The Alsószentmihály inscription is an inscription on a building stone in Mihai Viteazu, Cluj (Transylvania, today Romania). The origins and translation of the inscription are uncertain.
The relic
The stone was an ancient Roman building stone—proved by the leaf-symbol, a frequently applied ornamental element of ancient Roman inscriptions—reused in the 10th century. Alsószentmihály located on the territory of the late Province Dacia existed up to the middle of the 3rd century. Dénes showed that the Kabars (Khazar rebels who joined the Hungarians in the 9th centuryKristó, Gyula & Makk, Ferenc (2001): A kilencedik és a tizedik század története [The history of the 9th and the 10th centuries], p. 52. In: Magyar Századok [Hungarian Centuries]. Published by Pannonica Kiadó, Ser. ed.: Gyula Szvák, 222 p.) probably settled in this region (that time Transylvania).Dénes, József (1984–1985): A magyarok hét neme és hét országa (A magyar "törzsek" elhelyezkedése a Kárpát-medencében") [The seven gens and seven countries of the Magyars (The allocation of the Magyar "tribes" in the Carpathian Basin)]. In: Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve [The Annual of the Ferenc Móra Museum of Szeged], Szeged, 1991, p. 573 In some parts of Hungary, there are data of the Kabars even from the 13th century.Györffy, György (1990): A magyarság keleti elemei. [The Eastern Elements of the Hungarians]. Budapest: Gondolat, p. 50
Script used for the Alsószentmihály inscription Some quotations from historian Gábor Vékony about the identification of the script in this inscription:
"Since the Alsószentmihály inscription was not found in the geographical area of the Old Hungarian script, and in the first line, only vowels could be read based on the Khazarian script, we can state surely that the possible transcription of the inscription is surely out of the Khazarian script".Vékony Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó, page 218, first five rows of the first paragraph "To summarize, we can state that the Alsószentmihály inscription is the relic of the Kabars settled into Transylvania, which is naturally written in Khazar with Khazarian script."Vékony Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó, page 230, first three rows of the second paragraph "Similar symbols occur in other Khazarian runic inscriptions as well."Vékony Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó, page 280, fifth and sixth rows of the fourth paragraph "In Transylvania, the inscription of the reused stone built into the wall of the church of Alsószentmihály is unambiguously written with Khazarian runic alphabet."Vékony Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó, page 109, last third of the second paragraph
Based on the quotations above, it can be stated that Vékony identified the script of the Alsószentmihály relic as a Khazarian script. According to Vékony, another relic, the Homokmégy-Halom inscription contains Khazarian text as well.Vékony Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó, page 218, first five rows of the first paragraph
The meaning of the inscription
The Alsószentmihály inscription was deciphered by archaeologist Gábor Vékony.
The transcription of Vékony (it uses IPA symbols):Vékony, Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó
First Row Second RowInscriptionTranscription (using IPA)ɛbi atlïɣjyedi • kyr qerejiTranslation from Old TurkicVékony, Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap KiadóGábor Hosszú (2011): Heritage of Scribes. The Relation of Rovas Scripts to Eurasian Writing Systems. Budapest: Rovas FoundationHis mansion is famous. Jüedi Kür Karaite. or Jüedi Kür (the) Karaite.
According to Vékony, the inscription was made by a Kabar leader, whose religion was Karaite.Vékony, Gábor (1985): Késő népvándorláskori rovásfeliratok [Rovas inscriptions from the Late Migration Period]. In: Életünk Vol. XXII, No. 1, pp. 71–84 The first symbol of the first row is a ligature, its transcription: atlïɣ.Vékony, Gábor (1985): Késő népvándorláskori rovásfeliratok [Runic inscriptions from the Late Migration Period]. In: Életünk Vol. XXII, No. 1, pp. 71–84 The first symbol (from left) in the second row is a Khazarian word separator.Vékony Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó, page 217
In the inscription, the third symbol of the first row (from left), and the symbols in the second and last place can be considered as descendants of the Old Turkic script. Nevertheless, their relation needs more evidence.
Critics, alternative theories There are several critics of Vékony's theories and translations, most notably the Hungarian linguist and historian, András Róna-Tas. The debates were summarized by István Riba in 1999 and 2000.Riba, István: Jöttek, honfoglaltak, fújtak. Régészvita egy rovásírásról [Came, settled, blown. Archaeological debate about the runic scripting]. In: Heti Világgazdaság [Weekly Word's Economy], Vol. 21. 1999. N. 46. pp. 101–102, 105.Riba, István (2000). . The Hungarian Quarterly. Vol. XLI. No. 157, Spring 2000
Notes
External links The Alsószentmihályfalva Rovas inscription on the RovasPedia Jenő Demeczky, Dr. Gábor Hosszú, Tamás Rumi, László Sípos, Dr. Erzsébet Zelliger: Revised proposal for encoding the Rovas in the UCS. Individual Contribution for consideration by UTC and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, 14. October 2012. Rovás Info News Portal Rovas Foundation: Code request for the Rovas script in ISO 15924 (2012-10-20) Jenő Demeczky, György Giczi, Dr. Gábor Hosszú, Gergely Kliha, Dr. Borbála Obrusánszky, Tamás Rumi, László Sípos, Dr. Erzsébet Zelliger: Additional information about the name of the Rovas script. Individual Contribution for consideration by UTC and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, 2012-10-21. Jenő Demeczky, György Giczi, Gábor Hosszú, Gergely Kliha, Borbála Obrusánszky, Tamás Rumi, László Sípos, Erzsébet Zelliger: About the consensus of the Rovas encoding – Response to N4373 (Resolutions of the 8th Hungarian World Congress on the encoding of Old Hungarian). Individual Contribution for consideration by UTC and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. Registered by UTC (L2/12-337), 2012-10-24
References Bálint, Csanád (1980): Some Archaeological Addenda to P. Golden's Khazar Studies. In: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarium Hungaricae Vol. 34. 1981, pp. 397–412 Bálint, Csanád (1981): A kazár kaganátus régészeti kutatása a Szovjetunióban [The archaeological research of the Khazar Khanate in the Soviet Union]. In: Magyar Tudomány [Hungarian Science], No. 5. 1980, pp. 381–386 Benkő, Elek (1972): Egy újabb rovásírásos emlék Erdélyből [A new runic script relic from Transsylvania]. (A szentmihályfalvi templom rovásfelirata [The runic inscription of the Alsószentmihály church]). In: Magyar Nyelv [Hungarian Language]. 1972, Vol. LXVIII, No. 4, pp. 453 and Appendix Dénes, József (1984–1985): A magyarok hét neme és hét országa (A magyar "törzsek" elhelyezkedése a Kárpát-medencében") [The seven gens and seven countries of the Magyars (The allocation of the Magyar "tribes" in the Carpathian Basin)]. In: Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve [The Annual of the Ferenc Móra Museum of Szeged], Szeged, 1991, pp. 571–577 Györffy, György (1990): A magyarság keleti elemei. [The Eastern Elements of the Hungarians]. Budapest: Gondolat. Kristó, Gyula & Makk, Ferenc (2001): A kilencedik és a tizedik század története [The history of the 9th and the 10th centuries]. In: Magyar Századok [Hungarian Centuries]. Published by Pannonica Kiadó, Ser. ed.: Gyula Szvák, 222 p. Róna-Tas, András (1999): The Khazars and the Magyars. In: Golden, Ben-Shammai, and Róna-Tas (eds., 1999), pp. 269–278 Róna-Tas, András (2007): Tudtak-e írni a magyarok a honfoglalás előtt? Írásbeliség Eurázsiában, 7–9. század [Could the Hungarians write before the Magyars' Landtaking? Literacy in Eurasia, 7th–9th centuries], In: História, Vol. 29, No. 8, pp. 22–24 Vékony, Gábor (1985): Késő népvándorláskori rovásfeliratok [Runic inscriptions from the Late Migration Period]. In: Életünk Vol. XXII, No. 1, pp. 71–84 Vékony, Gábor (1987): Későnépvándorláskori rovásfeliratok a Kárpát-medencében [Runic inscriptions from the Late Migration Period in the Carpathian Basin]. Szombathely-Budapest: Életünk szerkesztősége. Vékony, Gábor (2004): A székely írás emlékei, kapcsolatai, története. Budapest: Nap Kiadó.