The origins of Hunnish Runic Writing (10) The direction of reading and characters

   

The direction of reading and characters

 

Although no rule has survived, according to common belief Székely writing is directed from right to left. One of those who share this view is Gyula Németh, the father of the mistaken theories taught at Hungarian universities. He tries to support the Turkish origin of Székely by saying, "In both scripts the direction of the lines is from right to left" (Németh/1934/28). That cliché is often repeated by those who do not take the trouble to verify this statement of the well-known turcologist. Even Gyula Németh mentions dissimilar data, but leaves them out of consideration when reconstructing the rule for line direction.

Later he wrote, "with the exception of the Constantinopole inscription", which is directed from left to right, and even its characters are reversed. Gyula Németh says the writer wanted to make deciphering more difficult as it was written as a secret message. It is possible, as there must have been a serious reason to mirror pictorial characters.

Fig. 18 Some syllabic signs according to Thelegdi, and their parallels marking similar sound-groups.

(Turkish runes, Syllabic signs according to Thelegdi, syllabic signs from Nikolsburg and one syllabic sign from Csíkszentmihály (bottom))

 

He also gives an account of the views of István Szamosközi, Hungarian historian, (d. 1612), who was familiar with Székely runic script, "Characters in Székely script are directed from top to bottom" (Németh/1934/17). That less well-known rule is supported by examples, such as the "aNTaL" ligature in runic calendar, ligature "eGY USTeN" from Énlaka, and a hieroglyph inscription in a Hunnish buckle "ÕS éG". These are the representatives of several thousand years of tradition that is in connection with Hittite and Chinese writing culture (Figs. 14, 22). They are short relics which could have preserved the memory of longer texts carved in wooden pillars (e.g. wooden grave-posts) that rotted away long ago.

Szamosközi himself used the rule of line direction quite loosely, surely because he could not have read Gyula Németh's authoritative declaration. In his poem written in 1604 to revile emperor Rudolph, Szamosközi wrote the title from right to left, while the runic words in the Latin text "Bellis furialibus" (with threatening troops) and "peste kryore fame" (penury, blood, plague) totally (both the letters and the words) from left to right (Forrai/1994/309). In Szamosközi's Hungarian report on the mother of Sigismund Báthori (reigning prince of Transylvania), the characters should be read from right to left, the words from left to right (Ferenczi/1997/6).

Thelegdi uses the same method in his example sentence "Neve vala János" (His name was János). He writes the words from left to right, but the characters facing left.

 Fig. 19 Székely order of characters and its parallels

(Nikolsburg, Ugaritic, Etruscan, Latin, Khazar, Phoenician, Aramean, Pehlevi, Greek)

 

 The hieroglyph inscription in bone on the Avar saltcellar from Sopronkõhida is another example for loose application of line direction rules. Its writing is once directed from right to left and then from left to right to have a symmetric picture at the end (Fig. 22).

The direction of the runic line in the Hunnish bronze fibula is also left to right (Fig. 25). In 1574 Pál Jancsó wrote three words in runic letters from left to right in a book of the Székelyudvarhely Academic Library (Ferenczi/1997/12). Most modern applications of Székely script follow the left to right direction, like the runic words on the flag Ildikó Csete made for the church in Pusztaszer.

The direction of the ligature "ALBeRT" in the runic calendar is special. The characters of this word are drawn around the character "b" clockwise. The composition is similar to the monograms of the Hungarian king, St. Stephen and Frankish rulers.

It might be explained by the influence of Latin literacy, though original Latin and Semitic scripts do not use this decorative ligature technique, while in the East it has long-standing traditions. Probably this eastern custom was transmitted by Avars to the Franks, who applied it to Latin characters, improved it, which in turn could eventually have affected Avar and Hungarian script.

Writing direction depends on writing technology, and it changes only some time after the change in the writing material. The length of time between the two changes depends on the speed of the economic and cultural development of the community that uses the writing.

The use of paper demands a left-to-right writing to fit the direction of fingers on the right hand, which is holding the pen, and to avoid smudging the ink. Székely script was pushed to the background by Latin just when a change was to come in Székely line direction. Therefore, the transformation process got stuck at that stage. However, this odd stage characterizes the tradition better than Gyula Németh's declaration, for line direction has always adjusted itself to writing technology and the special requirements (graphical composition or secrecy) of the applications.

Gábor Vékony, who tried to deduce Székely script from the right-left directed Aramean, wrote, "The right-left direction of the writing is often explained by the fact that if the tally was held in the left hand, they could only carve with the right hand. On the other hand, I must say that writing tradition is always stronger than to be influenced by such technological circumstances. Székely runic script must follow the right-left direction, because originally it was connected to such writing systems that also followed that rule."

In fact writing direction can be a function of the origins of the writing system (past writing technology), but respect for traditions is rarely stronger than the rationalism to fit the writing material.

For example, Greek and Latin writing systems gave up the early right-to-left and bustrophedon (plough by ox) direction of writing, for they were not musty objects in museums, nor dogmas insisted on by clergy, but they were a conquering, triumphant culture’s everyday instruments of communication. As Latin writing became widely used, its direction had to be changed to make common use easier. The new direction had to be determined by writing technology.

However, we should also take into account Gábor Vékony's view; when searching for writings related to Székely, we should consider parallels of writing direction and writing technology, as Gyula Sebestyén did.

That is why Hittite writing is significant, which was also called "tally writing."  Even its variants engraved in stone followed bustrophedon direction, which suggests an earlier use of tally.

Hittite syllabic alphabets had different variants in different times and areas. The earliest variants of Hittite hieroglyphic script could provide information about Székely script. Unfortunately, early Hittite hieroglyphs have not been deciphered, and their origins have not been determined.[1]

The language of late Hittite hieroglyphic writing (1500-700 BC) merged with the Lykian language of the Greek era.

 [1] According to Gelb (1952/82), it originates in cultures around the Aegean Sea.

Contents

Preface to the English edition	7.
Preface	9.
History of the scientific views on the origins of Székely runic script	10.
Principles of deriving the origins of Székely script	26.
The development of writing	28.
The shapes of runes and the objects they represent	29.
The mythology, names, and sound values of runes	32.
Rituals and runic script	35.
Types and number of characters	37.
Order of characters	39.
Direction of reading and characters	48.
Syllabic signs	52.
The regular use of syllable and vowel signs	55.
The birth of letter scripts	58.
Comparing of writing systems	61.
The academic historical-geographical preconception	68.
The Turkish connection	70.
What the historical sources say	71.
Székely script of the Huns	73.
The age of the development of Székely character forms	79.
The age of unification of Székely character sets	82.
Hungarian vocabulary connected to writing	87.
Ligatures that survived millennia	92.
Migrations of peoples	97.
Summary	101.
Bibliography	109.

Varga Géza

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