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The Lycian alphabet

Lycian

Lycian was an Anatolian language spoken in what is now the Antalya region of Turkey up to about the 3rd Century BC, when the Lycians adopted Greek as their languages. Lycian is thought to have developed from Luwian, a language spoken in Asia Minor before the arrival of the Hittites (c. 18th century BC), and was related to Lydian.

The Lycian alphabet was adapted from an archaic version of the Doric Greek alphabet. Only a few of the Lycian letters were original inventions, or possibly borrowed from other alphabets. Around 180 inscriptions in Lycian dating from the fifth and fourth centuries BC have been found. As current knowledge of the language, particularly its grammar, is quite limited, not all the inscriptions have been fully deciphered.

Notable features

Type of writing system: alphabet
Writing direction: left to right in horizontal lines
Number of letters: 29 (23 consonants and 6 vowels)
Some letters have several variant forms
A colon-like symbol was generally used to separate words.

Lycian alphabet

Note: the pronunciation of some of the letters is uncertain.

Sample text in Lycian

Transliteration

ebẽñnẽ prñnawu mẽn. e prñnawatẽ hanadaza hrppi ladi ehbi setideime.

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The Avestan alphabet

Avestan

The Avestan alphabet was created in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD for writing the hymns of Zarathustra (a.k.a Zoroaster), the Avesta. Many of the letters are derived from the old Pahlavi alphabet of Persia, which itself was derived from the Aramaic alphabet. Greek influence, in the form of the full representation of vowel sounds, is also present.

The Avestan alphabet was replaced by the Arabic alphabet after Persia converted to Islam during the 7th century AD. Zorastrians in India wrote Avestan with their own alphabets.

Notable Features

Type of writing system: alphabet
Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines

Used to write

Avestan, an extinct Eastern Iranian language related to Old Persian and Sanskrit, which was used as a sacred language of Zoroastrian worship long after it ceased to be used as an everyday spoken language.

Avestan alphabet

Vowels

Consonants

Sample texts in Avestan

Transliteration

at fravaxshyâ nû gûshôdûm nû sraotâ ýaêcâ asnât ýaêcâ dûrât ishathâ nû îm vîspâ cithrê zî mazdånghô-dûm nôit daibitîm dush-sastish ahûm merãshyât akâ varanâ dregvå hizvå âveretô.

Translation

I will speak forth: hear now and hearken now, ye from near and ye from far that desire (instruction). Now observe this in your mind, all of you, for he is revealed. Never shall the false Teacher destroy the Second Life, the Liar, in perversion by his tongue into evil belief.

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Galik alphabet

The Galik alphabet is a version of the traditional Mongolian script devised in 1587 by Ayuush Güüsh (Аюуш гүүш), a translator and scholar who was inspired by the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་). Ayuush Güüsh added extra letters and used them when transcibing words from Sanskrit and Tibetan in Mongolian religious texts, and later added laters for Chinese sounds as well. Some of these letters are still in use today for writing foreign names.

Notable features

Type of writing system: alphabet
Direction of writing: left to right in vertical columns running from top to bottom.
Most letters have several different forms: initial, medial and final, which are used at the beginning, middle and end of a word respectively. The vowels also have isolated forms.
Some letters have different shapes depending on which vowel comes before and/or after them.
Used to write: Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese words in Mongolian texts

Galik alphabet

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Galik alphabet

The Galik alphabet is a version of the traditional Mongolian script devised in 1587 by Ayuush Güüsh (Аюуш гүүш), a translator and scholar who was inspired by the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso. Ayuush Güüsh added extra letters and used them when transcibing words from Sanskrit and Tibetan in Mongolian religious texts, and later added laters for Chinese sounds as well. Some of these letters are still in use today for writing foreign names.

Notable features

Type of writing system: alphabet
Direction of writing: left to right in vertical columns running from top to bottom.
Most letters have several different forms: initial, medial and final, which are used at the beginning, middle and end of a word respectively. The vowels also have isolated forms.
Some letters have different shapes depending on which vowel comes before and/or after them.
Used to write: Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese words in Mongolian texts

Galik alphabet

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Old Church Slavonic (словѣньскъ)

Old Church Slavonic or Church Slavonic is a literary language which developed from the language used by St Cyril and St Methodius, 9th century missionaries from Byzantium, to translate the bible and other religious works. Cyril and Methodius based their translations on a Slavonic dialect of the Thessalonika area and invented a new alphabet, Glagolitic, in order to write them.

Sometime during the 10th century AD a new alphabet appeared which was known as Cyrillic and named after St Cyril, though it was possibly invented by St Kliment of Ohrid. The Cyrillic alphabet was used to write the Old Church Slavonic language and was later adapated to write many other languages.

Old Church Slavonic was used as the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox church between the 9th and 12th centuries. A more modern form of the language, known as Church Slavonic, appeared during the 14th century and is still used in the Russian Orthodox church.

Early Cyrillic alphabet used for Old Church Slavonic

Sample text in Old Church Slavonic

въ оно врѣмѧ изідє заповѣдь отъ кєсарѣ авгоста напісаті в҄сѫ вьсєлєнѫѭ |
сє напісаніє пръвоє бъістъ владѫщѹ сѹрієѭ и кѵрінієѭ |
и идѣахѫ вьсі напісатъ сѧ кьждо въ свои градъ |
вьзідє жє иосіфь отъ галілєѧ и града назарєтьска вь июдєѭ вь градъ давъідовъ іжє наріцаєтъ сѧ віѳлєємь занє бѣашє отъ домѹ и отьчьствіѣ давъідова |

Translation

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

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German (Deutsch)

German is a Germanic language with about 121 million speakers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Belgium, Italy, France, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Australia, South Africa and Namibia.

The earliest known examples of written German date from the 8th century AD and consist of fragments of an epic poem, the Song of Hildebrand, magical charms and German glosses in Latin manuscripts. A short Latin-German dictionary, the Abrogans, was written during the 760s.

German literature started to take off during the 12th and 13th centuries in the form of poems, epics and romances. Well known examples include the epic Nibelungenlied (the Song of the Nibelungs) and Gottfried von Straßburg's Tristan. The language used is now known as mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache (Middle High German poetic language). During this period Latin was gradually replaced by German as the language of official documents.

Varieties of German used in writing

High German (Hochdeutsch)

High German began to emerge as the standard literary language during the 16th century. Martin Luther's translation of the Bible, which he completed in 1534, marks the beginning of this process. The language he used, based partly on spoken German, became the model for written German.

Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch or Schwyzerdütsch)

A variety of German spoken by about 4 million people in Switzerland, occasionally appears in writing in novels, newspapers, personal letters and diaries.

Regional varities of German, or Mundarten, also occasionally appear in writing; mainly in 'folk' literature and comic books such as Asterix.

Written German script styles

Fraktur

Fraktur was used for printed and written German from the 16th century until 1940. The name Fraktur comes from Latin and means "broken script". It is so called because its ornamental twiddly bits (curlicues) break the continuous line of a word. In German it is usually called the deutsche Schrift (German script).
Fraktur was also used for a number of other languages, including Finnish, Czech, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.

Notes

The second lowercase s appears at the ends of syllables, except in the following combinations: ss, st, sp, sh and sch, while the first (ſ) appears everywhere else. The symbol ß (scharfes S or Eszett) is a combination of the long s and z, or a combination of the two types of s: there is some dispute about origin of this symbol. For further details, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ß.

Sample text in Fraktur

Sütterlin

Sütterlin was created by the Berlin graphic artist L. Sütterlin (1865-1917), who modelled it on the style of handwriting used in the old German Chancery. It was taught in German schools from 1915 to 1941 and is still used by the older generation.

Sample text in Sütterlin

Modern German alphabet
A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m
a	be	ce	de	e	ef	ge	ha	i	jot	ka	el	em
N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z
en	o	pe	ku	er	es	te	u	vau	we	iks	üpsilon	zet

German pronunciation

Sample text in German

Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geist der Brüderlichkeit begegnen.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

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Somali/Osmanya alphabet

Somali (af Soomaali / اَف صَومالي˜)

Somali is a member of the East Cushtic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It has 10-16 million native speakers and perhaps half a million second language speakers mainly in Somali, where it is an official language, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. There are also significant numbers of Somali speakers in Europe, North America and Yemen.

Somali has been written with a number of different scripts, including an Arabic-based abjad known as Wadaad's writing, a Latin-based alphabet and the Borama, Osmanya and Kaddare alphabets

Wadaad's writing (وَداد)

The Arabic script was first introduced in the 13th century by Sheikh Yusuf al-Kowneyn to aid Koranic teaching. In the 19th century Sheikh Uways al-Barawi improved the writing of Somali with the Arabic script and based it on the Maay dialect of Southern Somalia. A Somali linguists, Muuse Xaaji Ismaaciil Galaal, radically altered the spelling conventions for Somali written with the Arabic script and introduced a set of new symbols for the vowels in the 1950s.

Wadaad's writing (Arabic script for Somali)

Sample text

Borama/Gadabuursi alphabet

In 1933 Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur invented another script for Somali known as Borama or Gadabuursi which was only used by the Sheikh's small circle of associates in Borama.

Sample text

Translation

My beloved brother Huseen, Peace.
I am well, the reer is at Đoobo.
The big burden camel has been eaten by a lion. 'Ali has come.
The goods have been received by us. Send us (some) ghee.
Out mother has come. Your brother Guuleed has gone to Hargeisa.
Nuur Bile,
Borama.

Somali/Osmanya alphabet

The Osmanya alphabet was created in between 1920 and 1922 by Cismaan Yuusuf Keenadiid, brother of the Sultan of Obbia. In Somali it is known as far soomaali (Somali writing) or cismaanya. It replaced an attempt by Sheikh Uweys to devise an Arabic-based alphabet for Somali, and has in turn been replaced by the Latin orthography of Muuse Xaaji Ismaaciil Galaal (1914-1980).
The Osmanya alphabet is not used much these days, though during the 1970s quite a number of people used it for personal correspondence and bookkeeping. A few books and magazines have also been published in the alphabet.

Notable features

Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal rows.
The names of the letters are based on Arabic letter names.
The letters waw and ya are used to write the long vowels uu and ii respectively.
Somali is a tonal language with four tones which are not usually marked in writing. The tones have grammatical uses: theny indicate number, gender and case

Numerals

Sample text

𐒛𐒆𐒖𐒒𐒖𐒔𐒖 𐒊𐒖𐒑𐒑𐒛𐒒𐒂𐒕𐒈 𐒓𐒚𐒄𐒓 𐒊𐒖𐒉𐒛 𐒘𐒈𐒖𐒌𐒝 𐒄𐒙𐒇 𐒖𐒔 𐒏𐒖𐒒𐒖 𐒈𐒘𐒑𐒖𐒒 𐒄𐒖𐒌𐒌𐒖 𐒉𐒖𐒇𐒖𐒍𐒂𐒖 𐒘𐒕𐒙 𐒄𐒚𐒎𐒓𐒎𐒖𐒆𐒖 𐒓𐒖𐒄𐒛 𐒖𐒐𐒐𐒗 (𐒘𐒐𐒛𐒔) 𐒈𐒕𐒕𐒖𐒕 𐒖𐒎𐒝𐒒 𐒘𐒕𐒙 𐒓𐒖𐒋𐒕𐒘, 𐒓𐒛𐒒𐒖 𐒘𐒒 𐒎𐒙𐒍 𐒐𐒖 𐒖𐒇𐒏𐒛 𐒎𐒙𐒍𐒏𐒖 𐒏𐒖𐒐𐒗 𐒚𐒐𐒖 𐒊𐒖𐒎𐒑𐒛 𐒈𐒘 𐒓𐒖𐒐𐒛𐒐𐒂𐒘𐒒𐒘𐒑𐒙 𐒖𐒔.

Kaddare alphabet

The Kaddare alphabet was invented by Sheikh Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare of the Abgaal Hawiye clan in 1952. The letters have upper forms, which are shown on the first row of the chart below, and lower case forms, which are shown on the second row.

Sample text

Source: http://www.skyknowledge.com/kaddare.htm - alphabet information based on research by Ian James, who is uncertain about the use of this alphabet.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Latin alphabet for Somali

In 1961 both the Latin and Osmanya scripts were adopted for use in Somalia, but in 1969 there was a coup, with one of its stated aims the resolution of the debate over the country's writing system. The Latin alphabet was finally adopted in 1972 and at the same time Somali was made the sole official language of Somalia. Shire Jama Ahmed (Shire Jaamac Axmed / شيري جامع أحمد‎) is credited with the invention of this spelling system, and his system was chosen from among eighteen competing new orthographies.

Sample text

Aadanaha dhammaantiis wuxuu dhashaa isagoo xor ah kana siman xagga sharafta iyo xuquuqada Waxaa Alle (Ilaah) siiyay aqoon iyo wacyi, waana in qof la arkaa qofka kale ula dhaqmaa si walaaltinimo ah.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

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Old Church Slavonic (словѣньскъ)

Early Cyrillic alphabet used for Old Church Slavonic

Sample text in Old Church Slavonic

въ оно врѣмѧ изідє заповѣдь отъ кєсарѣ авгоста напісаті в҄сѫ вьсєлєнѫѭ |
сє напісаніє пръвоє бъістъ владѫщѹ сѹрієѭ и кѵрінієѭ |
и идѣахѫ вьсі напісатъ сѧ кьждо въ свои градъ |
вьзідє жє иосіфь отъ галілєѧ и града назарєтьска вь июдєѭ вь градъ давъідовъ іжє наріцаєтъ сѧ віѳлєємь занє бѣашє отъ домѹ и отьчьствіѣ давъідова |

Translation

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

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Manchu alphabet

The Manchu alphabet was commissioned in 1599 by the Manchu leader Nurhaci (1559-1626), the founder of the Manchu state. The letters are based on the Classical Mongolian alphabet while the phonetics are based on Jurchen, an earlier Manchu script. The alphabet was modified slightly in 1632.

In 1644 the Manchus conquered China and established the Ch'ing (Qing) dynasty, which lasted until 1911. For the first 200 years or so of the Ch'ing dynasty, Manchu was the main language of government in China and served as a lingua franca. By the mid 19th century many of the Manchus had adopted Chinese as their first language, however they continued to produce Manchu version of Chinese documents until the end of the dynasty and for sometime afterwards.

Notable features

Type of writing system: alphabet
Direction of writing: left to right in vertical columns running from top to bottom.
Most letters have several different forms: initial, medial and final, which are used at the beginning, middle and end of a word respectively. The vowels also have isolated forms.
Some letters have different shapes depending on which vowel comes before and/or after them.

Used to write

Manchu, a member of the Tungusic group of Altaic languages. There are currently about 10 million Manchus living mainly in north-eastern China, of whom about 100 speak Manchu and only 20 can read and write it. Most speak only Mandarin.

A version of the Manchu script is used to write Xibe, a Tungusic language closely related to Manchu and spoken in Xinjiang in the north west of China by 30,000 people.

Manchu alphabet

Vowels

Note

The second final form of e is used after k, g and h.

Consonants

Notes

The first medial form of n is used before vowels; the second is used before consonants
The first medial form of ng is used before i, o, u and ū; the second is used before e and i
The first medial form of k is used before a, o and ū; the second is used before consonants
The first initial and medial forms of t are used before a, o and i; the second initial and medial forms are used before e, u ū; the third medial form is used before consonants
First initial and medial forms of d are used before a, o and i; the second initial and medial forms are used before e, u and ū
The first initial and medial forms of f are used before a and e; the second initial and medial forms are used before i, o, u and ū

Numerals

Syllables

Sample text

Translation

Following his advice, when the army was about to enter the town, he abandoned the town and fled. Akim Bek volunteered to handle the affairs, so he did the duty on behalf of the General. He had been to the capital city to present himself before the Emperor. His estate in the city and property in Kashgar, were used to provide the people living in Shikago, left in the capital city, or inherited by his son. He inherited the title of the Duke of Assisting the Nation, and was bestowed the hereditary title of Akim Bek. His son inherited the hereditary title of Akim Bek.

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Coptic alphabet

Coptic

The Coptic alphabet is variant of the Greek alphabet containing a number of extra letters for sounds not found in Greek. The extra letters come from the Demotic form of the Egyptian script. The Coptic alphabet came into being during the 3rd century BC after the Greek conquest of Egypt and the subsequent spread of Christianity.

The name 'Coptic' derives from the Greek word for Egyptian: Aigyptioi which became Qibt in Arabic and then was Latinised to become Copt

Used to write

Coptic, a member of the Egyptian branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family and a descendant of the Ancient Egyptian language. Coptic was an official language in Egypt until around the 13th Century AD, when it was replaced by Arabic. Nowadays Coptic Christians all speak Arabic as their every day language, but use Coptic in their religious ceremonies.

Coptic alphabet

Notes

veeta = [b] at the beginning of a word, [v] elsewhere.
ghamma = [ŋ] after a double seema, [g] elsewhere.
delta = [d] in names, [ð] elsewhere.
tav = [d] after nei, [t] elsewhere.
epsilon = [v] after alpha or ei, [u] after short o, [ɪ] elsewhere.
jinkim splits words into separate syllables when attached to the letter ei and followed by a consonant

Numerals

Sample text

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Thaana script

Origin

The Thaana script was developed during the 18th century by an unknown inventor. It first appeared in government documents in 1703 and replaced an older alphabet known as Dhives akuru.

Some of the Taana letters were derived from Dhives akuru, while others were modelled on Arabic numerals. Vowel indication is modelled on the Arabic system of diacritics.

Notable features

Words are written from right to left, but numerals are written from left to right.
Originally Arabic numerals were used, however nowadays Western numerals (1, 2, 3, etc) are used.
Vowels are indicated with diacritics which appear above or below the consonants. When vowels are come at the beginning of a word or are pronounced separately, they are attached to the letter alifu.
When the sukun symbol is combined with the letter alifu it either doubles the following consonant, or if it appears at the end of a word after an "e", it adds and "h" sound.
A number of letters are used solely for writing Arabic loan words.

Used to write:

Dhivehi (Maldivian), an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 300,000 people in the Maldives and on India's Minicoy Islands.

Thaana consonants

Thaana vowel diacritics

Letters used for transliterating Arabic words (thiki jehi thaana)

Top row: Thaana letters, bottom row: the Arabic letters on which they are modelled

Letters used for transliterating Arabic words (toko jehee taana)

Note

the letter zaa is also used to write the English sound /ʒ/.

Download the script charts (Excel format)

Sample texts

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Maldivian

Transliteration

Hurihaa insaanun ves ufanvanee, dharaja'aa'i ḥa'quthakuga'i minivankamaa'i hamahamakan libigenvaa ba'e'ge gothuga'eve. Emeehunnash heyo visnumaa'i, heyo bu'dheege baaru libigenva'ava. Adhi emeehan ekaku anekakaa medhu mu˂aamalaath kuranvaanee, ukhu'vaththeri kamuge rooḥe'ga'ava.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Transliteration

al'la'ufedhey qaanoonu asaaseege himaayaïlibigen siyaaseepaateetha' hingeynegoïtha' hamajehifaïneïnama e'qaanoonuge misaalakee alifaanroavej'jenama salaamaïvaane sidie'neï ethake'bureege imaaraathe'ge misaaleve.

Translation

A newly formed constitution which does not give protection to political parties under it terms, is equivalent to a multi-storey building with no fire exits.

The sample text comes from the Maldivian news paper Sandhaanu, 15th August 2002

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Deseret alphabet

Origin

The Deseret alphabet was devised as an alternative to the Latin alphabet for writing the English language. It was developed during the 1850s at the University of Deseret, now the University of Utah, and was promoted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon or LDS Church, under Church President Brigham Young (1801-1877).

The name Deseret is taken from a word in the Book of Mormon and means "honeybee". It reflects the Mormon use of the beehive as a symbol of co-operative industry.

Brigham Young's secretary, George D. Watt, was among the designers of the Deseret alphabet and is thought to have used the Pitman English Phonotypic Alphabet of 1847 as the model.

The Mormon Church commissioned two typefaces and published four books using the Deseret alphabet. The Church-owned Deseret News also published passages of scripture using the alphabet on occasion. In addition, some historical records, diaries, and other materials were hand-written using this script, and it had limited use on coins and signs. There is also one tombstone in Cedar City, Utah, written in the Deseret alphabet. However, the alphabet failed to gain wide acceptance and was not actively promoted after 1869.

Today, the Deseret alphabet remains of interest primarily to historians and hobbyists. It is also the official alphabet of the fictional (but actual) Republic of Molossia.

Deseret alphabet

Sample text in the Deseret alphabet

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Khazarian Rovas

Khazarian is thought to be a descendent of the Proto-Rovas script, which was used to the east of the Aral Sea between about the 1st and 6th centuries AD, when the tribes who were using it, including the Avars, Khazars and Ogurs, started to move into the Carpathian Basin. That process took until about 670 AD, after which the Proto-Rovas script became the Carpathian Basin Rovas and the Khazarian Rovas scripts. The Proto-Rovas script was perhaps a descendent of the Aramaic script.

The Khazarian Rovas script was used until the 10th century AD, and possibly until the 13th century. Inscriptions are mainly in Turkic languages, including Ogur, As-Alan and Common Turkic.

Notable features

Type of writing system: alphabet
Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines
Used to write: Ogur, As-Alan and Common Turkic

Khazarian Rovas

Sample text

The Achiktash inscription (from first half of the 8th century), language: Common Turkic

Translation

'He says: the throne of the holy dominus you write
We ... reading the written stick sent by you we all heard it
Ay! Say it: Sogdian vengeance ... avoid [you], [you] k[now]
You, Khazars. Good (=true, credible). End.'