The Eighth Tribe, 1977 (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1977-10-01 / 10. szám

October, 1977

THE EIGHTH TRIBE

Page 11

That the conquering Magyars were familiar with a form of writing is known to us from many sources. Their very words for writing (írás) and letter (betű) are Bulgaro-Turkic loan words from the pre-conquest period. We also know that they had an alphabet, even though they probably used it only for short messages and notations. Thus, their tribal and national traditions were still preserved largely orally; the heroic epics being memorized and then passed on from generation to generation.

The writing that the conquerors brought along with them was basically a form of “runic script” (rovás írás). In a limited sense, it survived and was used even in the sixteenth century, even though with the introduction of Christianity it was rapidly replaced by the Latin literary language and the Latin alphabet.

Recently attempts have been made to find a direct link between the Hungarian runic script and the Sumerian cuneform writing, but none of these attempts proved to be acceptable to recognized authorities in the field. As a matter of fact, with the exception of the vowels “e” and “a”, which were rarely used in writing (and which were probably borrowed from the Glagolitic Slavic), the Magyar runic script is identical with the Kök-Türk (Blue/Eastern Turkic) letters of the so-called Orkhon Inscriptions of the early eighth century, specimens of which have also been found stemming from the sixth century. According to most recognized scholars, similarly to the majority of the writing systems of Eurasia (e.g. Hebrew, Greek, Etruscan, Latin, Arabic, Gothic, Cryillic, etc.), the Kök-Türk — and therefore the Magyar — script “is derived from Aramaean through the alphabet of ancient Sogdian.” (Grousset: Steppes, p. 113; Győrffy: Honfoglalásról, pp. 57-58). This Inner Asian script was brought to Europe by various Turkic invaders, including those who founded the Khazer Empire. It was probably during their association with the Khazars when the Magyars learned this alphabet, which then became part of their culture.

As mentioned earlier, the Hungarian runic script was used as late as the sixteenth century, particularly among the Szekelys of Eastern Transylvania. (Hence its name “Székely rovásírás” or Székely-Magyar rovásírás”.) The letters of this runic script were most commonly cut into small wooden bars, with the left hand holding the bar, and the right hand holding the knife. This explains why the text moved (and thus has to be read) from right to left. Moreover, because upon completing the inscription on one of its sides, the bar was usually turned from end to end, the ultimate result — when transferred onto a flat

Book Review:

HUNGARIAN NEWSPAPERS AND

CARDINAL MINDSZENTY

S. B. Vardy

Joseph Széplaki: Hungarian Newspapers in Microform Available in the United States and Canada. Youngstown: Catholic Hungarians’ Sunday, 1977. 19 p.; and Joseph Széplaki:

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Bibliography on Cardinal Mindszenty, 1892-1975. Youngstown: Catholic Hungarians’ Sunday, 1977. 31 p.

Joseph Széplaki is known to most of us largely through his numerous publications on Hungarian topics, with particular attention to Hungarians in America. Being a learned librarian and bibliographer, most of his works are of biblographical nature. The best known among these are his Louis Kossuths The Nation’s Guest (Ligonier, Pa.: The

Bethlen Press, 1976) and Hungarians in the United States and Canada: Holdings of the Immigration History Research Center (Minneapolis: Immigration History Research Center, 1977). Of different nature, but perhaps of even greater importance is his The Hungarians in America 1583-1974: A Chronology and Fact Book (1975), which is one of the volumes of the “Ethnic Chronology Series” of Oceana Publications. All of these are useful reference works, and they are almost indispensible for anyone involved in the study of the history and culture of the Hungarians in the United States and Canada.

One of the two works under review, Széplaki’s Hungarian Newspapers is again on the familiar topic of Hungarian American studies. It is basically the first serious effort to survey the major North American public and academic libraries for their holdings of Hungarian newspapers. In an effort to present “a comprehensive listing of Hungarian newspapers in microform available in the United States and Canada,” (p. 2) the compiler scanned the published holdings of twenty-nine major institutions, including nineteen in the United States, seven in Canada and two in Europe. His final list includes 112 Magyar-language newspapers, published in nine different countries, including Hungary (72), the United States (23), Canada (8), Austria (3), France (2), Czechoslovakia (1), Roumania (1), Lugoslavia (1), and the Soviet Union (1).

Even a brief glance at Széplaki’s bibliography will reveal that the majority of the collections are rather incomplete. But as there are a number of newspapers which are available in several of the listed libraries, in many instances they seem to complement one another.

We naturally value Széplaki’s work very highly. As many times in the past, he has again rendered a great service. Yet, had he attempted to list also the newspaper collections in the original (i.e. not in microform), and had he attempted to increase his listing by the inclusion of a number of smaller collections (e.g. the near-complete run of the Cleveland Szabadság in the editor’s own collection), he would have performed an even greater service. Perhaps he should make that his next major effort.

As its title implies, Széplaki’s second publication under review is of a different nature. This time he turned his attention to the figure of the late Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty, and prepared a bibliography that is as complete as possible under the circumstances. It includes books, articles, newsletters, films, slides, records, as well as a num-