The origins of Hunnish Runic Writing (17) What the historical sources say

 

What the historical sources say

 

Sources from the earliest times have recorded, that the Steppe peoples used writing. For example, around 270 BC Berossos, the Chaldean historian wrote that the contemporary Scythians “liked writing history very much and wrote whole books about their rulers and brave warriors.” According to Plutocrat, Philostratos, Herodianus, Pliny and others, the Parthians also kept annals (Haussig identifies them with Avars, Bonfini calls them the relatives of Hungarians). The scripts of  Priskos,  Procopios and others confirm that the Huns, and contemporary Chinese sources confirm that the Turks possessed writing, too. Archaeological finds support all these sources. That means that steppe empires identified as Hungarian or related to the Hungarians were literate from the earliest times.

The literacy of the Hungarian conquerors and Székelys is mentioned in unquestionably reliable sources.

One of these sources is Saint Constantine's (Cyrill) legend. Constantine, who created the first Slavic script called Glagolitic in 861, while he was in Venice and Rome, trying to obtain permission for use of the Slavic script, referred to the Hungarians and Avars as peoples with their own scripts and books (H. Tóth/1981). Cyrill met the Hungarians twice while they were preparing for the conquest, and he also knew the Avars (Székelys of Hunnish and Avar origin) who were ruled by the Franks at that time. Therefore the opposite of the academic theory about the Glagolitic origin of some Székely runes is more acceptable.

Kézai Simon's Chronicle from 1282 says, “Székelys and Blachs were given a part of the country in the border mountains, they mixed and Székelys are said to use Blach script.” The same is written in the 1358 Képes Krónika (Illustrated Chronicle), but here Vlachs (Vlachis) are mentioned instead of Blachs (Blachis). Blach can be identified with the Vlach (Olah) and Olasz (Italian) and denote a Latinized people. The Olahs, however, did not have runic script, and the Italians had never lived in Transylvania, so they could not transmit their scripts to the Székelys.

An old map shows the homeland of Blachs in the area of Bashkiria. They can be the Ephtalite Hunnish Empire’s Parthians and Avars who accepted Christianity, i.e. became “Italicized.” Székely script could indeed have originated in their culture. On the basis of their religious traditions Kézai differentiated between the two Hungarian-speaking kindred peoples, the Hunnish-Székelys and the Avar-Székelys. In all likelihood, the Christian Ephtalites of Parthian-Avar origin kept their church records in runic script, which could explain why the runic script, though labeled pagan, has survived in Christian churches in Transylvania until today.

 

Fig. 25 Hunnish bronze fibula with the inscription “éSZAK” (North) from Hungary

 

Data in other chronicles also help clarify the origin of Székely script.

One such datum is the traditional name that Hungarian history writers used for runic script. Thúróczy, Bonfini and Szamosi called the runes Scythian letters. Benczédi Székely István's chronicle published in 1559 says that the Székelys “being a true people of Hunnia, have been using Székely letters to date.” Székely runic script is called Hunnish by Verancsics Antal (died in 1573), Thelegdi János (in his Rudimenta, 1598), Otrokócsi Fóris Ferenc (in 1693), and Hunnish-Scythian by Bél Mátyás (in 1718), and Dezsericzky József Ince (in 1749).

These names were neither baseless fabrications, nor just clichés referring to eastern origin. On the contrary, they are authentic data based on runic steppe chronicles, and the memory of a dynasty and a people of Hunnish origin, which several recently recognized or found sources support.

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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