HUNGARIAN PLACE-NAMES FROM ANCIENT TIMES

          Professor  Tibor Baráth, in his book: A Magyar népek őstörténete (Ancient History of the Magyar People)  points out how to analyze the ancient geographical names.  We can learn for example, that MA or MAT means a country, TA means a stony territory, camp, or region.  The ancient word for water was PI or PIS etc.

            Following this route, we can come to some very interesting conclusions. For example, we can recognize the meaning of the original Hungarian names in the ancient homeland of the Magyars, the Carpathian Basin.  The Carpathian Mountains form a large semi-circle, which almost encircles the Basin.  There is no doubt that, in the name (Kárpát), we can find the deep sound of KAR.  The name for a mound in ancient times could have been PAD, or  PADLÁS  (now attic) or PADMALY (ceiling).  Therefore the mountains surrounding the Basin could have been called KÖRPAD (ROUND MOUND) .  One  major characteristic of the Hungarian language is vowel harmony.  Therefore KÖRPAD > KÖRPÖD or KARPAD.  The final D became T, so KARPAD > KÁRPÁT.  This name can also be found in the Aegean Sea archipelago of Küklád, in the form of KARPAT (OS). 

            Sometimes the vowel harmony is missing.  This can be seen in the case of the River Tápió.  TA = region, PI = water, JÓ = good. So TA-PI-JÓ = territory with good water.   (The twin name for this river is the River Tapajo in the jungles of South America.)  The „good water” combination in its ancient form was PI-JÓ , which, with vowel harmony, changed to PO-JÓ, which is the ancient form of the Hungarian word for river – folyó.

            The names of the ancient eastern territories, Mesopotamia and Egypt are also interesting, meaningful names, which can be deciphered using the ancient Hungarian language to solve the code.  In both names can be found the PTM sound group, which is probably  the combination of three words: PO = water, TA = region and MA = state.  The difference between the two geographical places is that Egypt was established beside a river, whereas Mesopotamia was between two rivers.  The first syllable in Egypt is the Hungarian word egy, which means one.  Therefore the original name of the country was EGY – VÍZ – TÁJ – ORSZÁG (One – water – region – state).  This accurately expresses the geographical location.   In Egypt, the Nile is the only major means of transportation by water.   The first syllable in Mesopotamia is MESO, which means between and expresses the same idea as the Hungarian mező (field), which also means between.  The idea of between  is only possible if there are two objects.   (In Hungarian two = kettő – kete – keze – köze.)  In foreign languages we can find the forms: mezzo, meze, medi,  for example, the central region of Spain is called „Mezeta” which means „middle territory”.  The name Mesopotamia therefore means KÖZ – VÍZ – TÁJ – ORSZÁG (between – waters – territory – state) which accurately describes its location between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.  The ancient Hungarian name for the territory known as the Cradle of Civilization raises the question of  whether the Cradle of Civilization was really in this territory?

                                                                                                                     Author Unknown