Hussite Bible, Hussite spelling
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The earliest Hungarian Bible translation is a translation called the Hussite Bible, the parts of which were preserved in a copy in the Munich, Vienna and Apor codices. The Munich codex is the oldest among the three codices. From the additional clause of the manuscript, which contains the translation of the four gospels, we know the exact data: who made it and when. "This book was written by George Németi, son of Emre Hensel, in Moldavia, in the city of Tatros, in the 1466th year of the Lord." In the Vienna codex, which was copied around 1450, there are 12 books of smaller prophets besides smaller books of the Old Testament (Book of Ruth, Judith, Esther, The Macabean, Baruk and Daniel). The Apor codex was copied at the end of the 15th century, its most important part is the translation of 150 psalms.
Some people thought that this translation had Hussite origin, others did not accept this view. According to the Balázs Szalkay-type Franciscan chronicle in 1438-39 two Hussite clergyman in the Szerémség, Thomas and Valentine, escaped to Moldavia and translated the Old and New Testaments into Hungarian there. Since there was a Bible translation and an existing copy to Moldavia, it was evident to connect the two. Three further additions strengthened the Hussite conception 1./ In the book of records of the university of Prague we can find an item about two baccalaureus students, named Thomas Quinqueecclesiensis (1399) and Valentinus de Ujlak (1411), who were identified as Bible translator Thomas Pécsi and Valetine Újlaki. 2./ The Franciscan chronicle says it is heresy to translate Spiritus sanctus as 'holy breath'. The three codices contain this kind of translation. 3./ Finally John Huss formed an independent spelling with supplementary signs to reproduce Czech sounds missing from the Latin alphabet. Concerning the codices the copier of the Munich codex used a system similar to this. István Kniezsa calls this spelling Hussite spelling - since he thought the Munich codex originated from Hussitism - in spite of the fact that Franciscan codices use a spelling with supplementary signs. This kind of spelling is not Huss's invention, so it might have been introduced by others. It is totally impossible that a heretical Bible translation was confiscated by Franciscans and then they would adopt the spelling of this throughout the country. The translations were made from liturgic books. The fate of the Apor codex, which was copied in the second half of the 15th century, can be traced quite well. In the 16th century it was in the possession of Premontrean nuns, who completed the codex. The book of psalms was quoted by each monks weekly, even if they did not speak Latin. The Hungarian translation must have served for prayers outside the office. The copier-users did not consider it as a heretic translation, since it was popular and often used.
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Hussite spelling
The Hussite spelling appeared in the 15th century. The Hungarian translators of the Hussite Bible applied it to the Hungarian language as well. In this type of spelling every sound was represented by a separate letter, and letters which were missing from the Latin were substituted by letters with accents (for example, the short and long open e sound was signified by e, the short closed ë by e and e, sound ö by o, sound ü by v or u, sound ny by n. Sound ly was represented by 'l, sound ty by t, sound gy by g). The length of the consonants was not marked. Besides the Hussite spelling chancellery spelling also survived. In certain relics the mixture of the two spellings was used.
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