A NEW VIEW OF THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS

Susan V. Tomory

Part Two

The Sarmatian Language

It was believed that no Sarmatian inscriptions were left to posterity. Through the diligent efforts of Dr. Ferenc Fodor, who collected all available Hungarian Runic texts (Manuscript 11 Budapest), attention was drawn to a runic writing found in a Sarmatian grave. The find’s description[1] is as follows: Ladánybene a vessel from a Sarmatian grave, with Hungarian text in runic script (rovás), excavated in 1909.  This text, as well as the Pannonian proximity to the indigenous  Iasi, justifies our  search for  further linguistic clues within the Magyar language.

The grave of a Sarmatian Prince from  the second century AD. was found in the town of Szil, Hungary.  The name of this town has not changed since Roman times. Its establishment  must have pre-dated the Romans in order for it to become a fair-sized town by the time of the Romans. The  significant feature of the town’s  name is that its consonants correspond linguistically to the consonants of the first syllable of the name: Sarmatian. This name also brings us into close contact with the divinity they honored in this region, whose representation, picturing a lyre, found its way to the British Isles through them.  The background of this divinity with a lyre was explained by Adorján Magyar in the following:

“Furthermore, we have seen that, according to the very poetic imagery of our ancestors —   which was nevertheless always in full accord with reality — the fecund Sun   disperses the seeds of life, the energy or soul-atoms, into space and upon our earth. It is this perception  that is expressed in the Solim-Sarmatian name for  the Sun, which was Szór (to scatter), Szól (to speak). The verb  szór’s   softer version comes about with the use of the sound “L” thus presenting us with  a double meaning — that of scattering and speaking. The uttering of sounds is just as much a form of energy and is just as active as the act of scattering. It is in agreement with this linguistic fact   that, the Greek gods, Apollo and Orpheus, were  believed to sing and play the harp beautifully. The Greeks used to represent Apollo, too, in such a manner. We have also seen that a man scattering seeds became the symbol of fertility,  the life-giving properties of the sun and the Sungod in Hungary. The scattering of seeds, when planting cereal crops, has  always been done by a man all throughout the ages, even today, although this is an easy job. This was done to honor  an ancient tradition, although the symbolism behind the tradition.[2]” was not always remembered. The beautiful songs and music of Greek and Roman deities are but a faded memory of the ancient Magyar Táltos tradition and the process of creation through song. (In Magyar the Táltos formed a priestly class. One could not become a Táltos, since their  talent was bestowed upon them by divine grace  at  birth. Their role was to continue the song of creation. The first syllable of the word táltos   is tal, the word for song is dal. Creation was considered a song.) This tradition was  continued in the British Isles, especially in the songs of Taliesin, which take us into the ancient history of Europe.

Adorján Magyar discusses the ancient history of Syria and Palestine, where the Jász and some other Magyar groups migrated at the time of overpopulation of their homeland.

“The Hungarian word for grapes (szőlő) corresponds with the Near Eastern and Canaanite Solim nation’s name, but its variation with ’R’ also corresponds with the name of the Sarmatian, who lived on the territory of Hungary.

“South of this [Tanger] — according to Movers — on a land rich with lush vegetation, grapes were once cultivated in an unbroken chain [Movers F.: Die Phönizier.I. Vol. Bonn, 1841 II. Vol. l (Polit. Gesch. u. Staatsverfassung.) Berlin, 1849 Vol.II. part 2. (Geschichte der Colonien.) Berlin, 1850 Vol II.. part 3., Vol.II. p.528. (Handel und Schiffahrt.) Berlin, 1856] to the extent that the surviving grape vines, now gone wild, can still be found aplenty on this land. With this in mind, the ancient place-names become very interesting: Soleis, Soloencia, Zelitz, or Azila (Movers II/2 534 and 537), which appear to be the corrupted versions — conforming to the requirements of a non Magyar tongue — of the Hungarian word “szőlő” (grape).”[3]

Adorján Magyar also mentions that the names of Syleus of Roman Mythology, who lived in a vineyard, of Silenus the foster father of Bacchus, and of all the Silens bear a relationship to the Magyar word szőlő (grape). “Silenus was considered to be  the personification of the grape plant, the Silens of its branches. The city of Siloh was famous for its vine production[4]. The name of the Magyar town Szeleus in Torontál county bears a close resemblance to Syleus’ name. The name Szeleus was derived from Szőlős, but it  changed through use by the later Rumanian adopters of this name.[5]” Adorján Magyar later explains how the name of the county Zala, in Transdanubia, which is famous for its vines, also corresponds with the word Szala:[6]

“It is a fact that, in Roman times, on the south-western border of Erdély (Transylvania) there stood the city of Sarmisegetusa (later called Várhely in Magyar, which means castle). Sarmisegetusa   must have meant the Isle of the Sarmatians or the Sarm-island, which was really a stronghold that was either built onto an island of the river, or had a channel around it.

“We also find here (in Zala county) place-names such as Salonvár and Szil (the latter belongs to Somogy county). But there is another element that validates my statements surprisingly well: Near today’s Zalaegerszeg,  a city in the renowned vine growing district, once stood a city in Roman times called Sala[7].We realized from the above data that the Magyar name Szala originated from the Magyar word szala meaning grapes (szőlő). Consequently as the name Szala already existed in this vine- growing region in Roman times then, without doubt, it is proven that the Magyar language already existed here in Roman times. Finally, we must also mention that, according to the above referred German atlas, there stood a city called Silacenae, in Roman times, near Kaposvár (Somogy county), which is the same location where today’s town of Szil is situated.[8]” Silo of the Old Testament is also connected with vineyards established by a non-Israelite culture. (Judges 21:19 – 21:21)

The deity of the Sarmatian-Szolim culture group,   stationed in Britain, can thus be recognized  in the “Sarmatian Apollo” of England as Szól or Szél (to speak  and wind): both are names for  the Sun, a symbol of the creative forces. It is from this word-root that the name of the Roman sun god, Sol, originated. The direction of the borrowing becomes clear as we realize the rich linguistic and mythological roots of this word-group embedded in the Magyar language.

Gyula Mészáros excavated a grave in Regöly,[9] Hungary, which he believes to be of Sarmatian-Alanic and Carthaginian origin. I am citing some excerpts of his article, The Grave of an Alan Prince in Regöly, Hungary, From The Early Epoch Of The Great Migrations:

“In  the summer of 1967, in Tolna county’s township of Regöly, at the north-western part of a hill, called “Pénzesdomb” (lit.: “Money-hill”), at the junction of the Kapos and Koppány rivers, during sand-mining operations, a very richly appointed female grave was found by the workers of a local cooperative, at a depth of 150-160 centimeters. [...] The find is preserved at the Balogh Ádám Museum in Szekszárd (Hungary).

“[...] The   burial of the Regöly find may be dated to the first quarter of the 5th century A.D., based upon the objects in the grave, the analysis of the entire contents, the artifacts and their comparison with related finds. The water pitchers with hollow handles have their parallel in the Tiszalök-Rázompuszta and the Wien-Leopoldau finds, which also point to the fifth century, as does the decoration of the Lébény pitcher.  The late Roman glass cup may be dated to the last third of the fourth and the first quarter of the fifth century, although this cannot be considered a good chronological base.

“It is difficult to make a decision concerning the ethnicity of the find. The fibulae, buckles, bracelets are not reliable in establishing ethnicity. The wares of the Southern Russian workshops may be present in Germanic and Alan graves but the compartmental technique of the gold jewelry in the find is believed to be of Hunnic origin; we refer here first of all to the fine gold work of the Szeged-Nagyszéksós royal grave in the Magyar collection. [...]

“Rostovtzteff calls the Untersiebenbrunn and Airian finds of the related types Sarmatian (Alan) and he leans toward this opinion concerning the Carthaginian find. The golden sequences weigh heavily in his deductions. Concerning the Carthaginian find, Alföldi does not exclude the Alan origins either. Mitscha-Märcheim believe the Untersiebenbrunn graves belonged to the Goths or Heruls. Salin and France Lanord established two hypotheses, concerning the ethnicity of the Airian find. Since the first Sarmatian (Alan) invasion of 407 AD arrived in France at this time, one of the graves may have belonged to the wife of a Sarmatian nobleman; the second  theory is that the objects arrived through commerce between the Pontic regions and Normandy. Although their opinion is cautious, they still find the first hypothesis to be better validated and supported with historical facts. The Soviet researchers, Kuznyecov and Pudovin also support the Alan origin.

“Concerning the Regöly-Pénzesdomb find, we also favor the Alan ethnicity of the female’s remnants, by establishing the South Russian origin of the majority of the grave-goods — emphasizing especially the gold dress decorations — and keeping in mind the connections with the related finds and the time of the burial. Narrowing the subject further, we raise the possibility that the gold bedecked female belonged to the upper class of that Alan group, which was given permission by Stilicho to settle in Valeria, after the Eastern-Goth — Alan — Hun group, who originally settled there in 379 A.D, was dispersed in 399 AD.  One can still validate the presence of the Gens Alanorum in Valeria at the end of first quarter of the fifth century. The center of the Valeria Province was the center of the present Tolna county.” (Italics by ST..)

This find places the Sarmatians into the realm of the regős (bard) in Hungary. Another excavation in Regöly brought to light a beautiful pitcher in the shape of a falcon, one of the beloved Sun symbols of the Magyars called the Turul. The appearance of the Turul again bears significant symbolical and linguistic ties with the past and a remarkable linguistic unity of ancient tradition and artifacts. Here again, we find the Alan and Sarmatian presence, centuries after the Aurelian wars, thus reminding us of a cultural continuity in the Carpathian region, the awareness of which was well-nigh obliterated  by the theory of the Great Migrations,   because of its exaggerated importance.

Going back to more ancient times in search of the Sarmatian past, we have to turn to Herodotos (Herodotus). According to him – as I mentioned before –the Sarmatian language is a corrupt version of the language of the Scythians:

”As we cross the Tanais, we are not on Scythian soil anymore. In the first district live the Sauromati who reside in the North, a fifteen days long journey from the upper corner of the Meotis. Their land is bare, where no tree grows, no fruit trees or trees grow in the wild.”[10]

The first syllable of the Sauromati is equivalent to the Magyar word sár which means “shine, shiny”, frequently as the yellow shine of gold, or to the word szár that means dry, bald. Both of these words are   archaic now but are still used in poetry or historical texts. The word sár (shiny) was later adopted by the cultures of the Fertile Crescent where saar has a meaning of royalty or divinity; the title czar used by Russians has its origin in this word also. The name of one Hungarian historical figure was László Szár, which means: László the Bald. The second syllable of Sauromata is related to the Magyar word mét, meaning land and it is still in use in the name of Kecskemét (lit.: land of goats), which is a Hungarian city today. The word megye (county), which originally meant “land”, belongs in this word category too. The word mata is also related to the Magyar word mező, meaning grassland, which fully describes the land of the Sauromatians, as it was described by Herodotos (Herodotus). The English meadow belongs into the same word-group. The word száraz means dry. In summary, the Sauromata, Sarmata words mean a shiny (sár) or a dry, barren (szár) land. Considering that Herodotos (Herodotus) emphasized that the land of these people was void of all trees, the latter may be more appropriate. The two concepts intertwine: where there are no trees, no shade, the landscape is sunnier, brighter, shinier.

The word mata is part of the cultic S-M, M-T word-group and is connected with the Magyar words méz (honey) and méh (bee). Considering that Greek historians described the Scythians as living on milk and honey, it is evident that these words belong to the Magyar  culture. Greek historians also mention that it is impossible to cross the Carpathian mountains because of the many “bees” (méh). Thus one realizes that this word-group and culture originated from the Carpathian Basin. This “milk and honey” culture also has some affinities with the culture of the Medes and Mesopotamia.

Among classical historians, Diodoros Siculus’ report concerning the Scythian people is significant when contemplating the more recent background of the Magyar connections with  the British Isles:

In a narrative about Palos and Napus, Diodoros Siculus uses the same method for finding the word-origin of names as Herodotos (Herodotus) did in the case of the name of Scythes, the father of the Scythian nation. According to Diodoros, the Palos and Napus people got their names, which sound very familiar to the Magyar ears, from their two kings. It is easy to recognize, in the first one, the name of the Palóc nation; in Napus we recognize the Magyar word for Sun (Nap) with the added Greek suffix “os”. This name is also preserved in the ancient name Napóca  for the city of Kolozsvár  in Erdély:Transylvania" (Transylvania). The Saka, Sekel, Sicul or Székely nations were  part of the Scythian Empire. According to Diodoros, we also have to count  the Massagetae, the Arimasp and the Sarmatians among  the Scythian people, as Endre K. Grandpierre, researcher of Hungarian antiquities,[11] pointed out. A Hungarian historian of the 19th century, called Kristóf Lukácsy, a priest in the town of Szamosújvár, worked with Armenian sources. In these, the Saka, Daha and Massagetae were equated not only with the Scythians, but also the Huns and the Hungarians.[12]

Diodorus Siculus talks about the vast areas, which the Scythians occupied in parts of the Near East, including  the land where they eventually built the city of Scythopolis. These data are important when researching sagas concerning the origin   of the Scottish people.

Studying the history of the British Isles, the Magyar historical and geographical names are frequent and obvious. At this point, I would like to draw attention to the Sarmatian influence on British soil in the names of Silbury and Salesbury juxtaposed with the name of the ancient town of Szil (pron.: Sil) in Hungary.

Since the historical memories of the two people, the Sarmatian and the Ias, are so intertwined, I need to focus upon the origin of the name Ias, or Jász using the latter form which is the  current Magyar spelling.

Presently the Jász occupy a large territory between the Duna (Danube) and the Tisza rivers. Considerable numbers of their descendants live in today’s Moldavia. Their origins go back to the dawn of history in the Carpathian Basin. Their migratory routes radiate from here to the east, south and west. There are clear historical remains of the returning eastern migrants. Professor János Makkay, in his work Sárkány meg a kincsek (The Dragon And The Treasures) gives detailed accounts of these migrations.[13]

I quote a short excerpt from Adorján Magyar’s work concerning the Jász:

“Classical historians report  that the Ias, who lived between the rivers Duna (Danube) and the Tisza, fought primarily with bows and arrows. It is noteworthy that the  Iassius or Iazygs on the Trajan monument are also shown bearing bows and arrows, and helmets on their heads, and both the warriors  and their horses wore scale armaments . It is also evident that the (Magyar) words íj  and íjász (bow and archer) are not Greek loan-words in the Magyar language but, on the contrary, the Greeks inherited these words from the ancient Ionians or Iasi, or archers (íjász). This is further corroborated  by the fact that the new crescent moon in its first very thin phase resembles a bow . We mentioned that in Turkish aj = moon, and in the Turkish, Tatár, and Ujgur  languages, jej, jaj means bow (íj in Magyar) which clearly shows that the Magyar, Turkish, Tatár, and Ujgur languages, this latter being an old Turkish dialect, did not take the words for moon and bow from the Greek language, but the Greeks inherited them  from the Ias inhabitants of Crete and the Greek peninsula. (Uygur is also spelled: uighur, ujgur, uighuir, uiguir, weiwuer, uygher. Chinese sources indicate that the Uygur were direct descendants of the Huns.)[14] The Greeks use the io, and ios words with an incorrect meaning. I mentioned before that the Moon god of the Jász was called Jón and Jázon and that the crescent moon resembles a bow; this connection is clearly reflected in the Turkish word aj meaning moon and jaj meaning bow, but these same connections do not exist in the Greek language.[15]

 “Finally, I have to emphasize the very obvious difference between the highly sophisticated attire of the Iasi, sporting armor, helmets and sleeves, and the relatively primitive  appearance of the Germanic warriors  on the same Trajan’s Column . This fact shows that the culture of the Iasi of those days was far more advanced than that of the Germanic peoples. This latter statement is also validated by the fact that the Romans had not been  able to subjugate the Iasi nor occupy their land, between the Duna (Danube) and the Tisza rivers, and therefore this land — although it was surrounded on three sides by the mighty Roman empire — remained free from their subjugation until the fall of the Roman Empire. While it  is  true that the Romans did break  through at the southern border,  their rule here was very short-lasting. The fortifications that were built against the Roman incursions, called Roman trenches, were in fact built by the Ias against the Romans and not the other way around.[16]”

Some of the Ias cultic words are the already mentioned iz ( small particle, a bit), izzó (glowing, incandescent, shiny) and jizéter[17] for a fish representing the Milky way. Jó (meaning good) was the name of their Great God. Gyász (mourning) had a deep cultic significance to the Iasi-Ion-Iazyg people, which left its mark on the island of Iona among many other places. These peoples left their mark on Western European river names as discussed by Adorján Magyar :

“Sió is the name of a rivulet in Hungary which draws on the water of  Lake Balaton. The  name  is an ancient form, meaning “river” (folyó). In Italian we find the word scia which means the foaming, white wake  left by ships on the water. It is clear that the word “sí” (pron. shee) is also connected with the words siklik, sima and siet (to glide, smooth and hurry) and the Italian scivola, which means to glide. [...]

“This holds also true in  the reciprocal form of “sí” which is” isz” (pron. is); the verb “iszkol” (pron. iskol) meaning to scamper  (sietés) and in dialects the word “iszánkol” also means gliding. Undoubtedly, the Magyar verb for drinking (iszik, pron. isik) originated  from the basic sounds of isz. The  infinitive of this verb  today is inni (to drink), which form has  lost the “s” sound; its original form was iszni (pron. isni). It is also the base of the word víz (water) in Magyar.

“It is very striking  that so many river names contain the isz sound:

Iser                  a river in Czechoslovakia

Isere                a tributary of the river Rhone

Isar                  a tributary of the river Duna (Danube)

Isle                   a river in France

Iszli                  a river in Morocco

Isel                   a river in Prussia

Yssel                several rivers, rivulets in the Netherlands

Ischl                 at the lake St. Wolfgang in Austria

Isel                   a river in Tyrol

Isz                    a tributary of the river Káma in Russia

Iza                   a tributary of the river Tisza in Hungary

Iszma               a river on the land of the Zhurjens in Russia

Isztmenosz       a river in Greece

Izim                 or Izel, a tributary of the river Irtis in Asia

Iszker               a tributary of the river Duna (Danube) in Bulgaria

Isonzo              a river in Italy

Iszter               or Istros, the old names of the Duna (Danube)

Isenbach          a river in Austria

Isena                the old name of today’s Eis in Austria.

“The “i”[18] sound in the Magyar language expressed coldness. Its use in connection with waters is correct since the water’s specific heat is the lowest.

“It is well known in the fields of ethnography and linguistics that the names of the rivers prove very long lived and unchanging  in a given region; therefore the above river names are one proof, out of many, that the ancient population of Eurasia  and North Africa were the Magyar speaking peoples.[19]”

“The Magyar word for liquid is nedű, its reciprocal gives the following river names[20].

Duna               a river in Hungary (Danube)

Don                 a river in England

Don                 a river in Russia

Their T-M variants:

Temes              a river in Erdély (Transylvania)

Thames            a river in England

Tamar             a river in England

Tana                river in East Africa

Tanais            old name of the Volga

Its Sz-M variation:

Szamos            a river in Erdély (Transylvania)”

The range of these river names covers the territories which were once inhabited by the Magyar peoples.

All  these people lived in close proximity to the Celtic people. For this reason, we have to take a look into their history and language too.

Miklós Szabó, a Hungarian historian, thoroughly examined the Celtic names  occurring  in Pannonia in  the first and second centuries A.D.  and published his findings in the Hungarian Journal of Archaeology[21]. When researching these names, he first had to turn for explanation to the Greek language, since he was unable to find a common Indo-European system  in the Latin language. He discussed — among others — the name of Cuchulainn, where he explains the first syllable Cu as dog. The Magyar word for dog (kutya) begins with the same syllable and the names of most of the Hungarian breeds begin with ku, namely the kuvasz, komondor. The form of their head is in the shape of a wedge. The Magyar word for wedge (ék, which is the reciprocal form of ke) is connected to the word ka-ke-kő-ku-kű (stone); the first word ék meaning “wedge” was derived from splitting stones and is quite possibly an onomatopoeic word, echoing the sound of splitting a stone. The reciprocal of this  syllable forms the words of hardness too.

The word kan (male), kun (a protruding object) belongs to this vast word-group, from which the Latin cuneus originated. The reciprocal of ku contains the symbolic word of the Huns (ék);  the  name they were known by and their role in society adheres to this sound and meaning.  The sound, the form of the pointed wedge and the symbol for  “K” (a diamond shape) of the Magyar rovás (runic script) arose at one time in the earliest Stone Age. Just as a matter of interest, I would like to mention that, in all European languages, the word for cooking is based on the Magyar word kő (stone). The Magyar word köveszt (to cook) and the English word cook both go back to this base. This fact preserved the ancient, I believe Stone Age, pre-pottery memory of open fires and cooking with stones. Researching the English children’s story of the Stone Soup, I believe one can pinpoint the time and circumstances of the transfer of this word and technology based upon the new use of stones.

Miklós Szabó  believes the name of the Setantii tribe  to be of ancient Irish origin meaning “Western”[22]. The word sötét, setét means dark in Magyar; and it very logically connects with the word meaning the place of the setting sun and the coming of darkness. In Magyar, the word for sunset (napnyugta), which literally means “the resting time of the sun”, and the word for West (napnyugat) are identical, one signifying an instant of time the other the direction where this event takes place. Note that, in English, there is no etymological connection between the words for the time and place of sunset (West and sunset).

The Celtic inscription of the Potzneusiedl-Gattendorf find bears the word “mutsa”. The German scientist, Holder, who did not speak Magyar, gave dirt as this word’s meaning. In Magyar dirt is mocsok (pron.: motschok).

Szabó  translates the Welsh family name Euryn as arany (gold). He also mentions several composite names, which contain the word “matu”, like Matumarus, Matugenta, Maturus, Matto, Matta. The word mata or mét is preserved in the name of the city of Kecskemét meaning land of the goats. It is also related to the Magyar mező (meadow) and megye (arch. land, today: county). Miklós Szabó[23] mentioned that the Magyar word for bear, “medve” belongs into the same word group. The bear was a symbolic animal in some of the ancient solar religions. Here I would like to mention that the words mező (grassland), medve (bear), méz (honey) belong into the S-M word-group of the Szemere ethnic group, whose Sun was called Szem-Úr (Lord of the Eye, Lord of the Grain.) The English Sun stems from the same word-root.

Szabó mentioned words that showed signs of having been  intertwined with the language of the Venets. Among these, he cites several names that were formed with the “Il(lo)” particle, such as Ab-ilus, Bas-ila, Diar-ilos, Suad-illus, Mag-ilo, Cucc-illo; this particle is identical with Magyar words él, élet, lélek, illó meaning to live, life, soul and evanescent in that order.

The Celts first came into contact with the Magyars, their language and culture, in the Carpathian Basin, which is considered by most scholars as “the Celtic cradle”. Some Celtic migrants later reached the British Isles in the West. Here, they were able to assimilate the related culture of the ancient population of the British Isles easily, due to this more recent contact with the Magyars in the Carpathian region. The late Professor  Dr. Tibor Baráth, historian and professor of history, originates the name of the Kelts and its various forms from the magyar word kel, (to rise) and kelet (East, lit.: the place of sunrise)[24].

Figure 1. The Celtic cradle in the Bronze Age

The Hallstatt and La Tène cultures reflect  this westward wandering of the Celts. The famous late La Tène settlement of Heuneburg  near the Danube possessed all the attributes of a settled and cultured life. The settlers maintained regular trade with the Mediterranean cultures. Many experts believe that these contacts helped to develop the sophisticated  life-style and architecture of these Celts. The excavation site near Mount Lassois and the Seine contains the burial of a Celtic Princess. The grave-goods are in no way inferior to the Etruscan and Egyptian graves. Archeologists believe that the design of the jewelry here is a blend  of two distinct   elements, the native Hallstatt and “nomadic” designs. The writers of these articles don’t mention that, in the fifth century B.C., all these elements were part of the art of the Magyar peoples. There is also rarely a mention that the basic elements of settled life reached Western Europe from the Carpathian Basin with an eight thousand year delay. The famous Rodenbach find from the fourth century B.C. uses Magyar decorative elements in the very representative mirror imaging style.

Linguistic background of the Arthurian legends.

The extensive overview concerning the Sarmatian/Iazyg/Ionian historical link with England is further supported by legends, customs and their linguistic data.

During the early centuries of Roman Christianity, the traditions of ancient populations were just as much persecuted in England as in Hungary; even so, some memories survived and were preserved. The close connection of surviving memories of the British Isles  to the Hungarian legends and language is striking. Most of these legends survived in Wales, Ireland and Scotland through oral tradition.

The traditions in Scotland were preserved with religious zeal; children, before attending the mandatory Christian services on Sunday, had to recite at home their family’s traditions, such as the meaning of their coat of arms, colors, symbolic flowers and all the other memories they held dear. It is not rare, even in today’s society, that the American Irish bequeath their family history to one family member and make sure that this person commits this history to memory, thus assuring its survival. A similar tradition exists in Hungary. Ethnographer, Erdélyi Zsuzsanna, collected the archaic Magyar prayers all over historical Hungary. The most numerous of these prayers were preserved in regions, which clung the longest to their pre-Roman-Catholic religion, e.g. the land of Koppány[25] in Transdanubia. As the younger generations loosened their ties with the country and the land, these memories began to fade and prayers were abandoned for the sake of TV. For this reason, older people, who had a great spiritual need to pass on their family prayers, had sent for this ethnographer and dictated them to her, sometimes just minutes before passing on. They clung to life just long enough to complete passing on their traditions. These prayers are a storehouse of ancient religious concepts and practices. Their memories go back — as clearly stated by date — some five thousand years, and in content to even earlier times. The same is the case with individuals, who consciously memorized as many folksongs as possible to keep alive the songs and, through them the memories of the people. These individuals were called “song-trees”[26]. During the centuries of forced Christianization by Roman Catholicism, the greatest rôle in preserving the ancient memories was carried out by the “regős” in Hungary. Their role was similar to that of the Welsh bards. It is their words we hear in the collections of ancient memories. We learn of the most ancient names of the Isles through these traditions. We are also aware of the Celtic layer superimposed upon these names. The earliest names were preserved in the Fin legends, which were later also adopted by the newly arriving Celtic people, the Scottish, Irish and Welsh. Among the forty Scottish names, which are said to be certainly of Celtic origin, I found only seven names which did not begin with Mac or Mc. and these can be traced to ancient Magyar origins. In Magyar, mag or makk means seed, son and sun, as does the Scottish Mc or Mac preceding the family names. To give an illustration: for the highly prominent Scottish family-name, that of the MacArthur's the Magyar translation would be “Artur magja”, i.e. the seed or son of Arthur. We may also translate the word for son with the Magyar “-fi” glued as an affix to the family name, like Arthurfi (son of Arthur). Fi means a child in the Celtic language also.

It is interesting to note that, out of the forty families, twelve were inhabitants of Argyle, a name that is very well recognized in the Magyar stories about Prince Argyélus, the personification of the ever-wandering silvery Moon. The moon itself was recognized as a cold, dead planet and as such it became the symbol of death.[27] The ancient burial place of Iona preserved the Ion name of the Jász, whose colors and mythology are also connected with mourning (gyász) so much so that the name of mourning is derived from the name of these people. The names and habitations of the Jász and Kun peoples always occur side by side. In present day Hungary, we find them side by side in Jász-Kun county. We find this the case in the British Isles too: the Ionreach family is lord over Kintail, and these two names represent these two people. Today the MacKenzie family traces its origins to them. The Mac particle connects the Ion, the Kin or Kun to the Magyar language group.

The symbolic flower or plant of these families is almost exclusively the fir-tree or some other evergreen plant, which is worn traditionally on their caps. The print and color of each family’s garments and these flowers constitute their property and no other families will use them, just as they would not use someone else’s coat of arms and family symbols either.

These colors and flowers represent an ancient, pre-coat of arms age, which we traditionally recognize as the Golden Age. I like to refer to this age, which yields the first connections of the Magyar culture sphere and the British Isles, as the Age of Fairies. Linguistic connections of this age are reflected in the old vocabulary of legends of which I shall mention only a few at this time:

Gaelic               Magyar                                    English 

mac                  mag                                          seed, a son

kam                  kampó                                      hook

each                 ék                                             wedge

ruadh                rőt                                            red

suan                 szunnyad                                   slumber

ur                     úr                                             lord

aedh                 ős                                             ancestor

loch                  luk                                            hole

fear                  férfi                                           man

                        Firuna                                       woman

kuran                korsó                                        pitcher

Lug                  reg (shine)                                 name of a man. it may be connected with the Sumerian title of Lugal

Og                   óg                                             top part of a building where the light

                                                                        comes in    

Virago               virág                                        flower. An ancient Celtic queeen

Virona or Viráganyó                                          Mother Earth of the Avars

ár                       ár                                           an awl

Shean               Szem,                                      an ancient name, seed, eye,

Shannon        Szamos                                       names of a river,derived from the ancient name Szem

In my research collection, English-Magyar Word Origins I have identified over six hundred related words in these two languages, many of which represent the most ancient layers of the English language and are listed either as “origin unknown”, or with Celtic connections.

The names of families and the names of their residences reveal much of their past history too. The oldest, and arguably the most prominent, family of the British Isles was the MacArthur family, whom Scottish tradition believes to be of royal descent. The English executed the head of this family and their holdings were taken away. Their family crest includes the isosceles sun cross which is probably mankind’s most frequently found and most ancient symbol. Their name carries the name of the legendary Arthur. Many Magyar legends include patterns of the Arthurian legends. Among these are legends of the sword, and a holy cup, known in later centuries in Western Europe as the grail. Among Arthur’s noble knights we find Bors whose name can be traced to County Borsod (i.e. the place or seat of Bors) in Hungary.

Scotland’s latinized name of Alba may very well be a translation of the name “fin” which means white and which was also the name of the ancient population of this region. It is also related to the Magyar word fény (light, shine). According to Magyar legends, these People of Light were the first known inhabitants of the earth and the saga of their arrival in the Carpathian Basin predates the formation of the land Csallóköz (lit.: Island of shine), which they eventually made their home. This name is also preserved in several geographical names, tracing their later migratory routes. Some of these areas, according to the map of the National Geographic Atlas of the World,[28] are as follows:

Finnea in Ireland is on the banks of lake Sheelin. Nearby is the city named Arva. This latter name seems related to the Magyar árva meaning orphan or figuratively speaking ”standing alone, singly“ . Several locations bear this name in Hungary, such as the county Árva in northern Hungary. (Ref. 20, page 96, D4)

Finn, a river also in Ireland (Ref. 20, C4)

Finnart, a town in Scotland (Ref. 20 page 92, D7)

Finne, a mountain in Germany (Ref. 20 page 107, E8)

Finneid in Norway (Ref. 20 page 104, E5)

Fines in Norway (Ref. 20 page 104, E5)

Finana in Spain (Ref. 20 page 102, G9)

In the Carpathian Basin the Fény people became known as the Pannons (and their land as Pannonia), who are listed among the indigenous population of Transdanubia. Linguistically the words fény (shine) and Pan, the first syllable of Pannon, are identical. The reciprocal of their name is Nap, which means Sun. Several later cultures — such as the Fenni or Phoenicians — are spin-offs of this culture. Some others, such as the Romans, for instance,  adopted many of their cultural elements and their divinities — such as Sol and Pan — which lead us to Pannonian and Sarmatian origins. The memory of the Phoenix rising from its ashes was the Sun-bird (Fény-madár) of this culture as the names attest to this fact: the Magyar word fény (light) and the phoen syllables are linguistically identical; both are the reciprocal form of the Magyar word nap (sun).

Moving closer to historical times we find that the Arthurian legends preserved the memory of Bors as a cousin of Lancelot among the Knights of the Round Table. Lancelot has been believed to be of Alanic origin and this points to Magyar-Alan relationships. The Bors family’s presence in the Carpathian Basin predates the arrival of the Árpáds in the 9^th century by far. According to Arthurian legends Bors once traveled to an unknown place called Sarras across the sea. Later, he continued his search for the Holy Grail, which showed up in Europe for a while, then disappeared again, to its ancient home in Asia, or to Heaven according to diverse traditions. Bors and Lancelot settled finally at Glastonbury to establish a religious community, which dissolved after the death of Lancelot.

Figure 2. The Glastonbury Tor

The name of Sarras is again connected with the Magyar word for shine (sár), the Sáros form means “shiny." Close to the Bors family’s pre-Árpád ancestral home in Borsod is the town of Sárospatak which became famous for its English boarding school which was founded by the Rákóczy family. Bors may have traveled to one of the towns in Hungary named Sáros. The history of Borsod itself leads into great antiquity. Beginning with the Bükk culture its cultural layers lead in an unbroken line to our days. At Zöldhalompuszta, the grave of a Scythian Prince was excavated and, among the many splendid artifacts, there was the most sacred symbol of the Magyar peoples: the gold effigy of the Miracle Stag was found. During the great migrations the Sarmatians and a Germanic people,  the Quadi, also lived in this region and, between the 6-9th century A.D., the Avars, a Magyar speaking people, settled these lands.[29] The early presence of the Sarmatians may place the Arthurian legends at an even earlier date. At the same time this makes Bors Sarras a part of this region at Sáros and Borsod, Hungary even more plausible. The Bors-Miskóc family had holdings in Borsod up to 1312 A.D. Near the city of Miskolc, lies Diósgyőr, where an ancient, ring shaped castle (Geuru, Győr) stood and the region was inhabited up to the 17th century A.D[30]. This castle may also be connected with the Bors family. (The traditionalist Hungarian historians of today do not accept the idea of a pre-Árpád Magyar presence in Hungary, even though Roman and Greek sources and some English-speaking researchers support it.)

 Consideration of the founding date of the ancient round castle in Borsod puts the probable historical time of the Arthurian legend to the 5th century A.D. Likewise the presence of the Bors family in Europe, including in Borsod county, cannot be dismissed and the present notions of Hungarian presence in the Carpathian Basin have to be reevaluated.

In a little known town by the name of Borsi, birthplace of Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II., I found some unexpected additional sources to corroborate the connection  between  Bors, a knight of the Round Table and Sarras, the name of a geographical location connected with the Arthurian legends.

The town of Borsi is situated in the county of Zemplén, on the right bank of the river Bodrog. The town is under Slovak jurisdiction at the present. The booklet of the local historical society (written in Hungarian) mentions the following:

“... Rich archaeological remains testify to the fact that this territory, which later became Zemplén county, has been inhabited from the most ancient times on. Later remains of Celts, Goths, Gepidae, Romans and Slavs follow. We find Árpád’s Magyars here from the ninth century on.

“The first known written record of the town’s name dates from 1067 AD in the local abbey’s register as TERRA BORSU. The name-giver of Terra Borsu is believed to be Duke Bors. The register of Várad — dated 1221 — mentions that Borsu is part of the holdings of the castle of Sárospatak...” (page 7). Here I would like to mention that Sárospatak is situated in Zemplén County.[31]

The early written record of Terra Borsu in the Christian era shows that the town was established at a much earlier, pre Árpádian (pre ninth century) date. The town’s church was built by the town’s indigenous population at the time of the Árpáds and it is one of the oldest structures of the town. (page 30). The continuity of the Bors or Borsu holdings is evident from the entry in the church registry. The fact that this church was built by the indigenous population seems to find a parallel in Sir Lancelot’s and Bors’ interest in religious matters in the British Isles. Part of this church was built upon a round ground plan. The base of a church in Sárospatak recently excavated shows a completely round layout as well. The round churches called körkő (circle of stone) are very representative of the pre-Roman-Christian churches of Hungary. Many of the later Christian churches were built upon old ”pagan“ sites of worship, especially the churches  – that in subsequent Christian times – became dedicated to St. Michael.[32] In this name we recognize the name of Makar or Magor of the old solar religion. Based on this knowledge I venture the opinion that the location of the church of Terra Borsu was an ancient place of worship.

The holdings of Prince Ferenc Rákóczy II. incorporated the Ecsed Wetlands where the Báthory family – a relative of the Rákóczy family on the maternal side – slayed the dragon, according to the legends. The alleged weapon used on this occasion later became a part of the Rákóczy’s private museum, although Prince Rákóczy himself is said to have questioned the suitability of the  small sized weapon for dragon slaying[33]. The Bors family name is common even today in Hungary.

King Arthur’s name offers a lot of information concerning the origins, historical background and mythology of the Arthurian legends. Professor Geoffrey Ashe’s conclusion that the Celts have no mythology, in which a god by the name of Arthur can be found, is significant.

The name Arthur or Artur leads us to the Magyar mother culture and the later culture spheres that evolved from it, which include the Etruscans, or Turusi[34] and the prehistory of the — so called — Turanian peoples, although I hesitantly use this ill- defined word and use it only in want of a better one within the Western scholarship. The T-R word-clusters define this Arthurian mythology: tér, turul, gurul mean circular motion and a return of some sort. This word describes our Sun’s seeming daily journey and return — especially in the polar regions, where its path appears to draw a spiral — just as much as it describes the circling flight of the falcon which, under the name Turul, became one of the sacred symbols of the Magyars. The syllable tur or turka means bull and it carries male attributes, which is a natural symbol of the Sun’s life-giving properties. In this context Arthur’s name means Bull Man, Sun Man, whose role is linked inseparably with his return.

Figure 3. Decoration on a music box from Ur, representative of Arthur’s procreative role as a solar deity. The use of this motif on a music box evokes the unity of language and mythology of creation through song.

The T-Z variation of the T-R word-group creates the name tűz, or fire. In this respect Arthur’s name is “Fire-man”. The meaning of these names helps us to realize that the original Arthurian legend was written in the stars: it was a solar myth that was later transferred to the names of founding dynasties, heroes and so on, since according to the mindset of the ancients, everything on Earth is but a mirror image of the macrocosm. As the Great God gave rise to creation, so the role of the created entities is the same: to live and create. The very representative “mirroring style” of the ancients reflects this worldview, not only in the Magyar and Celtic art, but even the Easter Islander’s symbol of the god, Make-Make, is almost identical with some Celtic representations of divinities. In both instances we have to face the incredible spread and the tenacity of the Golden Age culture.

The Magyar word tárkány means the priestly role of this T-R language and ethnic group; the origin of the Turusi name of the Etruscans and the name of the Etruscan Tarquinius house is part of this thought complex. The Tur is the name of a river in Hungary and is also part of several other geographical names. Some affiliations of the Magyar tur-tér-tár word-group outside Hungary are the following: the English turn, return, the French tour, the Spanish toro and tornare all commemorate Arthur’s return.

Britain’s ancient history begins, as does the Magyar, with Fairy traditions, which are also inseparable parts of the Arthurian legends. It is interesting to note that the Mythology of the British Isles preserved a memory that these fairies spoke in the language of the Trojans. As Arthur’s name is connected with the Magyar túr, so is the name of Troy. Both Arthur’s name and the name of Troy are related to the Magyar túr (bull). Troy’s name must have been once Turuja, since the Magyar language does not tolerate the clustering of consonants. The architecture of ancient Troy frequently employs the bull-horn motif. The child Jupiter was raised on Mt. Ida, near Troy, similar to Hercules, who was raised by the Scythians. Mt. Ida was dedicated to Cronos. The names Ida and Cronos are variants of the Magyar words idő (time) and kor (age, as in aetas, epoch). All these point again to the fact that the Trojans, at one time, spoke the language of the Fairies, which was the first language of mankind. As long as Arthur’s name cannot be originated from any known Celtic deity’s name, the Magyar word affinities bring this legend into the realm of the mythology of one of the Magyar ethnic groups, where Arthur or Artur was the personification of the Sun just as much as was the Magyar Tar Lőrinc, Miklós Toldi. In later Germanic mythologies, we find Thor and William Tell with the same role and names. The female counterpart of these names of solar deities is Turan, as the personification of the round Earth (terra). The English word turn can be traced to this word-group.

While the name of Arthur cannot be tied to the names of any of the Celtic gods, there is ample evidence that this name was once part of Magyar mythology. The ancient Magyar name for bull was turka and it was preserved in the word  „Turka-járás” (parade of the bull), a celebration of the Winter Solstice. The feminine of this word is “tér," which means a well-defined, material space, and also a closed circle,[35] as does the related English word turn. The names of the  Torockó region in Hungary, Tarsus at the Mediterranean near the Taurus mountain range, Turin in Italy, Tours in France all bear connections with this mythology and I believe them to be ancient centers of the once universal solar religion. (It is by no means an accident that Saul of Tarsus was blinded by an outburst of light and even changed his name to the name of another Magyar solar deity-name – Pál – on the road to Damascus). The central symbol of this religion, the turka (bull) was known in Europe with certainty by 35.000 B.C. I perceive the “Venus of Laussel[36]” as the most ancient representation of this mythology in Western Europe. This is a relief of a female goddess holding the crescent shaped bull-horn as her symbol. For this reason I believe her to be the first representation of Turan, the Etruscan goddess who was and remained the personification of the round, life-giving Earth; the later Latin word terra was derived from here and expressed an ancient knowledge of the roundness of the earth. In view of these connections one is bound to realize that the ancients must have known that the Earth was round and turned around its axis and the sun long before the Middle Ages. They made this knowledge part of their vocabulary.

Figure 4. Venus of Laussel.

According to legends, the city of Tours was founded by Trojan refugees. This tradition is supported by the Magyar T-R wordgroup. The Pannonian born St. Martin became bishop of Tours and an ancient site of the European solar religion was named in his honor in Pannonhalma. The circle of the Arthurian solar tradition has thus been completed.