and these are engraved on sticks by carving.[15]

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There were still three thousand Huns who fled the battle of Crimhild, who fearing from the western nations, they remained on the cliff field until the time of Árpád, and they did not call themselves Huns, but Szekelys. These Szekelys were the remains of the Huns, who when they learned that the Hungarians had returned to Pannonia for the second time, went to the returnees on the border of Ruthenia and conquered Pannonia together, but not on the Pannonian plane, they were granted estates in the mountainous borderlands together with the Blackis, where mingling with the Blackis it is said they used their letters.

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It is said that in addition to the Huns who escorted Csaba, from the same nation, three thousand more people retreating, cut themselves out of the said battle, remained in Pannonia, and first established themself in a camp called Csigla's Field. They were afraid of the Western nations which they harassed in Attila's life, and they marched to Transylvania, the frontier of the Pannonian landscape, and they did not call themselves Huns or Hungarians, but Siculus, in their own word Székelys, so that they would not know that they are the remnants of the Huns or Hungarians. In our time, no one doubts, that the Székelys are the remnants of the Huns who first came to Pannonia, and because their people do not seem to have been mixed with foreign blood since then, they are also more strict in their morals, they also differ from other Hungarians in the division of lands. They have not yet forgotten the Scythian letters, and these are not inked on paper, but engraved on sticks skillfully, in the way of the carving. They later grew into not insignificant people, and when the Hungarians came to Pannonia again from Scythia, they went to Ruthenia in front of them with great joy, as soon as the news of their coming came to them. When the Hungarians took possession of Pannonia again, at the division of the country, with the consent of the Hungarians, these Székelys were given the part of the country that they had already chosen as their place of residence.

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Early Modern period

The Old Hungarian script became part of folk art in several areas during this period.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". In Royal Hungary, Old Hungarian script was used less, although there are relics from this territory, too. There is another copy – similar to the Nikolsburg Alphabet – of the Old Hungarian alphabet, dated 1609. The inscription from Énlaka, dated 1668, is an example of the "folk art use".

There are a number of inscriptions ranging from the 17th to the early 19th centuries,[17] including examples from Kibéd, Csejd, Makfalva, Szolokma, Marosvásárhely, Csíkrákos, Mezőkeresztes, Nagybánya, Torda, Felsőszemeréd,[18] Kecskemét and Kiskunhalas.

Scholarly discussion

Hungarian script[19] was first described in late Humanist/Baroque scholarship by János Telegdy in his primer Script error: No such module "Lang".. Published in 1598, Telegdi's primer presents his understanding of the script and contains Hungarian texts written with runes, such as the Lord's Prayer.

In the 19th century, scholars began to research the rules and the other features of the Old Hungarian script. From this time, the name Script error: No such module "Lang". ('runic writing') began to re-enter the popular consciousness in Hungary, and script historians in other countries began to use the terms "Old Hungarian", Script error: No such module "Lang"., and so on. Because the Old Hungarian script had been replaced by Latin, linguistic researchers in the 20th century had to reconstruct the alphabet from historic sources. Gyula Sebestyén, an ethnographer and folklorist, and Gyula (Julius) Németh, a philologist, linguist, and Turkologist, did the lion's share of this work. Sebestyén's publications, Script error: No such module "Lang". (Runes and runic writing, Budapest, 1909) and Script error: No such module "Lang". (The authentic relics of Hungarian runic writing, Budapest, 1915) contain valuable information on the topic.

Popular revival

File:2013.09.09 Balaton (3).JPG
Welcome sign in Latin and in Old Hungarian script for the town of Vonyarcvashegy, Hungary

Beginning with Adorján Magyar in 1915, the script has been promulgated as a means for writing modern Hungarian. These groups approached the question of representation of the vowels of modern Hungarian in different ways. Adorján Magyar made use of characters to distinguish a/á and e/é but did not distinguish the other vowels by length. A school led by Sándor Forrai from 1974 onward did, however, distinguish i/í, o/ó, ö/ő, u/ú, and ü/ű. The revival has become part of a significant ideological nationalist subculture present not only in Hungary (largely centered in Budapest), but also amongst the Hungarian diaspora, particularly in the United States and Canada.[20]

Old Hungarian has seen other usages in the modern period, sometimes in association with or referencing Hungarian neopaganism,Script error: No such module "Unsubst". similar to the way in which Norse neopagans have taken up the Germanic runes, and Celtic neopagans have taken up the ogham script for various purposes.

Controversies

Not all scholars agree with the "Old Hungarian" notion, mainly based on the actual literary facts. The linguist and sociolinguist Klára Sándor said in an interview that most of the "romantic" statements about the script appear to be false.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". According to her analysis, the origin of the writing is probably runiform (and with high probability its origins are in the western Turkic runiform writings) and it's not a different writing system and contrary to the sentiment the writing is neither Hungarian nor Székely-Hungarian; it is a Székely writing since there are no authentic findings outside the historic Székely lands (mainly today's Transylvania); the only writing found around 1000 AD had a different writing system. While it may have been sporadically used in Hungary its usage was not widespread. The "revived" writing (in the 1990s) was artificially expanded with (various) "new" letters which were unneeded in the past since the writing was cleanly phonetic, or the long vowels which were not present back in the time. The shape of many letters were substantially changed from the original. She stated that no works since 1915 have reached the expected quality of the state of the linguistic sciences, and many were influenced by various agendas.[21][22]

The use of the script often has a political undertone as it is often used along with irredentist or nationalist propaganda, and they can be found from time to time in graffiti with a variety of content.[20] Since most of the people cannot read the script it has led to various controversies, for example when the activists of the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party (opposition) exchanged the rovas sign of the city Érd to szia 'Hi!', which stayed unnoticed for a month.[23]

Epigraphy

File:Marsigli script.gif
Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli's work (1690), The copied script derives from 1450

The inscription corpus includes:

  • A labeled crest etched into stone from Pécs, late 13th century (Label: aBA SZeNTjeI vaGYUNK aKI eSZTeR ANna erZSéBeT; We are the saints [nuns] of Aba; who are Esther, Anna and Elizabeth.)Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  • Rod calendar, around 1300, copied by Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli in 1690.[24] It contains several feasts and names, thus it is one of the most extensive runic records.
  • Nicholsburg alphabet[25]
  • Runic record in Istanbul, 1515.[26]
  • Székelyderzs: a brick with runic inscription, found in the Unitarian churchScript error: No such module "Unsubst".
  • Énlaka runic inscription, discovered by Balázs Orbán in 1864[25][27]
  • Székelydálya: runic inscription, found in the Calvinist churchScript error: No such module "Unsubst".
  • The inscription from Felsőszemeréd (Horné Semerovce), Slovakia (15th century)Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Characters

The runic alphabet included 42 letters. As in the Old Turkic script, some consonants had two forms, one to be used with back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú) and another for front vowels (e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű). The names of the consonants are always pronounced with a vowel. In the old alphabet, the consonant-vowel order is reversed, unlike today's pronunciation (ep rather than ). This is because the oldest inscriptions lacked vowels and were rarely written down, similar to other ancient languages' consonant-writing systems (Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, etc.). The alphabet did not contain letters for the phonemes dz and dzs of modern Hungarian, since these are relatively recent developments in the language's history. Nor did it have letters corresponding to the Latin q, w, x and y. The modern revitalization movement has created symbols for these; in Unicode encoding, they are represented as ligatures.

For more information about the transliteration's pronunciation, see Hungarian alphabet.

Letter Name Phoneme (IPA) Old Hungarian (image) Old Hungarian (Unicode)
A a Script error: No such module "IPA". File:A (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Á á Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Á (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
B eb Script error: No such module "IPA". File:B (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
C ec Script error: No such module "IPA". File:C (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
Cs ecs Script error: No such module "IPA". File:CS (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
D ed Script error: No such module "IPA". File:D (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
(Dz) dzé Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Dz (rovásbetű) JB.svg Ligature of Template:Script and Template:Script
(Dzs) dzsé Script error: No such module "IPA". File:DZS (rovásbetű) JB.svg Ligature of Template:Script and Template:Script
E e Script error: No such module "IPA". File:E (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
É é Script error: No such module "IPA". File:É (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
F ef Script error: No such module "IPA". File:F (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
G eg Script error: No such module "IPA". File:G (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Gy egy Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Gy (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
H eh Script error: No such module "IPA". File:H (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
I i Script error: No such module "IPA". File:I (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Í í Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Í (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
J ej Script error: No such module "IPA". File:J (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
K ek Script error: No such module "IPA". File:K (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
K ak Script error: No such module "IPA". File:K-ak-(rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
L el Script error: No such module "IPA". File:L (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Ly elly, el-ipszilon Script error: No such module "IPA". File:LY (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
M em Script error: No such module "IPA". File:M (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
N en Script error: No such module "IPA". File:N (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Ny eny Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ny (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
O o Script error: No such module "IPA". File:O (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Ó ó Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ó (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Ö ö Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ö (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Ő ő Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ő (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
P ep Script error: No such module "IPA". File:P (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
(Q) eq (Script error: No such module "IPA".) File:Q (rovásbetű).svg Ligature of Template:Script and Template:Script
R er Script error: No such module "IPA". File:R (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
S es Script error: No such module "IPA". File:S (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
Sz esz Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Sz (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
T et Script error: No such module "IPA". File:T (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Ty ety Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ty (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
U u Script error: No such module "IPA". File:U (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
Ú ú Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ú (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
Ü ü Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ü (rovásbetű) JB.svg File:Ü-zárt (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Ű ű Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Ű (rovásbetű).svg File:Ű-nyílt (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
V ev Script error: No such module "IPA". File:V (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script
(W) dupla vé Script error: No such module "IPA". File:W (rovásbetű).svg Ligature of Template:Script and Template:Script
(X) iksz (Script error: No such module "IPA".) File:X (rovásbetű) JB.svg Ligature of Template:Script and Template:Script
(Y) ipszilon Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Y (rovásbetű) JB.svg Ligature of Template:Script and Template:Script
Z ez Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Z (rovásbetű) JB.svg Template:Script
Zs ezs Script error: No such module "IPA". File:Zs (rovásbetű).svg Template:Script

The Old Hungarian runes also include some non-alphabetical runes which are not ligatures but separate signs. These are identified in some sources as "Script error: No such module "Lang"." (likely a misspelling of Script error: No such module "Lang".[28]). Further research is needed to define their origin and traditional usage. Some common examples are:

Features

Old Hungarian letters were usually written from right to left on sticks.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Later, in Transylvania, they appeared on several media. Writings on walls also were right to leftScript error: No such module "Unsubst". and not boustrophedon style (alternating direction right to left and then left to right).

File:1-1000 Rovásszámok.svg
Hungarian numerals

The numbers are almost the same as the Roman, Etruscan, and Chuvash numerals. Numbers of livestock were carved on tally sticks and the sticks were then cut in two lengthwise to avoid later disputes.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 50 100 500 1000
File:ROVAS NUMERAL 1.svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 2.svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 3.svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 4.svg File:5 (rovásbetű).svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 6 RTL.svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 7 RTL.svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 8 RTL.svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 9 RTL.svg File:ROVAS NUMERAL 10.svg File:50 (rovásbetű).svg File:100 (rovásbetű).svg File:Rovas 500.svg File:1000 (rovásbetű).svg
Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script
  • Ligatures are common. (Note: the Hungarian runic script employed a number of ligatures. In some cases, an entire word was written with a single sign similar to a bind rune.) The Unicode standard supports ligatures explicitly by using the zero width joiner between the two characters.[29]
  • There are no lower or upper case letters, but the first letter of a proper name was often written a bit larger. Though the Unicode standard has upper and lowercase letters, which are the same in shape, the difference is only their size.
  • The writing system did not always mark vowels (similar to many Asian writing systems). The rules for vowel inclusion were as follows:
    • If there are two vowels side by side, both have to be written, unless the second could be readily determined.
    • The vowels have to be written if their omission created ambiguity. (Example: Script error: No such module "Lang".Template:Script can be interpreted as Script error: No such module "Lang".Template:Script (wheel) and Script error: No such module "Lang".Template:Script (rounded), thus the writer had to include the vowels to differentiate the intended words.)
    • The vowel at the end of the word must be written.
  • Sometimes, especially when writing consonant clusters, a consonant was omitted. This is a phonologic process, with the script reflecting the exact surface realization.

Text example

Text From Csikszentmárton, 1501
Text From Csikszentmárton, 1501

Text from Csíkszentmárton, 1501. Runes originally written as ligatures are underlined.

Unicode transcription: Template:Script

Interpretation in old Hungarian: "ÚRNaK SZÜLeTéSéTÜL FOGVÁN ÍRNaK eZeRÖTSZÁZeGY eSZTeNDŐBE MÁTYáS JÁNOS eSTYTáN KOVÁCS CSINÁLTáK MÁTYáSMeSTeR GeRGeLYMeSTeRCSINÁLTÁK G IJ A aS I LY LY LT A" (The letters actually written in the runic text are written with uppercase in the transcription.)

Interpretation in modern Hungarian: "(Ezt) az Úr születése utáni 1501. évben írták. Mátyás, János, István kovácsok csinálták. Mátyás mester (és) Gergely mester csinálták gijas ily ly lta"

English translation: "(This) was written in the 1501st year of our Lord. The smiths Matthias, John (and) Stephen did (this). Master Matthias (and) Master Gregory did (uninterpretable)

Unicode

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". After many proposals[30] Old Hungarian was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2015 with the release of version 8.0.

The Unicode block for Old Hungarian is U+10C80–U+10CFF:

Template:Unicode chart Old Hungarian

Pre-Unicode encodings

A set of closely related 8-bit code pages exist, devised in the 1990s by Gabor Hosszú. These were mapped to Latin-1 or Latin-2 character set fonts. After installing one of them and applying their formatting to the document – because of the lack of capital letters – runic characters could be entered in the following way: those letters which are unique letters in today's Hungarian orthography are virtually lowercase ones, and can be written by simply pressing the specific key; and since the modern digraphs equal to separate rovás letters, they were encoded as 'uppercase' letters, i.e. in the space originally restricted for capitals. Thus, typing a lowercase g will produce the rovás character for the sound marked with Latin script g, but entering an uppercase G will amount to a rovás sign equivalent to a digraph gy in Latin-based Hungarian orthography.

Gallery

See also

Notes

Template:Reflist

References

English

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Hungarian

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Latin

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External links

Template:Commons category-inline

Template:Hungary articles Template:List of writing systems

  1. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. Code request for the Rovas script in ISO 15924 (2012-10-20)Template:Dead link
  4. a b {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Szekely rovasiras.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handler
  5. by the public. From the verb Script error: No such module "Lang". 'to carve', 'to score' since the letters were usually carved on wood or sticks.
  6. Franz Altheim: Geschichte der Hunnen, vol. 1, p. 118
  7. Róna-Tas (1987, 1988)
  8. Új Magyar Lexikon (New Hungarian Encyclopaedia) – Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1962. (Volume 5) Template:ISBN
  9. András Róna-Tas A magyar írásbeliség török eredetéhez (In: Klára Sándor (ed.) Rovás és Rovásírás p.9–14 — Szeged, 1992, Template:ISBN)
  10. István Fodor – György Diószegi – László Legeza: Őseink nyomában. (On the scent of our ancestors) – Magyar Könyvklub-Helikon Kiadó, Budapest, 1996. Template:ISBN (Page 82)
  11. Dóra Tóth-Károly Bera: Honfoglalás és őstörténet. Aquila, Budapest, 1996. Template:ISBN
  12. Bodor, György: A blakok. In: Viktor Szombathy and Gyula László (eds.), Magyarrá lett keleti népek. Budapest, 1988, pp. 56–60.
  13. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. a b Johannes Thuróczy: Chronica Hungarorum http://thuroczykronika.atw.hu/pdf/Thuroczy.pdf
  16. Simon of Kéza: Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum https://mek.oszk.hu/02200/02249/02249.htm
  17. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. Diringer, David. 1947. The Alphabet. A Key to the History of Mankind. London: Hutchinson's Scientific and technical Publications, pp. 314-315. Gelb, I. J. 1952. A study of writing: The foundations of grammatology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 142, 144. Gaur, Albertine. 1992. A History of Writing. London: British Library. Template:ISBN. pp. 143. Coulmas, Florian. 1996. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Template:ISBN. pp. 366-368
  20. a b Maxwell, Alexander (2004). "Contemporary Hungarian Rune-Writing: Ideological Linguistic Nationalism within a Homogenous Nation", Anthropos, 99: 2004, pp. 161-175
  21. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. Klára Sándor: A bolognai rovásemlék, Szeged, 1991; Template:ISBN
  25. a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. Old Hungarian/Szekely-Hungarian Rovas Ad Hoc Committee: Old Hungarian/Sekely-Hungarian Rovas Ad hoc Report Template:Webarchive, 2012-11-12