Lycian alphabet

Lycian
Type Alphabet
Languages Lycian language
Time period 500-330 BC
Parent systems
Sister systems Lydian, Phrygian
ISO 15924 Lyci, 202
Direction Left-to-right
Unicode alias Lycian
Unicode range U+10280 - U+1029F
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

The Lycian alphabet was used to write the Lycian language. It was an extension of the Greek alphabet, with half a dozen additional letters for sounds not found in Greek. It was largely similar to the Lydian and the Phrygian alphabets.

Contents

The alphabet

The Lycian alphabet[1][2] contains letters for 29 sounds. Some sounds are represented by more than one symbol, which is considered one "letter". There are six vowel letters, one for each of the four oral vowels of Lycian, and separate letters for two of the four nasal vowels. Nine the Lycian letters do not appear to derive from the Greek alphabet.

The Lycian alphabet
Lycian letter Transliteration Sound Notes
πŠ€ a [a]
πŠ‚ b [Ξ²]
πŠ„ g [Ι£]
πŠ… d [Γ°]
πŠ† i [i], [Δ©]
πŠ‡ w [w]
𐊈 z [ts]
πŠ› h [h]
πŠ‰ ΞΈ [ΞΈ]
𐊊 j or y [j]
πŠ‹ k [kΚ²] [Ι‘Κ²] after nasals
𐊍 l [l] and [lΜ©]~[Ι™l]
𐊎 m [m]
𐊏 n [n]
πŠ’ u [u], [Ε©]
πŠ“ p [p] [b] after nasals
πŠ” ΞΊ [k]? [kΚ²]? [h(e)]
πŠ• r [r] and [rΜ©]~[Ι™r]
πŠ– s [s]
πŠ— t [t] [d] after nasals. Γ±t is [d] as in Γ‘temuΟ‡lida for Greek DΔ“mokleidΔ“s.[3]
𐊁 e [e]
πŠ™ Γ£ [Γ£] LusΓ£tra for Greek Lusandros.[4]
𐊚 ẽ [ẽ]
𐊐 mΜƒ [mΜ©], [Ι™m], [m.] originally perhaps syllabic [m], later coda [m]
πŠ‘ Γ± [nΜ©], [Ι™n], [n.] originally perhaps syllabic [n], later coda [n]
𐊘 Ο„ [tΚ·]? [tΚƒ]?
𐊌 q [k] [ɑ] after nasals
πŠƒ Ξ² [k]? [kΚ·]? voiced after nasals
𐊜 Ο‡ [q] [Ι’] after nasals

Unicode

The Lycian alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1. It is encoded in Plane 1 (Supplementary Multilingual Plane).

The Unicode block for Lycian is U+10280–U+1029F. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points:

Lycian[1]
Unicode chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1028x πŠ€ 𐊁 πŠ‚ πŠƒ πŠ„ πŠ… πŠ† πŠ‡ 𐊈 πŠ‰ 𐊊 πŠ‹ 𐊌 𐊍 𐊎 𐊏
U+1029x 𐊐 πŠ‘ πŠ’ πŠ“ πŠ” πŠ• πŠ– πŠ— 𐊘 πŠ™ 𐊚 πŠ› 𐊜
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 6.0.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Adiego (2007) page 764.
  2. ^ Bryce (1986) pages 56-57.
  3. ^ Bryce, T. R. (January 1986). "The Pronunciation of Delta in Greek and Lycian". Classical Philology 81 (1): 56–58. doi:10.1086/366958. JSTOR 269877.  First page displayable no charge.
  4. ^ Bryce (1986) page 58.

References

External links