The Old Hungarian script, often termed as “runic” due to its superficial resemblance to the Germanic runes, offers a fascinating insight into the early historical period of the Magyar people. These runes, termed “Székely rovásírás” in Hungarian, provide both a linguistic and cultural connection to the Magyars’ ancient Uralic origins and their subsequent evolution in the Carpathian Basin.
The origins of the Old Hungarian runes are a subject of much scholarly debate. Some linguists and historians trace the script’s inception back to the Magyars’ ancestral Uralic homeland, proposing that it may have been influenced by the scripts of neighboring cultures or by the Turkic runes. Others argue that the runes emerged much later, after the Magyars settled in the Carpathian Basin, possibly as an adaptation of Latin or Greek letters or in response to the runic scripts of other neighboring tribes.
One thing is clear: by the 9th and 10th centuries, when the Hungarian tribes settled in the Carpathian Basin, the script was already in use. Inscriptions from this period, though scant, provide unequivocal evidence of the script’s existence.
Old Hungarian runes have a unique system:
Several inscriptions and manuscripts give us a rare glimpse into the application of the runes:
By the late Middle Ages, the Latin alphabet had gained primacy in Hungary for various reasons, including religious (Christianization) and political (integration with Western Europe). The use of the runic script dwindled, surviving predominantly among the Székelys, a subgroup of the Hungarians in eastern Transylvania. This regional preservation is why the script is sometimes called “Székely runes.”
In the 20th and 21st centuries, there has been a renewed interest in the runes, with several Hungarian nationalist and folklore movements advocating for their revival. They’ve since been used in art, education, and even to some extent in public inscriptions.
The Old Hungarian runes are not just symbols; they are a testament to the resilience and adaptability of a culture. From the steppes of Central Asia to the heart of Europe, the journey of the Magyars is encapsulated in these ancient characters. The runes remind Hungarians of a time before Latin letters, Christianity, and the influence of neighboring cultures—a time when their identity was being forged in the fires of migration and settlement. As modern Hungarians look to the past to understand their identity, the runes stand as an indelible link to their earliest ancestors.
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