Rohonczi Codex

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Rohonczi codex sample

Rohonczi Codex is a set of writings in an unknown writing system.

1 History
2 Features
3 Language
4 Translation
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The origin of the codex is uncertain, as it was donated in 1838 to the Hungarian Science Academy by Gusztáv Batthyány, a Hungarian count, together with his entire library.

It was named after the city of Rohoncz, in Western Hungary (now Rechnitz, Austria), where it was kept until 1907, when it was moved to Budapest. In the same year, it is mentioned in a work by Bela Toth, "Rare Hungarian Writings". The codex was sent to a German researcher, Bernhard Jülg, professor at the Innsbruck University, but he was not able to decipher it either.

[edit] Features

An illustration

The codex has 448 paper pages (12x10 cm), each one having between 9 and 14 rows of symbols, which may or may not be letters. Beside the text, there are 87 illustrations that include religious, laic, and military scenes. The crude illustrations seem to indicate an environment where Christian, pagan, and Muslim religions coexist, as the symbols of the cross, crescent, and sun/swastika are omnipresent.

The number of symbols used in the codex is about 10 times higher than any known alphabet, but some symbols are used rarely, so the symbols in the codex might not be an alphabet, but a syllabary, or something like Chinese characters. The justification of the right margin would seem to imply the symbols were transcribed from right to left.

The study of the paper on which it is written shows that it is probably a Venetian paper made in the 1530s. However, it may be simply transcribed from an earlier source.

[edit] Language

The language in which it is written is unknown. Although Hungarian, Dacian, early Romanian or Cuman have been proposed, there is nothing that could indicate what language it is. In the Dobrogea region in Romania similar characters or symbols are engraved in Scythian monk caves

[edit] Translation

A translation has been attempted by Romanian philologist Viorica Enăchiuc, but the language (that ought to be Vulgar Latin or some kind of early Romanian) does not resemble Romanian. The alleged translation indicates that it is a history of the Blaki (Vlachs) people in their fights against Cumans and Pechenegs.

Solrgco zicjra naprzi olto co sesvil cas - O Sun of the live let write what span the time is the beginning chapter (p224) transligaturized in order RLBT.