Szarvas inscription

A bone needle case near Szarvas has a magical inscription from the second half of the 8th century. This belongs to the Late Avar Period (700-791).

The photo and the drawing of the inscription

The bone needle case of Szarvas

Fig. presents the drawing of the inscription made by I. Erdélyi historian-archaeologist in 1984. The edges of the bone needle case are worn; therefore the top and bottom edges of a part of the characters are not clearly visible.

Inscription of Szarvas

The name of the script of the Szarvas inscription

Vékony named this script as "Kárpát-medencei rovásírás", which means: Carpathian Basin Rovas script according to the standard proposal of the Hungarian Standards Institution. He many times used this term in his cited book, e.g. in the page 231, the title of the chapter is "A kárpát-medencei rovásábécé korabeli feljegyzése" that means: The contemporary record of the Carpathian Basin runic alphabet.

He analysed the similarities and the differences between the Old Hungarian and the Carpathian Basin scripts in the page 154 of his book.

In the page 232, Vékony wrote: "- Aethicus Ister jelei azonosak az egykori Kárpát-medencei rovásírás jeleivel.", it means: The symbols of Aethicus Ister are identical to the symbols of the quondam Carpathian Basin script.

Another quotation from Vékony: "E jel a Szarvason azonosított Kárpát-medencei f alig torzult megfelelője...", it means: This symbol is identical to the Carpathian Basin f identified in Szarvas. In this sentence, the word Szarvas unambiguously refers to the "Szarvas inscription" (Szarvas is a city in Hungary).

In page 233, Vékony wrote: "Erre utalhat az is, hogy ez a betűalak levezethető egy párthus alep formából. Feltehető tehát ennek a jelnek a megléte a Kárpát-medencei rovásírásban is (a székelybe is innen származhatott).", which means: This could imply also that this glyph can be derived from the Parthian Aleph form. Consequently, the existence of this symbol can be supposed in the Carpathian Basin script as well (it could originate from this to the Székely).. Here the 'Szekely' refers to the Szekely-Hungarian script better known as Old Hungarian script. This quotation is interesting, since it proves that Vékony supposed that the Carpathian Basin script is thought by some to be one of the the ancestors of the Old Hungarian script.

The meaning of the inscription

The transcription of archaeologist G. Vékony was improved by linguist E. Zelliger. The last character of the fourth row of the inscription was reconstructed by archaeologist-historian Vékony. The inscription was written with Carpathian Basin script.

Note that the consonants in squared brackets are the reconstruction of Vékony. Also, there are some parts, which are not readable because of the edges of the bone needle case are worn. Therefore, the top and bottom edges of some characters are not clearly visible.

The following transcription is the result of Assoc. Prof. G. Vékony.

Transcription with IPA notation

No. of row	Transcription (using IPA)	Translating from Ancient Hungarian
1st	/yngyr : isnɛk im iʎ : βaʃu/
2nd	/[t]iɣ teβɛdɣen : isen : tiɣ tiɣ sur bek βorɣ/
3rd	/fɛʃɛs : ɛlei sɜl [...]/
4th	/yngyr ne : adɣon : [ɜzdɣ] imesd eɣt ɛn : iʃtɛnɛ[m]/

In the inscription, the third symbol of the third row (from left) can be considered as the descendant of the Turkic ideograms. Nevertheless, their relation needs more evidence.

Transcription with Hungarian phonetic notation

No. of row	Transcription (using Hungarian phonetic notation)	Translating from Ancient Hungarian (modern meaning)
1st	/üngür : isznek im ily : βasu/	Here is an iron [needle] against demon Üngür;
2nd	/[t]iɣ tëβedγën : iszën : tiɣ tiɣ szur bëk βorɣ/	[Needle should be pricked into the demon; needle, needle, stab, poke, sew-[in]!
3rd	/fesesz : elëi szɜl [...]/	[Who] unstitches […];
4th	/üngür në : adɣon : [ɜzdɣ] imëszd ëɣt en : istene[m]/	Üngür shall not give [curse]; […], blast him, my God!’'

Critics, alternative theories

There are several critics of Vékony's theories and translations, most notably the Hungarian linguist and historian, András Róna-Tas. The debates were summarized by István Riba in 1999 and 2000.

The key point of the critics was that traditionally, in the Hungarian science, the existence of the Hungarian-speaking population is supposed from 896 (Land-taking of the Magyars). The Szarvas relic is from the 8th century. Consequently, the Szarvas cannot be in Hungarian or the Hungarians were in the Carpathian Basin earlier than 896. Archaeologist-historian Gábor Vékony supposed that the Hungarians appeared even in the 7th century, and he handled the Szarvas relic as an evidence: he read it in Hungarian.

Turkologist András Róna-Tas had an attempt to read the Szarvas relic in Turkic, but he wrote that his transcription needs more improvement.

The discussion about the period of the appearance of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin is between the groups of officially acknowledged scholars and it has not been concluded.

Other Rovas inscriptions

Oppositely to the Szarvas inscription, which was written in Carpathian Basin Rovas script, the Alsószentmihály inscription was written with Khazarian Rovas script. The both are related to the Szekely-Hungarian Rovas script.

References

• 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 Template:Hu
• Kristó, Gyula & Makk, Ferenc (2001): A kilencedik és a tizedik század története [The history of the 9th and the 10th centuries]. In: Magyar Századok [Hungarian Centuries]. Published by Pannonica Kiadó, Ser. ed.: Gyula Szvák, 222 p. ISBN 963-9252-38-7 Template:Hu
• Riba,István: Jöttek, honfoglaltak, fújtak. Régészvita egy rovásírásról [Came, settled, blown. Archaeological debate about the runic writing]. In: Heti Világgazdaság [Weekly Word's Economy], Vol. 21. 1999. N. 46. pp. 101–102, 105; ISSN 12179647 Template:Hu
• 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
• Róna-Tas, András (1996): The Migration and Landtaking of the Magyars. In: The Hungarian Quarterly. Vol. XXXVII, No. 144, Winter 1996, pp. 37–41
• Vékony, Gábor (1985): Késő népvándorláskori rovásfeliratok [Runic inscriptions from the Late Migration Period]. In: Életünk Vol. XXII, No. 1, pp. 71–84 Template:Hu
• Vékony, Gábor (1987): Későnépvándorláskori rovásfeliratok a Kárpát-medencében [Runic inscriptions from the Late Migration Period in the Carpathian Basin]. Szombathely-Budapest: Életünk szerkesztősége. ISBN 978-963-025-132-7 Template:Hu
• Vékony Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó. ISBN 963 9402 45 1 Template:Hu

External links

• The Szarvas Rovas inscription on the RovasPedia
• The Carpathian Basin Rovas script on the Rovas Writing Home Page
• Rovás Info News Portal