William Penn Life, 2019 (54. évfolyam, 2-5. szám)
2019-03-01 / 3. szám
Tibor's Take In summary, some theories are better than others, but I have been unable to find a dominant or widely accepted school of thought. It is clear, however, that the Latin alphabet became widely adopted after St. Stephen 1 of Hungary converted his nation to Christianity in the 11th century. As with anything regarding the ancient origin of a strong and proud people, the origin of Hungarian runes tends to be controversial and radioactive. The limited archaeological examples of the rovásírás and its uncertain origins have allowed both reasonable amateur and professional scholars, as well as cranks and conspiracists, to supply their own interpretations of this ancient system of writing. Interest in the Hungarian runes sometimes correlates with certain noxious political worldviews, to the detriment of many who may be benignly interested in this area of Hungarian prehistory. Prior to researching this month's Take, I had only a small amount of knowledge regarding the linguistics of the early Hungarian language. I recall learning about a linguistic theory called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which essentially argues that the structure of a language directly affects or influences how the users of that language perceive the world. According to the hypothesis, Hungarian speakers fundamentally perceive the world differently than English speakers, and those perceptions are in turn distinct from the perceptions of Chinese speakers. I like to wonder about how, if the hypothesis is indeed true, the use of the Old Hungarian runic alphabet may have impacted the social and intellectual development of Hungary. As I have written about in earlier Takes, Hungarians are known for their strong gifts in mathematics, art and music. Some think that the unique nature of the Hungarian language may explain why. Perhaps the Hungarian runes are a part of such a hypothesis. Either way, I can state with certainty that the Hungarian runic alphabet has a significant and important role in Hungarian language and culture. **************************************************************** If you would like to read more on this topic, here are works I consulted while preparing this Take: • Csete Katona, "Vikings in Hungary? The Theory of the Varangian-Rus' Bodyguard of the First Hungarian Rulers", Viking and Medieval Scandinavia (2017). • I. Vasary, "Runiform Signs on Objects of the Avar Period (6th-8th CC. A.D.)", Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (1972). • Alexander Maxwell, "Contemporary Hungarian Rune-Writing: Ideological Linguistic Nationalism within a Homogenous Nation", Anthropos (2004). / Éljen a Magyar, Tibor II Tibor Check, Jr., is a member of Branch 28 and an attorney working in Washington, D.C. Point to ponder.... Maybe Hungarians are, indeed, musical geniuses because of the strange nature of the language-which, as some might theorize, was forcibly separated from its original alphabet. As I mentioned in last month’s Take, Magyars make up a large proportion of acclaimed composers, conductors and performers, an especially impressive bit of information when one considers the relatively small size of the population of Hungary in comparison to that of other nations. To assist you in your independent study of Hungary’s contribution to the music world, here is the first installment of what will be an occasional sub-feature of Tibor’s Take: a short list of Hungarian musical greats. You can learn more about these artists as your time and resources allow. This month, I offer two sets of names which I hope will pique your interest in Hungarian music. The first lists dearly departed Hungarian composers and musical talents: the second group consists of currently active Hungarian orchestral conductors who are installed in various musical institutions around the world. These names are only a sampling, but you may recognize a few of these names: Sir Georg Solti George Szell Antal Doráti Fritz Reiner Ernő Dohnányi Árpád Joó Károly Them Tibor Varga Peter Erős Arthur Nikisch Sándor Végh Currently Conducting Ádám & Iván Fischer Péter Eötvös Tamás Gál Andrei Feher Gábor Takács-Nagy Péter Csaba Zsolt Hamar Moshe Atzmon András Keller András Ligeti Gregory Vajda Balázs Kocsár Csaba Szilvay László Tihanyi A simple Google search for each will yield you a near limitless supply of information. If you discover anything of note, drop me a line or two at SilverKing 1937@gmail.com. WILLIAM PENN LIFE 0 March 2019 0 7
