HOME WEB NEWS IMAGES CLASSIFIEDS YELLOW PAGESPOLLS - SURVEYS WIKI COUNTRIES PHOTOS US UK INDIA
Cities Stocks Weather Movies Coupons Travel Blogs Health Horoscope Maps ASIA EUROPE Classifieds Yellow Pages
 1
|
| Georgian alphabet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Alphabet | |
| Spoken languages | Kartvelian languages | |
| Time period | {{{time}}} | |
| ISO 15924 | Geor | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
| History of the alphabet |
|---|
|
Middle Bronze Age 19th c. BCE
|
| Meroitic 3rd c. BCE |
| Ogham 4th c. |
| Hangul 1443 |
| Canadian Syllabics 1840 |
| Zhuyin 1913 |
| complete genealogy |
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).Omniglot 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 |
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.Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, p. 19. Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5.
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.Unicode Demystified: A Practical Programmer\'s Guide to the Encoding Standard, p. 251
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.
| 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/ |
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
