Rovas Script Family

There are at least three known scripts which were used by Hungarians during their history.^[1] Their scripts are called Rovas Scripts. The comprehensive view of the Rovas alphabets was introduced first at the end of the twentieth century by the archaeologist-historian Gábor Vékony.^[2] He gave transcriptions of Carpathian Basin Rovas and Steppean Rovas inscriptions by using Rovas alphabets cognate to each other.^[3] The close relation of Carpathian Basin Rovas to Szekely-Hungarian Rovas has been shown by Gyula Németh in 1932.^[4] Moreover, according to the archaeologist-historian István Erdélyi the Steppean Rovas is related to Carpathian Basin Rovas and Szekely-Hungarian Rovas.^[5]

The members of Rovas Script Family[edit]

Each of these scripts are described in details in their appropriate articles. In this section, only some general, comprehensive features and comparisons should be presented.

In the middle of the 20th century, the scholars believed that this is a medieval writing system derived from the Old Turkic script used to write the medieval version of the Hungarian language.^[6][7] However, in the last decades of the 20th century, several new Rovas relics were explored by the archaeologists.^[8] Based on these, the Hungarian scholars were able to decipher some inscriptions, including the Rovas scripts of the Nagyszentmiklós Golden Treasure and the newly explored Szarvas relic.^[9][10] Based on these, the view of the Rovas scripts significantly changed.

Opinions of scholars[edit]

A number of officially acknowledges researchers have already agreed in the strong relation of the Rovas scripts. Some of them are the followings:

• The archaeologist-historian István Erdélyi (doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) showed that the Steppean Rovas is related to CBR and SHR.^[11]

• The close relation of CBR to SHR has been shown by linguist Gyula Németh in 1932.^[12]

• András Róna-Tas Turkologist (member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences): According to him, the Bodrog-Alsóbű Szekely-Hungarian Rovas relic is an important chain between the East-European scripts and the Szekely script.^[13]

• Klára Sándor linguist (PhD)^[14]

• The comprehensive view of the Rovas alphabets was introduced first at the end of the twentieth century by the archaeologist-historian Gábor Vékony (1944-2004) PhD, Assoc. Prof. of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.^[15] He gave transcriptions of CBR and KR inscriptions by using Rovas alphabets cognate to each other.^[16]

Carpathian Basin Rovas script[edit]

• Its first relic is from the last third of the 7th century.
• Periods of use:
  • Original use between the 8th century and the 11th century
  • Revitalized in 2009

Steppean Rovas script[edit]

• Its first relic is from the 7th century.
• Periods of use:
  • Between the 8th century and the 11th or 13th century

Szekely-Hungarian Rovas script[edit]

• Its first relic is from around 900.
• Period of use:
  • Used continuously from the 8th or 9th century.
  • Popular contemporary writing as alternative for Latin-based script

References[edit]

• Erdélyi, István and Ráduly, János (2010): A Kárpát-medence rovásfeliratos emlékei a Kr. u. 17. századig [The relics of the Carpathian Basin with Rovas inscriptions up to the 17th century]. Ed. István Erdélyi. Budapest: Masszi Kiadó. ISBN 978-963-9851-28-3
• Gábor Hosszú (2011): Heritage of Scribes. The Relation of Rovas Scripts to Eurasian Writing Systems. First edition. Budapest: Rovas Foundation, ISBN 978-963-88437-4-6, available in Google Books at http://books.google.hu/books?id=TyK8azCqC34C&pg=PA19
• Juhász, Irén (1983): Ein Avarenzeitlicher Nadelbehälter mit Kerbschrift aus Szarvas. In: Acta Acheologica 35 (1983), p. 34
• Juhász, Irén (1985): A szarvasi avar rovásírásos tűtartó [The Avar need-case of Szarvas with Rovas script]. Magyar Tudomány [Journal of the Hungarian Science], 85:2, pp. 92–95
• Németh, Gyula (1917-1920): A régi magyar írás eredete [The origin of the ancient Hungarian script]. In: Nyelvtudományi Közlemények, vol. XLV, pp. 31–44
• Vékony, Gábor (1987): Spätvölkerwanderungszeitliche Kerbinschriften im Karpatenbecken. In: Acta Archeologica Hungarica. Vol. 39, 211-256.
• Róna-Tas, András (1996): A honfoglaló magyar nép [The landtaking Hungarian nation]. Bevezetés a korai Magyar történelem ismeretébe [Introduction to the knowledge of the early Hungarian history]. Budapest: * Balassi Kiadó, ISBN 963 506 106 4
• Family of the Rovas scripts in the RovasPedia: http://wiki.rovas.info/index.php/Rovas_Script_Family
• Rovas Writing Home Page: http://rovasirashonlap.fw.hu
• Rovas Info: http://rovas.info
• Rovaspedia: http://wiki.rovas.info/index.php/Rovas_Script_Family

See detailed references on pages of Carpathian Basin Rovas, and Steppean Rovas

Unicode proposals[edit]

• Dr. Gábor Hosszú (Hungarian Standards Institute):Code chart font for Rovas block, National Body Contribution for consideration by UTC and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, 2012-02-06
• Dr. Hosszú, Gábor (Hungarian Standards Institute) Proposal for encoding the Szekely-Hungarian Rovas, Carpathian Basin Rovas and Khazarian Rovas scripts into the Rovas block in the SMP of the UCS. National Body Contribution for consideration by UTC and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, 2011. December 15

Notes[edit]

1. ↑ Hosszú, Gábor (2011): Heritage of Scribes. The Rovas Scripts’ Relations to Eurasian Writing Systems. First edition. Budapest, ISBN 978-963-88437-4-6
2. ↑ Vékony, Gábor (1987): Későnépvándorláskori rovásfeliratok a Kárpát-medencében [Rovas inscriptions from the Late Migration Period in the Carpathian Basin]. Szombathely-Budapest: Életünk szerkesztősége. ISBN 978-963-025-132-7
3. ↑ Vékony, Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története [The Relics, Relations and the History of the Szekely Script]. Budapest: Nap Kiadó. ISBN 963 9402 45 1
4. ↑ Németh, Gyula (1932): A nagyszentmiklósi kincs feliratai [The inscriptions of the Nagyszentmiklós treasure], In: Magyar Nyelv [Hungarian Language]. Vol. XXVIII, No. 3-6, 1932, pp. 65-85 and 129-139
5. ↑ Erdélyi, István (1982): Az avarság és Kelet a régészeti források tükrében [The Avars and the East in the mirror of the archaeological sources]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó [Publisher of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences], ISBN 963 05 2705 7
6. ↑ In Hungary, the Old Hungarian period of the Hungarian language is not considered as a quasi-individual language, since the difference is small between the current Hungarian and the medieval Hungarian
7. ↑ Németh, Gyula (1917-1920): A régi magyar írás eredete [The origin of the ancient Hungarian script]. In: Nyelvtudományi Közlemények, vol. XLV, pp. 31–44
8. ↑ Erdélyi, István and Ráduly, János (2010): A Kárpát-medence rovásfeliratos emlékei a Kr. u. 17. századig [The relics of the Carpathian Basin with Rovas inscriptions up to the 17th century]. Ed. István Erdélyi. Budapest: Masszi Kiadó
9. ↑ Juhász, Irén (1983): Ein Avarenzeitlicher Nadelbehälter mit Kerbschrift aus Szarvas. In: Acta Acheologica 35, p. 34
10. ↑ Vékony, Gábor (1987): Spätvölkerwanderungszeitliche Kerbinschriften im Karpatenbecken. In: Acta Acheologica Hungarica. Vol. 39, pp. 211-256
11. ↑ Erdélyi, István (1982): Az avarság és Kelet a régészeti források tükrében [The Avars and the East in the mirror of the archaeological sources]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó [Publisher of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences], ISBN 963 05 2705 7
12. ↑ Németh, Gyula (1932): A nagyszentmiklósi kincs feliratai [The inscriptions of the Nagyszentmiklós treasure], In: Magyar Nyelv [Hungarian Language]. Vol. XXVIII, No. 3-6, 1932, pp. 65-85 and 129-139
13. ↑ Magyar Kálmán (2001): Szent István államszervezésének régészeti emlékei, Kaposvár-Segesd: Local Government of Segesd
14. ↑ Sándor Klára (1992a, ed.), Rovásírás a Kárpát-medencében. Library of the Hungarian Ancient History 4. Szeged: József Attila University of Sciences, Department of Altayistics
15. ↑ Vékony, Gábor (1987): Későnépvándorláskori rovásfeliratok a Kárpát-medencében [Rovas inscriptions from the Late Migration Period in the Carpathian Basin]. Szombathely-Budapest: Életünk szerkesztősége. ISBN 978-963-025-132-7
16. ↑ Vékony, Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története [The Relics, Relations and the History of the Szekely Script]. Budapest: Nap Kiadó. ISBN 963 9402 45 1