Georgian scripts

The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written horizontally from left to right. Of the three scripts, Mkhedruli, once the official script of the Kingdom of Georgia and mostly used for the royal charters, is now the standard script for modern Georgian and its related Kartvelian languages, whereas Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are used only by the Georgian Orthodox Church, in ceremonial religious texts and iconography.

has not been accepted.

A Georgian tradition first attested in the medieval chronicle Lives of the Kings of Kartli (), Acharian dated the invention to 408, four years after Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet (he dated the latter event to 404). Some Western scholars quote Koryun's claims without taking a stance on its validity or concede that Armenian clerics, if not Mashtots himself, must have played a role in the creation of the Georgian script.

Another 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 alphabets 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. and the Bolnisi inscriptions.

From the 9th century, Nuskhuri script started becoming dominant, and the role of Asomtavruli was reduced. However, epigraphic monuments of the 10th to 18th centuries continued to be written in Asomtavruli script. Asomtavruli in this later period became more decorative. In the majority of 9th-century Georgian manuscripts which were written in Nuskhuri script, Asomtavruli was used for titles and the first letters of chapters. However, some manuscripts written completely in Asomtavruli can be found until the 11th century.

Form of Asomtavruli letters

In early Asomtavruli, the letters are of equal height. Georgian historian and philologist Pavle Ingorokva believes that the direction of Asomtavruli, like that of Greek, was initially boustrophedon, though the direction of the earliest surviving texts is from left to the right.

In most Asomtavruli letters, straight lines are horizontal or vertical and meet at right angles. The only letter with acute angles is Ⴟ (jani). There have been various attempts to explain this exception. Georgian linguist and art historian Helen Machavariani believes jani derives from a monogram of Christ, composed of (ini) and (kani). According to Georgian scholar Ramaz Pataridze, the cross-like shape of letter jani indicates the end of the alphabet, and has the same function as the similarly shaped Phoenician letter taw (20px), Greek chi (Χ), and Latin X, though these letters do not have that function in Phoenician, Greek, or Latin.

<div class="center">130px 130px Coins of Queen Tamar of Georgia and King George IV of Georgia minted using Asomtavruli script, 1200–1210 AD.</div>

From the 7th century, the forms of some letters began to change. The equal height of the letters was abandoned, with letters acquiring ascenders and descenders.

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.2;width:30em;"

|+Asomtavruli letters

|- style="text-align:center;"

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴀ ani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴁ bani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴂ gani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴃ doni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴄ eni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴅ vini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴆ zeni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴡ he

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴇ tani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴈ ini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴉ kʼani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴊ lasi

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴋ mani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴌ nari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴢ hie

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴍ oni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴎ pʼari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴏ zhani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴐ rae

|- style="text-align:center;"

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴑ sani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴒ tʼari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴣ vie

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴓ/ႭჃ uni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴔ pari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴕ kani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴖ ghani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴗ qʼari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴘ shini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴙ chini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴚ tsani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴛ dzili

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴜ ts'ili

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴝ ch'ari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴞ khani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴤ qari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴟ jani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴠ hae

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| Ⴥ hoe

Asomtavruli illumination

In Nuskhuri manuscripts, Asomtavruli are used for titles and illuminated capitals. The latter were used at the beginnings of paragraphs which started new sections of text. In the early stages of the development of Nuskhuri texts, Asomtavruli letters were not elaborate and were distinguished principally by size and sometimes by being written in cinnabar ink. Later, from the 10th century, the letters were illuminated. The style of Asomtavruli capitals can be used to identify the era of a text. For example, in the Georgian manuscripts of the Byzantine era, when the styles of the Byzantine Empire influenced Kingdom of Georgia, capitals were illuminated with images of birds and other animals.

<div class="center">110px 110px Decorative Asomtavruli capital letters, Ⴋ (m) and Ⴇ (t), 12–13th century.</div>

From the 11th-century "limb-flowery", "limb-arrowy" and "limb-spotty" 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.

Importance was attached also to the colour of the ink itself.

Asomtavruli letter Ⴃ (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 complete inscriptions which were written in the Asomtavruli "Curly" form only.

<div class="center">250px The title of Gospel of Matthew in Asomtavruli "Curly" decorative form.</div>

Handwriting of Asomtavruli

The following table shows the stroke direction of each Asomtavruli letter:

500px|center|class=skin-invert-image

Nuskhuri

thumb|upright|Nuskhuri of [[John Tornike collection of the Monastery of Iviron, 10th century.]]

Nuskhuri (, ) is the second Georgian script. The name comes from (), meaning "inventory" or "schedule". Nuskhuri was soon augmented with Asomtavruli illuminated capitals in religious manuscripts. The combination is called Khutsuri (, ; "clerical", from ( "cleric"), and it was principally used in hagiography.

Nuskhuri first appeared in the 9th century as a graphic variant of Asomtavruli. The oldest inscription is found in the Ateni Sioni Church and dates to 835 AD. The oldest surviving Nuskhuri manuscripts date to 864 AD. Nuskhuri becomes dominant over Asomtavruli from the 10th century.

<div class="center">40px|class=skin-invert-image → 20px15px|class=skin-invert-image → 22px|class=skin-invert-image Asomtavruli letters ⴍ (oni) and ⴣ (vie). A ligature of these letters produced a new letter in Nuskhuri, ⴓ uni.</div>

<div class="center">300px A colophon of King David IV in Nuskhuri.</div>

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.2;width:30em;" bgcolor="#ffffff;"

|+Nuskhuri letters

|- align=center

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| bani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| gani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| doni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| eni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| vini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| zeni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| he

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| tani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| kʼani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| lasi

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| mani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| nari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| hie

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| oni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| pʼari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| zhani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| rae

|- align=center

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| sani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| tʼari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| vie

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| uni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| pari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| kani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ghani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| qʼari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| shini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| chini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| tsani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| dzili

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| tsʼili

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| chʼari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| khani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| qari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| jani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| hae

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| hoe

:Note: Without proper font support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Nuskhuri letters.

Handwriting of Nuskhuri

The following table shows the stroke direction of each Nuskhuri letter:

500px|center|class=skin-invert-image

Use of Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri today

Asomtavruli is used intensively in iconography, murals, and exterior design, especially in stone engravings.

Mkhedruli

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

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 became more and more dominant over the two other scripts, though Khutsuri (Nuskhuri with Asomtavruli) was used until the 19th century. Mkhedruli became the universal writing Georgian system outside of the Church in the 19th century with the establishment and development of printed Georgian fonts.

<div class="center">450px

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"</div>

<div class="center">center|200px

Coin of Queen Tamar of Georgia in Mkhedruli, 1187 AD.</div>

Modern Georgian alphabet

The modern Georgian alphabet consists of 33 letters:

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.2;width:30em;"

|- align=center

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ა ani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ბ bani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| გ gani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| დ doni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ე eni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ვ vini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ზ zeni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| თ tani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ი ini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| კ k'ani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ლ lasi

|- align=center

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| მ mani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ნ nari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ო oni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| პ p'ari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჟ zhani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| რ rae

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ს sani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ტ t'ari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| უ uni

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ფ pari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ქ kani

|- align=center

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ღ ghani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ყ q'ari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| შ shini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჩ chini

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ც tsani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ძ dzili

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| წ ts'ili

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჭ ch'ari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ხ khani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჯ jani

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჰ hae

Letters removed from the Georgian alphabet

The Society for the Spreading of Literacy among Georgians, founded by Prince Ilia Chavchavadze in 1879, discarded five letters from the Georgian alphabet that had become redundant:

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.2;width:25em;"

|- align=center

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჱ e-merve

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჲ iota

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჳ vie

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჴ khari

|bgcolor="#ffffff"| ჵ hoe

ჱ ( "eighth e") /e̞j/ (roughly like the ⟨ay⟩ in pay), Svan /eː/ (like the e in egg in some American and Canadian accents), sometimes called "ei", was equivalent to ეჲ ey, as in ქრისტჱ ~ ქრისტეჲ kristʼey 'Christ'.
ჲ ( ray "what"), but was dropped from the pronunciation and abolished from the spelling. Thus, ქრისტჱ ~ ქრისტეჲ kristʼey "Christ" is now written ქრისტე kristʼe.
ჳ () /wi~vi/ (like a cluster of the oo in too and the i in ill), Svan /w/ (like the w in water) qari, hari) (like the Arabic Qof) It derives from the Greek letter Φ (phi).
ჷ (shva "schwa"), also called yn, is used for the schwa sound in Svan and Mingrelian, and formerly in Ossetian and Abkhazian.

<div class="center">50px|class=skin-invert-image

A ligature of the Asomtavruli letters Ⴃ Ⴀ (და, da) "and"</div>

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.

<div class="center">60px|class=skin-invert-image

A Nuskhuri abbreviation of რომელი (romeli) "which"</div>

<div class="center">90px|class=skin-invert-image

A Nuskhuri abbreviation of იესუ ქრისტე (iesu kriste) "Jesus Christ"</div>

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

<div class="center">40px|class=skin-invert-image

A Mkhedruli ligature of და (da) "and"</div>

<div class="center">300px|class=skin-invert-image 400px|class=skin-invert-image

Mkhedruli calligraphy of Prince Garsevan Chavchavadze and King Archil of Imereti</div>

Typefaces

Georgian scripts come in only a single type face, though word processors can apply automatic ("fake") oblique and bold formatting to Georgian text. Traditionally, Asomtavruli was used for chapter or section titles, where Latin script might use bold or italic type.

Punctuation

In Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri punctuation, various combinations of dots were used as word dividers and to separate phrases, clauses, and paragraphs. In monumental inscriptions and manuscripts of 5th to 10th centuries, these were written as dashes, like −, = and =−. In the 10th century, clusters of one (·), two (:), three (჻) and six (჻჻) dots (later sometimes small circles) were introduced by Ephrem Mtsire to indicate increasing breaks in the text. One dot indicated a "minor stop" (presumably a simple word break), two dots marked or separated "special words", three dots for a "bigger stop" (such as the appositive name and title "the sovereign Alexander", below, or the title of the Gospel of Matthew, above), and six dots were to indicate the end of the sentence. Starting in the 11th century, marks resembling the apostrophe and comma came into use. An apostrophe was used to mark an interrogative word, and a comma appeared at the end of an interrogative sentence. From the 12th century on, these were replaced with the semicolon (the Greek question mark). In the 18th century, Patriarch Anton I of Georgia reformed the system again, with commas, single dots, and double dots used to mark "complete", "incomplete", and "final" sentences, respectively. For the most part, Georgian today uses the punctuation as in international usage of the Latin script.

<div class="center">center|180px|class=skin-invert-image

Signature of King Alexander II of Kakheti, with the divider ჴლმწიფე ჻ ალექსანდრე "The sovereign Alexander"</div>

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.

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan="4" align="center"|Letters

!rowspan="2"|Unicode (mkhedruli)

!rowspan="2"|Name

!rowspan="2"|IPA

!colspan="4" align="center"|Transcriptions

!rowspan="2"|Numeric value

! asomtavruli !! nuskhuri !! mkhedruli !! mtavruli

! National !! ISO 9984 !! BGN !! Laz

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴀ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ა || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ა || U+10D0 || ani ||, Svan || A a || A a || A a || A a || 1

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴁ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ბ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ბ || U+10D1 || bani || || B b || B b || B b || B b || 2

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴂ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | გ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Გ || U+10D2 || gani || || G g || G g || G g || G g || 3

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴃ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | დ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Დ || U+10D3 || doni || || D d || D d || D d || D d || 4

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴄ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ე || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ე || U+10D4 || eni || || E e || E e || E e || E e || 5

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴅ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ვ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ვ || U+10D5 || vini || || V v || V v || V v || V v || 6

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴆ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ზ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ზ || U+10D6 || zeni || || Z z || Z z || Z z || Z z || 7

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Ⴡ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | ჱ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | Ჱ || U+10F1 || he ||, Svan || — || Ē ē || Ey ey || — || 8

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴇ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | თ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Თ || U+10D7 || tani || || T t || Tʼ tʼ || Tʼ tʼ || T t || 9

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴈ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ი || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ი || U+10D8 || ini || || I i || I i || I i || I i || 10

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴉ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | კ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Კ || U+10D9 || kʼani || || Kʼ kʼ || K k || K k || Ǩ ǩ || 20

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴊ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ლ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ლ || U+10DA || lasi || || L l || L l || L l || L l || 30

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴋ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | მ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Მ || U+10DB || mani || || M m || M m || M m || M m || 40

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴌ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ნ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ნ || U+10DC || nari || || N n || N n || N n || N n || 50

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Ⴢ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | ჲ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | Ჲ || U+10F2 || hie ||, Mingrelian, Laz, & Svan || — || Y y || J j || Y y || 60

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴍ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ო || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ო || U+10DD || oni ||, Svan || O o || O o || O o || O o || 70

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴎ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | პ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Პ || U+10DE || pʼari || || Pʼ pʼ || P p || P p || P̌ p̌ || 80

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴏ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ჟ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ჟ || U+10DF || zhani || || Zh zh || Ž ž || Zh zh || J j || 90

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴐ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | რ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Რ || U+10E0 || rae || || R r || R r || R r || R r || 100

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴑ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ს || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ს || U+10E1 || sani || || S s || S s || S s || S s || 200

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴒ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ტ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ტ || U+10E2 || tʼari || || Tʼ tʼ || T t || T t || Ť t͏̌ || 300

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Ⴣ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | ჳ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | Ჳ || U+10F3 || vie ||, Svan || — || W w || — || — || 400

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴓ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | უ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Უ || U+10E3 || uni ||, Svan || U u || U u || U u || U u || 400

| style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd"| Ⴧ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd" | ჷ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd" | Ჷ || U+10F7 || yn, schva || Mingrelian & Svan || — || — || — || — || —

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴔ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ფ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ფ || U+10E4 || pari || || P p || Pʼ pʼ || Pʼ pʼ || P p || 500

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴕ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ქ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ქ || U+10E5 || kani || || K k || Kʼ kʼ || Kʼ kʼ || K k || 600

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴖ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ღ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ღ || U+10E6 || ghani || || Gh gh || Ḡ ḡ || Gh gh || Ğ ğ || 700

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴗ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ყ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ყ || U+10E7 || qʼari || || Qʼ qʼ || Q q || Q q || Q q || 800

| style="text-align:center" bgcolor="#ffdddd"| — || style="text-align:center" bgcolor="#ffdddd"| — || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd" | ჸ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd" | Ჸ || U+10F8 || elif ||Mingrelian & Svan || — || — || — || — || —

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴘ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | შ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Შ || U+10E8 || shini || || Sh sh || Š š || Sh sh || Ş ş || 900

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴙ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ჩ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ჩ || U+10E9 || chini || || Ch ch || Čʼ čʼ || Chʼ chʼ || Ç ç || 1000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴚ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ც || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ც || U+10EA || tsani || || Ts ts || Cʼ cʼ || Tsʼ tsʼ || Ʒ ʒ || 2000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴛ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ძ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ძ || U+10EB || dzili || || Dz dz || J j || Dz dz || Ž ž || 3000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴜ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | წ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Წ || U+10EC || tsʼili || || Tsʼ tsʼ || C c || Ts ts || Ǯ ǯ || 4000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴝ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ჭ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ჭ || U+10ED || chʼari || || Chʼ chʼ || Č č || Ch ch || Ç̌ ç̌ || 5000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴞ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ხ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ხ || U+10EE || khani || || Kh kh || X x || Kh kh || X x || 6000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Ⴤ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | ჴ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddffdd" | Ჴ || U+10F4 || qari, hari || || — || H̱ ẖ || qʼ || — || 7000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴟ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ჯ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ჯ || U+10EF || jani || || J j || J̌ ǰ || J j || C c || 8000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| Ⴠ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | ჰ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%" | Ჰ || U+10F0 || hae || || H h || H h || H h || H h || 9000

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff"| Ⴥ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff"| || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff" | ჵ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff" | Ჵ || U+10F5 || hoe ||, Bats || — || Ō ō || — || — || 10000

| style="text-align:center" bgcolor="#ffdddd"| — || style="text-align:center" bgcolor="#ffdddd"| — || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd" | ჶ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ffdddd" | Ჶ || U+10F6 || fi ||Laz || — || F f || — || F f || —

|style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff"| — || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff"| — || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff" | ჹ || style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;" bgcolor="#ddddff" | Ჹ || U+10F9 || turned gani || Dagestanian languages in evangelical literature

Circassian (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in the 20th century.
Ingush (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in the 20th century.
Chechen (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in the 20th century.
Avar (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in the 20th century.
Turkish; a Turkish Gospel, dictionary, poems, medical book dating from the 18th century.
Persian; the 18th-century Persian translation of the Arabic Gospel is kept at the National Center of Manuscripts in Tbilisi.
Armenian; in the Armenian community in Tbilisi, the Georgian script was occasionally used for writing Armenian in the 18th and 19th centuries, and some samples of this kind of texts are kept at the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts in Tbilisi.
Russian; 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.
Azerbaijani; used by Azeris in Georgia.
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.

Computing

117px|thumb|The Georgian letter (ghani) is often used as a love or [[Heart (symbol)|heart symbol online.|class=skin-invert-image]]

117px|thumb| The Georgian letter (lasi) is sometimes used as a hand or fist in [[emoticons ( ex: ლ(╹◡╹ლ) ). |class=skin-invert-image]]

Unicode

The first Georgian script was included in Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0. In creating the Georgian Unicode block, important roles were played by German Jost Gippert, a linguist of Kartvelian studies, 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 to be mistaken with the former Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili).

Georgian Mkhedruli script received an official status for being Georgia's internationalized domain name script for (.გე).

Mtavruli letters were added in Unicode version 11.0 in June 2018. They are capital letters with similar letterforms to Mkhedruli, but with descenders shifted above the baseline, with a wider central oval, and with the top slightly higher than the ascender height. Before this addition, font creators included Mtavruli in various ways. Some fonts came in pairs, of which one had lowercase letters and the other uppercase; some Unicode fonts placed Mtavruli letterforms in the Asomtavruli range (U+10A0-U+10CF) or in the Private Use Area, and some ASCII-based ones mapped them to the ASCII capital letters.

Blocks

Georgian characters are found in three Unicode blocks. The first block (U+10A0–U+10FF) is simply called Georgian. Mkhedruli (modern Georgian) occupies the U+10D0–U+10FF range (shown in the bottom half of the first table below) and Asomtavruli occupies the U+10A0–U+10CF range (shown in the top half of the same table). The second block is the Georgian Supplement (U+2D00–U+2D2F), and it contains Nuskhuri.

Non-Unicode encodings

Mac OS Georgian is a character encoding created by Michael Everson for Georgian on classic Mac OS. It is an extended ASCII encoding, using the 128 code points from 0x80 through 0xFF to represent the characters of the Asomtavruli and Mkhedruli scripts plus a number of widely used symbols not included in 7-bit ASCII.

Keyboard layouts

Below is the standard Georgian-language keyboard layout, the traditional layout of manual typewriters.

Gallery of the Script Examples

Gallery of Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli scripts.

Asomtavruli Script Examples

Asomtavruli Inscriptions

File:Bir el Qutt mosaic.png|Bir el Qutt inscriptions, ca. AD 430.

File:Bolnisi inscriptions.png|Bas-relief from Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral, AD 493/494+

File:Doliskana Sumbat.jpg|Doliskana inscriptions, 10th century

File:Ishkhani inscription.jpg|Ishkhani Church, 1006

File:Inscription of Nikortsminda.jpg|Nikortsminda Cathedral Church Inscriptions

File:Barakoni2.jpg|Barakoni Church Inscriptions

</gallery>

Asomtavruli Manuscripts

File:ხანმეტი ოთხთავი.png|Georgian palimpsest, NCM, A-844. Lower-layer Gospel text radiocarbon-dated to the 7th c. Upper layer Gospel Lectionary dateable to 11th cent.

File:Xanmeti Lectionarium 13.jpg|Khanmeti Lectionary, Graz, UBG, MS 2058/1, radiocarbon-dated to the 5th-6th cc.

</gallery>

Nuskhuri Script Examples

File:Georgian Manuscript Iadgari of Mikael Modrekili.jpg|Mikael Modrekili Iadgari (Hymn Book), 10th century

File:საღმრთოჲ ჟამის წირვაჲ წმიდისა იოვანე ოქროპირისაჲ.jpg|Manuscript Scroll comprising the text of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom, Graz, UBG, MS 2058/5, 11th-12th centuries

File:მცირე სჯულისკანონი.png|Minor Nomocanon, NCM, S-143, 11th century

File:Ioane sineli, klemaqsi.png|John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, copied by Nikrai, 1160

File:Jruchi MSS.jpg|Jruchi Gospels, 13th century

File:Mokvi Bible (Page).jpg|Mokvi Gospel, NCA, Q-902, 1300

File:Descent into Hell. John the Evangelist. Vani Gospels A-1335, 210v, 12th c.jpg|Vani Four Gospels, NCA, A-1335; 12th-13th cc.

</gallery>

Mkhedruli Script Examples

File:Bagrat IV royal decree.jpg|Royal charter of King Bagrat IV of Georgia

File:1072 წელი. მეფე გიორგი II-ის სიგელი შიომღვიმის მონასტრისადმი.jpg|Royal charter of King George II of Georgia

File:დავით აღმაშენებლის ავტოგრაფი autograph of georgian king David IV aghmashenebeli.jpg|Royal charter of King David IV of Georgia

File:გიორგი III-ის სიგელი 1170 წ..jpg|Royal charter of King George III of Georgia

File:1202 წელი, ყმების შეწირულების სიგელი მეფე თამარისა შიო მღვიმის მონასტრისადმი.jpg|Royal charter of Queen Tamar of Georgia

File:1222 წელი. ბრძანება ლაშა გიორგისა.jpg|Royal charter of King George IV of Georgia

File:George the Brilliant royal charter.jpg|Royal charter of King George V of Georgia

</gallery>

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Gallery of Mkhedruli, Omniglot page on Mkhedruli which shows some stylistic variations mentioned above
, produced by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. Gives the sound of each letter, illustrates several fonts, and shows the stroke order of each letter.
Lasha Kintsurashvili and Levan Chaganava, submissions to the 2014 International Exhibition of Calligraphy
Reference grammar of Georgian by Howard Aronson (SEELRC, Duke University)

Georgian scripts

Form of Asomtavruli letters

Asomtavruli illumination

Handwriting of Asomtavruli

Nuskhuri

Handwriting of Nuskhuri

Use of Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri today

Mkhedruli

Modern Georgian alphabet

Letters removed from the Georgian alphabet

Typefaces

Punctuation

Summary

Computing

Unicode

Blocks

Non-Unicode encodings

Keyboard layouts

Gallery of the Script Examples

Asomtavruli Script Examples

Asomtavruli Inscriptions

Asomtavruli Manuscripts

Nuskhuri Script Examples

Mkhedruli Script Examples

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

External links