Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Rohonczi Codex
Rohonczi Codex is a set of writings in a unknown writing system.
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History
The origin of the codex is uncertain, as it was donated in 1838 to the Hungarian Science Academy by Gusztav Batthyány , a Hungarian grof (noble), together with his entire library.
It was named after the city of Rohoncz, in Western Hungary (now Rechnitz , Austria), where it was kept until 1907, when it was moved to Budapest. In the same year, it is mentioned in a work by Bela Toth , "Rare Hungarian Writings". The codex was sent to a German researcher, Bernhard Jülg , professor at the Innsbruck University , but he failed to translate it and said that the codex has no meaning.
Features
The codex has 448 paper pages (12x10 cm), each one having between 9 and 14 rows of letters. Beside the text, there are 87 illustrations that include religious, laic and military scenes. The crude illustrations seem to indicate an environment where Christian, pagan and even Muslim religions coexist, as the symbols of the cross, semilune and sun/swastika are omnipresent.
The number of symbols used in the Codex is about 10 times higher than any known alphabet, but some letters are used rarely, so they might represent pictograms, instead of letters. The justification of the right margin would seem to imply the symbols were transcribed from right to left.
The study of the paper on which it is written shows that it is probably a Venetian paper made in the 1530s. However, it may be simply transcribed from an earlier source.
Language
The language in which it is written is unknown. Although Hungarian, Dacian, early Romanian or Cuman have been proposed, there is nothing that could indicate what language it is.
Translation
A translation has been attempted by Romanian philologist Viorica Enăchiuc, but the language (that ought to be Vulgar Latin or some kind of early Romanian) does not look at all like Romanian. The alleged translation indicates that it is a history of the Blaki (Vlachs) people in their fights against Cumans and Pechenegs.
External links
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