Georgian alphabet

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Georgian alphabet
Type Alphabet
Spoken languages South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages
Time period c. AD 430 to present
ISO 15924 Geor
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
History of the alphabet

Middle Bronze Age 19 c. BCE
Meroitic 3 c. BCE
Ogham 4 c. CE
Hangul 1443 CE
Canadian syllabics 1840 CE
Zhuyin 1913 CE
complete genealogy

The Georgian alphabet (Georgian: ქართული დამწერლობა) is the script currently used to write the Georgian language and other South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages (Mingrelian, Svan and sometimes Laz), and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus (such as Ossetic and Abkhaz in the 1940s).[1] The Georgian language has phonemic orthography and the modern alphabet has thirty-three letters.

The Georgian word for "alphabet" is ანბანი (anbani), after the first two letters of the Georgian alphabet.

Letters
ა ბ გ დ ე ვ ზ ჱ თ ი კ ლ მ ნ
ჲ ო პ ჟ რ ს ტ ჳ უ ფ ქ ღ ყ შ
ჩ ც ძ წ ჭ ხ ჴ ჯ ჰ ჵ ჶ ჷ ჸ

The Georgian script makes no distinction between upper and lower case. However, certain modern writers have experimented with using the obsolete asomtavruli letters (see below) as capitals.

Asomtavruli (Capital) Letters
Ⴀ Ⴁ Ⴂ Ⴃ Ⴄ Ⴅ Ⴆ Ⴡ Ⴇ Ⴈ Ⴉ Ⴊ Ⴋ Ⴌ
Ⴢ Ⴍ Ⴎ Ⴏ Ⴐ Ⴑ Ⴒ Ⴣ Ⴓ Ⴔ Ⴕ Ⴖ Ⴗ Ⴘ
Ⴙ Ⴚ Ⴛ Ⴜ Ⴝ Ⴞ Ⴤ Ⴟ Ⴠ Ⴥ

Contents

[edit] History of the alphabet

Ancient Asomtavruli version of Georgian alphabet in David Gareja Monastery.
Ancient Asomtavruli version of Georgian alphabet in David Gareja Monastery.
The three forms of the Georgian alphabet
The three forms of the Georgian alphabet

Georgia (kingdom of Iberia) was converted to Christianity in the 330s. Scholars believe that the creation of a Georgian alphabet was instrumental in making the religious scripture more accessible to the Georgians. This happened in the 4th or 5th century, not long after the conversion. The oldest uncontroversial examples of Georgian writing are an asomtavruli inscription in a church in Bethlehem from 430 CE.

The forms of the Khutsuri letters may have been derived from the northern Arsacid variant of the Pahlavi (or Middle Iranian) script, which itself was derived from the older Aramaic, although the direction of writing (from left to right), the use of separate symbols for the vowel sounds, the numerical values assigned to the letters in earlier times, and the order of the letters all point to significant Greek influence on the script[2]. However, the Georgian scholar Tamaz Gamkrelidze argues that the forms of the letters are freely invented in imitation of the Greek model rather than directly based upon earlier forms of the Aramaic alphabet, even though the Georgian phonological inventory is very different from Greek.

Georgian historical tradition attributes the invention of the Georgian alphabet to Parnavaz I of Iberia in the 3rd century BC. The modern Georgian scholar Levan Chilashvili, on the basis of dating the Nekresi inscription in eastern Georgia to the 1st-2nd century AD, claims that Parnavaz likely created the script in order to translate the Avesta (i.e., sacred Zoroastrian writings) into Georgian. However, the pre-Christian origin of the Georgian script has not yet been firmly supported by archaeology. Yet, a unique local form of Aramaic known as "Armazuli" did exist as demonstrated by the 1940s discovery of a bilingual Greco-Aramaic insciption at Mtskheta, Georgia. It is conceivable that local pre-Christian records did exist, but were subsequently destroyed by zealous Christians. Many found more palatable the idea that the medieval Georgian chronicles actually refer to the introduction of a local form of written Aramaic during the reign of Parnavaz.[3]

The earliest recorded account about the origin of the Georgian alphabet belongs to the 5th-century Armenian author Koryun, who attributes its creation to his mentor Saint Mesrop, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet.

None of above-mentioned traditions seems to have much currency as, in the view of modern scholars, the only convincing explanation for the similarities has to be the same influences rather than the same creator.[4]

Since it adaptation to a written form, the Georgian alphabets has progressed through three forms. The examples of the earliest one, asomtavruli (ასომთავრული; "capital letters") also known as mrgvlovani (მრგვლოვანი; "rounded"), are still preserved in monumental inscriptions, such as those of the Georgian church in Bethlehem (near Jerusalem, 430) and the church of Bolnisi Sioni near Tbilisi (4th-5th centuries).

The nuskhuri (ნუსხური; "minuscule") or khutsuri (ხუცური; "church script") script first appeared in the 9th century. It was mostly used in ecclesiastical works, with the asomtavruli still sometimes serving as capital letters in religious manuscripts.

The currently used alphabet, called mkhedruli (მხედრული, "secular" or "military writing"), first appeared in the 11th century. It was used for non-religious purposes up until the eighteenth century, when it completely replaced khutsuri. Seven of the original forty mkhedruli letters are now obsolete.

[edit] Transcription

This table only lists the modern (monocameral) mkhedruli alphabet (i.e. 33 letters that are also convertible to the other two alphabets, excluding the 7 additional mkhedruli letters that are now obsolete).

Letters Unicode Name National ISO 9984 BGN IPA
ა U+10D0 an A a A a А а /ɑ/
ბ U+10D1 ban B b B b B b /b/
გ U+10D2 gan G g G g G g /ɡ/
დ U+10D3 don D d D d D d /d/
ე U+10D4 en E e E e E e /ɛ/
ვ U+10D5 vin V v V v V v /v/
ზ U+10D6 zen Z z Z z Z z /z/
თ U+10D7 t'an T t T' t' T' t' /tʰ/
ი U+10D8 in I i I i I i /i/
კ U+10D9 kan K' k' K k K k /kʼ/
ლ U+10DA las L l L l L l /l/
მ U+10DB man M m M m M m /m/
ნ U+10DC nar N n N n N n /n/
ო U+10DD on O o O o O o /ɔ/
პ U+10DE par P' p' P p P p /pʼ/
ჟ U+10DF žan Zh zh Ž ž Zh zh /ʒ/
რ U+10E0 rae R r R r R r /r/
ს U+10E1 san S s S s S s /s/
ტ U+10E2 tar T' t' T' t' T t /tʼ/
უ U+10E3 un U u U u U u /u/
ფ U+10E4 p'ar P p P' p' P' p' /pʰ/
ქ U+10E5 kan K k K' k' K' k' /kʰ/
ღ U+10E6 ḡan Gh gh Ḡ ḡ Gh gh /ɣ/
ყ U+10E7 qar Q' q' Q q Q q /qʼ/
შ U+10E8 šin Sh sh Š š Sh sh /ʃ/
ჩ U+10E9 č'in Ch ch Č' č' Ch' ch' /tʃ/
ც U+10EA c'an Ts ts C' c' Ts' ts' /ts/
ძ U+10EB jil Dz dz J j Dz dz /dz/
წ U+10EC cil Ts' ts' C c Ts ts /tsʼ/
ჭ U+10ED čar Ch' ch' Č č Ch ch /tʃʼ/
ხ U+10EE xan Kh kh X x Kh kh /x/
ჯ U+10EF ǰan J j J̌ ǰ J j /dʒ/
ჰ U+10F0 hae H h H h H h /h/

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Omniglot
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, p. 19. Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5.
  4. ^ Unicode Demystified: A Practical Programmer's Guide to the Encoding Standard, p. 251

[edit] External links