Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-07-01 / 11-12. szám
Our Sumerian Roots: Or Are They? This is the season when many of us are spending time in our gardens, using an ásó (spade), kapa (hoe), perhaps even a kasza (sickle) to mow high-grown grass. According to Dr. Ida Bobula, who devoted her life to the study of the Sumerian language and customs, these are terms which have very close correspondence with the Sumerian names for the same tools. The Sumerians were the first civilization, located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, an area known as Mesopotamia. They invented a system of writing by the fourth millennium B.C., and wrote on clay tablets, thousands of which have been excavated and studied extensively by many archeologists, historians and linguists, including Dr. Bobula. The Sumerians called their ásó “a/zn”, which, considering how languages evolve over time, is pretty close to the Hungarian word. They called the kapa by the very same term, "kapa". The Sumerian word for kasza was "kaz." The word for szánt (ploughs) was"sun-tu", another close correspondence. With an advanced degree in ancient languages, Dr. Bobula wrote books and many articles, providing ample evidence that Hungarian language and customs can be traced back to Sumerian ancestry. In her book Sumerian Affiliations, Dr. Bobula points out that: "The wheel was a Sumerian invention — the first traces of the cartwheel, like the potter's wheel, occur in Sumer. The name of the wheel in Sumerian was MAGGARU. There was a widespread belief in Europe, explicitly documented since 1548, that Hungarians had invented the covered wagon, the coach... It is probable that Hungarians introduced this vehicle of the Near East to Europe, with the « Yn/-f-! J---uj L f l°(Tel. KurigalinO'8^'''^ Aqar Quf)\\f U, V 7^ Ashnunnak O (Tell Asmar) j Y o Jemdet Nasr BabyloifO U Tepe Mussian name KOCSI. Should we consider fortuitous the correspondence of the word with the Sumerian KAS 'run'?" When excavating Sumerian sites, archeologists found statues and carved representations of life in Sumer, some 5,000 years ago. From these, they have been able to determine that the every-day clothing of the men at the time seems to have been a fringed loincloth, which they called "Gada". Until not long ago, Hungarian peasants wore a fringed, wide, skirtlike garment called gatya. For further examples, let me quote Dr. Bobula: "In wintertime poor Hungarian peasants wear simple unbleached sheepskin coats, called GUBA, but well-to-do peasants wear white sheepskin coats, beautifully embroidered by skilled craftsmen. These ornate coats are called SUBA, a word which occurs in Sumerian exactly in the same form (SUBA, clear, bright, brilliant). If the coat is not made of fur but woven from wool, its Hungarian name is SZÜR. The same Hungarian word denotes woven woolen material. In Sumerian, SUR means 'to spin wool.” Dr. Bobula also reports on the findings- !*-. A forty feet high Ziggurat (temple) built in Erech in 3000 B.C. Excavation site of a school room 18 century B.C. Sumerian tablet demonstrates math problems Page 3
