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Georgian scripts
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 scripts
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.

The Georgian language has historically been written in three different scripts, which continue to be used to varying degrees. In chronological order, they are Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Their letters are formally equivalent, and have the same names and alphabetical order. All three scripts are unicameral, with no distinction between upper case and lower case. Mkhedruli is the default script in use today, both for Georgian and for other Kartvelian languages.

The scripts originally had 38 letters. Georgian is currently written in a 33-letter alphabet, as five of the letters are obsolete in that language. The Mingrelian alphabet uses 36: the 33 of Georgian, one letter obsolete for that language, and two additional letters specific to Mingrelian and Svan. That same obsolete letter, plus a letter borrowed from Greek, are used in the 35-letter Laz alphabet. The fourth Kartvelian language, Svan, is not commonly written, but when it is it uses the letters of the Mingrelian alphabet, with an additional obsolete Georgian letter and sometimes supplemented by diacritics for its many vowels.

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 was discovered in a small church of the Virgin in highland village of Davati, the Davati stela, which itself is a recent discovery, and is assumed to have been created around year 367.

The older, outdated scholarly consensus points to the Georgian alphabet being created sometime in the late 4th to early 5th century, contemporaneously with the Armenian alphabet. 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 in some Western sources, but has been criticized by scholars, both Georgian and Western, 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 archaeological 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 the first and oldest Georgian script. 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 its round shapes as the word mrgvali (მრგვალი) means "round". Despite its common Georgian name, this rounded script is originally purely unicameral, just like the modern Georgian script, Mkhedruli.

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

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 the 10th to 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 until the 11th century.

Asomtavruli graphics

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.

Coins of Queen Tamar of Georgia and King George IV of Georgia in Asomtavruli, 1200-1210 AD.

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 relations between the Byzantine Empire and Kingdom of Georgia, the art of the Asomtavruli capital letters is enriched with the images of birds and animals.

Decorative Asomtavruli capital letters, მ (m), ნ (n) and თ (t), 12-13th century.

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

Big importance was attached also to the colour of the ink itself.

Asomtavruli letter დ (doni) is often written with decoration effects of fish and birds.

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.

Asomtavruli letters

Some systems do not show the actual Asomtavruli forms for these letters, but instead show taller "capitalized" variants of the modern Mkhedruli alphabet. You may also see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Asomtavruli letters.

Nuskhuri

Nuskhuri (Georgian: ნუსხური) is a second Georgian script. 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) or sometimes Nuskha-Khutsuri (Georgian: ნუსხა-ხუცური), as Nuskhuri being used along with Asomtavruli for mostly the religious manuscripts it became an "ecclesiastical", "church" and "clerical" script mostly used in hagiography.

Nuskhuri first appears in the 9th 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 10th 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.

Nuskhuri graphics

In Nuskhuri, the letters are written in the four-linear system and they vary in height. A characteristic feature of Nuskhuri is the deviation of its letters to the right. In general, the body of each letter is deviated, but this inclination is even stronger in those letters with upper or lower limbs. Nuskhuri letters have an angular shape. In Nuskhuri, the tendency to simplify the contour of its letters is noticeable, whereas Asomtavruli 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.

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

Nuskhuri letters

You may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Nuskhuri letters as some systems do not show their actual forms.

Use 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. Because 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 is used intensively in iconography, mural painting and in exterior design, especially in stone carving. Georgian linguist Akaki Shanidze made an attempt in the 1950s to reintroduce Asomtavruli into modern Georgian writing as capital letters, but it didn't catch on and failed to gain popularity. Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are officially used by the Georgian Orthodox Church alongside with the Mkhedruli alphabet. Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia also called to use all 3 Georgian scripts.

Mkhedruli

Mkhedruli (Georgian: მხედრული) is a third and current Georgian script. Mkhedruli, literally meaning the "cavalry" or "military" derives from mkhedari (მხედარი) meaning "horseman", "knight", "warrior" and "cavalier".

Like the two other scripts, Mkhedruli is also purely unicameral. Mkhedruli first appears in the 10th 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 11th-century royal charters of King Bagrat IV of Georgia. Mkhedruli was mostly used then in the Kingdom of Georgia for the royal charters, historical documents, manuscripts and inscriptions. Mkhedruli was used for non-religious purposes only and represented the "civil", "royal" and "secular" script.

Mkhedruli was becoming more and more dominant over the two other Georgian alphabets, even though Nuskhuri was still used until the 19th century, it completely replaced Nuskhuri. Since the 19th century, with the establishment and development of the printed Georgian fonts, Mkhedruli became widespread and universal for writing Georgian language.

Graphics

Mkhedruli inscriptions of the 10th and 11th centuries 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, 11th century.

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

Coin of Queen Tamar of Georgia in Mkhedruli, 1187 AD.

Basic letters

Alternative forms

Some Mkhedruli letters have alternative written forms:

different written form of letter ჯ

different written form of letter დ

different written form of letter ლ

different written form of letter რ

different written form of letter წ

different written form of letter ო

Obsolete letters

The Society for the Spreading of Literacy Among Georgians founded by Prince Ilia Chavchavadze in 1879 discarded 5 letters from the written Georgian language which were either dropped entirely or replaced by the sounds they had become.

• ჱ (he), sometimes called "ei" or "e-merve" ("eighth e").
• ჲ (hie), also called iota.
• ჳ (vie).
• ჴ (qar, har).
• ჵ (hoe).

Additional letters

• ჶ (fi).
• ჷ (shva), also called yn, used in Svan and Mingrelian language.
• ჸ (elifi), used in Svan and Mingrelian language.

Writing order

The following table shows the direction of writing of each letter.

Ligatures, abbreviations and calligraphy

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Asomtavruli is often highly stylized and writers readily formed ligatures, intertwined letters, and placed letters within letters.

A ligature of the Asomtavruli initials of King Vakhtang I of Iberia, გ (g) and ნ (n)

A ligature of the Asomtavruli letters და (da) "and"

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.

A Nuskhuri abbreviation of რომელი (romeli) "which"

A Nuskhuri abbreviation of იესო ქრისტე (ieso kriste) "Jesus Christ"

Mkhedruli, in the 11th to 17th centuries also came to employ digraphs to the point that they were obligatory, requiring adhesion to a complex system.

A Mkhedruli ligature of და (da) "and"

Mkhedruli calligraphy of Prince Garsevan Chavchavadze and King Archil of Imereti

Punctuation

In Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri punctuation, dots were used as word dividers and other functions. In the monuments and manuscripts of 5th to 10th centuries marks like -, = and =- were also used. In the 10th century, a new rule appears in Georgian punctuation, a rule of writing with one (·), two (:), three (჻) and six (჻჻) dots. (See for example the title of the Gospel of Matthew above.) Starting in the 11th century an apostrophe and comma came into use. From the 12th 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. For the most part, Georgian uses the same punctuation as is used with the Latin script.

Signature of King Alexander II of Kakheti, with the divider ⟨჻⟩
ჴლმწიფე ჻ ალექსანდრე
"The sovereign Alexander"

Summary

This table lists the three scripts in parallel columns, including the letters that are now obsolete in all alphabets (shown with a blue background), obsolete in Georgian but still used in other alphabets (green background), or additional letters in languages other than Georgian (pink background). The "national" transliteration is the system used by the Georgian government, whereas "Laz" is the Latin Laz alphabet used in Turkey. The table also shows the traditional numeric values of the letters.

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

Use for other non-Kartvelian languages

• Ossetian language during the 1940s.
• Abkhaz language during the 1940s.
• Ingush language (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in modern times.
• Chechen language (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in modern times.
• Avar language (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in modern times.
• Turkish language and Tatar language. A Turkish Gospel, dictionary, poems, medical book dating from the 18th century.
• Persian language. The 18th-century Persian translation of the Arabic Gospel is kept at the National Center of Manuscripts in Tbilisi.
• Russian language. In the collections of the National Center of Manuscripts in Tbilisi there are also a few short poems in the Russian language written in Georgian script dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
• Other Northeast Caucasian languages. The Georgian script was used for writing North Caucasian and Dagestani languages in connection with Georgian missionary activities in the areas starting in the 18th century.

Old Avar crosses with Avar language inscriptions written in the Georgian Asomtavruli script.

Unicode

History

The first Georgian script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 1991 with the release of version 1.0. In creation of the Georgian Unicode big role was played by the German linguist of the Caucasian Studies Jost Gippert and American-Irish linguist and script encoder Michael Everson who created the Georgian Unicode for the Macintosh systems. Significant contributions were also made by Anton Dumbadze and Irakli Garibashvili. (not the current Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili)

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

Below is the Georgian QWERTY keyboard. Although 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 scripts.

Gallery of Asomtavruli

• Asomtavruli of the 6th and 7th centuries
• Asomtavruli at Barakoni
• Asomtavruli at Doliskana
• Asomtavruli at Ishkhani
• Asomtavruli at Nikortsminda Cathedral

Gallery of Nuskhuri

• Nuskhuri of 8th to 10th centuries
• Nuskhuri of Jruchi Gospels, 13th century
• Nuskhuri of the 11th century
• Nuskhuri of Mokvi
• Nuskhuri of Modrekili
• Nuskhuri of the 10th 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. date of the oldest found Georgian inscription; not a date of creation
2. Machavariani, p. 176
3. ^ Georgia Through Earth, Fire, Air and Water, Michael Berman, Manana Rusieshvili, Ketevan Kalandadze, p.4
4. ^ Unicode Standard, V. 6.3. U10A0, p. 3
5. Machavariani, p. 329
6. Standard Languages and Multilingualism in European History, Matthias Hüning, Ulrike Vogl, Olivier Moliner, John Benjamins Publishing, 2012, p.299
7. Abramishvili, G & Aleksidze, Z. (1990), "A national motif in the iconographic programme depicted on the Davati Stela". Le Muséon
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ 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.
10. B. G. Hewitt (1995). Georgian: A Structural Reference Grammar. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 978-90-272-3802-3. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
11. ^ 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).
12. Koryun's Life of Mashtots
13. ^ Donald Rayfield The Literature of Georgia: A History (Caucasus World). RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-7007-1163-5. P. 19. "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."
14. Glen Warren Bowersock, Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Oleg Grabar. Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. Harvard University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-674-51173-5. P. 289. James R. Russell. Alphabets. "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."
15. Georgian: ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული პალეოგრაფია, გვ. 205-208, 240-245
16. 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.
17. 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."
18. Greppin, John A.C.: Some comments on the origin of the Georgian alphabet. — Bazmavep 139, 1981, 449-456
19. ^ 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)
20. 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)
21. Peter T. Daniels, The World's Writing Systems, p. 367
22. Machavariani, p. 177
23. ქსე, ტ. 7, თბ., 1984, გვ. 651-652
24. შანიძე ა., ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 2, გვ. 454-455, თბ., 1977 წელი
25. კ. დანელია, ზ. სარჯველაძე, ქართული პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1997, გვ. 218-219
26. ე. მაჭავარიანი, მწიგნობრობაჲ ქართული, თბილისი, 1989
27. პ. ინგოროყვა, „შოთა რუსთაველი“, „მნათობი“, 1966, № 3, გვ. 116
28. Machavariani, pp. 121-122
29. რ. პატარიძე, ქართული ასომთავრული, თბილისი, 1980, გვ. 151, 260-261
30. ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული დამწერლობათა-მცოდნეობა ანუ პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1949, 185-187
31. ე. მაჭავარიანი, ქართული ანბანი, თბილისი, 1977, გვ. 5-6
32. ელენე მაჭავარიანი, ენციკლოპედია „ქართული ენა“, თბილისი, 2008, გვ. 403-404
33. ვ. სილოგავა, ენციკლოპედია „ქართული ენა“, თბილისი, 2008, გვ. 269-271
34. ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული დამწერლობათა-მცოდნეობა ანუ პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1949, 124-126
35. Machavariani, p. 120
36. Machavariani, p. 129
37. ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული დამწერლობათა-მცოდნეობა ანუ პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1949, 127-128
38. Unicode Demystified: A Practical Programmer's Guide to the Encoding Standard, Richard Gillam, p.251
39. Letras e Memória – Uma Breve História da Escrita, Adovaldo Fernandes Sampaio, p. 120
40. Unicode standard, version 5.0, Julie D. Allen, p. 249
41. Textual Research on the Psalms and Gospels / Recherches textuelles sur les psaumes et les évangiles: Papers from the Tbilisi Colloquium on the Editing and History of Biblical Manuscripts. Actes du Colloque de Tbilisi, 19-20 septembre 2007, Christian Amphoux, James Keith Elliott, p. 231
42. Kalistrat Salia, History of the Georgian nation, N. Salia, p. 514, 1983
43. ^ კ. დანელია, ზ. სარჯველაძე, ქართული პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1997, გვ. 219
44. გ. აბრამიშვილი, ატენის სიონის უცნობი წარწერები, "მაცნე" (ისტ. და არქეოლოგ. სერია), 1976, №2, გვ. 170
45. კ. დანელია, ზ. სარჯველაძე, ქართული პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1997, გვ. 218
46. მაჭავარიანი ელ., ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 7, გვ. 488, თბ., 1984 წელი.
47. ^ ე. მაჭავარიანი, ქართული ანბანი, თბილისი, 1977
48. Unicode standard, version 5.0, Addison-Wesley, 2007, p. 249
49. თ. გამყრელიძე, წერის ანბანური სისტემა და ძველი ქართული დამწერლობა, თბილისი, 1990
50. About Georgian calligraphy Lasha Kintsurashvili
51. Gillam, Richard Unicode Demystified: A Practical Programmer's Guide to the Encoding Standard p.252
52. Julie D. Allen Unicode standard, version 5.0 p.249
53. Template:Ka icon ილია მეორე ერს ქართული ენის დაცვისკენ კიდევ ერთხელ მოუწოდებს საქინფორმ.გე
54. Writing Systems of the World, Akira Nakanishi, p. 22
55. Georgica: A Journal of Georgian and Caucasian Studies, Issues 4-5, William Edward David Allen, A. Gugushvili, S. Austin and Sons, Limited, 1937, p. 324
56. ატენის სიონის უცნობი წარწერები, აბრამიშვილი, გვ. 170-1
57. The Languages of the World, Kenneth Katzner, p. 118
58. Chambers's encyclopaedia: a dictionary of universal knowledge, Volume 5, Chambers, David Patrick, William Geddie, W. & R. Chambers, Limited, 1901, page 165
59. T. Putkaradze, History of Georgian language, Development of the Georgian writing system, paragraph II, 2.1.5. 2006
60. მაჭავარიანი, თბილისი, 1977
61. ^ used in writing very frequently
62. used in writing very rarely
63. The World's Writing Systems, Peter T. Daniels, The Georgian Alphabet, p. 367
64. Akaki Shanidze, The Basics of the Georgian language grammar, Tbilisi, 1973/1980, p. 18
65. ^ Otar Jishkariani, Praise of the Alphabet, 1986, Tbilisi, p. 1
66. Howard Isaac Aronson, Georgian: A Reading Grammar, Slavica Publishers, 1990, p. 21-25
67. Stefano Paolini, Nikoloz Cholokashvili, Dittionario giorgiano e italiano, Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, Rome, 1629
68. Tamaz Mchedlidze, The Restored Georgian Alphabet, Fulda, Germany, 2013, p. 110
69. Ingorokva, Pavle ქართული დამწერლობის ძეგლები ანტიკური ხანისა (The monuments of ancient Georgian script)
70. 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)
71. შანიძე, 2003
72. ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 8, გვ. 231, თბ., 1984 წელი.
73. Unicode Demystified: A Practical Programmer's Guide to the Encoding Standard, Richard Gillam, p. 252
74. Aronson (1990), pp. 30–31.
75. The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia, Julie A. George, p. 104
76. The Abkhazians: A Handbook, George Hewitt, p. 171
77. Язык, история и культура вайнахов, И. Ю Алироев p.85, Чех-Инг. изд.-полигр. об-ние "Книга", 1990
78. Чеченский язык, И. Ю. Алироев, p.24, Академия, 1999
79. Грузинско-дагестанские языковые контакты, Маджид Шарипович Халилов p.29, Наука, 2004
80. История аварцев, М. Г Магомедов p.150, Дагестанский гос. университет, 2005
81. Enwall, Joakim (2010), "Turkish texts in Georgian script: Sociolinguistic and ethno-linguistic aspects", in Boeschoten, Hendrik; Rentzsch, Julian (eds.), Turcology in Mainz, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 3-447-06113-8, pp. 144–145
82. Enwall, Joakim (2010), "Turkish texts in Georgian script: Sociolinguistic and ethno-linguistic aspects", in Boeschoten, Hendrik; Rentzsch, Julian (eds.), Turcology in Mainz, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 3-447-06113-8, pp. 137–138
83. უნიკოდში ქართულის ასახვის ისტორია (History of the Georgian Unicode) Georgian Unicode fonts by BPG-InfoTech
84. Font Contributors Acknowledgements Unicode
85. Georgian (QWERTY) Keyboard Layout Microsoft

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. Georgian manuscripts Tbilisi, 2011
• 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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• Alphabets
• Georgian alphabet
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