The
order of characters
The question of character
order was raised by Gyula Németh, though he could not find any possible
answers, "The ancient order of the
characters is also unknown. The alphabets of Nikolsburg and Marsigli present
the characters roughly in the order of the Latin alphabet. When this order came
into being is not known." (Loc. cit. p 13.).
Fig. 13 Hieroglyph from
Fig. 14 Top: a ceiling panel
with runic script from the Unitarian
Middle: details of the
"Egy Isten" (god, the only) ligature.
Bottom right:
"nt/tn" character from the Nikolsburg alphabet
Fig. 15 Two pots from Korond
representing three-dimensional world models: a candlestick which has preserved
the symbolism of fire altars, with the characters "j', 'us", and
"ak" (fire representation symbolizing god is placed to the top and
the middle of world models); and a pitcher with variants of the runes
"m" (a road leading upwards) and "ak" (Ocean, brook)
Fig. 16 Tulips symbolizing
the Milky Way with the symbols "us" (progenitor) or "usten"
(god)
(Belt decoration from Karos
from the time of the Hungarian Conquest - the tulip and "usten"
symbols face about, because funeral customs were based on the view that
after-life is a mirror image;
Board for making noodles,
from
A part of a clothes beater from Milejszeg - the equivalent of the rune "s" is under the tulip referring to the edge of sarok (corner), that is the North Pole, and the rotation axis there, which is the pillar of the world.)
Fig. 17 Representations of
stags and turul-birds with the variants of the runes "j" (jó = good) and "us" (õs = progenitor)
(Scythian
stag from Tápiószentmárton; Hittite eagle with scrolls from Tell Halaf; there
are 15 scrolls in the turul representation on the scroll from Rakamaz from the
time of the Hungarian Conquest; Obi-Ugrian clan-symbols adapted from
Chernecov/1949)
According to Gábor Vékony,
"The original number and order of
Székely runic characters are not known. The alphabets we know present
characters in the order of the Latin alphabet, but the partly different system
of the Nikolsburg alphabet suggests that originally the order was different.
...Although in that order there are many sound-connections, but the order of
the 34 simple sounds does not follow the Latin alphabetic order either.
Character ty (aty) has a strange position near to hh and i, like the letter tet
in Aramean. ... Also the two k characters occur at two separate positions. ...
Although adjusting the order to the Latin alphabet has broken down the original
order, from these details it is evident that the ancestor of the Nikolsburg
alphabet followed the order of the Aramean alphabet, as the two variants of the
sounds t and k take similar positions there." (Vékony/1978/20)
The author's assertion is
not supported by facts: there is no data indicating that the Nikolsburg
alphabet was adjusted to the Latin one. The Nikolsburg set of characters
suggests just the opposite; the differences presented by Gábor Vékony prove the
lack of such an adjusting process. If we take into consideration the
similarities he failed to mention (e.g. character "u" missing from
Aramean, but occurs at the same position in the Nikolsburg, Ugaritic and Latin
alphabet), the theory of Aramean origin he asserted proves to be wrong. We
cannot agree with the author's unscientific procedure, however sharp eyes he
may have for these details, because he ascribes historical importance to one
difference in character order that makes finding the source possible, but
without any reason fails to do so in the case of another.
This and similar cases make
me understand why Klára Sándor - as she told me once on the phone - regards the
study of Székely runic script as "dangerous".
Obviously because this script is an authentic source and does not tolerate
false preconceptions.
According to Klára Sándor,
the character order is similar in the Marsigli alphabet and the Latin alphabet,
"however, at some places the order
is wrong" (Sándor/1991/59).
After referring to Ugaritic
script as "the first letter script",
Sándor Forrai wrote that it was illogical to trace back Hungarian runic script
only to Turkish (Forrai/1994/68).
His conjecture - which he
does not explained or prove - says more about the origin of the order of
Székely script characters than the above mentioned "academic" views.
Hungarian runes indeed
follow an order similar to Latin letters, however, as we shall see, it requires
another explanation. The order of Latin characters was not invented by the
Romans, for it had been used in Etruscan, Greek, and Semitic scripts several
centuries earlier. The first known script that arranged its characters in an
order similar to Latin was Ugaritic cuneiform script of Hurrian (?) origin used
in the second millennium BC. It is therefore more precise to say that the order
of Székely characters is indirectly or directly connected to the unknown
predecessor of the Ugaritic alphabet (Fig. 19).
The order of Székely
characters is not connected in any way to the partly known Turkish set of
characters, since known details exclude the possibility of a match
(Vékony/1987/20). The same applies to the German order of runes, which is not
called “alphabet,” but futhark, after
the first letters. That means Germans and Turks may have had their own
algorithm for establishing the order of characters at the time when
corresponding features developed in Székely, Turkish and German, while Semitic
scripts adopted the "Latin-like" order from the predecessor of
Székely script. The graphical prototypes of corresponding characters in figure
2 could have been created between the beginning of metal-working and the
appearance of Chinese script around the third millennium BC.
Nevertheless, why were
characters "u" and "v" put at the end of the
"Latin-like" order? There are two possible explanations. According to
the first, they became part of the character set that reflects religious values
at the same time as other characters. The reason for placing them at the end of
the line was that the original hieroglyph (possibly meaning "ancient
stone") had little religious importance. The other possible explanation is
that they were late additions to the end of the character set, when the symbols
in the character set had already lost their religious value, and the original
hieroglyph had also acquired the meaning of "some kind of metal, object
made of metal" (cf. Hurrian ushu
"copper"). In both cases we can suppose, that the first
"Latin-like" character order developed at the beginning of the Metal
Age.
As it is evident from the
above quotations, various differences in order have not been considered
significant (except by Gábor Vékony), even though these are also important
data. Just as a careful teacher can find out from one mistake which of his
students copied his test from another, the differences in character order
reveal the connections between alphabets, and the origin of character order. So
character orders are not "wrong" or "partly corresponding",
but their correspondences and differences show genetic relationships.
For example, the character
"aty" (atya = lord, father) in Nikolsburg alphabet appears in the
character order at a place where there is no similar sound in Latin, but there
is in Ugarit, Phoenician, Aramean, Etruscan, Greek, Khazar[1]
and Arsakida Pehlevi scripts, "t" or "th".
Furthermore, the pictorial
meaning of characters "t", "th", or "ty" are also
in connection, as they all symbolize the forefather who is identified with the
central point of the Earth, but with different graphic representations. The
most common character form, cross or X in a circle or in a square, is the most
ancient symbol used by Mankind. It occurs on pebbles of Mas d'Azil, in American
Indian symbolic drawings, among Cretan hieroglyphs, or Sarmatian tamgas. It
also forms a part of the Chinese ideograph fu,
"father". The graphical forms of characters "t" and
"th" from the above linear character combinations are equivalent with
Székely "f" (Föld = the Earth), "b" (Bél, belsõ = inner),
and "ly" (lyuk = hole, source), and they represent the orderly world
identified with the forefather, the four holy rivers symbolizing him, or their
sources. The returning X form can be compared with the Orion constellation
(Fig. 23), which also represents the forefather Nimrod in the legend about the
chase of the mythical stag. (Varga/1998). In Székely the form X stands for
"b" (Bél god), the son in the divine triad, the people's father,
Nimrod’s equivalent.
The Phoenician and Greek
character names (teth and theta) are actually the variants of the
Hungarian words atya, tata (Hurrian atta), which show that it is not an accidental coincidence, but a
mythological parallel. Western Semitic character names are the relics of a
forgotten system, which, through later vulgarization, “became intelligible”
again. In this sense, Gelb was right when he thought that the usual Western
Semitic character names were late and artificial innovations. He first claimed
this in 1952, and the latest Ugaritic archaeological relics have supported his
assertion (Gelb/1976/297).
Székely character names also
help us understand the connection between some Middle Eastern and Chinese
characters, which also proves that Székely runic script goes back to early
times. For example, the relationship of Székely "ty", "u"
and "v" to characters in other languages rule out the possibility of
deriving the Székely character set from Latin or Aramean (Figs. 2, 20, 23, 24,
35). These characters are related to Chinese characters that existed much
earlier before Semitic and Latin script as well as to the prehistoric age of
Character "e" can be found at the same place in Etruscan, Greek, Latin, and Székely. Therefore, the Székely order of characters cannot be of Phoenician, Aramean, or Arsakida Pehlevi origin, because their set do not contain character "e." Székely, Etruscan and Latin "c" cannot be traced back to Greek or Semitic scripts either. Considering the Etruscan influence on the Latins and the original Etruscan homeland, character "c" can be of Aegean-Anatolian origin, but not Semitic. Székely "zs" and "s" have the same place in the character order where only Ugaritic has "z", other languages have only "s" at that place. That means the most ancient tradition has survived in Székely character set of Nikolsburg.
The same applies to
characters u/v and sz/s/z/x. Character "u" can be found at the same
place in Székely, Latin, Etruscan, Khazar, and Ugaritic, while it is replaced
by the consonant letter "w" in Phoenician, and totally missing from
ancient Greek, Aramean and Arsakida Pehlevi (Fig. 19).
If Székely script were of
Aramean origin after all, that would mean that our ancestors subsequently
recreated all the vowel letters missing from Aramean, and through some miracle
placed them in the Székely alphabet precisely in accordance with the Latin
character order. Meanwhile they insisted on leaving "ty" rune at the
place of the first Ugaritic "t" and the Latin "h" and not
putting it in a more logical place beside Székely "t". That latter place
is the same as that of the second Ugaritic "t" and the Latin
"t".
To sum it up, the Nikolsburg Székely character order does not follow either the Latin order or the Aramean order, and it is hard to realize why our ancestors would have copied only partly the order of Latin or any other language.
Studying the Latin-like character order of Székely script, we can draw the conclusion that the direction of character transmission must have been just the opposite. For example, Latin "u" and "v" can root in Székely, especially as the corresponding Székely characters are far more archaic; their pictorial features can still be recognized (Figs. 2, 24). Latin and Greek "u" and "v" letters are apparently in relation with each other and with Székely "u" (üst = cauldron) and "v" (vas = iron). They can all be traced back to a representation of a semi-finished copper ingot, which can also be found among the Urartian hieroglyphs (Figs. 2, 35). The Chinese "üst" (cauldron) character is connected to other characters through Székely representation and linguistic traditions, because the Hurrian character name ushu (which is related to the Hungarian word "réz", but means üst-cauldron) can be found only among Székely character names.
In contrast with the Turk
character name temir/demir and the
German character name eisen, Székely vas is connected to Armenian (v)oski and
Hurrian ushu and to the beginnings of metallurgy - which in Northern
Mesopotamia was started by Hurrians, who borrowed Hittite traditions of
metalworking. [2] Székely varieties of "u" and
"v" character forms are the closest to the forms of Urartian and
Chinese hieroglyphs. Therefore, the Hungarian characters "u" and
"v" and the character order they belong to must be of hieroglyphic
origin and not of Semitic, Greek, or Latin. Because of these parallels, the
prototype of the "Latin-like" character order is likely to have been
used around 2000 BC by Hurrians and by our predecessors who were in connection
with Chinese people.
The order of the characters
seems to be based on their religious importance; in all probability symbols
with the highest religious power were placed to the beginning of the order.
This order determined by myths could not have been adjusted to the order of the
Latin alphabet until the mythical significance of the characters was well
known. Changes in the order, therefore, could not have happened before the last
pagan revolts and the last pagan burials (13th c.). Conservative popular
traditions preserved the archaic character order for several centuries longer;
thus it has survived in the Nikolsburg alphabet.
Székely character order
changed only later, when the spread of Latin script, paper and ink pushed tally
sticks into the background even in the deepest Transylvanian valleys. Christian
Székelys acquired Latin characters and the Latin order of characters. The
original Székely character order seemed meaningless and deficient to them, so
they started to write Székely letters in the Latin order and attached word and
syllable signs that were unknown in Latin to the end of the alphabet. That is,
it was only the modern, pedantic mania to classify and order everything that
forced the Székely character order out of use, though it reflected ancient value
judgements.
The three characters for the
Hungarian divine triad (Anat, Bél and Du; called Enedubeliánus by Anonymus),
"a", "b" and "d" were placed at the beginning of
the runic alphabet. The sounds they represent can be found in all related
alphabets.[3]
Thus, following the traces preserved in Székely script we can reach the ancient
mythology, and realize the organizing principle that determined character
order. As similar mythological references cannot be proved in the character
order of related scripts[4],
we should think that the nearly identical character order of Ugaritic, Semitic,
Greek, and Latin alphabets’ prototype was determined by the mythology of our
Hungarian-speaking predecessors (or speaking a Hungarian related language).
This circumstance draws our
attention to Ugaritic mythology, and we can in fact find parallels with
Hungarian language and mythology in Ugaritic finds and relics of the Hittite
Empire.
The name of the Hattic sun god is Estan, which is
composed of the Hungarian words õs
and ten. The stem ten refers to Ta/Da, Hattic god of storm
(Du/Ten supreme god of Hungarian conquerors), which is related to the name of
The Ugaritic divine triad consists of Anat goddess, Él
supreme god, and Baál godson, and they can be identified with the Hungarian
Ene-Du-Bél divine triad (Ugaritic Él's name is an attribute of the Hungarian
God, élõ (living)).
Ugar or Ugaru in the name
Ugaritic is the god of plough-land; ugar
in Hungarian means "land ploughed at
the first time, uncultivated plough-land, land ploughed and left to rest".
The hill-shaped rune
"s" (sarok = corner) has preserved the memory of King Og[6]
in the Old Testament (cf. Sumerian sar
= king). Og's name appears in the name of rune "ak", patak i.e. "pat(er) Og". There
are many more of such examples.
Common mythology makes it
possible to compare directly the character order of Ugaritic cuneiform and
Székely runic scripts in spite of the great differences in graphic forms.
Although the Székely order of characters cannot be traced to the Ugaritic one
(just as it cannot be traced to Aramean or Latin), the reverse is possible. The
Székely character set is the true inheritor of the tradition that determined
the character order in Ugaritic, Latin and Aramean alphabets (Fig. 19). What
could be this tradition?
[1] Khazar character order has survived
in Fahrud-Din Mubaraksah Marwar-rudi, Persian poet's work finished in 1206.
However, the character forms as shown are - because of deterioration due to
copying, applying the idea of writing to new graphic character set, or changing
the technology - not similar at all to runes. Vékony/1987/50 contains the order
adapted from Ligeti.
[2] Mesopotamian sources mention Hurrians
as early as 3rd millennium BC around the area of Zargos. They were the ones who
introduced horse breeding and iron metallurgy, which raised Hurrian military
technology to a high level and made the Mitanni state a great power.
[3] There is no "c" in the
third place in the Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramean and Arsakida Pehlevi character
order; character "c" in Etruscan and Latin probably stood for the
sound k. That is, sound "c" is an ambiguous part of early alphabets.
The character order of the prototypic alphabet seems to have started not with
the sounds ABC but with ABD, which developed from the names of the Magyar
divine triad.
[4] For example, the corresponding
character names of the Semitic character order, "a" alef (ox), "b" béth (house), "d" dáleth (door) do not show any
significant mythological importance.
[5] Hattic god of storm Taru, (Ta lord;
cf. döng (boom, roar), dördül (thunder))
[6] Og is an Amoreus giant, king of
Basan, who was defeated by Israelites (5Mos 31,4; Jos. 2,10; 1King 4, 19; 5 Mos
3,1-13). His name is the variant of the egy
attribute of Magyar god, and of Oceanos's and ygg's names.
Contents
7. | |
9. | |
History of the scientific views on the origins of Székely runic script | 10. |
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