36 thoughts on “What Is That?

    1. edalicious

      My Google-Fu is coming up with nothing here. My interest is definitely piqued. It’s old icelandic writing.

      1. edalicious

        It appears to be hungarian written in old icelandic runes and it says:

        and
        add
        dear me
        (something)
        health
        happiness

  1. An Dobhar Chú

    It’s Hungarian. Colours of the Hungarian flag and the cross in the image is also on the Hungarian flag. The runes appear to be Hungarian also.

  2. Bruncvik

    It’s Hungarian runic alphabet. There were some tell-tale signs that this was Hungary-related: the raven with the ring in its beak is the symbol of the Hunyadi noble family (the most famous of them was the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus). The double cross is in the coats of arms of Hungary and Slovakia, but only Hungary has it red (or on a red background).

    So with that, I googled for Hungarian alphabet and found this: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/78/2d/73/782d736b65f9f3ea3d2aa0ce7f747478.jpg

    I also found out that this alphabet was written right to left. Using the translation table, I decoded the message to “Meg aii istenem pens egeszseg boliogsag”, which Google translate told me meant “And God bless you with a whiff of spices.”

    Whew… I now feel like that guy from Dan Brown’s books…

    1. Kippy Wippy

      Bruncvik, that was very impressive of you. Especially doing that lot in less than an hour!

    2. scottser

      google translator is notoriously unreliable. it actually means ‘god blessings are farts’.

      1. Bruncvik

        I like that. I’ll start using it as a greeting when I see someone I know at the Sunday mass.

      2. realPolithicks

        I myself am Hungarian and what it actually says is “Unicorns poop rainbows”.

  3. Pigsy

    It reads from right to left…from what I can make out it’s something like:

    mőg ádd dstenem pénz egészség boldogsag

    Google translate:
    Work to give you money health happy happiness

  4. Fionnbharr Ó Duinnín

    It is written in Hungarian runes, called rovásírás. That is a phonetic alphabet. You translate each letter, but also reverse the lettering (it is written backwards). So this sign reads:

    gem = meg
    dda = add
    menetsi = istenem
    znép = pénz
    gésszége = egészség
    gásgodlab = boldogság

    Putting it all together: meg add istenem pénz, egészség, boldogság.
    Raw translation: My god should give you the money, health, happiness
    To be specific which is which, I’ll put them after each word: meg add (should give it to you) istenem (my god/lord) pénz (money), egészség (health), boldogság (happiness).

    Now that is really crappy Hungarian, for lots of reasons that are pretty difficult to go through, but I’ll just explain some things.

    It uses the wrong conjugation on the verb. Here they are using the definite conjugation, but they are wishes general things, so it should be “adjál” not “add”. Also, they are using the familiar form of the subjunctive “I wish you”, which is fine with a close friend, but when used in a general sense when “you” refers to someone unknown, then the more polite form using the third person should be used, so “adjon” not “adjál”.

    And then the things being wished are direct objects of the verb. In Hungarian the direct object is marked by the ending -xT, where “x” changes to harmonise with the other letters in the word (vowel harmony is an important part of languages such as Hungarian and Turkish). So the nouns should be declined as “pénzt, egészséget, boldogságot”, not simply “pénz, egészség, boldogság”.

    But even then it sounds crappy in Hungarian. Word order matters too, and something more like “adjon az isten” (‘may god grant you’) would sound better. Also, wishing money, rather than wealth is a bit, well . . . base.

    So, finally, something more like this would work and then you would have to back translate that into the Hungarian runic lettering (writing it backwards, of course):
    Adjon az isten jólétet, egészséget, boldogságot.

    Hope that helps.

    The big question is: what is a Hungarian (?) nationalist doing in Dublin, writing crappy Hungarian in runic lettering?

    NB The bird is the raven of Matthias Corvinus (I. Mátyás, Corvin Mátyás, Hunyadi Mátyás), but that’s another story: http://www.avesnoir.com/the-raven-of-matyas-corvinus/

  5. Bruncvik

    “The big question is: what is a Hungarian (?) nationalist doing in Dublin, writing crappy Hungarian in runic lettering?”

    According to recently found historical documents, Felvidék reached all the way to Ireland. So he’s just reestablishing territory ;)

    1. Fionnbharr Ó Duinnín

      I think you’ll find it was the other way around. The Celts were in Budapest and the Carpathian Basin a millenia before the Hungarians arrived. It’s only a matter of time before we reclaim it.

  6. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

    Budapest is a very nice city indeed. They’re a funny lot, the Hungarians. Not massively friendly but they’re courteous.

      1. mildred st. meadowlark

        I believe it was.* Waaaay back when. Back in the days when you could hop on a boat from Vienna down the river Buda.

        *citation clearly needed.

        1. Frommer Lilliput

          In ancient Roman times, first there was Aquincum, capital of the province named Pannonia Inferior. Across the river was another city named Contraaquincum. Later in medieval ages, these areas became Buda and Pest, respectively, and Buda developed another core southwards, hence its original Roman site got the name Óbuda (lit. “Old Buda”).
          During centuries, these centers evolved into 3 cities: Óbuda, Buda, and Pest, with Buda being the official capital of Hungary. Due to their proximity and further development, Buda (along with Óbuda) and Pest became a dual city, and finally on Jan 1, 1873 the 3 cities were (and since then are) unified under the name of Budapest. For details look up the related article on Wikipedia: https://goo.gl/9JB66t

  7. Istvan Sandor Pal

    Its not a secret:

    “My Lord give us money, health and happiness!”

    Neither is it “reclaim of Felvidék, nor “Islandic rhunes”, or anything that the Irish would be ashamed about.
    Before you would raise your voice against Hungarian ancestry, just think about many Irish geographical names (Armagh, Omagh – both with the meaning: Alma – Apple) and towns begining with “Maghera”.
    Mag- seed. Magyar: the people of seed.
    I am proud of the “Irish connection”! :-D

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