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Georgian alphabet
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	430 to present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Georgian and other Kartvelian languages
Related scripts
Parent systems	modeled on Greek Georgian alphabet
Sister systems	Latin Coptic Armenian Cyrillic
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

The Georgian alphabet is a graphically independent and unique alphabet used to write the Georgian language. It is a phonemic orthography and the current alphabet has 33 letters.

The Georgian script can also be used to write other Kartvelian languages (Mingrelian, Svan, sometimes Laz), and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus such as Ossetian and Abkhaz during the 1940s. Historically Ingush, Chechen and Avar languages were written in the Georgian script, later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in modern times.

The Georgian word ანბანი (anbani) meaning "alphabet" is derived from the names of the first two letters of the three Georgian alphabets, which, although they look very different from one another, share the same alphabetic order and letter names. The alphabets can be seen mixed in some context, although Georgian is formally unicameral meaning there is normally no distinction between upper and lower case in any of the alphabets.

Origins

The origins of the Georgian alphabet are poorly known, and no full agreement exists among Georgian and foreign scholars as to its date of creation, who designed the script, and the main influences on that process. The oldest uncontested example of Georgian writing is an inscription in the Asomtavruli script dated 430 AD, in a church in Bethlehem, Palestine. The oldest example of the script being used in Georgia is found in the church of Bolnisi Sioni, dated 494 AD.

The scholarly consensus points to the Georgian alphabet being created in the early fifth or even 4th century AD. The first version of the alphabet attested is the Asomtavruli script; the other scripts were formed in the following centuries. Most scholars link the creation of the Georgian alphabet to the process of christianisation of the Georgian-speaking lands, that is Lazica (or Colchis) in the west, Kartli (or Iberia) in the east. The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under Mirian III (326 or 337) and the Bethlehem inscription of 430. It was first used for translation of the Bible and other Christian literature into Georgian, by monks in Georgia and Palestine.

A point of contention among scholars is the role played by Armenian clerics in that process. Armenian tradition holds Mesrop Mashtots, generally acknowledged as the creator of the Armenian alphabet, to have also created the Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets. This tradition originates in the works of Koryun, a fifth century historian and biographer of Mashtots, and has been quoted by some authors in Western sources, but has been criticized by some Georgian and Western scholars, who judge the passage in Koryun unreliable or even a later interpolation. Other scholars quote Koryun's claims without taking a stance on its validity. Many agree, however, that Armenian clerics, if not Mashtots himself, must have played a role in the creation of the Georgian script.

A competing Georgian tradition, first attested in medieval chronicles such as the Lives of the Kings of Kartli (ca. 800), assigns a much earlier, pre-Christian origin to the Georgian alphabet, and names King Pharnavaz I (3rd century BC) as its inventor. This account is now considered legendary, and is rejected by scholarly consensus, as no archaelogical confirmation has been found. Georgian linguist Tamaz Gamkrelidze offers an alternate interpretation of the tradition, in the pre-Christian use of foreign scripts (alloglotography in the Aramaic alphabet) to write down Georgian texts.

Another scientific controversy regards the main influences at play in the Georgian alphabet, as scholars have debated whether it was inspired more by the Greek alphabet, or by Semitic writing systems such as Aramaic. Recent historiography focuses on greater similarities with the Greek alphabet than in the other Caucasian writing systems, most notably the order and numeric value of letters. Some scholars have also suggested as a possible inspiration for particular letters certain pre-Christian Georgian cultural symbols or clan markers.

Asomtavruli

Asomtavruli (Georgian: ასომთავრული) is a first and oldest script of the Georgian alphabet. Asomtavruli, literally meaning the "capital letters" derives from aso (ასო) meaning "letter" and mtavari (მთავარი) meaning "main, principal or head". It is also known as Mrgvlovani (Georgian: მრგვლოვანი) named because of it's round shapes as the word mrgvali (მრგვალი) means "round". Despite its common Georgian name, this rounded alphabet is originally purely unicameral, just like the modern Georgian alphabet, Mkhedruli.

The oldest inscriptions in Asomtavruli are found from the 5th century. So far, the inscriptions found in Bethlehem and the Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral are the oldest ones written in the Asomtavruli script of the Georgian alphabet.

In the 9th century, Nuskhuri script gradually gets more dominant and the role of Asomtavruli is reduced in writing, although it still retains some value. In particular, the Georgian epigraphic monuments of 10th-18th centuries are still written in Asomtavruli script. Graphical features of Asomtavruli in the later period is characterized by acquiring more decorative purposes too. The 9th century Georgian manuscripts, majority of which is written in the Nuskhuri script, Asomtavruli is used only for the titles and as the capital letters. Although, some manuscripts written completely in Asomtavruli can be found till the 11th century.

Graphics of Asomtavruli

In early Asomtavruli, the letters have the equal height and are placed in two-linear system. The writing direction is from left to the right and no other direction has been confirmed in any way in any of the inscriptions or the manuscripts. However, despite this, the Georgian historian and philologist Pavle Ingorokva believes that the Georgian alphabet like the Greek alphabet initially used the boustrophedon writing system.

Letters of Asomtavruli are constructed with geometric graphic elements like straight lines of different length, circumferences and half-circle lines of different radius. It is always the right angles from where the graphical elements of the Asomtavruli letters are connected.

The only letter of Asomtavruli which violates the rule of connection of graphical elements at the right angle is the letter ჯ (jani), the constituent elements of which are cross-linked by straight lines with its sharp corners. This exception is explained by various scientists. According to Helen Machavariani, the outline and contour of letter ჯ (jani) is the initials of Jesus Christ resulted through the crosswise intersection of letters ი (ini) and ქ (kani) and represents the monogram of Jesus. According to Ramaz Pataridze the cross-like shape of letter ჯ (jani) indicates the end of the alphabet and has the same function as the similar-shaped Phoenician Taw , Greek Chi Χ and the Latin X.

From the 7th century, the graphics of some Asomtavruli letters begin to change. In particular, in seven letters of ბ (bani), ჟ (zhani), ჳ (vie), ყ (qari), შ (shini), წ (tsili) and ჭ (chari) the closed circumference becomes more simple and an open arc takes its place from one side. Asomtavruli letter დ (doni) which is represented in the early monuments without the throat, then on the upper horizontal line the circle gets a smaller throat . The equal heights of the letters get violated, some letters become more long and thus can no longer be placed in the two-linear system.

Decorative Asomtavruli

In the Nuskhuri written manuscripts, Asomtavruli is found mainly in the form of titles and capital letters. Capital letters of Asomtavruli were written in the beginnings of the paragraphs which created an orientation for the readers. In the early stages of the development of the books they were not painted and it was distinguished only with large size in the text, sometimes with the color and such capital letters are often performed with cinnabar.

Later from the 10th century painting of capital letters occurs, resulting in an important place in the ornamental decoration of the manuscripts of the Georgian books and the miniatures. Often the Asomtavruli capital letters with the beautifully written text identifies the style of the specific era. For example the Georgian manuscripts of the Byzantine era in the period of the Byzantine-Georgian relations, the art of the Asomtavruli capital letters is enriched with the images of birds and animals.

From the 11th century "Limb-flowery", "Limb-arrowy" and "Limb-spoty" decorative forms of Asomtavruli are developed. The first two are found in the 11th-12th century monuments, while the third one is used till the 18th century.

The "Curly" decorative form of Asomtavruli is also used where the letters are wattled or intermingled on each other, or the smaller letters are written inside other letters. It was mostly used for the headlines of the manuscripts or the books, although there are compete inscriptions which were written in the Asomtavruli "Curly" form only.

The title of Gospel of Matthew in Asomtavruli "Curly" decorative form.

Table of Asomtavruli

Nuskhuri

Nuskhuri (Georgian: ნუსხური) is a second script of the Georgian alphabet. Nuskhuri comes from the word nuskha (ნუსხა) which means "inventory or schedule". Nuskhuri is initially purely unicameral. Nuskhuri is often referred as Khutsuri (Georgian: ხუცური), as Nuskhuri being used along with Asomtavruli for the religious manuscripts it became an "ecclesiastical" alphabet mostly used in hagiography.

Nuskhuri first appears in the IX century. The oldest inscription in Nuskhuri is found in the Ateni Sioni Church which date back to 835 AD. Nuskhuri first appears in the manuscripts from 864 AD. Nuskhuri script gets more dominant over Asomtavruli from the X century.

In Nuskhuri-written manuscripts the titles and the capital letters are always written in Asomtavruli.

The forms of Nuskhuri letters may have been derived from the northern Arsacid variant of the Pahlavi script, which itself was derived from the older Aramaic, although the direction of writing which is 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.

Graphics of Nuskhuri

In Nuskhuri, the letters are written in the four-linear system and they vary in height. Characteristic feature of Nuskhuri is the deviation of its letters to the right. In general, body of each letter is deviated, but the inclination is strengthened in those letters, which have the upper or lower limbs. Nuskhuri letters have the angular shape. In Nuskhuri the tendency to simplify the contour of its letters can be noticed when in Asomtavruli it is more strict. In Nuskhuri, the letters are created in a single outline. One of the reasons of formation of Nuskhuri was the need of quick writing.

→ →
Asomtavruli letters ო (oni) and ჳ (vie), with mixing of these letters in Nuskhuri resulted in creation of a new letter უ (uni)

Table of Nuskhuri

Usage of Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri today

Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri alphabets are 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 they are no longer universally used for writing Georgian, they've also been reused in a creative way for writing capital letters, along with letters of the Mkhedruli alphabet. Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are used by the Georgian Orthodox Church alongside with the Mkhedruli alphabet.

Mkhedruli

Mkhedruli (Georgian: მხედრული) is a third and current script of the Georgian alphabet. Mkhedruli, literally meaning the "cavalry" or "military" derives from mkhedari (მხედარი) meaning "horseman", "knight" and "warrior". Like the two other alphabets, Mkhedruli alphabet is also purely unicameral.

Mkhedruli first appears in X century. The oldest Mkhedruli inscription is found in Ateni Sioni Church dating back to 982 AD. The second oldest Mkhedruli-written text is found in the XI century royal charters of King Bagrat IV of Georgia. Mkhedruli was mostly used then for the historical documents, manuscripts and inscriptions. Mkhedruli was used for non-religious purposes only.

Mkhedruli was becoming more and more dominant over the two other Georgian alphabets, even though Nuskhuri was still used till XIX century, it completely replaced Nuskhuri. Since XIX century, with the establishment and development of the printed Georgian fonts, Mkhedruli became widespread and universal for writing Georgian language.

Graphics of Mkhedruli

X-XI century Mkhedruli inscriptions are characterized in rounding of angular shapes of Nuskhuri letters and making the complete outlines in all of its letters. Mkhedruli letters are written in the four-linear system, similar to Nuskhuri. Mkhedruli becomes more round and free in writing. It breaks the strict frame of the previous two alphabets, Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri. Mkhedruli letters begin to get coupled and more free calligraphy develops.

Example of one of the oldest Mkhedruli-written texts found in the royal charter of King Bagrat IV of Georgia, XI century.

"Gurgen : King : of Kings : great-grandfather : of mine : Bagrat Curopalates"

Table of Mkhedruli

Other forms of some Mkhedruli letters

Some Mkhedruli letters have alternative written forms.

1. Different form of letter დ
2. Different form of letter ლ
3. Different form of letter ჯ
4. Different form of letter რ
5. Different form of letter ო
6. Different form of letter წ

Obsolete letters of Mkhedruli

8 of the 41 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 or .
• ⟨ჲ⟩ (hie), also called iot'a, often marked Georgian nouns in the nominative case. In Old Georgian, it represented or .
• ⟨ჳ⟩ (vie) represented the diphthong or . 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⟩ or ⟨ი⟩ .
• ⟨ჴ⟩ (qar, har) represented or , 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⟩ .
• ⟨ჵ⟩ (hoe), also called oh, represented a long ⟨ო⟩, .
• ⟨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 . It appears in written Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan.
• ⟨ჸ⟩ (elifi) represents the glottal stop . 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 in Old Georgian. It is still differentiated in Svan, Mingrelian, and Laz. In modern Georgian, it becomes ⟨ვ⟩ vin.

Writing order and direction of Mkhedruli

The following table shows the method for writing of each Georgian Mkhedruli letter and the arrows indicate their written direction respectively.

Ligatures, abbreviations and calligraphy

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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. Some common examples include romeli, "which" (, r~i) and Ieso Krist'e, "Jesus Christ" (, I~ui K~e).

In the 11th to 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.	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.

Punctuation

In Old Georgian punctuation system dots were used for division of the sentences. In the monuments and manuscripts of V-X century marks like -, = and =- were also used. In X century Georgian punctuation appears new rule of writing with one (.), two (:), three (჻) and six (჻჻) dots.

From XI century an apostrophe and comma is used in Georgian. From XII century a semicolon appears as well.

Patriarch Anton I of Georgia also created the new system for the Georgian punctuation. He divided the sentences into complete, non-complete and ending parts and in these sentences one and two dots were used.

Summary

This table lists the three alphabets in parallel columns, including the letters that are now obsolete (shown with a blue background). "National" is the transliteration system used by the Georgian government, while "Laz" is the system used in northeastern Turkey for the Laz language. The table also shows the traditional numeric values of the letters.

* ჳ and უ have the same numeric value (400).

Unicode

The first Georgian script 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 encodes Nuskhuri.

Keyboard layout

Most keyboards in Georgia are fitted with both Latin and Georgian letters.

Below is the Georgian QWERTY keyboard. While Georgian has no capital letters, because it has 33 letters and English has only 26, using the shift key is necessary to write Georgian.

Gallery

Gallery of Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli alphabets.

Gallery of Asomtavruli

• Asomtavruli of VI-VII century
• Asomtavruli at Barakoni
• Asomtavruli at Doliskana
• Asomtavruli at Ishkhani
• Asomtavruli at Nikortsminda Cathedral
• Asomtavruli at Kobayr monastery Asomtavruli at Kobayr monastery

Gallery of Nuskhuri

• Nuskhuri of VIII-X century
• Nuskhuri of Tbeti
• Nuskhuri of XI century
• Nuskhuri of Mokvi
• Nuskhuri of Modrekili
• Nuskhuri of X century

Gallery of Mkhedruli

• Mkhedruli of King Bagrat IV of Georgia
• Mkhedruli of King George II of Georgia
• Mkhedruli of King David IV of Georgia
• Mkhedruli of King George III of Georgia
• Mkhedruli of Queen Tamar of Georgia
• Mkhedruli of King George IV of Georgia
• Mkhedruli of King George V of Georgia

See also

• Georgian Braille
• Georgian calligraphy
• Old Georgian language
• Georgian calendar
• Georgian numerals
• Georgian national system of romanization

References

1. Georgian alphabet (Mkhedruli), Omniglot.com, retrieved 2009-04-22
2. Язык, история и культура вайнахов, И. Ю Алироев p85
3. Чеченский язык, И. Ю. Алироев, p24
4. Грузинско-дагестанские языковые контакты, Маджид Шарипович Халилов p29
5. История аварцев, М. Г Магомедов p150
6. ^ Harald Haarmann (2012). "Ethnic Conflict and standardisation in the Caucasus". In Matthias Hüning, Ulrike Vogl, Olivier Moliner (ed.). Standard Languages and Multilingualism in European History. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 299. ISBN 978-90-272-0055-6. Retrieved 19 September 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
7. ^ B. G. Hewitt (1995). Georgian: A Structural Reference Grammar. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 978-90-272-3802-3. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
8. ^ Stephen H. Rapp Jr (2010). "Georgian Christianity". In Ken Parry (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. John Wiley & Sons. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
9. ^ Seibt, Werner. "The Creation of the Caucasian Alphabets as Phenomenon of Cultural History". Cite error: The named reference "Lig1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
10. Koryun's Life of Mashtots
11. ^ Rayfield, Donald. The Literature of Georgia: A History (Caucasus World). RoutledgeCurzon. p. 19. ISBN 0-7007-1163-5. The Georgian alphabet seems unlikely to have a pre-Christian origin, for the major archaeological monument of the 1st 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-Albanian — were invented in the 4th century by the Armenian scholar Mesrop Mashtots. The Georgian chronicles The Life of Kartli - 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.
12. Russell, James R. (1999). "Alphabets". In Bowersock, G. B.; Brown, Peter; Grabar, Oleg (eds.). Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. Harvard University Press. p. 289. ISBN 0-674-51173-5. Mastoc' was a charismatic visionary who accomplished his task at a time when Armenia stood in danger of losing both its national identity, through partition, and its newly acquired Christian faith, through Sassanian pressure and reversion to paganism. By preaching in Armenian, he was able to undermine and co-opt the discourse founded in native tradition, and to create a counterweight against both Byzantine and Syriac cultural hegemony in the church. Mastoc' also created the Georgian and Caucasian-Albanian alphabets, based on the Armenian model.
13. ^ Campbell, George L. (2013). The Routeldge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets (2nd ed.). Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 9781135222970. According to tradition, St Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian script, was also, at least in part, responsible for the Georgian alphabet. Like the Armenian, the Georgian is clearly based on a Greek model. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
14. Georgian: ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული პალეოგრაფია, გვ. 205-208, 240-245
15. Robert W. Thomson. Rewriting Caucasian history: the medieval Armenian adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles : the original Georgian texts and the Armenian adaptation. Clarendon Press, Oxford. p. xxii-xxiii. ISBN 0198263732. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
16. Stephen H. Rapp. Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: early texts and Eurasian contexts. Peeters Publishers, 2003. ISBN 90-429-1318-5. P. 450. "There is also the claim advanced by Koriwn in his saintly biography of Mashtoc' (Mesrop) that the Georgian script had been invented at the direction of Mashtoc'. Yet it is within the realm of possibility that this tradition, repeated by many later Armenian historians, may not have been part of the original fifth-century text at all but added after 607. Significantly, all of the extant MSS containing The Life of Mashtoc* were copied centuries after the split. Consequently, scribal manipulation reflecting post-schism (especially anti-Georgian) attitudes potentially contaminates all MSS copied after that time. It is therefore conceivable, though not yet proven, that valuable information about Georgia trans¬mitted by pre-schism Armenian texts was excised by later, post-schism individuals."
17. Greppin, John A.C.: Some comments on the origin of the Georgian alphabet. — Bazmavep 139, 1981, 449-456
18. ^ Nino Kemertelidze (1999). "The Origin of Kartuli (Georgian) Writing (Alphabet)". In David Cram, Andrew R. Linn, Elke Nowak (ed.). History of Linguistics 1996: Volume 1: Traditions in Linguistics Worldwide. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 228–. ISBN 978-90-272-8382-5. Retrieved 20 September 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
19. Mzekala Shanidze (2000). "Greek influence in Georgian linguistics". In Sylvain Auroux; et al. (eds.). History of the Language Sciences / Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaften / Histoire des sciences du langage. 1. Teilband. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 444–. ISBN 978-3-11-019400-5. Retrieved 20 September 2013. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |editor= (help)
20. ქსე, ტ. 7, თბ., 1984, გვ. 651-652
21. შანიძე ა., ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 2, გვ. 454-455, თბ., 1977 წელი
22. კ. დანელია, ზ. სარჯველაძე, ქართული პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1997, გვ. 218-219
23. ე. მაჭავარიანი, მწიგნობრობაჲ ქართული, თბილისი, 1989
24. პ. ინგოროყვა, „შოთა რუსთაველი“, „მნათობი“, 1966, № 3, გვ. 116
25. რ. პატარიძე, ქართული ასომთავრული, თბილისი, 1980, გვ. 151, 260-261
26. ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული დამწერლობათა-მცოდნეობა ანუ პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1949, 185-187
27. ე. მაჭავარიანი, ქართული ანბანი, თბილისი, 1977, გვ. 5-6
28. ელენე მაჭავარიანი, ენციკლოპედია „ქართული ენა“, თბილისი, 2008, გვ. 403-404
29. ვ. სილოგავა, ენციკლოპედია „ქართული ენა“, თბილისი, 2008, გვ. 269-271
30. ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული დამწერლობათა-მცოდნეობა ანუ პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1949, 124-126
31. ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული დამწერლობათა-მცოდნეობა ანუ პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1949, 127-128
32. კ. დანელია, ზ. სარჯველაძე, ქართული პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1997, გვ. 219
33. Shanidze, Akaki (2003), ქართული ენა (in Georgian), Tbilisi, ISBN 1-4020-1440-6 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
34. ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 8, გვ. 231, თბ., 1984 წელი.
35. Aronson (1990), pp. 30–31.
36. ^ Aronson (1990) depicts the two affricates as aspirated, though other scholars, like Shosted & Chikovani (2006) describe them as tenuis. The language does not contrast these possibilities.

Bibliography

• Aronson, Howard I. (1990), Georgian: a reading grammar (second ed.), Columbus, OH: Slavica
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
• Javakhishvili, I. Georgian palaeography Tbilisi, 1949
• Barnaveli, T. Inscriptions of Ateni Sioni Tbilisi, 1977
• Pataridze, R. Georgian Asomtavruli Tbilisi, 1980
• Machavariani, E. Graphics of the Georgian alphabet Tbilisi, 1982
• Gamkrelidze, T. Writing system and the old Georgian script Tbilisi, 1989
• Kilanawa, B. Georgian script in the writing systems Tbilisi, 1990

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

v t e Georgian language
Grammar	Georgian grammar Screeve Verb paradigm Laz grammar Mingrelian grammar
Writing	Scripts Braille Calligraphy Keyboard Numerals Romanization
Encoding	Unicode Georgian Georgian Supplement Georgian Extended Mac OS Georgian
Genealogy	Proto-Kartvelian language Kartvelian languages Proto-Georgian–Zan Svan Karto-Zan Zan Laz Mingrelian Old Georgian Georgian dialects Adjaran Judaeo-Georgian
Letters	Ani Bani Gani Doni Eni Vini Zeni He Tani Ini K'ani Lasi Mani Nari Ie Oni P'ari Zhani Rae Sani T'ari Vie Uni Pari Kani Ghani Q'ari Shini Chini Tsani Dzili Ts'ili Ch'ari Khani Khari Jani Hae Hoe Fi
Other	Georgian Misplaced Pages

v t e Georgian language
Grammar	Georgian grammar Screeve Verb paradigm Laz grammar Mingrelian grammar
Writing	Scripts Braille Calligraphy Keyboard Numerals Romanization
Encoding	Unicode Georgian Georgian Supplement Georgian Extended Mac OS Georgian
Genealogy	Proto-Kartvelian language Kartvelian languages Proto-Georgian–Zan Svan Karto-Zan Zan Laz Mingrelian Old Georgian Georgian dialects Adjaran Judaeo-Georgian
Letters	Ani Bani Gani Doni Eni Vini Zeni He Tani Ini K'ani Lasi Mani Nari Ie Oni P'ari Zhani Rae Sani T'ari Vie Uni Pari Kani Ghani Q'ari Shini Chini Tsani Dzili Ts'ili Ch'ari Khani Khari Jani Hae Hoe Fi
Other	Georgian Misplaced Pages

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• Georgian alphabet
• Georgian language
• Alphabets
• Orthography
• Writing systems