Hungarian Runes ("Székely rovásírás" in Hungarian; also called "rovás") is a type of runic writing system used by the Magyars prior to 1000 AD. The first Catholic king of Hungary, St. Stephen I (István) ordered that all traditional writings be destroyed and that the Latin alphabet be adopted. However, this script remained in use in remote regions of Transylvania until the late 1850s. A very similar script was used by the Huns.

Origins

Hungarian Runes are not related to Germanic Runes, but derive from the Orkhon or Turkic Runic script.

The runic script was the first mentioned in the 13th-century chronicle of Simon Kézai , where he stated that the Székely combined with the Vlachs (Romanians) and used their script. The earliest surviving copy of the actual alphabet is a 1483 incunabulum, found at the library of the castle of Nikolsburg in Moravia.

They were usually written in clay boustrophedon style (alternating direction right to left and then left to right) or sticks. In some respects, they are more suitable for writing Hungarian than the Latin alphabet, because they include separate letters for all the phonemes of the Hungarian language.

Numbers of livestock were carved on sticks and the stick was then cut in two lengthwise to avoid later dispute. The numbers are almost the same as the Roman numerals. Also note that it does not contain the so called "foreign letters": dz, dzs, q, w, x and y, which only appear in foreign words.

Today

While it is not used actively, Hungarians treasure it, especially the Hungarians of Transylvania. The worldwide Hungarian Scout organisations are still teaching it today. They also have a political undertone, as today they are used by far-rightist groups in propaganda or graffiti across Hungary.

References

• István Riba, Reading the runes

External links

• Hungarian runic font
• Omniglot entry