Elbasan alphabet

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Elbasan script
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Elbasan alphabet
𐔀𐔐𐔉𐔀𐔁𐔇𐔝𐔍 𐔍 𐔇𐔐𐔁𐔀𐔛𐔀𐔓𐔍𐔝
Script type
Alphabet
Time period
18th century
DirectionLeft-to-right 
Unicode range
U+10500 – U+1052F[1]

The Elbasan alphabet is a mid 18th-century

National Archives of Albania in Tirana. The alphabet, like the manuscript, is named after the city of Elbasan, where it was invented, and although the manuscript isn't the oldest document written in Albanian,[3] Elbasan is the oldest out of seven[2]: 4  known original alphabets created for Albanian.[2]: 3  Its 59 pages contain Biblical content written in a script of 40 letters,[2]
: 3  of which 35 frequently recur and 5 are rare.

Letters

Elbasan
Letters[4] Latin alphabet Pronunciation
𐔀 a [a ɑ ɒ]
𐔁 b [b]
𐔂 c [ts]
𐔃 ç, xh [tʃ], [dʒ][5]
𐔄 d [d]
𐔅 nd [nd]
𐔆 dh [ð]
𐔇 e [e ɛ][5]
𐔈 ë [ə][5]
𐔉 f [f]
𐔊 g [ɡ]
𐔋 gj [ɟ]
𐔌 h [h ħ]
𐔍 i [i]
𐔎 j [j]
𐔏 k [k q]
𐔐 l [l]
𐔑 ll [ɫ]
𐔒 m [m]
𐔓 n [n]
𐔔 n (before g and gj) [n][5]
𐔕 nj [ɲ]
𐔖 o [o ɔ]
𐔗 p [p]
𐔘 q [tɕ]
𐔙 r [ɾ]
𐔚 rr [r]
𐔛 s [s]
𐔜 sh [ʃ]
𐔝 t [t]
𐔞 th [θ]
𐔟 u [u]
𐔠 v [v]
𐔡 x [dz]
𐔢 y [y]
𐔣 z [z]
𐔤 zh [ʒ]
𐔥 gh [ɣ] (Greek loanwords)
𐔦 gh [ɣ] (Greek loanwords)
𐔧 kh [x] (Greek loanwords)

Creation

The Elbasan Gospel Manuscript

The Elbasan Gospel Manuscript comes from the

Shijon, west of Elbasan.[2]: 6  With the exception of a short 15th century Easter Gospel transcript, it was the oldest work of Albanian Orthodox literature, and the oldest Orthodox Bible translation into Albanian.[2]
The authorship of the document is a matter of speculation, see the main article on this topic for details.

The manuscript was purchased a little before or around World War II by the politician

National Archives of Albania.[6] The albanologist and translator Injac Zamputi (1910–1998) transcribed the manuscript, after which the Elbasan Gospel was published in standard Albanian for the first time.[6]

Authorship

The author of the alphabet remains unknown, though several hypotheses have been brought forward. The most accepted proposal comes from Mahir Domi in 1965, claiming the Moschopole typographer Gregory of Durrës to be the author of the alphabet. Domi bases his claim on several factors, the main one being a note by Georgios Zaviras [bg; el; hu; ru] (1744–1804) which states "Gregory of Durrës translated the Old and New Testament on a script he invented himself".[7] Domi's hypothesis was later supported by Robert Elsie.

The name "Papa Totasi" (father Totasi) is written on the cover's

verso, thus sometimes the alphabet is attributed to him.[8][9][10] Recent studies seem to point out a certain Cosmas of Durrës (1643-1702) as the author of at least the alphabet, if not the text itself.[11]

Historical analysis

Biblical Greek (the language the manuscript was translated from).[2]: 12–13  Elsie argues that the author's determination to root out loanwords becomes clear with the marked crossing out of the Turkish loan sheher "city" and its replacement with qytet, which was apparently not recognized as a loan from Latin cīvitāt(em).[2]
: 12 

Properties

The Elbasan alphabet exhibited a nearly

standard pronunciation
but it is not one-to-one because of the use of ten consonant digraphs.

Dots are used on three characters as inherent features to indicate varied pronunciation found in Albanian: single r represents the

Old Church Slavonic language due to the jurisdiction, until 1767, of the Archbishopric of Ohrid
.

Unicode

Elbasan (U+10500–U+1052F) was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.

Elbasan[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1050x 𐔀 𐔁 𐔂 𐔃 𐔄 𐔅 𐔆 𐔇 𐔈 𐔉 𐔊 𐔋 𐔌 𐔍 𐔎 𐔏
U+1051x 𐔐 𐔑 𐔒 𐔓 𐔔 𐔕 𐔖 𐔗 𐔘 𐔙 𐔚 𐔛 𐔜 𐔝 𐔞 𐔟
U+1052x 𐔠 𐔡 𐔢 𐔣 𐔤 𐔥 𐔦 𐔧
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

Sources

  1. ^ Final Accepted Script Proposal
  2. ^
    ISSN 0081-9077
    .
  3. .
  4. ^ "Elbasan alphabet". Omniglot. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  5. ^ a b c d Everson, Michael; Elsie, Robert (2010-06-23). "Preliminary proposal for encoding the Elbasan script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). DKUUG (Dansk Unix User Group).
  6. ^ a b Elsie, Robert. "GREGORY OF DURRËS". Archived from the original on 2012-01-13.
  7. ^ Mahir Domi (1965). Rreth autorit dhe kohës së dorëshkrimit elbasanas me shqipërim copash të ungjillit. In: “Konferenca e parë e Studimeve Albanologjike,” Tiranë, 15-21 nëndor 1962. Tiranë, p. 170–177
  8. .
  9. ^ Llazar Siliqi (1963). Albanian contemporary prose. State Pub. Enterprise Naim Frashëri.
  10. .
  11. ^ Rugova, Yll (2022-01-01). "Dëshmi mbi një alfabet origjinal të shqipes nga shekulli XVII: Kozmai i Durrësit si shpikës i mundshëm i alfabetit të parë origjinal të shqipes". Shejzat.
  12. ^ Shuteriqi, Dhimitër (1949). Anonimi i Elbasanit. Shkrimi shqip në Elbasan në shekujt XVIII-XIX dhe Dhaskal Todhri. Tiranë: Buletin i Institutit të Shkencavet, 1949. Pages 33-54. Page 38
  13. ^ Domi, Mahir (1965). Rreth autorit dhe kohës së dorëshkrimit elbasanas me shqipërim copash të ungjillit. In the First Conference of Albanologic Studies: Tiranë, 1965. Pages 270-277

External links