THE SCYTHIAN - SCOTTISH – HUNGARIAN RELATIONSHIP

Susan Tomory

Hungarian schools did not teach the possibility of any Scottish-Hungarian connections. Chance meetings or visits with the Scottish people inevitably initiate a line of thinking, especially when one hears the first syllable of so many Scottish names, Mac, which seems an echo of a distant past to Hungarian ears. In the Scottish language Mac means a boy, a descendant, the seed of someone. (The Irish use Mc.) For example the name MacArthur can be translated into Hungarian as the mag (seed) of Arthur (Artur magja), where the Scottish Mac and the Hungarian Mag appear to be twin brothers. After this linguistic curiosity, one begins to pay increased attention to the very Hungarian sounding geographic names in the British Isles, like Lake Bala, the River Don and the River Thames which all have their counterparts in the Carpathian Basin as Lake Balaton, River Duna and River Temes. One learns of the historical hardships of our new Scottish acquaintances, their unfair treatment by historians, their love for freedom, their generous spirit, and all these ignite a feeling of kinship in any Hungarian soul, since their fate and spiritual aspirations are very much akin to those of the Scottish peoples. Even their beloved instrument, the bagpipe is familiar, since they too „blow their sorrow into sheepskin” – as the Hungarian saying goes – like their Hungarian counterparts. The name of the River Don encompasses a large territory with identical culture and language from the Russian plains, through Hungary, all the way to the British Isles. The little box with Magyar runic (rovás) characters, from the 8th century A.D.[1] – which was found in Ruthwell in Northumbria – also indicates some ancient connection between these cultures. When and where did this connection begin? The twin of the Hungarian mag (seed), the Scottish Mac, or Irish Mc leads us into the Scythian antiquity of the Scottish people and, through this, we meet ancient homeland in the Carpathian Basin.

The Scottish fight for freedom and independence is not a new and fleeting interest; it goes back untold centuries. The Declaration of Arbroath – composed in 1320 in the Latin language – was made public on April 6, 1320 at the Arbroath Abbey, which is not far to the north from the famous St. Andrew’s cathedral. The goal of this declaration was to convince Pope John XXII., in Avignon, that the Scottish people form an independent nation and for this reason the British demands for their throne are not just. The famous Scottish warrior, Robert the Bruce defeated the British at Bannockburn in 1314 and reoccupied the border town of Berwick-on-Tweed in 1319. For Hungarians, the most interesting section of this declaration is the part where they talk about their Scythian origin. This Scythian connection is this peoples’ ancient inheritance which they do not fail to hand over to their children, as do the Hungarian people, even under the watchful eye of hostile occupiers. This common Scythian connection of the Scottish and the Hungarian people may open up many hitherto unresearched avenues of this Scottish Hungarian relationship, with the promise of success.

The history of the Scots is intertwined with the history of the Celtic population of the British Isles. The history of the British Islesxe "British Isles" leads us back into a pre-nation antiquity. Their legends and landscapes are filled with beings of light, fairies, and giants. The first historical people there, recognized by today’s scholars, may be the Picts. Originally, they came from Scythia in the third century A.D, a rather recent event. Their king, Sodrik, died in battle, while attempting to occupy land on the British Isles. They were banished to Caithness, where their population increased greatly. Their society was matrilineal. At the time of their arrival, they had their own script, which appears to contain a pre-Celtic language, according to western scholars. The name by which they called themselves is not known. The term Pict was given to them by the Romans. Drust, the son of the best- known Pict king, Erp, “ruled for a hundred years”, mainly in the fifth century A.D. They were noted for their tattoos and the name, Cruithne, given to them by the Irish, means “picture people”. The Picts and Scots united in the 9th century. The Pict matrilineal society may have paved the road toward the acceptance of Queen Margaret’s strong rule.

The cult of the “Stone of Destiny” goes back to Pict origins. Their coronations used to take place in Scone, near Perth. The person to be crowned was seated on a stone. As Scythian descendants, the Scots occupied more and more lands. Finally Kenneth MacAlpine, claiming Pict ancestry, had himself crowned King of the Picts and Scots. According to Scottish legends, originally a Princess Tea brought this stone to Ireland, where she married Tamair. According to Christianized mythology, Abraham slept on this stone when he saw the angels walk up and down on a ladder between Heaven and Earth. This – so called – Abrahamic belief places the origin of this stone in the Sumerian City of Ur, where it was probably also held sacred and probably used in marriage ceremonies or some other holy occasions and it was for this reason that it was brought to the British Isles, so far from Sumer. The names Tea and Tamair have a linguistic connection with the Sumerian and the names of the rivers Temes and Thames are also connected with the Magyar szem culture. Tara’s landscape is adorned with round, flat topped mounds clearly discernible even today. These are connected with the Hungarian tár-tér words of return, also the name Turan. This stone has been used ever since for coronations. Prince Fergus, the founder of Dalriada brought this stone from Ireland to the Island of Iona. This name is connected with the Jász-Magyar group’s name of Iona.[2] Later, Kenneth brought the stone to Scone. From here Edward ordered it to be taken to Westminster, from where Queen Elisabeth II. ordered it to be taken back to Scotland in 1996.

Since there are no coincidences in this world, it is interesting to note that the Scottish Coronation stone, the Stone of Destiny moved back to Scotland ready for a new coronation and at the same time the Hungarian Holy Crown moved back into the Parliament building also ready to crown a new King.

The Hungarian word oath (eskű) contains the word stone (kű). According to ethnographer Adorján Magyar, in pre-Bible days, some of the Magyar nations used to swear an oath on a meteor-stone, which was considered pure, uncontaminated, coming from above. Such a holy stone today is the Black obelisk of the Muslim world, which they call Kaba and sometimes even Csaba.

A governing council of seven people ruled the country in the absence of the King. The same custom is echoed in the persons of the Seven Dukes in Prince Árpád’s time.

Molmutin, the founder of a new royal family, divided his rule according to a dual kingship between his sons Belinus and Brennius. Belinus was the main king; Brennius became lord over the Northern parts of the country. Hungarian ancestry also knows well the idea of dual kingships. The names of Belinus and Brennius conjure many Magyar connections especially with the Palóc and Avar ethnic groups.

The newly awakening Scottish interest in their Scythian ancestry turns their attention toward the Scythians of the Middle East, Egypt and the „lost tribes of Israel.” At this point I would like to remind our Scottish brethren that, even though historians of our days do not like to think about the Scythian presence there, the still standing walls of Scythopolis are testimony to their Scythian builders, inhabitants and rulers. According to the origin saga by Diodorus Siculus, the descendants of Scythes extended their rule to the Nile River in Egypt, then to the Eastern Ocean on one side, and the Caspian Sea and the Maeotis Lake on the other. The Scottish legends about Egypt are also supported by historical works. According to Hungarian legends, Palos, the son of Skythes rests in one of the caves of the holy Pilis Mountains awaiting his time of awakening. We also have to pay attention to Professor Lajos Szántai’s lecture in which he tells us about the coronation of Hungarian Kings from the house of Árpád, as represented in the Illuminated Képes Krónika. The to be crowned King is standing on a „dobogó”, a podium. The word dobogó is connected with the holy Center of the Pilis, the Dobogókő, the Stone of the Beating Heart. There seems to be some unknown, holy connection between this stone and the Stone of Destiny, in the hope of resurrection. According to the Dalai Lama, who visited Dobogókő, the heart chakra of the world lies here.

According to Scottish legends, one of their noblemen married the Pharao’s daughter Scota and they have used her name as their own since then. Later, the Scots were expelled from Egypt; they wandered for forty-two years looking for a new homeland and finally settled in Spain. This wandering preceded the Mosaic wandering by centuries. The Scots remained in Spain for a thousand years and later moved to Ireland’s Argyll County, which the Scots called Dalriada in their own language. The first home of their kings was Dunadd. All these names are connected in form and meaning with the Hungarian language.

Before the Scottish occupation of the British Isles, a Queen by the name of Cessair ruled there, whose father was Bith, son of Noah. The name Bith is connected with the Hungarian viz (water) – which is a logical name for someone who survived the flood – and it is a part of the Hungarian B-S word-group. According to another legend, the sole survivor of this region was Fintan, whose name is related to the Hungarian word fény. According to legend he was one of the ancient „shape shifting” people, a talent which is often mentioned also in Hungarian stories along with the search for eternal life.

Before the Scottish arrival to the British Isles, a developed, Hungarian-related culture already existed here and in Scotland. Later, the influx of Magyar related peoples continued in several waves. One of the last such waves was during the time of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius when – according to a military agreement – Sarmatian and Jász military which formed the 6th Roman legion, came to serve on the British Isles. When we follow their presence we find many Hungarian related geographic names, but they all preceded the Sarmatian arrival, since they were already firmly established in the geography of the British Isles. Professor Littleton brings the Sarmatians into relationship with the Scythians and the Alans. He believes that the King Arthur legend originated with the Sarmatians. He also identifies Sir Lancelot with the Alans, who arrived here in the 5th century A.D., who had a personage with the same name and role. He also believes the following to be part of the Sarmatian-Alanic cultural sphere: the sword of Arthur, his round table and his heroes and the legend of the Holy Grail, which all became embellished during the adoption of Christianity with the legends of the new faith, which were never really supported by the official church.

The Celtic and Scottish population of the British Isles were not unfamiliar with these Hungarian place names, which they had known from ancient times on, from the Carpathian Basin, and also from Egypt. The Hungarian sounding place names are also supported by local legends which show a close tie with the Hungarian legends. Here I mention only a few:

The White Horse was a famous symbol of the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles. We are informed by the huge representation of this white horse at Uffington and also the medallions of Silchester. According to both, the ancient population, who created these images, believed themselves to be the sons of the White Horse. Women, even today, visit this image with the hope of increasing their fertility. The 374 ft. White Horse of Uffington dates to the 5-4th centuries B.C. It is also believed to be the totem-animal of the Iceni people who flourished in the 2-1 centuries B.C. Many other horse figures can be found on the British Islesxe "British Isles", such as the representations of Cherhill, Pewsey and Alton Barns but these all date from the 18-20th centuries A.D. and show the tenacity by which ancient symbols survive.

King Alfred is also connected with such White Horse representations. His name is explained as „Elf-rede”, where the first syllable places him into the ancient times of the Fairy folk which inhabited the Isles. He was a courageous, cultured person and his laws ended the bloodshed. The same region also honors a „Horse-goddess” by the name of Epona, whose cult was also adopted by the Romans, who called her Regina. Epona’s name is connected with the name of the Pannon-Magyar ethnic group’s name, their mother-goddess Panna, and also the words for sun and light (nap, fény).

Cerne is the devotional center of the God Helith, Helis or Heil. The rock drawing of the Giant of Cerne shows him holding a huge club (kalló in Hungarian) and he also shows other signs of his masculinity, which elevate him to a symbol of fertility. Here both the name of the town Cerne and the God Helith are connected with the Hungarian kör, kel, (circle, to rise) and also Kolos, Kallós names. These names are preserved in several city- names in the Carpathian Basin, like Kolozsvár in Transylvania. The name of the Roman Hercules, who was always represented with a huge club was derived from this word group, but they did not understand the connection to these names. The name of the Scythian Kolaxis, whom the Greeks mentioned, and Gelonos, who was the son of Heracles, belong here too.

The meaning of the County of Kent is „staff”, which is connected with the Hungarian word Kan, meaning maleness. The inhabitants of NW Spain, who were defeated by the Roman Emperor Augustus, are called the Cantabrians. Agricola, the governor of Britannia (78-85 A.D.), settled the Belgian Tengri people here as peacekeepers. These are shown on the early maps of Belgium as Civitas Tugrorum.

An ancient King or hero of Kent was Brethwald and this name later became a title of nobility. Aethelbert ruled Kent in 597 A.D.; the King of Northumbria was Aetelfrith. These names signal royal descent and belong into the Atilla-Etele line of history.

The first syllable of the names Cantium or Cantawara, in Kent, is identical to the Hungarian kanta, kancsó (pitcher), which gave rise to the Latin word cantharus and the Greek Kantharos, which means a pitcher with long handles (kantáros in Hungarian); the same name and object were also used by the Etruscans. The internal space of the pitcher was considered a receiving, feminine symbol; the pouring of a liquid from the pitcher a masculine, inseminating symbol in many cultures of the world. Pagan holy places or churches were usually erected near a natural well to express the same symbolism, which received a meager expression in the holder of holy water in Catholic churches. Adorján Magyar showed in his drawings that the ancient pagan churches followed the form of a female body, since their role and capacity to enclose is a female symbol. The Hungarian word anyaszentegyház (holy mother church) brings old pagan times to mind. While the word egyház was derived from the name Ég (God), the Egyház (church, lit.: the House of the One) designates a spiritual community.

The Romans built their holy places, in the occupied territories, upon already existing religious centers, and they did so in Kent, or Cantawara too. Here they built a devotional place for Apollo and this tells us that the ancient population dedicated this ancient place to the Sun. Later, in the Christian era, in 597, they built an abbey to honor St. Augustine, which later became the Archbishopric of Canterbury.

Returning to the name kancsó (pitcher), its folk-name is also „kincső”, which the people also call the Big Dipper.[3] This name turns our eyes toward the sky. The word kincs also means light and richness. According to this, the ancient name of Cantawara indicated that this castle was a place of light, life and treasures. The ending syllable „-wara” of this name also indicates the presence of the ancient Avar, or Várkun Magyar ethnic group.

The historian, David McRoberts, tells us about the rocky road of the Scots toward developing a central government. After the withdrawal of the Roman legions in the early fifth century, four kingdoms began to take shape in the territory of today’s Scotland: Cumbria, between Glasgow and Carlisle, Bernicia between the Firth of Forth and Tyne, the kingdom of the Picts and Argyllshire, which was also called Scotia, to which a few western islands also belonged. These latter ones were inhabited by Scots from Ireland, whom historians called by the name of Picts, meaning painted people. The rest of the territory was Pictavia, with loosely defined borders.

The Scots, who claim to have Scythian origins, called their Argyll Kingdom Dalriada in their own language. Prince Argyilus is a treasured part of Hungarian folklore and became part of later literature too. Dalriada’s famous hero in the sixth century A.D. was Colum, noted not only for his literacy, but also his voice which carried for miles, with which he was able to assemble his troops from great distances. The consonants of Colum’s name are identical with the consonants of the Hungarian kürt (horn). Considering that his field of action was connected with the church of Saint Finnian and the name Finnian suggests pre-Christian times, Colum must have been the descendant of an ancient personage, who gave Dalriada its name with the meaning of Battle Song, a call to battle (dal = song, riadó = alert). The later King of Dalriada was the Scottish MacAlpine in 843 A.D. He occupied the lands of the Picts and brought the Stone of Destiny to Albany.

The settlement of Ireland was accomplished in five waves. One such wave was – according to the Historia Brittonum – the arrival of one thousand people from Partholon, who were expelled from their country in the fourth century B.C., and finally arrived in the British Isles. Geoffrey of Monmouth places them in this historical era too, but, according to him, they arrived from Spain to Orkney and settled later, with royal permission, in Ireland. According to one theory, the present Irish are their descendants. They were farmers, busying themselves with animal husbandry, beer-brewing and building projects, and so they brought with them the tools of a peaceful life-style. Partholon’s descendants were Nemed and Fir-Bolg, who in time developed small kingdoms. The name Partholon and the story of the expulsion from their former home bring him into connection with the Hungarian words part, pártos (border, dissenter) and the Parthian Empire and deserves further research.

Nemed’s name reminds us of the name Nimrod, ancestor of the Hun-Magyar people. J.B. Hannay, who did not speak the Hungarian language, translated the name Nemed as “The begetting rod”, which is the exact translation of the name Nimrod too. Ipolyi brings up a quote from Műglein from the Chronicon Rythmicum 6.: Nemprot avus Hunorum / triginta cubitorum / me recolo legisse / in longum extitisse, which speaks of the truly remarkable manly qualities of Nimrod, fit for a pater familias. Nimrod here is the rod of procreative powers. The giant drawings of male figures on the British Isles echo this concept; they are still visited by women hoping for children. The survival of giants was the longest in Cornwall, from where „Gogmagog” originated. One of our great Hungarian poets, Endre Ady begins one of his poems: „I am the son of Góg and Magóg...”, bringing the land of the Magyars and Cornwall into close relationship.

Ipolyi also mentions the name Nemere, which is the name of a tall mountain, and also the north wind of the Székely (Sicul) land in Transylvania, which can even kill people. The composition of the name Nemere again contains the procreative powers. We also know that the winds are not only the agents of destruction, but also of life by pollinating flowers. One Székely folk song says the following: : „Nemerének hideg szele, / fú a kalászos rétre le / attól rózsám meg nem fázik, / sőt inkább megpirosodik.”[4] (The cold wind of Nemere blows the fruitful meadows, my sweetheart will not catch cold from it, and what ’s more her cheeks will get red...)

Scottish traditions preserved the most ancient Celtic names for us. The same legends preserved the Fin legends and words, and the later incoming Scots probably adopted many names, words, customs from the ancient inhabitants. The Scottish people lived under patriarchal rule. Out of forty of the ancient Scottish names I collected, there are only seven that don’t begin with the initial Mac, and this hints toward their Magyar ancestry. The Scottish Mac, (or Irish Mc) prefixes are identical in form and meaning with the Hungarian Mag (seed), the name Magyar itself means Mag-man. The very important MacArthur family’s name in Hungarian means the seed of Arthur, it can also be stated as Arthurfi. The „fi” particle means a man-child in both Celtic and Hungarian.

It is also interesting to note that, from the forty ancient Scottish families twelve lived in Argyll, which brings the story of the Hungarian Prince Argyélus to mind. It is also important to note that the most ancient Scot families’ burial place was Iona which is the name of the indigenous Jász population of Transdanubia, which is also connected with the concept of Jász and gyász (mourning). The Ionreach family’s home was in Kintail county: both preserved the Jász and Kun connection on the British Isles as they live side by side in the Jász-Kun region of Hungary. Presently the MacKenzie family states that it originates from here and so this name serves as a bridge again toward the Ion and Kun branch of the Magyar people.

The symbolic flower of these families was almost exclusively the fir tree or some other evergreen plant, a sprig of which they traditionally wore on their hats. The evergreen fir was the symbolic plant of the White Hun ethnic group. The color of Scottish attire and their symbolic flowers belonged to a certain family and could not be used by anyone else and they could not use their crest either. These colors and flowers were part of a pre-crest antiquity, the Golden Age.

The MacArthur family was believed to be of royal descent. The English had the head of this family executed; their holdings were taken away. The fate of Scottish nobility from then on resembled that of the Hungarians during the rule of the Hapsburgs, who were Emperors of Austria and Kings of Hungary. The popular saying in those days was the following: „The Austrian Emperor forever wages war against the Hungarian King.”

Their family crest includes the isosceles sun cross, which is probably mankind’s most frequently found and most ancient symbol, and three crowns. Their name carries the name of the legendary Arthur. Many Hungarian legends include patterns of the Arthurian legends. Among these are legends of the swordxe "sword", and a holy cup, known in later centuries in Western Europe as the grail. Among Arthur’s noble knights we find Borsxe "Bors" whose name can be traced to County Borsodxe "Borsod" (i.e. the place or seat of Bors) in Hungary. These legends again are connected with the Golden Age of mankind. The name Arthur brings to mind the hero of the Arthurian legends and almost all elements of the saga of God’s Sword (Isten Kardja). Among the heroes of the Round Table we find his son Bors, whose name is part of the geography of the Carpathian Basin, such as county Borsod. Archaeologist Ilona Sz. Czeglédi considers name to be of Slavic origin, in her article in the Journal of Archaeology[5], and does not take into consideration the many place-names that are based upon the word Bors, nor does she consider the linguistic connections of this word. For example there is a Bors township in Bihar County, a Borsa town in Transylvania and Máramaros, some smaller settlements called Borsád in Veszprém County and, with the help of a good map, we could continue this list ad infinitum. I, myself, believe the origin of this word lies within the B-R word-group, where it means a round, hard seed. It is related to the boróka (juniper), which the Székely call borsika.[6]

A most through research was done by Milós Szabó concerning the Celtic names of the Carpathian Basin in the first and second centuries A.D. He based his research upon the Greek language, because „it is characteristic that, even in the most ancient layer of the Roman personal names, there is hardly any common Indo-European system.” He mentions Cuchulainn as an ancient Irish name, where the first syllable „Cu” means dog, which is kutya in Hungarian. The original Hungarian dog breeds carry the „ku or ko” syllable, like kuvasz, komondor, which also hints at their wedge (ék) shaped heads. The reciprocal of the Ku contains the symbolic word ék of the Huns. Szigeti says that the Setantii clan’s name is also ancient Irish, which means „westerner”. In Hungarian, sötét means darkness and there is a clear connection with the direction of the sunset, which is west.

At the excavation site of Potzneusiedl-Gattendorf, an inscription of the word „mutsa” was found, which was translated by a researcher, Holder, who did not speak Hungarian, as „mocsok”, meaning dirt.

Szigeti mentions, as a Celtic name, the Welsh family name of Euryn, “arany” in Hungarian, which means gold. He also found several connections with the word „matu”, like Matumarus, Matugenta, Maturus, Matto, Matta. All these names are connected to the Hungarian words mét, megye, mező (land, county, meadow). Milós Szabó brought these into connection with the M-T word-group’s medve, which was a solar symbol. He does not use the Celtic names which were supposedly mixed with the Venet language, but I have to mention the words containing the Il(l)o suffixes like Ab-ilus, Bas-ila, Diar-ilos, Suad-illus, Mag-ilo, Cucc-illo since they are in connection with the Hungarian words élet, lélek and illó (life, soul and volatile).[7]

During the Celts’ sojourn in the Carpathian Basin, they became closely connected to the language and culture of the Hungarians. When the opportunity for a new meeting presented itself, during the time of the occupation of the Irish islands, they were even more easily able to retain these memories, which can still be recognized in their different cultural elements. A Hungarian historian, Dr. Tibor Baráth, originates the word Celtic from the Magyar word keleti, meaning eastern.

The Celtic migration from the Carpathian Basin is connected with the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures. The famous settlement of the late Hallstatt era is Heuneburg on the Danube. Its inhabitants possessed all the achievements of a cultured and settled life and also maintained trade routes with the Mediterranean cultures. Western scholars attribute their high life-style and architecture to the influence of the latter.

The grave of a Celtic princess, which was excavated at Mt. Lassois near the Seine is by no means inferior to the pomp of the famous and well known Etruscan and Egyptian burial places. The design of the gold jewelry „contains classical elements, like the very complex palmetto design which was mixed with the indigenous Hallstatt and nomadic elements.” [8] The writer of the book does not tell us that in that age, in the fifth century A.D. the indigenous Hallstatt and the classical culture were both in close connection with the decorative elements of our ancient peoples. Neither do they mention that the ancient culture of the Carpathian Basin arrived in Western Europe several thousand years later.

Considering that, from the time of the ancient meditative movement, which took hermits to the sulfur caves of Ireland and they became known as „the heroes who visit Hell”, the connection between Ireland and Hungary was established and, we believe, based on such evidence, that these connections began in the pre-Christian era. The first written sources date from the 14^th. century and the Abbey of Melk. The Royal Library of Vienna holds the writings of a Hungarian priest from Losonc concerning this age.[9] The first student of Oxford was also a Hungarian. His name at the time of registration was Nicola de Hungaria, and his education was supported between 1193 and 1196 by Richard the Lionhearted, the brother in law of Queen Margaret.[10] It is no accident that the origin of the Magna Carta and the Magyar Golden Bull are so close in time.

Taliesinxe "Taliesin" was among the four great poets of Rhegedxe "Rheged". His name is translated as “Radiant Brow." He preserved the memory of an ancient home among the summer stars. The first syllable of his name (Tal) is connected with the Hungarian words for shine, splendor (dél, deli), song (dal) and also the name of the Magyar Táltosxe "Táltos" priestly class, whose members taught people through song. Arthur’s name belongs in the same word-group (T-R, T-L). The last syllable of Taliesin’s name (sin) is identical with the Hungarian word szem, szen meaning eye, seeds (which are eye-shaped, like the grains of wheat). The Hungarian meaning of Taliesin’s name is Shiny Eye. His home “among the morning stars” may also be connected with Arctoúros and the rotation of the sky. This celestial drama is the original source of the Arthurian legends. As a matter of fact, the Shiny Eye may carry the meaning of star too. The Hungarian tale of the Star-Eyed Shepherd preserved this image for us. The image of “star eyed” individuals was quite common and was part of folk,- and representational arts.

The ancient memories were preserved by the poets of Rhegedxe "Rheged" on the British Islesxe "British Isles" and the regősxe "regõs" in Hungary. Their voices were drowned out in blood. The great Hungarian poet, János Arany, in his poem, The Bards of Walesxe "Bards of Wales" mourned both.

Albactanus, King of Scotland, was killed by the Huns, in a battle, 25 years after the arrival of the Trojans , according to one tradition, around 1070 B.C.[11] Later they were expelled from the southern parts of the Isles where – during flight—the leader of the Huns by the name of Humber drowned in a river. Since then, this river has been called Humber. The Huns were present in the British Isles before Christ, so much so that they even wrote their names into the geography. In the patrilineal Hun society, the rivers were symbols of masculinity to which the words ondó and ont, önt (semen, to pour) testify. Professor Ashe believes that the Hun name stems from an error of later ages, since this Humber of 1070 B.C. precedes the Huns of Atilla by centuries. Therefore, he is unable to make use of the ancient Hun vocabulary to which the Hungarian word hon and the English home belong, along with the Hungarian him (male) and the words homo, human which are believed to be of Indo-European origin but can be traced back to the ancient Hun vocabulary. The Hungarian hamu (ashes) belongs here too. In ancient times this was the symbol of a settled life, people around a fire. The poetic expression of this can be found in the story of Hammas Jutka, the Cinderella of the British culture and the story of the boy who turned into a deer, whose figure was immortalized by Béla Barók’s Cantata Profana.[12] The very important symbolism of this ballad was explained by Gábor Pap in his quoted book.

The river name, Habren, also has Hungarian linguistic connections, where hab means water. This river is sometimes also called Sabrina in Latin environment and Severn in English. The first syllable of both is the Hungarian viz (water). According to Professor Ashe, neither name can be explained from Indo-European languages. They lead back to untold antiquity and he believes that these names represent the ancient guardian spirits of the waters.[13]

Considering that most water names of the British Isles originate in a pre-British age and many of them are identical to Hungarian river names still alive in Hungary, which can be explained easily with the Hungarian language, we have to recognize the presence of Magyars in these ancient times, in the British Isles and its population. This Western European line of Hungarian history was neglected by Hungarian historians and also by the West, to favor the non-existing Asiatic origin of the Magyars. With this, western scholarship was prevented from fully understanding the elements of the ancient Magyar past.

Belinus, the son of Molmutin, the primary king of the dual-monarchy and his brother Brennius, the King of the North bear names which are echoed in the vocabulary of the Palóc-Magyar ethnic group and in the name Béla, the name of the ancient Sun-god.

Athelney is the name of the marshland near Glastonbury. The word Athel here is connected with water, following the lead of the Atil-Etel word-cluster, which means water, river, and it is also connected with King Atilla’s name. „Ætheling”, (presently “atheling”), a title of British nobility, is also interesting, since it signals a direct royal descent. The early and ancient English masculine form is ætheling, the feminine version is æthelu. The long-time settlement of Árpád’s Magyars was Etelköz, which, in view of the above, gains the added meaning of „royal island”; the „köz” particle until now signaled the womb and birthplace and also a land protected by rivers. Similar territory can be found between the rivers Duna and Tisza and the Csallóköz. Since the British legends talk about the Huns well before the time of Atilla, this title takes us back into antiquity and has preserved the title of an ancient Hun office. According to this Atilla’s name Etele may have meant a Royal Prince, deservedly so, as he was the son of Bendeguz. In the works of historian, Anonymus, Atilla’s name appears as Athile (Anon. 1 and 5). The later spelling of “Atilla” with two „t”-s conforms only to Germanic linguistic customs. His name, Athile, may also have meant that he was part of the Royal Scythians. Early historians called the Scythians Royal, just as they did the Welsh. The word „ætheling” changes in German to „Edel” which means noble. I must mention that the symbolic colors of the White Huns were white and light blue. The flowers of their former territories, now in Austria, the silver-white Edelweiss and the blue, tulip like Alpine flower the Gentian were their symbolic flowers.

Later, the dream of Emese of a future dynasty, symbolized by a huge river, also belongs into the Atil-Etil-Itil saga and word-group. Historian, Ipolyi, summarizes the traditions concerning Etele stating that the name Atel, Etel is identical to the name of the ancient Etelköz, just as another ancient pater familias, Tana, is identical to the Don-Tanais River. It reminds us of the elemental origin of the heroes and demigods of old, which again surfaces in the life of Álmos, just as it was present in the old Scythian sagas that tell that Targitaus, the ancestor of the Scythians, was the son of Zeus and the nymph of the river Boristhenes (Herodot 4,5).[14]

Thus Ipolyi traces the name Etele directly back to Scythian ancestral traditions, from where – as I have demonstrated in my paper concerning the Arthurian legends – the image of the Holy Grail, as a symbol of life, began. Antal Csengeri mentions [15] that the Finnish word eteletär means the daughter of the South-wind. Here the first tär syllable means a girl, the Etele here is the name of the South-wind and can be connected with the Transylvanian Nemere: both contain the name of the Hun pater familias and mean a force of nature. We have to recognize in these names the name of God, whom these peoples revered, who is manifested through the world of nature, may it be a wind storm or a flood. The descendants of these peoples adopted His name for their own children of this world.

Considering that today’s historians date the origins of British history to the arrival in the West of the Trojan refugees or of the ten lost Israeli tribes, their history begins with William the Conqueror in 1066. The Scythian origin sagas, on the other hand, take us back to the dawn of history and I consider these sagas, and the names of rivers and names of honor a part of the earlier Magyar traditions. We have to remind ourselves that, while Hungary had a well-established central government and county system by 1,000 A.D., the same came about eight-hundred years later in Germany and Italy, after the unification of the small kingdoms.

Incidentally, in the time of Tiberius, during the tax revolt, the Romans encountered fierce resistance in Sirmium around Mons Almus, whichxe "Almus" is now known as Fruskagora.[16] Since Álmos was also mentioned as Almus in the Hungarian Gesta Hungarorum[17], this Magyar name existed at least one thousand years before the arrival of Árpád and the Magyars in the Carpathianxe "Carpathian" Basin. Returning to Tanaxe "Tana"’s name “...Tana, the ancient father of our (i.e. Hungarian) chronicles may well be the first Scythian ruler with the name Tana... In the Hungarian language tanya means a settled mode of living, a permanent base and, as we have seen, it may mean a ’seat’, settlement meaning the ’descensus’ of the earlier generation.[18]” Here he also mentions the historical names of Duna, Don, Dentumoger which are part of the geography of the British Isles. The Hungarian names Dana, Damasek are ancient names for God and tie the Mesopotamian Dumuzi’s name to our ancient memories.[19]

Athelstan, the son of Elf-rede lived in Northumbria and ruled there between 925-940 A.D. Many legends surround his figure. His name is connected with the Etel, Atil word-group. One of the legends talks about his wanderings when he met a poor man and accidentally burned his cakes in a fire. This story is a half-forgotten Hungarian legend, when heroes embarking on a mission always take little cakes baked in ashes with them. It is also connected with the word-group of hun, hon, hamu we discussed earlier.

Iona is the name of the island, the burial place of most of the Scythian descendants, who were the Picts, Scots and also the English inhabitants of Northumbria. The name Iona is the same as the name Ion of the Transdanubian indigenous Jász population’s , a name that is also connected with mourning (gyász).[20]

The white horse is an integral part of the Royal Welshxe "Welsh" mythology, along with a deer hunt, in which Annwfyn’s gleaming white dogs with red ears try to capture a stag. Both the stag and the dog are symbolic animals of the Magyar peoples. The conical head of a dog is present in an architectural motif of the roof-structure of an early Stone Age house at Röszke — Lúdvárxe "Röszke — Lúdvár" in Hungary.[21] The stag — the Miracle Stag, Stag of Light — is central to Hungarian mythology as the symbol of the sky and as God’s messenger. In the Annwfyn legend the Lord of the Otherworld is Arawn, a name which echoes the Hungarian word arany meaning gold in present usage, although its original meaning was shine.

The Cornish descent from the giant Gogmagog,xe "Gogmagog" who came forth from the Princess Albina’s union with demons and her subsequent giving birth to giants is also part of the stories of the Scythian-Magyar origin. Ipolyi believes the Hungarian legend of origins from Góg and Magóg is an authentic pre-Christian Magyar tradition[22]. He refers to Anonymus, who related an ancient tradition, which – although having become somewhat clouded in the course of centuries – nevertheless had preserved knowledge of the Scythiansxe "Scythians" and the neighboring peoples.

The Tristan and Isolde stories originated in the Pict legend of Drustxe "Pictish legend of Drust". Isolde’s name was variably Essylt, Iseult, Isolt, Yseut according to tradition. Tristan’s name belongs to the same T-R word-group as Arthur’s. The Es-Is-Ys- syllable shows Jász (Iasy) influence and a connection with waters. In this respect, the Tristan story is an almost forgotten fragment of an ancient solar myth concerning fertility and creation. There is mention of a Tristan stone in Cornwall near Castle Dore. A Latin inscription states the following: “Drustanus lies here, the son of Cunomorus.” The latter name is spelled Kynovawr. The syllable “cuno” brings the Hun, Kun group to mind and the Várkun name of the Avars, meaning “the Kuns of the castle.”

Mr. Gwion Davies, the son of the founder of the Welsh National Library researched the Scythian origins of the Welsh people. He spoke in his letters about linguistic similarities between the Welsh and Hungarian languages and also the possible relationship of the carving of numbers of the Magyar rovás and the Welsh system of carved numbers. Regrettably, our correspondence had to stop, due to his age and illness. I sent him my rendering of the poem by János Arany, the great Hungarian poet, entitled “the Bards of Wales”. He wrote the following in his answer: I was surprised to learn of the lament by János Arany over the loss of the Welsh Bards, and of the kinship felt between the Hungarians and the Welsh...”

*

The life of the Scottish Queen Margaret seems to be the summation of the Celtic-Scottish-Hungarian relationships. She was born of the Saxon Aetheling family, as the daughter of Edward, who was expected to become King. He and his family were exiled and they lived in the town of Nádasd in Hungary, as the royal guests of King István I. Margaret was born in Hungary, around 1045 A.D. and was educated there until the age of twelve. During these formative years, she acquired literacy, the love of arts and especially embroidery.

They returned to England, in the company of Hungarian nobles, upon the invitation of King Edward the Confessor. Unfortunately, Margaret’s father died in England unexpectedly, so the family decided to return home to Hungary. A storm forced their ships to land on the shores of Scotland – and the rest is history. Margaret married the Scottish King Malcolm III, introduced literacy to the court and became a supporter of arts and sciences. Moreover, she cared for the less fortunate and served their meals herself along with her husband, the King. As the treasury became more and more depleted due to her charity work, the Scottish nobility competed with each other to see who could donate more to charity. Reading this, I was reminded of the Hungarian St. Elizabeth, who married the Duke of Thuringia, practicing love and charity to the dismay of the Thuringians, who accused her of depleting their treasury. The care for the less fortunate is a long standing Hungarian tradition, which was practiced by these holy women outside of their homeland too.

The chronicler of Margaret’s life was a priest by the name of Turgot from Durham, who eventually became the Bishop of St. Andrews. According to him, Margaret was related to the House of Árpád and the Teutonic royal house, and Gizella, wife of St. King István I. of Hungary was her aunt.

She had eight children whom she raised strictly. This upbringing gave seven very strong kings to Scotland.

The Church made her a saint on September16, 1249

(Literature: Eternal Word Television Network, 5817 Old Leeds Road, Irondale, AL 35210. www-ewtn.com, from the reprinted works of David MacRoberts.)

The following is not directly connected with Scotland, but with the English-Hungarian connections. The mother of their beloved Queen Anne was a Hungarian from Transylvania, the countess Rhédey.

As we can see the Hungarian connection with the British Isles was a continuum from the dawn of history to ancient monastic times, through St. Margaret, Queen of Scots, the first student of Oxford, Nicola de Hungaria to Queen Anne, to mention only the most outstanding events and personalities.

*

As a conclusion I have to mention that the history of both the Scots and the Hungarians were written and propagated by their oppressors and enemies. The chronicler of St. Margaret’s life, for example, talks about the Hungarians of King St. István’s time as uncouth, wild, oriental people and does not realize the contradiction: St. Margaret learned literacy and the arts from these barbarians. The same is true in the case of the Scottish historical picture. Present historians, like David MacRoberts, almost apologize for these images, sensing that this must be an inaccurate representation of these people.

It is the same spirit which tries to preserve the heritage of the ancestors in both Scotland and Hungary. I wonder if these ancestral traditions have gained a place in public education in Scotland. The other Celtic-Scythian nation, the Welsh, gained permission within recent memory to finally erect a national library. There are no universities for Hungarian Studies in Hungary even though the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was founded with such a purpose by count István Széchenyi.

The Trianon dictate of 1920 severed the body of Hungary and she lost two thirds of her territory and population. The most Hungarian region, Transylvania, fights for its existence amidst cultural and ethnic genocide as we speak.

The only independent university in Hungary, founded by Dr. Agnes Gyárfás, the Nagy Lajos Király University was deprived of its school-buildings, even though this is the last citadel of Hungarian Studies and Hungarian scholarship. It is presently existing through donations from Hungarians around the world.

To preserve the past, it would be very important to establish a sister-institute with a similar University in Scotland, since this could resurrect the ancient Scythian ties. I have written this short study, hoping to awaken interest in this subject.

In the following Appendix, I present names in the British Isles related to Hungarian names.

My 640 word dictionary of related English-Celtic-Hungarian words is available upon request to students of Hungarian and Celtic studies at Ez az e-mail-cím a szpemrobotok elleni védelem alatt áll. Megtekintéséhez engedélyeznie kell a JavaScript használatát..

The Scythian - Scottish - Hungarian Relationship, part 1

The Scythian - Scottish - Hungarian Relationship, part 2