Georgian alphabet

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Georgian alphabet
Type Alphabet
Languages Kartvelian languages
Time period
ISO 15924 Geor
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Georgian alphabet (Georgian: ქართული დამწერლობა) is the script currently used to write the Georgian language and other 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.

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

Georgian Alphabets: I-Asomtavruli, II-Nuskha-khutsuri, III-Mkhedruli
Georgian Alphabets: I-Asomtavruli, II-Nuskha-khutsuri, III-Mkhedruli
Ancient Asomtavruli version of Georgian alphabet in David Gareja Monastery by Paata Vardanshvili
Ancient Asomtavruli version of Georgian alphabet in David Gareja Monastery by Paata Vardanshvili

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 AD.

The influence of both Greek and Aramaic has been demonstrated, but 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 insciption 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.[1]

Another account, an Armenian one, attributes the creation of the Georgian alphabet to Saint Mesrop, who is said to have invented the Armenian alphabet, but none of these 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.[2]

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

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

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_alphabet"
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