The Georgian alphabet (Georgian: ქართული დამწერლობა) is the script currently used to write the Georgian language and other South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages (Mingrelian, Svan and sometimes Laz), and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus (such as Ossetic and Abkhaz in the 1940s). Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing', or simply syllabics, is a family of Abugidas {dubious}} used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian Nearly all the segmental scripts (loosely " Alphabets " but see below for more precise terminology used around the globe appear to have derived from the Georgian (ka ქართული ენა kartuli ena) is the Official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus. Georgian (ka ქართული ენა kartuli ena) is the Official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus. The South Caucasian languages (also known as Ibero-Caucasian or Kartvelian) are spoken primarily in Georgia, with smaller groups of speakers in Turkey Mingrelian, or Megrelian (მარგალურ ნინა margalur nina; მეგრული ენა megruli ena) is a Language The Svan language (ლუშნუ ნინ/შკა̈ნ lušnu nin/šḳän; სვანური ენა svanuri ena) is a language spoken in Northwest The Laz language (ლაზური ნენა lazuri nena; ლაზური lazuri, or ჭანური chanuri) is spoken by the Laz people The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East Ossetic or Ossetian (Ирон ӕвзаг Iron ævzag or Иронау Ironau) also sometimes called Ossete, is an Iranian Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken mainly in Abkhazia and Turkey by the Abkhaz people. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949 Events and trends The 1940s was a period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s which also leads the period to be ^[1] The Georgian language has phonemic orthography and the modern alphabet has thirty-three letters. A phonemic orthography is a Writing system where the written Graphemes correspond to Phonemes the spoken sounds of the language

The Georgian word for "alphabet" is ანბანი (anbani), after the first two letters of the Georgian alphabet.

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.

History of the alphabet

Ancient Asomtavruli version of Georgian alphabet in David Gareja Monastery. David Gareja ( Georgian: დავითგარეჯის სამონასტრო კომპლექსი Azerbaijani: Keşiş Dağ) is a

The three forms of the Georgian alphabet

Georgia (kingdom of Iberia) was converted to Christianity in the 330s. This article is about the people of ancient Georgia For the Iberians of ancient Iberian Peninsula see Iberians. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings 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 CE. Bethlehem ( بيت لحم,, lit "House of Meat" Βηθλεέμ Bethleém בית לחם Beit Lehem, lit "House of Bread" is a Events By Place Asia Feng Ba abdicates as emperor of the Northern Yan, one of the states vying for control of China

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^[2]. However, 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. Tamaz (Thomas V Gamkrelidze ( Georgian თამაზ გამყრელიძე (born October 23, 1929) is a distinguished Georgian

Georgian historical tradition attributes the invention of the Georgian alphabet to Parnavaz I of Iberia in the 3rd century BC. Pharnavaz I (ფარნავაზი also spelled P'arnavaz P'arnawaz or Farnavaz was the first king of Kartli, an ancient Georgian kingdom known The modern Georgian scholar Levan Chilashvili, on the basis of dating the Nekresi inscription in eastern Georgia to the 1st-2nd century AD, claims that Parnavaz likely created the script in order to translate the Avesta (i. Levan Chilashvili (ლევან ჭილაშვილი ( August 17, 1930 &ndash April 26, 2004) was a famous Georgian archaeologist The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. e. , sacred Zoroastrian writings) into Georgian. Zoroastrianism (ˌzɔroʊˈæstriəˌnɪzəm is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings 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. Armazi (არმაზი is a locale in Georgia, 2 km northwest of Mtskheta and 22 km north of Tbilisi. Mtskheta (მცხეთა one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia (in Kartli province of Eastern Georgia is located approximately 20 kilometers northeast 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. ^[3]

The earliest recorded account about the origin of the Georgian alphabet belongs to the 5th-century Armenian author Koryun, who attributes its creation to his mentor Saint Mesrop, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet. Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Koryun ( Armenian: hy Կորյուն or hy Կորիւն also transliterated as Koriun, Goriun or Gorune) was the earliest Armenian-language Saint Mesrop Mashtots (Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց (361 or 362 Hatsik in Taron - February 17, 440, Echmiadzin) was an Armenian The Armenian alphabet is an Alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406.

None of above-mentioned 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. ^[4]

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). Bethlehem ( بيت لحم,, lit "House of Meat" Βηθλεέμ Bethleém בית לחם Beit Lehem, lit "House of Bread" is a Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Events By Place Asia Feng Ba abdicates as emperor of the Northern Yan, one of the states vying for control of China Tbilisi (ˌtbiˈliːsi in Georgian: თბილისი is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari

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.

Transcription

This table only lists the modern (monocameral) mkhedruli alphabet (i. e. 33 letters that are also convertible to the other two alphabets, excluding the 7 additional mkhedruli letters that are now obsolete).

See also

• Georgian national system of romanization
• ISO 9984
• BGN/PCGN romanization
• Genealogy of scripts derived from Proto-Sinaitic
• History of the alphabet
• Armenian alphabet

References

External links

• Georgian Website / Portal with info on Georgian culture and language
• Direct transliteration latin ↔ georgian
• Georgian fonts, compliant with Unicode 4.0, also available for MAC OS 9 or X
• Unicode Code Chart (10A0 — 10FF) for Georgian scriptsPDF (105 KB)
• Transliteration of GeorgianPDF (105 KB)