The alphabet explained in the "Rudimenta Priscae Hunnorum Linguae" - "The Elements of the Old Language of the Huns" written by János Telegdi in 1598 is shown on the first page of this document. This book was written as a compendium of the Magyar language and its ancient writing system, which he unmistakably calls Hunnish or common Siculi (Székely) letters. It had a major influence on later pen written rovás documents. He noted that the "rovás is the only suitable writing system to write the Hungarian language". The following picture shows page 4 in his Rudimenta, with some exercises and examples.

Oratio Dominica

MI ATYÁNK KI VAGY MÉNYEG BEN SZENTELTESSÉK MEG AZ AZTE NEVED. JÖJÖN EL AZ TE OR SZÁGOD: LEGYEN TE AKARATOD. MI KÉPÉN MÉNYEGBÉN AZONKÉPEN IT EZ FÖLDÖNIS: MI KÉNYÉRÜNKÉT MINDEN NAPIT AD MEG NÉKÜNK MA: ES BOCSÁJD MEG AZ MI BÜNEINKÉT MIKEPEN MIES MÉG BOCSÁTUNK ÉLLÉNÜNK VETÉTEKNEK: ES NÉVIGY MI(M)NKET AZ KISIRTÉT BÉN: DE SZABA AZ GONOSZTUL: MERT TIÉD AZ ORSZÁGH AZ HATALOM AZ DICSÖSEG MIND ÖRÖKÖN ÖRÖKÉ. AMEN.

Note that the upper case letters mean written signs, there are no lower case letters usually used for pronounced, but not written sounds. As well, there are no abbreviations in the form of contracted letters. The ancient people actually never wrote in such a wasteful manner.

The English translation is: "Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: Give us our daily bread: And forgive us our trespassers as we forgive those who trespass against us: And lead us not into temptation: But deliver us from the evil: Because thy's is the kingdom the might the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

It is interesting to note that there are lots of inconsistencies and mistakes in this text. Firstly: there is a mix-up of letters E and É (in rovás there is no difference between A and Á!). Second: the last sentence does not fit into the whole, it contains different signs for the sound R, then the spelling of word ORSZÁGH (kingdom) is different. As it had been written by a different person.

And last, note (for the non-Hungarian speakers): the Roman spelling of Hungarian sounds TY, GY, NY, SZ, CS consists of two letters, but in rovás there is only one sign. The reason for that is, that the Roman alphabet - adopted in the Middle Ages from an entirely different phonetic system - lacks certain signs and is really less suitable for Hungarian writing than the much older rovás.

Back to the Hungarian Rovás