The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1982 (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1982-02-01 / 2. szám
Page 4 THE EIGHTH TRIBE February, 1982 cultural roots which bind us to a past we cannot deny. “THE EIGHTH TRIBE” reaches out to Hungarians who have been in the United States form any generations, to those who have been here but one, to those who speak Hungarian well and to those who speak English better. We must not be ashamed to admit to being Hungarian. Hungary is a nation with a long, glorious and proud history. The sense of belonging to the Hungarian nation must be nurtured and encouraged to grow. Fluency in the Hungarian language can only be to our advantage and to our children’s advantage. Our Hungarian heritage is an asset whose expression must not be suppressed. Alex Haley’s “ROOTS” swept across nationwide television with unparalleled impact. It awakened the American people to an African past! We Hungarians, who have sacrificed so much for the West, even for America’s freedom, CAN WE FORGET OUR ROOTS??? This magazine seeks to keep the flames of our Hungarian culture burning. Every issue kindles the spark of nationalistic fervor and adds to it the new dimension of an American perspective. LOVE AND LIBERTY Love and Liberty Are all the world for me! For love Td sacrifice My life on every day, For freedom I would give My very love away! —Petőfi Translated by J. Grosz TILTING SAIL The tall canvas tilts the mast and the sail spreads to reap the foam when the boat plunges ahead. Look—when is it mast and sail fly forward most victoriously? When bent at their lowest. Gyula Illyés, TIBOR E. BARÁTH: The Origin of the Hungarians in Oriental Light Presentation submitted to the Heritage Conference of 1981 1. While writing his “Ancient History of the Hungarians” (3 vol., in H., 1964-74), the author made the surprising discovery that a considerable part of ancient Near Eastern documents are written in a Hungarian dialect and therefore can be read with the help of the present Hungarian language. These documents derive from the first tree milleniums B.C. and were prepared with Egyptian hioroglyphs or with linear (“geometric” or “carved”) signs then fashionable in the Eastern Mediterranean Zone. The discovery will certainly have a great impact on the future elaboration of Hungarian ancient history, and will influence general history as well. Two major modifications already seem unavoidable: a. We have to agree that the history of the Hungarians, and also that of the various peoples affiliated with them, begins in the ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, the Niley Valley, Syria-Canaan); and b. That these peoples contributed greatly to the elaboration of the first Higher Civilization of mankind-2. The Hungarian speaking population of the ancient Near East began sending out groups of emigrants (both large and small) early on, especially to the Middle Danube Basin, attracted by its immense wealth. In fact, there they could find almost everything they were accustomed to in their creadleland. There was plenty of gold, copper, obsidian, there was good soil for cultivation of cereals, large pastures for stock-breeding and numerous large and small rivers. In a word, it was the country the Neolithic and Bronze Age settlers had dreamed of. That these first Danubian settlers were using an early Hungarian language follows clearly from the multitude of place-names they left behind which have Hungarian meanings. Sometimes these names are the exact duplicate of Near Eastern place-nambs, or else include the names of oriental divinities (Ra, Baal, Toth). Also, the Oriental geometric script was conserved in Hungary until the 17 century A.D. and one of the most important specimens of this writing was found in Tatárlaka (Tartaria) on a Bronze Age solar observatory, which was originally used to determine the exact day of the summer solstice. On the basis of such and similar evidence, the
