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Georgian alphabet
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	c. 430 CE to present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Geor (240), ​Georgian (Mkhedruli and Mtavruli)
Unicode
Unicode alias	Georgian
Unicode range	U+10A0–U+10FC U+2D00–U+2D25
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.

The Georgian alphabet (Georgian: ქართული დამწერლობა , literally "Georgian script") is the writing system 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). The Georgian language has phonemic orthography and the modern alphabet has thirty-three letters.

The Georgian word for "alphabet" is ანბანი , derived from the names of the first two letters of each of the three independent Georgian alphabets, which have the interesting characteristic of looking very dissimilar to one another yet which share the same alphabetic order and may be seen mixed to some extent, even though there is no official distinction between upper and lower case in writing the Georgian language.

History of the Georgian alphabets

The writing of the Georgian language has progressed through three Georgian-based forms (known from a transliteration of their Georgian names: asomtavruli, nuskhuri, and mkhedruli) that have always been distinct alphabets, even if they have been used together to write the same languages, and even though these alphabets share the same letter names. However, the last one contains more letters than the two historical ones, even if those extra letters are no longer needed for writing modern Georgian:

Asomtavruli, the historical monumental alphabet

Georgia (kingdom of Iberia) was converted to nominal Christianity in the 330s AD. Scholars believe that the creation of a Old Georgian alphabet upon Greek alphabet was instrumental in making religious scripture more accessible to the Georgians. This happened in the 4th or 5th century, not long after the conversion. The oldest uncontested example of Georgian writing is an asomtavruli inscription from 430 AD in a church in Bethlehem.

The historians, for the most part, believe that the Georgian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots (who also created the Armenian script around 405 AD). This viewpoint, based on the Armenian sources of the 5-7th centuries, is accepted by the most influential encyclopaedias , as well as by the majority of the most authoritarian scholars . Russian scholar Perikhanian admits that Mesrop Mashtots was not the only creator of the Georgian alphabet, though it could not appear without his participation . Victor Schnirelmann has noted that the Georgian historians' somewhat morbid attitude towards Mesrop Mashtots is conditioned by their "desire to create a myth about pure and distinctive Georgian culture" .

Examples of the earliest alphabet, the asomtavruli (also known as mrgvlovani), 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).

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.

Incidentally, a unique local form of Aramaic writing known as Armazuli (არმაზული დამწერლობა , i.e. the "Armazian script") 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 nominal 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 .

Georgian historical tradition attributed the invention of the Georgian alphabets to the semi-mythical Parnavaz I of Iberia in the 3rd century BC. 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 . Stephen H. Rapp, too, has questioned such a dating .

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.

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.

Nuskhuri ("minuscule, lowercase"), the ecclesiastical alphabet

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

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.

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.

Just like the monumental asomtavruli alphabet, this squared alphabet was initially purely unicameral.

However, it has also been used also 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 ("cavalry" or "military"), the current, originally secular alphabet

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

Eight of the forty-one mkhedruli letters are now obsolete, namely ჱ(he), ჲ(hie), ჳ(vie), ჴ(qar), ჵ(hoe), ჶ(fi), ჷ(shva), ჸ(elifi).

Just like the two other alphabets, the mkhedruli alphabet is purely unicameral. However, certain modern writers have experimented with using the obsolete asomtavruli letters (see above) as capitals.

Just like with the khutsuri script style, it is also sometimes used in a bicameral way along with the monumental asomtavruli (serving as capital letters), however this appears most often results from the confusion introduced by the religious khutsuri style and ignorance rather than the result of a creative design choice. Georgians often consider this bicameral use of mkhedruli as an error, given that some old mkhedruli letters don't have any mapping to the monumental alphabet. Others are just using the mkhedruli alphabet alone in a pseudo-bicameral way, by just adapting its letter sizes to create pseudo-capital letters, known as mtavruli for titles and headings. Mtavruli (მთავრული) means "titlecase" and is an appropriate tribute to the older Asomtavruli, which has been similarly implemented and named.

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 8 other mkhedruli letters that are now obsolete). "National" is the official transliteration system used by the Georgian government, while "Laz" is the official system used in northeastern Turkey for the Laz language.

See also

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

References

1. "Georgian alphabet (Mkhedruli)". Omniglot.com. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
2. "Encyclopaedia Britannica - Georgian language". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
3. Catholic Encyclopedia. Mesrob. "But his activity was not confined to Eastern Armenia. Provided with letters from Isaac he went to Constantinople and obtained from the Emperor Theodosius the Younger permission to preach and teach in his Armenian possessions. He evangelized successively the Georgians, Albanians, and Aghouanghks, adapting his alphabet to their languages, and, wherever he preached the Gospel, he built schools and appointed teachers and priests to continue his work. Having returned to Eastern Armenia to report on his missions to the patriarch, his first thought was to provide a religious literature for his countrymen."
4. Britannica. Alphabet. "The Aramaic alphabet was probably also the prototype of the Brāhmī script of India, a script that became the parent of nearly all Indian writings. Derived from the Aramaic alphabet, it came into being in northwest India. The Armenian and Georgian alphabets, created by St. Mesrob (Mashtots) in the early 5th century ad, were also based on the Aramaic alphabet."
5. George L. Campbell. Compendium of the World’s Languages. — Routledge; New edition edition (May 14, 1998) — ISBN 0415160499. P. 183. "Old Georgian was written in the xucuri character, traditionally invented by Mesrop Mashtots, to whom the Armenians owe their script. In the eleventh century the ecclesiastical xucuri was replaced by the character known as the mxedruli 'civil', which is in use today. Georgian is the only Caucasian language to have developed its own script."
6. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster, 1995. ISBN 0877790426. P. 756. "Mesrob". "A collection of biblical commentaries, translations of patristic works, and liturgical prayers and hymns is credited to Mesrob, corroborating his reputation for having laid the foundation of a national Armenian liturgy. He is also credited with contributing to the origin of the Georgian alphabet."
7. Russian: «История Востока», ЗАКАВКАЗЬЕ В IV—XI вв — Институт Востоковедения РАН. "Христианизация закавказских стран имела важные последствия и для развития местной культуры. На рубеже IV-V вв. появилась армянская письменность, созданная Месропом Маштоцем. Не без его помощи были изобретены и национальные алфавиты в Грузии и Албании. "
8. Peter R. Ackroyd, C. F. Evans, Geoffrey William Hugo Lampe, Stanley Lawrence Greenslade. The Cambridge History of the Bible: From the Beginnings to Jerome — Cambridge University Press, 1975 — ISBN 0521099730. P. 367. "Georgia was converted during the fourth century, tradition has it by the agency of an Armenian slave woman, and whether these details are in any measure true or not, the tradition probably indicates the source of the Georgians' knowledge of Christianity and the Christian scriptures. These did not begin to be translated into Georgian until Mesrop, provider of an Armenian alphabet, also supplied the Georgians with an adequate means of transcription for their speech."
9. Lenore A. Grenoble. Language policy in the Soviet Union. Springer, 2003. ISBN 1402012985. P. 116. "The creation of the Georgian alphabet is generally attributed to Mesrop, who is also credited with the creation of the Armenian alphabet."
10. ^ Donald Rayfield "The Literature of Georgia: A History (Caucasus World). RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0700711635. P. 19. "The Georgian alphabet seems unlikely to have a pre-Christian origin, for the major archaeological monument of the first century 4IX the bilingual Armazi gravestone commemorating Serafua, daughter of the Georgian viceroy of Mtskheta, is inscribed in Greek and Aramaic only. It has been believed, and not only in Armenia, that all the Caucasian alphabets — Armenian, Georgian and Caucaso-AIbanian — were invented in the fourth century by the Armenian scholar Mesrop Mashtots.<...> The Georgian chronicles The Life of Kanli - assert that a Georgian script was invented two centuries before Christ, an assertion unsupported by archaeology. There is a possibility that the Georgians, like many minor nations of the area, wrote in a foreign language — Persian, Aramaic, or Greek — and translated back as they read."
11. Russian: Периханян А. Г. К вопросу о происхождении армянской письменности // Переднеазиатский сборник. М.: Наука, 1966. Вып. 2. Стр. 127-133
12. Russian: В. А. Шнирельман, «Войны памяти. Мифы, идентичность и политика в Закавказье», М., ИКЦ, «Академкнига», 2003. English: V. A. Shnirelman. The value of the past. Myths, identity and politics in Transcaucasia. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology (Senri Ethnological Studies No. 57), 2001.) И хотя пришельцы могли сыграть немалую роль в формировании данного народа или его исторической судьбе (азербайджанцы получили свой современный язык от тюрок; кипчаки и осетины оказали немалую помощь грузинам в борьбе с внешними врагами; грузины сыграли большую роль в развитии культуры у абхазов и южных осетин; армянская культура долго испытывала влияние со стороны турецкой), в рассмотренных выше версиях древней истории значение культурного синтеза сводилось к минимуму или вовсе игнорировалось во имя создания мифа о некой чистой самобытной культуре. В этом отношении, как мы видели, весьма характерным оказывается болезненное отношение к Месропу Маштоцу со стороны как азербайджанских, так и грузинских авторов.
13. ^ Stephen H. Rapp. Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: early texts and Eurasian contexts. Peeters Publishers, 2003. ISBN: 9042913185. P. 19. "Moreover, all surviving MSS written in Georgian postdate K'art'li's fourth-century conversion to Christianity. Not a shred of dated evidence has come to light confirming the invention of a Georgian alphabet by King P'arnavaz in the third century ВС as is fabulously attested in the first text of K'C'<...> Cf. Chilashvili's "Nekresi" for the claim that a Geo. asomt'avruli burial inscription from Nekresi commemorates a Zoroastrian who died in the first/second century AD. Archaeological evidence confirms that a Zoroastrian temple once stood at Nekresi, but the date of the supposed grave marker is hopelessly circumstantial. Chilashvili reasons, on the basis of the first-/second-century date, that P'amavaz likely created the script in order to translate the Avesta (i.e.. sacred Zoroastrian writings) into Geo., thus turning on its head the argument that the Georgian script was deliberately fashioned by Christians in order to disseminate the New Testament. Though I accept eastern Georgia's intimate connection to Iran, I cannot support Chilashvili's dubious hypothesis. I find more palatable the idea that K'C actually refers to the introduction of a local form of written Aramaic during the reign of P'amavaz: Ceret'eli. "Aramaic," p. 243."
14. Unicode Demystified: A Practical Programmer's Guide to the Encoding Standard, p. 251
15. Armazi
16. ^ Aronson (1990) depicts the two affricates as aspirated, though other scholars, like Shosted & Chikovani (2006) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFShostedChikovani2006 (help) describe them as voiceless.

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

External links

• Reference grammar of Georgian by Howard Aronson (SEELRC, Duke University)
• Georgian Website / Portal with info on Georgian culture and language
• Georgian transliteration + Georgian virtual keyboard
• Direct transliteration latin ↔ georgian
• Georgian fonts, compliant with Unicode 4.0, also available for MAC OS 9 or X
• Georgian Language Kit for Mac OS 10.4 at apple.com
• Template:PDFlink
• Template:PDFlink

• Georgian alphabet
• Georgian language