Old Hungarian Alphabet - Features

Features

Old Hungarian letters were usually written from right to left on sticks. Later, in Transylvania, they appeared on several media. Writings on walls also were right to left and not boustrophedon style (alternating direction right to left and then left to right).

The numbers are almost the same as the Roman, Etruscan, and Chuvash numerals. Numbers of livestock were carved on tally sticks and the sticks were then cut in two lengthwise to avoid later disputes.

• Ligatures are common. (Note: the Hungarian runic script employed a number of ligatures. In some cases, an entire word was written with a single sign.)
• There are no lower or upper case letters, but the first letter of a proper name was often written a bit larger.
• The writing system did not always mark vowels. The rules for vowel inclusion were as follows:
  • If there are two vowels side by side, both have to be written, unless the second could be readily determined.
  • The vowels have to be written if their omission created ambiguity. (Example: krk – can be interpreted as kerék – and kerek –, thus the writer had to include the vowels to differentiate the intended words.)
  • The vowel at the end of the word must be written.
• Sometimes, especially when writing consonant clusters, a consonant was omitted. This is however rather a phonologic process, the script reflecting the exact surface realisation.