Language and script Rohonc Codex

1 language , script

1.1 sumero-hungarian hypothesis
1.2 daco-romanian hypothesis
1.3 brahmi-hindi hypothesis
1.4 old hungarian alphabet hypothesis
1.5 systematic attempts

language , script

concerning language of codex, although hungarian, dacian, romanian or cuman, , hindi have been proposed, none of hypotheses backed scientific proof far.

those claim codex s hungarian authenticity either assume paleo-hungarian script, or try find resemblances old hungarian script, hungarian (székely) runes ( rovásírás ). according others, in dobruja region in romania similar characters or symbols engraved in scythian monk caves. still others tried find resemblance letters of greek charter of veszprémvölgy nunnery (hungary). claims version of brahmi script.

sumero-hungarian hypothesis

attila nyíri of hungary proposed solution after studying 2 pages of codex. turned pages upside down, identified sumerian ligature, associated latin letters rest of symbols resemblance. however, transliterated same symbol different letters, , vice versa, same letter decoded several symbols. had rearrange order of letters produce meaningful words. text, if taken meaningful, of religious, perhaps liturgical character.

its beginning: eljött az istened. száll az Úr. Ó. vannak szent angyalok. azok. Ó. – god has come. lord flies. oh. there holy angels. them. oh.

nyíri s proposition criticised ottó gyürk, pointing fact such permissive deciphering method 1 can out of code. also, mere fact nyíri makes uncritical allusion fringe theory hungarian language descended sumerian, discredits enterprise.

daco-romanian hypothesis

the cover of v. enăchiuc s book

a translation has been published romanian philologist viorica enăchiuc/viːɔːriːkɑ enəkːiʊk/. claims text written in vulgar latin dialect of dacia, , direction of writing right-to-left, bottom-to-top. alleged translation indicates text 11-12th century (ce) history of blaki (vlachs) people in fights against hungarians , pechenegs. toponyms , hydronyms appear arad, dridu, olbia, ineu, rarău, dniester , tisa. diplomatic contacts between vlad , alexis comnenus, constantine dukas , robert of flanders mentioned.

quotations:

solrgco zicjra naprzi olto co sesvil cas – o sun of live let write span time

deteti lis vivit neglivlu iti iti itia niteren titius suonares imi urast ucen – in great numbers, in fierce battle, without fear go, go hero. break ahead great noise, sweep away , defeat hungarian!

on 1 hand, enăchiuc s proposition can criticized method of transliteration. symbols characteristically appear in same context throughout codex regularly transliterated different letters, patterns in original code lost in transliteration. on other hand, enăchiuc criticized linguist , historian. provided linguistic source of hitherto unknown state of romanian language, , text (even glossary) raises serious doubts both in linguistic , historic authenticity render work unscientific. there no relation between illustrations of manuscript (of clear christian content) , translation.

brahmi-hindi hypothesis

another alleged solution made indian mahesh kumar singh. claims codex written left-to-right, top-to-bottom far undocumented variant of brahmi script. transliterated first 24 pages of codex hindi text translated hungarian. solution beginning of apocryphal gospel (previously unknown), meditative prologue, going on infancy narrative of jesus.

according mahesh kumar singh, upper 2 rows of page 1 go like: bhagwan log bahoot garib yahan bimar aur bhookhe hai / inko itni sakti aur himmat taki ye apne karmo ko pura kar sake – in english: oh, god! here people poor, ill , starving, therefore give them sufficient potency , power may satisfy needs.

singh s attempt criticized in next issue of same journal. transliteration lacks consistence, , considered hoax.

old hungarian alphabet hypothesis

marius-adrian oancea considers codex focuses on new testament-related topics; language of codex hungarian , words encoded in version of old hungarian alphabet known székely rovásírás or székely-magyar rovás.

systematic attempts

strictly methodical (and successful) investigation of symbols first done ottó gyürk, examined repeated sequences find direction of writing (he argues rltb (right left top bottom), pages going right-to-left), , identified numbers in text. later remarks suggest has many unpublished conjectures, based on large amount of statistical data.

miklós locsmándi did computer-based research on text in mid-1990s. confirmed published findings of gyürk, adding several others. although no strong arguments, claimed symbol sentence delimiter (but symbol of 11 (eleven), , possibly place value delimiter in numbers). studied diacriticals of symbols (mostly dots), found no peculiar system in usage. see no traces of case endings (which typically characteristic hungarian language), assumed text in language different hungarian. not prove codex not hoax; however, seeing regularities of text, rejected pure gibberish.

after 2000, research around codex has become more intense. benedek láng summarized previous attempts , possible research directions in article , in book sized monograph. argued codex not hoax (as opposed mainstream hungarian academic opinion), instead consciously encoded or enciphered text. may (1) cipher, (2) shorthand system, or (3) artificial language. láng assessed these possibilities systematically in publications of historical analogies.

in 2010 gábor tokai published series of 3 short articles in hungarian popular science weekly, Élet és tudomány. tokai tries date codex finding historical analogies of imagery of drawings. although brings numerous valuable observations, conclusions vague. nevertheless, research first of kind. tokai not rule out possibility of hoax, (like locsmándi) insisted whatever case, text has regularities suggest meaning. several months later tokai published 2 short articles in started give meaning specific code chunks. based arguments on character strings appear in pictures (such inri inscription on cross). statements hypothetical. however, claimed have identified codes of 4 evangelists in biblical references, built of evangelist s name , number, possibly kind of chapter number. based on gyürk s , locsmándi s work showed many of 4 digit numbers in text year numbers, using presumably peculiar anno mundi epoch.

simultaneously with, , independently tokai, levente zoltán király has made significant progress in describing structural elements of code. demonstrated method cutting down text sentences probability. identified 7 pages long section split numbered headings, whole section preceded table of contents. tokai, discovered codes of 4 evangelists, , in addition provided persuasive argument chapter heading system in codex contains biblical references. dealt overall structure of codex, showing chapter structure not present first fourth of book—partly because part contains long, continuous narration of passion of jesus christ.

according tokai , király script code system not indicate inner structure of words, , language of text artificial, optionally proposed benedek láng. claim codex contains date 1593 ce probable reference writing. state character ordinary catholic reader or breviary of time, containing paraphrases of new testament texts (primarily gospels), non-biblical material, e.g. seth returning gate of paradise, or prayers virgin mary.