Old Hungarian Unicode Block

The Unicode block "Old Hungarian" is a fascinating repository that encapsulates the ancient script historically used by the Magyars, the early ancestors of today’s Hungarians. This script, known as "Rovásírás" in Hungarian, dates back to at least the medieval period and was primarily used for inscriptions, religious texts, and legal documents. The Old Hungarian script features runic characters that capture the phonetic nuances of the Hungarian language as it was spoken centuries ago. Within the Unicode block, characters are allocated from U+10C80 to U+10CFF, offering a comprehensive range of letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and diacritical signs necessary for replicating historic Hungarian texts in digital form.

Revived interest in Old Hungarian has spurred efforts to standardize and preserve this cultural heritage, notably through its inclusion in Unicode since version 8.0, released in 2015. By offering digital codification, Unicode enables linguists, historians, and cultural enthusiasts to study and disseminate this ancient script with ease while ensuring it remains accessible to future generations. Beyond academic and cultural pursuits, the Old Hungarian script is occasionally used in modern Hungary for decorative purposes and symbolic expressions of national identity, emphasizing its enduring significance as a bridge to a rich historical legacy. Today, the availability of this script in digital space continues to inspire both the academic study of ancient texts and the broader public's appreciation of the historical narratives they encapsulate.

View a range of fonts that support the Old Hungarian block.

Below you will find all the characters that are in the Old Hungarian unicode block. Currently there are 108 characters in this block.