Glagolitic
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The Glagolitic alphabet is the oldest known Slavic alphabet for which printed matter exists, however an older Slavic form of writing is described in several early medieval sources.
Glagolitic was originally known as Cyrillic, after its invention was attributed to St. Cyril. In time, this alphabet was replaced by a modified version of Greek, which itself became known as Cyrillic. Manuscripts were rewritten in this new form, while the older alphabet was later named by scholars as Glagolitic.
A tool to convert modern Slavic languages to Glagolitic is available at Glagolitic.com.
Glagolitic Alphabet
| Glagolitic | Cyrillic | Latin | Name | Note | ||||||
| Vowel | Early | Late | Jugoslav | Common | Polish | Czech and Slovak | Jugoslav | OCS | CS | |
| Ⰰ | А | А | А | A | A | A | A | Azъ | Az | Regular A. |
| Ⱝ | Ꙗ | Я | ЈА | JA | JA, IA | JA | JA | Iotated A. | ||
| Ⰵ | Є | Є, Е, Э | Е, ЈЕ | E | E, IE | E, JE | E, JE | Estъ, jestъ, yestъ | Jest | Regular E. |
| Ⱕ | Ꙙ, Ѥ | ЈЕ | JE | JĘ, JE | JE | JE | * Iotated E. The nature of this character is unclear. It may be taken to stand for JE, which is confused with regular E in old Glagolitic texts. | |||
| Ⰹ | И, І | И, І, Ї | І | I | I | I | I | Iže | Izhe | * Regular I. |
| Ⰻ | И, І | И, І, Ї | ЈИ | JI | JI | JI | JI | Iže | Izhe | * Iotated I. |
| Ⱁ | О | О | О | O | O | O | O | Onъ | On | Regular O. |
| Ⱉ | Ѡ, Ѻ, Ꙍ | О | О | JO | JO, IO | JO | JO | Otъ | Oht, Omega | Iotated O. Often pronounced as regular O. |
| Ⱆ | ОУ | Ꙋ, У | У | U | U | U | U | Ukъ | Uk | Regular U. |
| Ⱓ | Ю, Ꙕ | Ю | ЈУ | JU | JU, IU | JU | JU | Ju, yu | Yu | Iotated U. |
| Ⱏ | Ъ | Ъ | Ŭ | Erъ, jerъ, yerъ | Yer | Regular Ŭ. Reduced vowel. Unlike modern Russian Ъ, it is pronounced. | ||||
| Ⱑ | Ѣ | ¹ | ¹ | Ě | ¹ | Ě, IE | ¹ | Jatь, Yatь | Yat | * Iotated Ŭ. ¹ In modern languages, appears as: Ě, Е/E, И/I, ЈЕ/JE, ИЈЕ/IJE, І/I, Я/IA/JA. |
| Ⱐ | Ь | Ь | Ĭ | Erь, jerь, yerь | Yerj | Regular Ĭ. Reduced vowel. Unlike modern Russian Ь, it is always pronounced. For palatalization in Glagolitic, Ⱜ is used. | ||||
| Ⰺ | И | Й | J | J | J | J | J | * Iotated Ĭ/Ь (jь). Czech jméno from Proto-Slavic *jьmę. Transcribed by scholars using the Cyrllic letter Ꙇ. Used as an initial form of I in old Glagolitic texts. | ||
| Ⱔ | Ѧ | Ę | [Ensь] | Ya, Small yus | Regular Ę. Nasal vowel. | |||||
| Ⱗ | Ѩ | JĘ | [Jensь, Yensь] | [Small iotated yus] | Iotated Ę. Nasal vowel. | |||||
| Ⱘ | Ѫ | Ą | [Onsь] | [Big yus] | Regular Ą. Nasal vowel. | |||||
| Ⱙ | Ѭ | JĄ | [Jonsь, Yonsь] | [Big iotated yus] | Iotated Ą. Nasal vowel. | |||||
| ⰟⰉ | Ꙑ | Ы | Y | Y | Y | Ery, jery, yery | Yery | Made of two characters in Glagolitic. Appears as ⰟⰋ in [The Kiev Folia]. Made of two characters in early Cyrillic , either ЬІ, ЪІ, ЪИ or ЬИ. Evolved into modern Ы. | ||
| Ⱖ | *Ё | *JO | Does not appear in texts as an independent letter. Reconstructed character from first component of Ⱙ. Used in some Glagolitic texts as a mark of nasality.
| |||||||
| Glagolitic | Cyrillic | Latin | Name | Note | ||||||
| Consonant | Early | Late | Jugoslav | Common | Polish | Czech and Slovak | Jugoslav | OCS | CS |
|
| Ⱜ | Ь | Ј | ʹ | ʹ | J | Palatalization of previous consonant. Not pronounced independently. Not used in combinations with vowels, ie. ЈА/JA, ЈУ/JU. | ||||
| Ⱂ | П | П | П | P | P | P | P | Pokoi | Pokoj | |
| Ⱊ | П | P | Alternate form of P. According to Kemgen "there are no actual texts in which [this letter] appears." See [[1]] | |||||||
| Ⰱ | Б | Б | Б | B | B | B | B | Buky | Buky | |
| Ⱇ | Ф | Ф | Ф | F | F | F | F | Frьtъ | Fert | Originally mispronounced as T. Used in foreign words only. |
| Ⰲ | В | В | В | V | W | V | V | Vědě | Vedi | |
| Ⱛ | Ѵ | Ѵ̆, Ў | W | Ižica, Izhitsa | Izhitsa | Originally used in foreign words only. Later used to represent Ѵ̆. Modern Belarusian uses Ў. | ||||
| Ⰿ | М | М | М | M | M | M | M | Myslite | Mislete | |
| Ⱞ | М | M | Alternate form of M used in South Slavic manuscripts. | |||||||
| Ⰳ | Г | Г | Г | G | G | H | G | Glagoli | Glagoli | Czech and Slovak H. |
| Ⱒ | Ґ | G | G | * Czech and Slovak G. | ||||||
| Ⰽ | К | К | К | K | K | K | K | Kako | Kako | |
| Ⰼ | Ћ | Ћ, Ђ | Đ, Ǵ | Ć | Đ, Ć, Ǵ | Djervь, ǵervь | ||||
| Ⱈ | Х | Х | Х | H | CH | CH | H | Xěrъ, Khěrъ | Kher | Czech and Slovak CH. |
| Ⱅ | Т | Т | Т | T | T | T | T | Tvrьdo | Tverdo | |
| Ⰴ | Д | Д | Д | D | D | D | D | Dobro | Dobro | |
| Ⱄ | С | С | С | S | S | S | S | Slovo | Slovo | |
| Ⰸ | Ꙁ | З | З | Z | Z | Z | Z | Zemlja | Zemlja | |
| Ⰷ | Ꙃ, Ѕ, Ꙅ | Ѕ, ДЗ | DZ | Dzělo | Dzelo | |||||
| Ⱌ | Ц | Ц | Ц | C | C | C | C | Ci, tsi | Tsi | |
| Ⰶ | Ж | Ж | Ж | Ž | Ż | Ž | Ž | Živěte | Zhivete | |
| Ⱍ | Ч | Ч | Ч | Č | CZ | Č | Č | Črьvъ | Cherv | |
| Ⱎ | Ш | Ш | Ш | Š | SZ | Š | Š | Ša | Sha | |
| Ⱋ | Щ | Щ | Щ | ŠČ | SZCZ | ŠT ŠČ | ŠČ | Šta | Shta | |
| Ⰾ | Л | Л | Л | L | Ł | L | L | Ljudie | Ljudi | |
| Ⱀ | Н | Н | Н | N | N | N | N | Našь | Nash | |
| Ⱃ | Р | Р | Р | R | R | R | R | Rьci, rьtsi | Rtsi | |
| Ⱚ | Ѳ | TH | [Thita] | Fita | Used in foreign words only. | |||||
Origins of Glagolitic
Some Glagolitic letters bear some resemblance to cursive Greek forms. Others are borrowed from the Hebrew alphabet. Still others are of an original nature, the meaning and intent of which have been lost in time.
