From: Michael Everson (everson@evertype.com)
Date: Tue Nov 04 2008 - 15:40:47 CST
On 4 Nov 2008, at 16:10, Hosszu Gabor wrote:
> I agree with you and I also welcome your balanced view that is seen
> on the expression "Old/Sekler-Hungarian". I do not know your customs
> that is why I did not change the thread.
Gábor, please do not use language like this. The view put forward in
N3531, for instance, is not "unbalanced".
> The Community of the Hungarian Rovas Writers prefers the name
> "Szekler-Hungarian Rovas script" to the "Old Hungarian script" since
> the (1) Rovas writing was never extinct and (2) the "Old Hungarian"
> is not specific for the Rovas (in the Middle Ages there was old
> Hungarian scripting in Latin letters, too).
Regarding your first point, the word "Old" in "Old Hungarian" does not
imply anything about extinction. The term "Old Hungarian",
"Altungarisch", and "Староунгарска" (Staroungarska) are
used in English, German, and Bulgarian as the name for this script. It
is not an insult. It does not imply anything about the current use of
the script. It is simply the name of the script in these languages. As
such, it is not unreasonable for us to suggest that the naming
practice of *our* languages be respected.
Regarding your second point, again, this is a question of English-
language terminology. Two scripts were used during the Middle Ages for
the Hungarian language. We call one "the Latin script". We call the
other "the Old Hungarian script".
I note that the term "ösi magyar rovásírás" is not unknown in
Hungarian. This means "Ancient Hungarian inscribed script". In the
context of the UCS naming conventions for scripts, "Old" is the term
which is used for this.
In N3527, you give as one of your sources a book by Sándor Forrai,
whose work helped to popularize the Old Hungarian script in the 20th
century:
Sándor Forrai: Az ősi magyar rovásírás az ókortól napjainkig,
Antológia Kiadó, Lakitelek, 1994. ("The Old Szekler-Hungarian Rovas
Writing from the Ancient Time to Nowadays")
The translation here is not correct. "As ősi magyar rovásírás" does
not translate as "the Old Sekler-Hungarian Rovas [sic] writing". It
translates as "the old Hungarian inscribed script".
With best regards,
Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com
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