Arebica or arabica was a variant of the Perso-Arabic script used to write the Bosnian language. It was used mainly between the 15th and 19th centuries. Before WWI there were unsuccessful efforts by Muslims to officially adopt Arebica as the third alphabet for Bosnian alongside Latin and Cyrillic. The last book printed in the script was in 1941.
One of the oldest texts written in Arabica is a love song called Chirvat-türkisi ('Croatian song') from 1588, written by a certain Mehmed in Bosnia. This manuscript is held in the National Library in Vienna. Besides literature, Arabica was used in religious schools and administration, though in much less use than other scripts.
Arebica was based on the Perso-Arabic script of the Ottoman Empire, with added letters for /t͡s/, /ʎ/, and /ɲ/, which are not found in Arabic, Persian, or Turkish. Full letters were eventually introduced for all vowels, making Arebica a true alphabet, unlike its Perso-Arabic base.
The final version of Arebica was devised by Mehmed Džemaludin Čaušević at the end of the 19th century. His version is called Matufovica, Matufovača, or Mektebica.
| arebica | latinica | arebica | latinica | arebica | latinica |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| آ | a | غ | g | ۉ | o |
| ب | b | ح | h | پ | p |
| ڄ | c | اى | i | ر | r |
| چ | č | ی | j | س | s |
| ć | ق | k | ش | š | |
| د | d | ل | l | ت | t |
| ج | dž | ڵ | lj | ۆ | u |
| đ | م | m | و | v | |
| ه | e | ن | n | ز | z |
| ف | f | nj | ژ | ž |
Text example: