Record: the document says itOur lens: how we read itOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1903 · Places: Northeast, Central America, Europe, Africa
The case
Our case: Tut, or Tutnese, is our elders' own spoken spelling code, kept in secret to teach reading when the law forbade it, and Tito's lens holds that it is far older than the captivity and kin to other ancient tongues, and that its name is a key: Tut, King Tut, Kentucky. As Tito said: "tutnese the black american language... kentucky king tut key."
Background
Tutnese is a spoken code: you spell words out loud, keeping vowels as their names and turning each consonant into a syllable. The held people of the Southeast, our ancestors kept in bondage, were forbidden by law to learn to read, so a secret spelling game was a way to teach it. American Speech is a journal about language, and Gloria McIlwain wrote on Tutnese there in 1994 and in a 1995 book. Maya Angelou was a writer whose memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells of her childhood. Rövarspråket is a Swedish children's language game, known from Astrid Lindgren's books.
Our evidence
Exhibit A · Record: How Tut worksTut is a spoken spelling code: vowels keep their names and each consonant becomes a syllable (B 'bub,' K 'kak,' S 'sus,' T 'tut,' H 'hash'; a doubled letter is 'squat'). It is held to have been made by held people in the Southeast to teach spelling and reading in secret when the law forbade it. Sources: Wikipedia, "Tutnese"; Gloria McIlwain, American Speech, 1994, and her 1995 book.
Exhibit B · Record: Kept in secretMaya Angelou writes of learning it as a child (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). Families kept it secret into the 1970s, since speaking it near white people could be called "uppity" (ASU Library Community-Driven Archives).
Exhibit C · Record: The earliest printThe earliest print we have is Ernest Thompson Seton's 'Tutnee' (1903), which does not name its makers. A 1944 New York Times Magazine piece calls a version 'Tutahash.'
Exhibit D · Open: How old?There is no record of its first year. The "250 years old" figure is family and community memory. Open, needs deep research.
Exhibit E · Our lens: Tut is a keyTito's WW9 Lens: Tut, King Tut, Kentucky: Tut is a key. No record yet ties the language to the pharaoh's name; Tutankhamun's tomb was opened in 1922, after the 1903 print. This needs deep research, starting with how the elders who spoke it explained the name.
Exhibit F · Record: The name Kentucky is unsettledThe name Kentucky has been "never definitively identified." Proposals include an Iroquoian word for meadow (called most likely), a Wyandot 'land of tomorrow,' a Shawnee 'head of a river,' and an Algonquian 'river bottom'; 'dark and bloody ground' is called unlikely (New World Encyclopedia, "Kentucky"). The official story has no proven answer either. Tito's Lens: Kentucky = King Tut Key.
Exhibit G · Record: Kin gamesSweden's Rövarspråket also turns each consonant into a syllable (t = 'tot,' b = 'bob,' s = 'sos'), known in print from Astrid Lindgren's books (1940s-1951). Other games of this kind are Spanish Jeringonza, French Javanais, and English Pig Latin.
Exhibit H · Our lens: Older than the captivityTito's WW9 Lens: Tut is far older than the captivity and kin to other ancient tongues.
Exhibit I · Open: The testFind Tut, or its consonant-syllable rule, in a source older than 1903, in any language. Compare Tut's syllables with old spoken alphabets: Gullah, West African, Native, Arabic, and Coptic letter names. Needs deep research.
Case open
The Record holds that Tut is our elders' secret spelling code, used to teach reading against the law and kept hidden into the 1970s, and that the name Kentucky has no proven meaning in the official story either. But the core of Tito's case, that Tut is far older than the captivity and that its name is a key to King Tut and Kentucky, is still Lens. The case will be won by finding Tut or its consonant-syllable rule in a source older than 1903, and by recording how the elders who spoke it explained the name.
Next exhibit: Tut, or its consonant-syllable rule, in a source older than 1903 in any language; a comparison with old spoken alphabets (Gullah, West African, Native, Arabic, Coptic letter names); and the elders' own explanation of the name.
The original card
SUMMARYTutnese, the Tut language (Nov 12, 2026; Tito: "tutnese the black american language... kentucky king tut key")
RECORDTut, or Tutnese, is a spoken spelling code: vowels keep their names and each consonant becomes a syllable (B "bub," K "kak," S "sus," T "tut," H "hash"; a doubled letter is "squat"). It is held to have been made by held people in the Southeast to teach spelling and reading in secret when the law forbade it (Wikipedia, "Tutnese"; Gloria McIlwain, American Speech, 1994, and her 1995 book)
RECORDMaya Angelou writes of learning it as a child (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings); families kept it secret into the 1970s, since speaking it near white people could be called "uppity" (ASU Library Community-Driven Archives)
RECORDthe earliest print we have is Ernest Thompson Seton's "Tutnee" (1903), which does not name its makers; a 1944 New York Times Magazine piece calls a version "Tutahash."
OPENno record of its first year; the "250 years old" figure is family and community memory
LENS (WW9, Tito)Tut, King Tut, Kentucky: Tut is a key. No record yet ties the language to the pharaoh's name (Tutankhamun's tomb was opened in 1922, after the 1903 print); needs deep research, starting with how the elders who spoke it explained the name. RECORD, the name Kentucky is unsettled: "never definitively identified"; proposals include an Iroquoian word for meadow (called most likely), a Wyandot "land of tomorrow," a Shawnee "head of a river," an Algonquian "river bottom"; "dark and bloody ground" is called unlikely (New World Encyclopedia, "Kentucky"). The official story has no proven answer either
LENS (WW9, Tito)Kentucky = King Tut Key. RECORD, kin games: Sweden's Rövarspråket also turns each consonant into a syllable (t = "tot," b = "bob," s = "sos"), known in print from Astrid Lindgren's books (1940s-1951); other games of this kind: Spanish Jeringonza, French Javanais, English Pig Latin
LENS (WW9, Tito)Tut is far older than slavery and kin to other ancient tongues. OPEN, the test: find Tut, or its consonant-syllable rule, in a source older than 1903, in any language; compare Tut's syllables with old spoken alphabets (Gullah, West African, Native, Arabic, Coptic letter names). Needs deep research.