Georgian scripts

Georgian alphabet ქართული ანბანი
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	284 BC - Present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Georgian and other Kartvelian languages
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Geor (240), ​Georgian (Mkhedruli and Mtavruli) Geok (241, Georgian scripts#Nuskhuri)
Unicode
Unicode alias	Georgian
Unicode range	U+10A0–U+10FF, U+2D00–U+2D2F
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Template:Contains Georgian text Template:Georgian Alphabets

History of the alphabet Egyptian hieroglyphs 32nd c. BCE Hieratic 32nd c. BCE Demotic 7th c. BCE Meroitic 3rd c. BCE Proto-Sinaitic 19th c. BCE Ugaritic 15th c. BCE Ancient South Arabian 9th c. BCE Geʽez c. 5th c. BCE Phoenician 12th c. BCE (see below) Hangul 1443 Thaana c. 1601 Adlam 1989 Phoenician 12th c. BCE Paleo-Hebrew 10th c. BCE Samaritan 6th c. BCE Aramaic 8th c. BCE Kharosthi 3rd c. BCE Brahmi 3rd c. BCE (Brahmic) Pallava 4th century Cham 4th century Dhives Akuru 6th century Khmer 611 Tibetan 7th century ʼPhags-pa 1269 Devanagari 10th century Canadian Aboriginal 1840 Hebrew 3rd c. BCE Square Aramaic 2007 Pahlavi 3rd c. BCE Avestan 4th century Palmyrene 2nd c. BCE Nabataean 2nd c. BCE Arabic 4th century N'Ko 1949 Syriac 2nd c. BCE Sogdian 2nd c. BCE Old Turkic 6th century Old Hungarian c. 650 Old Uyghur Mongolian 1204 Mandaic 2nd century Greek 8th c. BCE Etruscan 8th c. BCE Latin 7th c. BCE Deseret 1854 Great Lakes Algonquian 19th century Blackfoot 1888 Fraser 1915 Saanich 1978 Osage 2006 Runic 2nd century Ogham 4th century Lycian 5th c. BCE Coptic 3rd century Gothic 3rd century Armenian 405 Caucasian Albanian c. 420 Georgian c. 430 Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic c. 940 Old Permic 1372 Libyco-Berber 10th c. BCE Tifinagh 4th century Neo-Tifinagh 1970 Paleohispanic 7th c. BCE

The Georgian alphabet (Georgian: ქართული დამწერლობა, [kʰɑrtʰuli dɑmt͡sʼɛrlɔbɑ], literally "Georgian script") is the writing system used to write the Georgian language and other Kartvelian languages (Mingrelian, Svan, sometimes Laz), and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus such as Ossetic and Abkhaz during the 1940s.^[1] The Georgian language has phonemic orthography and the modern alphabet has thirty-three letters.

The word meaning "alphabet", Georgian: ანბანი anbani, is derived from the names of the first two letters of each of the three Georgian alphabets. The three alphabets look very different from one another but share the same alphabetic order and letter names. The alphabets may be seen mixed to some extent, though Georgian is unicameral meaning there is normally no distinction between upper and lower case in any of the alphabets.

History

The writing of the Georgian language has progressed through three forms, known by their Georgian names: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri, and Mkhedruli. They have always been distinct alphabets, even though they have been used together to write the same languages, and even though these alphabets share the same letter names and collation. Although the most recent alphabet, Mkhedruli, contains more letters than the two historical ones, those extra letters are no longer needed for writing modern Georgian.

The Georgian kingdom of Iberia converted to Christianity in 326 AD. Scholars believe that the creation of an Old Georgian alphabet was instrumental in making religious scripture more accessible to the Georgians. This happened in the 4th or 5th century, not long after conversion. The oldest uncontested example of Georgian writing is an Asomtavruli inscription from 430 AD in a church in Bethlehem.

It is suggested^[2][3] that the Georgian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots (who also created the Armenian alphabet around 405 AD and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet).^{[4][5][6][7][2][3][8][9]} Other authorities such as John Greppin and A.G. Perikhanian have concluded that while Mesrop Mashtots may not have been the only creator of the Georgian alphabet, it could not have appeared without his participation.^[10][11]

Georgian historical tradition attributes the invention of the Georgian alphabets to Parnavaz I of Iberia in the 3rd century BC. Georgian scholars have asserted that the Georgian alphabet was created before Mesrop Mashtots.^{[12][13][14][15]} The modern Georgian scholar Levan Chilashvili, on the basis of dating the Nekresi inscription in eastern Georgia to the 1st–2nd century AD, claimed that Parnavaz probably created the scripts in order to translate the Avesta (sacred Zoroastrian writings) into Georgian. However, a pre-Christian origin for the Georgian scripts has not been firmly supported by archaeological evidence. According to Donald Rayfield, the assumption that the Georgian script has pre-Christian origin, is rather unfounded and was not confirmed by archaeological findings.^[3] Stephen H. Rapp, too, has questioned such a dating.^[16] Victor Schnirelmann has noted that the Georgian historians' somewhat painful attitude towards Mesrop Mashtots is conditioned by the "myth of some pure original indigenous culture."^[17] Werner Seibt offers to better forget the stories about such an old origin of the Georgian alphabet, and suggests that the Georgian script was invented by Georgian monks in Palestine, who were encouraged by the Armenian translation of the Holy Scriptures. ^[18]

Asomtavruli

Asomtavruli, also known as Mrgvlovani, is the historical, monumental, and oldest form of the Georgian alphabet. Asomtavruli (ასომთავრული, "capital letters") derives from aso (ასო, "letter, type") and mtavari (მთავარი, "main, chief, principal, head"). Mrgvlovani (მრგვლოვანი, "rounded") is related to the word mrgvali (მრგვალი, "round"). Despite its common Georgian name, this rounded alphabet was originally purely unicameral, just like the modern Georgian alphabet. Examples of the earliest Asomtavruli scripts found in Nekresi are still preserved in national museum of Georgia.

Asomtavruli letters
Ⴀ	Ⴁ	Ⴂ	Ⴃ	Ⴄ	Ⴅ	Ⴆ	Ⴡ	Ⴇ	Ⴈ	Ⴉ	Ⴊ	Ⴋ	Ⴌ
Ⴢ	Ⴍ	Ⴎ	Ⴏ	Ⴐ	Ⴑ	Ⴒ	Ⴣ	ႭჃ, Ⴓ	Ⴔ	Ⴕ	Ⴖ	Ⴗ	Ⴘ
Ⴙ	Ⴚ	Ⴛ	Ⴜ	Ⴝ	Ⴞ	Ⴤ	Ⴟ	Ⴠ	Ⴥ
Some fonts for modern Georgian do not show the actual Asomtavruli forms for these letters, but instead show taller ("capitalized") variants of the modern Mkhedruli alphabet (see below).

This unicameral alphabet is still used today in some section headings and book titles, and sometimes used in a pseudo-bicameral way by varying the glyph sizes for creating capitals. Since it is no longer used for writing Georgian, it has also been reused in a creative way for writing capital letters, along with letters of one of the two other Georgian alphabets.

Incidentally, a unique local form of Aramaic writing known as Armazuli (არმაზული დამწერლობა, armazuli damts'erloba, i.e. the "Armazian script", derived from the name of the god Armazi) existed before that, as demonstrated by the 1940s discovery of a bilingual Greco-Aramaic inscription at Mtskheta, Georgia. It is conceivable that local pre-Christian records did exist, but were subsequently destroyed by zealous Christians. Therefore, many found more palatable the idea that the medieval Georgian chronicles crediting Parnavaz with the creation of Georgian writing actually refer to the introduction of a local form of written Aramaic during his reign.^[16]

Nuskhuri

The Nuskhuri (ნუსხური "minuscule, lowercase"), the ecclesiastical alphabet first appeared in the 9th century. It was mostly used in hagiography. Nuskhuri is related to the word nuskha (ნუსხა "inventory, schedule").

Nuskhuri letters
ⴀ	ⴁ	ⴂ	ⴃ	ⴄ	ⴅ	ⴆ	ⴡ	ⴇ	ⴈ	ⴉ	ⴊ	ⴋ	ⴌ
ⴢ	ⴍ	ⴎ	ⴏ	ⴐ	ⴑ	ⴒ	ⴣ	ⴍⴣ, ⴓ	ⴔ	ⴕ	ⴖ	ⴗ	ⴘ
ⴙ	ⴚ	ⴛ	ⴜ	ⴝ	ⴞ	ⴤ	ⴟ	ⴠ	ⴥ

The forms of the Khutsuri letters may have been derived from the northern Arsacid variant of the Pahlavi (or Middle Iranian) script, which itself was derived from the older Aramaic, although the direction of writing (from left to right), the use of separate symbols for the vowel sounds, the numerical values assigned to the letters in earlier times, and the order of the letters all point to significant Greek influence on the script.^[19]

However, the Georgian linguist 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.

Like the monumental Asomtavruli alphabet, this squared alphabet was initially purely unicameral. However, it has also been used along with the Asomtavruli alphabet (serving as capital letters in religious manuscripts) to form the Khutsuri (ხუცური "ecclesiastical") bicameral style that is still used sometimes today.

Mkhedruli

The modern alphabet, called Mkhedruli (მხედრული, "cavalry" or "military"), first appeared in the 11th century. It was used for non-religious purposes up until the 19th century, when it completely replaced the Khutsuri style (that used the two previous alphabets). Mkhedruli is related to the word mkhedari (მხედარი, "horseman", "knight", or "warrior"); Khutsuri is related to the term khutsesi (ხუცესი, "elder" or "priest").

Mkhedruli 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	ჺ	ჸ	ჹ

Like the two other alphabets, the Mkhedruli alphabet is purely unicameral. However, certain modern writers have experimented with using Asomtavruli letters as capitals, similarly to Khutsuri script style. In some cases, this may be a conflation with the religious Khutsuri style rather than the result of a creative design choice. Georgians often consider this bicameral use of Mkhedruli an error because some Mkhedruli letters lack equivalents in the other alphabets. Others use the Mkhedruli alphabet alone in a pseudo-bicameral way, adapting letter sizes to create capital letters, known as Mtavruli for titles and headings. Mtavruli (მთავრული) means "titlecase" and is an appropriate tribute to the older Asomtavruli.

Obsolete letters

Eight of the forty-one Mkhedruli letters (shaded above) are now obsolete. Five of these, ⟨ჱ⟩ (he), ⟨ჲ⟩ (hie), ⟨ჳ⟩ (vie), ⟨ჴ⟩ (qar), and ⟨ჵ⟩ (hoe) were used in Old Georgian. These letters were discarded by the Society for the Spreading of Literacy Among Georgians, founded by Ilia Chavchavadze in 1879, and were either dropped entirely or replaced by the sounds they had become. The last three, ⟨ჶ⟩ (fi), ⟨ჷ⟩ (shva), and ⟨ჸ⟩ (elifi), were later additions to the Georgian alphabet used to represent sounds not present in Georgian proper, and are used to write other languages in the region. Also obsolete in modern Georgian is a variant of the letter ⟨უ⟩ (un), differentiated using a diacritic: ⟨უ̌⟩ or ⟨უ̂⟩.

• ⟨ჱ⟩ (he), sometimes called "ei" or "e-merve" ("eighth e"). As in Ancient Greek (Ηη, Ͱͱ, ēta), it holds the eighth place in the Georgian alphabet. The name and shapes of the letter in Asomtavruli ⟨Ⴡ⟩ and Nuskhuri ⟨ⴡ⟩ also resemble Greek's tack-shaped archaic consonantal heta. In old Georgian, he was interchangeable with the digraph ⟨ეჲ⟩. It represented [ei] or [ej].
• ⟨ჲ⟩ (hie), also called iot'a, often marked Georgian nouns in the nominative case. In Old Georgian, it represented [i] or [j].
• ⟨ჳ⟩ (vie) represented the diphthong [ui] or [uj]. It holds the same position and numerical value as Ancient Greek's Υυ upsilon, which its Asomtavruli ⟨Ⴣ⟩ and Nuskhuri ⟨ⴣ⟩ versions resemble. Its modern pronunciation is usually like ⟨უ⟩ [u] or ⟨ი⟩ [i].
• ⟨ჴ⟩ (qar, har) represented [q] or [qʰ], the non-ejective counterpart to ⟨ყ⟩ (q'ar) above. Although this consonant is still distinguished in Svan, its modern pronunciation in Georgian is identical to ⟨ხ⟩ [χ].
• ⟨ჵ⟩ (hoe), also called oh, represented a long ⟨ო⟩, [oː].
• ⟨ჶ⟩ (fi) was borrowed to represent the phoneme /f/ in loanwords from Latin and Greek such as ჶილოსოჶია (filosofia, 'philosophy'). Its name and shape derive from Greek. Its modern usage is a feature of Ossetic and Laz when written in the Georgian alphabet. In modern Georgian, ⟨ფ⟩ par replaces fi.
• ⟨ჷ⟩ (shva), also called yn, represents the mid central vowel [ə]. It appears in written Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan.
• ⟨ჸ⟩ (elifi) represents the glottal stop [ʔ]. Its name and pronunciation derive from Aramaic. It is used in written Mingrelian and rarely in Laz.
• ⟨უ̌⟩ or ⟨უ̂⟩ (un-brjgu) represented a short [u] in Old Georgian. It is still differentiated in Svan, Mingrelian, and Laz. In modern Georgian, it becomes ⟨ვ⟩ vin.

Numeral value of letters

Georgian	Value
ა	1
ბ	2
გ	3
დ	4
ე	5
ვ	6
ზ	7
ჱ	8
თ	9
ი	10
კ	20
ლ	30
მ	40
ნ	50
ჲ	60
ო	70
პ	80
ჟ	90
რ	100
ს	200
ტ	300
ჳ	400*
უ	400*
ფ	500
ქ	600
ღ	700
ყ	800
შ	900
ჩ	1000
ც	2000
ძ	3000
წ	4000
ჭ	5000
ხ	6000
ჴ	7000
ჯ	8000
ჰ	9000
ჵ	10000

*Both, letters ჳ and უ equal to 400 in numerals.

Ligatures and abbreviations

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Writing in Asomtavruli is often highly stylized. Since the time of Vakhtang I of Iberia in the 5th century, writers readily formed ligatures, intertwined letters, and placed letters within letters. The first ligature below was a feature of 6th century Sassanid period currency. The second and third examples come from the arch of the David Gareja Monastery, pictured above. Ligatures flourished during the Middle Ages and could represent up to three letters.

Nuskhuri, like Asomtavruli is also often highly stylized. Writers readily formed ligatures and abbreviations for nomina sacra, including diacritics called karagma, which resemble titla. Because writing materials such as vellum were scarce and therefore precious, abbreviating was a practical measure widespread in manuscripts and hagiography by the 11th century.^[20] Some common examples include romeli, "which" (, r~i) and Ieso Krist'e, "Jesus Christ" (, I~ui K~e).

In the 11th – 17th centuries, Mkhedruli also came to employ digraphs to the point that they were obligatory, requiring adhesion to a complex system. For example, ⟨დ⟩ don and ⟨ა⟩ an make "da": .

In the older Asomtavruli, the sound /u/ was represented by the digraph ⟨ႭჃ⟩ or as ⟨Ⴓ⟩, a modified ⟨Ⴍ⟩. Nuskhuri saw the combination of the digraph ⟨ⴍⴣ⟩ into a ligature, ⟨ⴓ⟩ (cf. Greek ου, Cyrillic Ѹ/Ꙋ). However, Mkhedruli normally uses only ⟨უ⟩ as opposed to a digraph or ligature, and uses ⟨უ⟩ instead of obsolete ⟨ჳ⟩ (above) to represent the value 400.

→	→	→	→ → →
Asomtavruli ⟨Ⴂ⟩ gan and ⟨Ⴌ⟩ nar form a ligature.[18]	The word da (⟨ႣႠ⟩, "and") in Asomtavruli.	The word ars (⟨ႠႰႱ⟩, "be; is") in Asomtavruli.	Development of the letter un from a digraph through the three alphabets.

Calligraphy

The Georgian calligraphy is centuries-old tradition of an artistic writing of the Georgian language with its three Georgian alphabets.

Transcription

This table lists only the modern unicameral Mkhedruli alphabet (i.e. 33 letters that are convertible to the other two alphabets, excluding the 8 Mkhedruli letters that are now obsolete). "National" is the transliteration system used by the Georgian government, while "Laz" is the system used in northeastern Turkey for the Laz language.

Letters	Unicode	Name	National	ISO 9984	BGN	Laz	IPA
ა	U+10D0	an	A a	A a	A a	A a	/ɑ/
ბ	U+10D1	ban	B b	B b	B b	B b	b
გ	U+10D2	gan	G g	G g	G g	G g	ɡ
დ	U+10D3	don	D d	D d	D d	D d	d
ე	U+10D4	en	E e	E e	E e	E e	ɛ
ვ	U+10D5	vin	V v	V v	V v	V v	v
ზ	U+10D6	zen	Z z	Z z	Z z	Z z	z
თ	U+10D7	tan	T t	T' t'	T' t'	T t	tʰ
ი	U+10D8	in	I i	I i	I i	I i	i
კ	U+10D9	k'an	K' k'	K k	K k	K' k'	kʼ
ლ	U+10DA	las	L l	L l	L l	L l	l
მ	U+10DB	man	M m	M m	M m	M m	m
ნ	U+10DC	nar	N n	N n	N n	N n	n
ო	U+10DD	on	O o	O o	O o	O o	ɔ
პ	U+10DE	p'ar	P' p'	P p	P p	P' p'	pʼ
ჟ	U+10DF	žan	Zh zh	Ž ž	Zh zh	J j	ʒ
რ	U+10E0	rae	R r	R r	R r	R r	r
ს	U+10E1	san	S s	S s	S s	S s	s
ტ	U+10E2	t'ar	T' t'	T t	T t	T' t'	tʼ
უ	U+10E3	un	U u	U u	U u	U u	u
ფ	U+10E4	par	P p	P' p'	P' p'	P p	pʰ
ქ	U+10E5	kan	K k	K' k'	K' k'	K k	kʰ
ღ	U+10E6	ḡan	Gh gh	Ḡ ḡ	Gh gh	Ğ ğ	ɣ
ყ	U+10E7	q'ar	Q' q'	Q q	Q q	Q q	qʼ
შ	U+10E8	šin	Sh sh	Š š	Sh sh	Ş ş	ʃ
ჩ	U+10E9	čin	Ch ch	Č' č'	Ch' ch'	Ç ç	tʃ[21]
ც	U+10EA	can	Ts ts	C' c'	Ts' ts'	Ts ts	ts[21]
ძ	U+10EB	jil	Dz dz	J j	Dz dz	Ž ž	dz
წ	U+10EC	c'il	Ts' ts'	C c	Ts ts	Ts' ts'	tsʼ
ჭ	U+10ED	č'ar	Ch' ch'	Č č	Ch ch	Ç' ç'	tʃʼ
ხ	U+10EE	xan	Kh kh	X x	Kh kh	X x	x
ჯ	U+10EF	ǰan	J j	J̌ ǰ	J j	C c	dʒ
ჰ	U+10F0	hae	H h	H h	H h	H h	h

Unicode

The Georgian alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

History

In Unicode version 1.0 the U+10A0 ... U+10CF range of the Georgian block represented Khutsuri (Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri). With the release of version 4.1 in March, 2005 Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri were "disunified". The U+10A0 ... U+10CF range of the Georgian block now represents Asomtavruli and the Georgian Supplement block represents Nuskhuri.

Blocks

The Unicode block for Georgian is U+10A0 ... U+10FF. Mkhedruli (modern Georgian) occupies the U+10D0 ... U+10FF range and Asomtavruli occupies the U+10A0 ... U+10CF range.

The Unicode block for Georgian Supplement is U+2D00 ... U+2D2F and it represents Nuskhuri.

Georgian[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+10Ax

Ⴀ

Ⴁ

Ⴂ

Ⴃ

Ⴄ

Ⴅ

Ⴆ

Ⴇ

Ⴈ

Ⴉ

Ⴊ

Ⴋ

Ⴌ

Ⴍ

Ⴎ

Ⴏ

U+10Bx

Ⴐ

Ⴑ

Ⴒ

Ⴓ

Ⴔ

Ⴕ

Ⴖ

Ⴗ

Ⴘ

Ⴙ

Ⴚ

Ⴛ

Ⴜ

Ⴝ

Ⴞ

Ⴟ

U+10Cx

Ⴠ

Ⴡ

Ⴢ

Ⴣ

Ⴤ

Ⴥ

Ⴧ

Ⴭ

U+10Dx

ა

ბ

გ

დ

ე

ვ

ზ

თ

ი

კ

ლ

მ

ნ

ო

პ

ჟ

U+10Ex

რ

ს

ტ

უ

ფ

ქ

ღ

ყ

შ

ჩ

ც

ძ

წ

ჭ

ხ

ჯ

U+10Fx

ჰ

ჱ

ჲ

ჳ

ჴ

ჵ

ჶ

ჷ

ჸ

ჹ

ჺ

჻

ჼ

ჽ

ჾ

ჿ

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Georgian Supplement[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+2D0x

ⴀ

ⴁ

ⴂ

ⴃ

ⴄ

ⴅ

ⴆ

ⴇ

ⴈ

ⴉ

ⴊ

ⴋ

ⴌ

ⴍ

ⴎ

ⴏ

U+2D1x

ⴐ

ⴑ

ⴒ

ⴓ

ⴔ

ⴕ

ⴖ

ⴗ

ⴘ

ⴙ

ⴚ

ⴛ

ⴜ

ⴝ

ⴞ

ⴟ

U+2D2x

ⴠ

ⴡ

ⴢ

ⴣ

ⴤ

ⴥ

ⴧ

ⴭ

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Keyboard layout

All keyboards in Georgia are fitted with both Latin and Georgian letters. Georgian QWERTY keyboard below.

Gallery

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See also

• Georgian calligraphy
• Georgian language
• Old Georgian language
• Georgian dialects
• Georgian calendar
• Georgian numerals
• Georgian national system of romanization
• ISO 9984

References

Bibliography

• Aronson, Howard I. (1990), Georgian: a reading grammar (second ed.), Columbus, OH: Slavica
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659

External links

• Reference grammar of Georgian by Howard Aronson (SEELRC, Duke University)
• Georgian transliteration + Georgian virtual keyboard
• Direct transliteration Latin ↔ Georgian
• Georgian fonts, compliant with Unicode 4.0, also available for MAC OS 9 or X
• Template:PDFlink
• Template:PDFlink

Template:Georgian Alphabet Letters

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