H. Bathó Edit – Horváth László – Kaposvári Gyöngyi – Tárnoki Judit – Vadász István szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 15. (2006)

ISTVÁN SZATHMÁRY: RUNIC COAT OF ARMS ON AN ANCIENT SWORD

inscription, the decipherment of which in Cuman language and its Hungárián translation was published in 2002 by Aydemir Hakan, a linguist of the Szeged University. Forasmuch as his conclusions are relevant, and the inscription really is in Cuman language, it seems that our ancient runic alphabet was the common jewel of the Hungárián and Cuman people. From a heraldic point of view, one interesting feature of he finding is that it draws attention to the appearance of runic characters in our early coats of arms. What makes our stand easier is the fact that the runic characters in this finding of Kunszentmárton are not the only locations where they were unearthed. It alsó has an analogy: in Pécs, in 1984 a stone with a runic coat of arms was found, which is roughly as old as the sword. The appearances of early runic coats of arms are the humble remnants of a specific Hungárián practice that unfortunately ceased to exist right after it was born. History exterminated their spread, and by the time the freely chosen coats of arms were replaced by coats of arms donated by the monarch, they had vanished intő thin air. 103