Editing Old Hungarian script (section)

== History ==

=== Origins ===
The precise date or origin of the script is unknown.
[[File:Campagna-bronz-fokostarto.jpg|right|thumb|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.<ref>Franz Altheim: Geschichte der Hunnen, vol. 1, p. 118</ref>
Linguist [[András Róna-Tas]] derives Old Hungarian from the [[Old Turkic script]],<ref>Róna-Tas (1987, 1988)</ref> itself recorded in inscriptions dating from {{circa|AD 720}}. 
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 [[File:F (rovásbetű).svg|15px|eF]] 'eF'.<ref name="greek_origin">''Új Magyar Lexikon'' (New Hungarian Encyclopaedia) – Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1962. (Volume 5) {{ISBN|963-05-2808-8}}</ref>

The modern Hungarian term for this script (coined in the 19th century), {{lang|hu|rovás}}, derives from the verb {{lang|hu|róni}} ('to score') which is derived from old [[Uralic languages|Uralic]], general Hungarian terminology describing the technique of writing ({{lang|hu|írni}} 'to write', {{lang|hu|betű}} 'letter', {{lang|hu|bicska}} 'knife, also: for carving letters') derive from Turkic,<ref name="turkic_ling_evidence">András Róna-Tas ''A magyar írásbeliség török eredetéhez'' (In: Klára Sándor (ed.) ''Rovás és Rovásírás'' p.9–14 — Szeged, 1992, {{ISBN|963-481-885-4}})</ref> which further supports transmission via Turkic alphabets.

=== Medieval Hungary ===
[[File:Rovasmap 9th century.jpg|thumb|300px|The area of Rovas script usage in the 9th and 10th centuries]]
[[File:Nikolsburg.gif|right|thumb|The alphabet of [[Mikulov|Nikolsburg]], 1483]]
Epigraphic evidence for the use of the Old Hungarian script in medieval Hungary dates to the 10th century, for example, from [[Homokmégy]].<ref name="homokmegy">István Fodor – György Diószegi – László Legeza: ''Őseink nyomában''. (On the scent of our ancestors) – Magyar Könyvklub-Helikon Kiadó, Budapest, 1996. {{ISBN|963-208-400-4}} (Page 82)</ref> 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 of Hungary|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]],<ref name="SimonKeza">Dóra Tóth-Károly Bera: ''Honfoglalás és őstörténet''. Aquila, Budapest, 1996. {{ISBN|963-8276-96-7}}</ref> where he stated that the [[Székelys]] may use the script of the [[Bulaqs|Blaks]].<ref>Bodor, György: ''A blakok''. In: Viktor Szombathy and [[Gyula László]] (eds.), ''Magyarrá lett keleti népek.'' Budapest, 1988, pp. 56–60.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00010/00048/pdf/EPA00010_hsr_2013_2.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-11-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114233641/http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00010/00048/pdf/EPA00010_hsr_2013_2.pdf |archive-date=2016-11-14 }}</ref><ref name="Ervin">{{citation|author=Láczay Ervin|title=A honfoglaláskori erdélyi blak, vagy bulák nép török eredete|url=http://mek.oszk.hu/05900/05927/05927.pdf|journal=Acta Historica Hungarica Turiciensia|pages=161–177|year=2005|isbn=9639349100}}</ref> [[Johannes de Thurocz|Johannes Thuróczy]] wrote in the [[Chronica Hungarorum]] that the [[Székelys]] did not forget the [[Scythians|Scythian]] letters and these are engraved on sticks by carving.<ref name="thuroczykronika.atw.hu">''Johannes Thuróczy: Chronica Hungarorum'' http://thuroczykronika.atw.hu/pdf/Thuroczy.pdf</ref>

{{Blockquote|''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 [[Bulaqs|Blackis]], where mingling with the [[Bulaqs|Blackis]] it is said they used their letters.''|[[Simon of Kéza]]: ''[[Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum]]''<ref>''Simon of Kéza: Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum'' https://mek.oszk.hu/02200/02249/02249.htm</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|''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.''|[[Johannes de Thurocz|Johannes Thuróczy]]: ''[[Chronica Hungarorum]]''<ref name="thuroczykronika.atw.hu">''Johannes Thuróczy: Chronica Hungarorum'' http://thuroczykronika.atw.hu/pdf/Thuroczy.pdf</ref>}}

=== Early Modern period ===
The Old Hungarian script became part of [[folk art]] in several areas during this period.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} 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 [[Inlăceni|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,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hosszú |first=Gábor |title=Heritage of Scribes. The Relation of Rovas Scripts to Eurasian Writing Systems |year=2013 |isbn=978-963-88-4374-6 |location=Budapest |language=en}}</ref> including examples from [[Chibed|Kibéd]], [[Cotuş|Csejd]], [[Ghindari|Makfalva]], [[Szolokma]], [[Târgu Mureş|Marosvásárhely]], [[Racu|Csíkrákos]], [[Mezőkeresztes]], [[Baia Mare|Nagybánya]], [[Turda|Torda]], Felsőszemeréd,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://felvidek.ma/2008/10/sokol-ersek-75-eves-nyugdij-sokolnak-nyugalom-a-magyaroknak/|title=Sokol érsek 75 éves – nyugdíj Sokolnak, nyugalom a magyaroknak? - Felvidék.ma|last=Felvidék.Ma|date=4 September 2023 }}</ref> [[Kecskemét]] and [[Kiskunhalas]].

=== Scholarly discussion ===
Hungarian script<ref>[[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. {{ISBN|0-7123-0270-0}}. pp. 143. Coulmas, Florian. 1996. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. {{ISBN|0-631-19446-0}}. pp.&nbsp;366-368</ref> was first described in late [[Renaissance Humanism|Humanist]]/[[Baroque]] scholarship by [[János Telegdy]] in his primer {{lang|la|Rudimenta Priscae Hunnorum Linguae}}. 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 {{lang|hu|rovásírás}} ('runic writing') began to re-enter the popular consciousness in Hungary, and script historians in other countries began to use the terms "Old Hungarian", {{lang|de|Altungarisch}}, 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 [[Folkloristics|folklorist]], and [[Gyula Németh (linguist)|Gyula (Julius) Németh]], a philologist, linguist, and Turkologist, did the lion's share of this work. Sebestyén's publications, {{lang|hu|Rovás és rovásírás}} (''Runes and runic writing'', [[Budapest]], 1909) and {{lang|hu|A magyar rovásírás hiteles emlékei}} (''The authentic relics of Hungarian runic writing'', Budapest, 1915) contain valuable information on the topic.

=== Popular revival ===
[[File:2013.09.09 Balaton (3).JPG|thumb|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.<ref name="Max">Maxwell, Alexander (2004). [http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/674/article.pdf?sequence=3 "Contemporary Hungarian Rune-Writing: Ideological Linguistic Nationalism within a Homogenous Nation"], ''Anthropos'', 99: 2004, pp.&nbsp;161-175</ref>

Old Hungarian has seen other usages in the modern period, sometimes in association with or referencing [[Hungarian neopaganism]],{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} similar to the way in which [[Asatru|Norse neopagans]] have taken up the Germanic [[runes]], and [[Celtic Neopaganism|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 [[:hu:Sándor Klára|Klára Sándor]] said in an interview that most of the "romantic" statements about the script appear to be false.{{cn|reason=quotations *require* a citation|date=October 2024}} According to her analysis, the origin of the writing is probably [[wikt:runiform|runiform]] (and with high probability its origins are in the [[Old Turkic script|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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://vaskarika.hu/hirek/reszletek/4849/mit_kezdjunk_a_rovasirassal/ | title=Mit kezdjünk a rovásírással? | language=hu | trans-title=What shall we do with rovas? | publisher=vaskarika.hu | date=2019-09-12 | access-date=2020-11-10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.nyest.hu/renhirek/sandor-klara-a-szekely-irasrol | title=Ősmagyar örökség? Humanista hamisítvány? | trans-title=Ancient Hungarian Heritage? Humanist Hoax? | language=hu | date=2010-10-25 | access-date=2020-11-10 | publisher=Nyest.hu | author=László Fejes }}</ref>

The use of the script often has a political undertone as it is often used along with [[Hungarian irredentism|irredentist]] or [[Nationalism|nationalist]] propaganda, and they can be found from time to time in graffiti with a variety of content.<ref name="Max"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://444.hu/2017/04/24/egy-honapig-senkinek-se-tunt-fel-hogy-lecsereltek-erd-rovasirasos-tablajat | title=Egy hónapig senkinek se tűnt fel, hogy lecserélték Érd rovásírásos tábláját | trans-title=Nobody have noticed for a month that the rovas sign of Érd was replaced | date=2017-04-24 | publisher=444.hu | access-date=2020-11-10 | language=hu }}</ref>