User talk:Hortobagy/sz

Székely language refers to the language spoken by Székely people in Europe. Szekely's language shows some trace whatsoever of Turkic origins. Székelys were of Turkic origin, possessed a Turkic culture. The Székely language contains more Bulgaro-Turkish loan-words. Linguistically, 'Székely language' is sometimes used as a term for the language of the former Szekely people. Székelys once spoke a Turkic tongue and it belongs to Uralic (Proto-Uralic, Langue Ouraliennes, Finno-Ugrian and Samoyed) languages.

Alternate Names: Szekler-Dialekt; Seklergebiet; Szekler Dialekt.

History
First mention of this group dates back to the 12th century. The descriptions of the battles on the Rivers Olsava (1116) and Lajta (1146) respectively speak of the Szekelys, together with the Pechenegs, as forming the advance guard of the Magyar forces. ... Toponymic data point to the fact that the Szekelys must have served as border guards in the 11th-12th centuries. The Bihar county Szekelys (i.e., Szekelys from Bihar) migrated to their later settlement areas as of the 12th century. They reached the Carpathians by the 13th century. ... Their uniquely autonomous system of széks 'settlements' served to maintain their independence, while the other Szekely posts in West Transdanubia, the Orseg, in Moson, near Bratislava and in Baranya county soon assimilated into the Magyar population.

Origins of the Székely Script
The ancient Szekely writing is runic and the Székely Script drives from Turkic Runic.

Székely Rovás, which are also known as Székely Runes, are thought to have descended from the Turkic script (Kök Turki) used in Central Asia, though some scholars believe the Székely Rovás pre-date the Turkic script. They were used by the Székler until the 11th century. In remote parts of Transylvania however, the runes were still used up until the 1850s. During the 20th century there was a revival of interest in the alphabet.

Simon Kezai's Latin chronicle is the first to mention the Szekely runiform writing. Kezai claimed that the Szekely were the offspring of the Huns and that after the Conquest they joined the Magyars. However, ... they ... were granted estates in the mountainous borderlands, together with the Vlachs, where mingling with the Vlachs, "it is said they used their (Vlach) letters". Thuroczy writes this about the Szekely: "they have not yet forgotten the Scythian letters: they do not commit these to paper in ink, but deftly incise them on sticks, in the manner of runes."

Examples
Székely language preserved radically different dialect lacking Alanic or Iranic terms such as "hid" and "vám" "kard".