This inscription was discovered in the oratory (as some other inscriptions as well) in a church of a village Csikszentmiklós in Transylvania in the 18th century. Since then it has vanished, but there are at least three copies known today. The copies differ slightly, bearing the evidence that the copiers did not truly understand the meanings of the signs.

The oldest copy known is made by Szilágyi Sámuel in year 1749. It consists of two lines only.

The next copy which is very similar and we can not doubt that it has been done directly upon the original is from year 1751 by an anonymous author. He is the only one who attempted to decipher the writing and for this reason his work is invaluable. It consists of six lines, the sixth one not occurring on the previous copy and being rather enigmatic.

The third copy (no picture) was done by Simonchich Ince and there is no doubt that it was done on the basis of the Anonymous' work.

At last we should mention another "improved" one which we can find in the book "A magyar rovás hiteles emlékei" by Sebestyén Gyula (Budapest, 1915) which picture is given on the previous page. This copy differs significantly from the all above mentioned. Sebestyén himself  made the changes and the reasons for this "improvements" were problems in deciphering the text. For the text that was found in the oratory, he made every attempt to adapt the meaning to the holiness of the church (this interpretation is not given here!).

Inscriptio
Oratorii Oppidi Siculie Csik Sz Martonansis

The Anonymous' reading is:

Urnak megett egy egfog van irnak ezerötszázegy esztendöbeh mátys jános és tytán kováts tsináltk mátyásmester iusef mester tsinálták. g.j.a.s.j.f.f.lt.á.

His reading is based upon series of signs:

URNaK MeGeTT eGY eGFOG VAN IRNaK eZeRÖT SZÁZ eGY eSZTeNDÖBEH MATYS JANOS éS TYTáN KOVACS CSINALTK MATYA SMeSTeR IUSeF MeSTeR CSINALTAK

Note the abbreviated writing (ligatures) marked by underline. The upper case letters represent the written signs themselves - vowels or consonants; the lower case letters represent the belonging vowels - if they are pronounced but not written. This system of writing - when the vowels are pronounced but not written very much resembles the Middle Eastern syllable writing system and is an important hint about the eastern origin of the Hungarian rovás.

The approximate English translation is: Behind the Lord there is one "egfog" (unknown word) they write in year Thousand Five Hundred One Matthew John and Tytan (unknown name) blacksmiths made, master (craftsman) Matthew master Joseph made. g.j.a.s.j.f.f.lt.a. (series of letters).

And here is apparent the problem: "behind the Lord" does not make to much sense in any language. The very first letter of the text "U" is a mistake. This sign is actually correctly deciphered on other places of the text. But on the first location it is calligraphic and represents what we call today a "capital" letter. It should read "V". This changes the reading to VRNK with the meaning: of the fortress, or our fortress (in old times maybe the same meaning as "city").

There was another mistake at the beginning of the second line: IRNaK. The first letter is clearly GY, so the reading should be GYRNaK. And last at the beginning of the fifth line IUSeF should read GRGLY.

With this we got a very disappointing secular message for one inscription found in the church:

VáRuNK MeGeTT eGY GFOG VAN GYuRiNaK eZeRÖTSZÁZ eGY eSZTeNDÖBEN MATYáS JANOS éS TYTN KOVACS CSINALTáK MATYA SMeSTeR GeRGeLY MeSTeR CSINALTAK

The approximate English translation is: Behind our fort there is one GFOG (unknown word) for George in the year Thousand Five Hundred One Matthew John and TYTN (unknown name) blacksmiths made master Matthew master Gregor made.

For the unknown word GFOG the clue of solution lies in the puzzle: what can one blacksmith make behind the city for George? Maybe stocks or pillory? In modern Hungarian "fogda" with meaning prison or jail, in German "Gefange" prison? We can not be sure. But what we know from history is that these were the times of peasant rebellions and squire reprisals, and that in year 1514 Dózsa György paid with his life for being a ring-leader of a peasant uprising (in no way I suggest that Gyuri and György are the same persons).

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