Ossetian alphabet

Ossetian script is the script used to write the Ossetian language. Over the course of its existence, its graphic base has changed several times and has been repeatedly reformed. Currently, the Ossetian script is written using the Cyrillic alphabet.

The history of Ossetian writing is divided into five stages:

Before 1844 – early attempts to create a writing system based on the Cyrillic and Georgian scripts;
1844–1923 – the Sjögren-Miller alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet;
1923–1938 – writing based on the Latin alphabet;
1938–1954 – parallel existence of writing systems based on the Cyrillic and Georgian scripts;
Since 1954 – writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Early alphabets

The oldest surviving example of Ossetian writing is the Zelenchuk Inscription—a 10th century tombstone written in Greek letters in the Digor dialect of Ossetian. The text was deciphered by Vsevolod Miller and clarified by Vasily Abaev. No Ossetian texts were recorded in later periods.

In the mid-18th century, under the Georgian king Erekle II, Georgian Orthodox missionaries began translating church books into Ossetian. The first such book was printed in 1753 using the Georgian alphabet with the addition of special characters for the Ossetian language.

thumb|320px|left|"Small Catechism" of 1798. Parallel text, Ossetian on the right

In 1764, the Russian authorities opened a school in Mozdok to train missionaries and officials from among newly baptized Ossetians. Children were taught in Russian, which was not producing the desired results. For this reason, it was decided to develop an Ossetian written language and translate a number of liturgical books into it. One of the most active missionaries, Gai (Takaov), compiled an Ossetian alphabet based on Cyrillic Church Slavonic letters, and in 1798, the "Small Catechism" was published in this alphabet with parallel texts in Church Slavonic and Ossetian (in Takaov's translation). This alphabet did not undergo further development.

In the early 19th century, the translator and official Ioane Yalguzidze translated a number of documents from Georgian into Ossetian. He used Georgian letters. In 1819, he published an Ossetian prayer book and primer, which used the clerical version of the Georgian script—khutsuri—with the addition of several letters for specific Ossetian sounds. Later, between 1820 and 1824, several more ecclesiastical books were published in this alphabet. This alphabet, too, was not widely used.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, some scholars (Peter Simon Pallas, Julius Klaproth, Johann Anton Güldenstädt, and others) compiled lists of words in the Ossetian language using various graphic systems. From the perspective of the evolution of writing and the spread of literacy in the Ossetian language, these experiments were not continued.

Sjögren-Miller alphabet

thumb|300px|Sjögren alphabet

thumb|300px|Chepigovsky alphabet

thumb|300px|The first Ossetian alphabet based on Cyrillic (the "Sjögren alphabet"). The first issue of the newspaper "[[Ræstdzinad", March 14, 1923]]

The credit for creating a fully-fledged Ossetian written language goes to Academician Anders Sjögren. In the 1830s, he began researching the Ossetian language. This work resulted in the publication of the Ossetian Grammar in 1844, along with a Russian-Ossetian and Ossetian-Russian dictionary. In this grammar, the author explains in detail the phonetics of the Ossetian language and the correspondence of sounds to the alphabet he developed.

Several more versions of the Ossetian script were created based on Sjögren's alphabet. For example, in 1862, Iosif Chepigovsky compiled an alphabet that had the following form: а ӕ б в г ҕ д ꚉ ԫ е з і ј к ӄ q л м н о п ҧ р с т ꚋ ӯ ў ф х ц ҵ ч ꚓ ѵ. Several books were published in it by the end of the 19th century.

The logical continuation of the development of Sjögren's alphabet was the alphabet proposed by Academician Vsevolod Miller in 1879. In it, compared to Sjögren's alphabet, the outlines of a number of letters were modified and the overall number of symbols was reduced. The cultural development of Ossetia, which began in the 1860s (the construction of schools, the emergence of secular literature (including the works of Kosta Khetagurov)) contributed to the spread of the Sjögren-Miller alphabet and its transformation into a unified national script. In 1923, a competition for the best alphabet design was announced, but no winner emerged. Soon, based on the submitted designs, the People's Commissariat of Education of the Mountain ASSR compiled a Latinized Ossetian alphabet. After the alphabet was agreed upon with South Ossetia in 1923, it was approved and immediately began to be implemented in education and the press. The ligatures and letters with diacritics that existed in the Sjögren-Miller alphabet were replaced with digraphs, which was met with criticism. which is why the alphabet was not unified with other alphabets of the peoples of the USSR.

According to the journal "Culture and Writing of the East" (No. 1, 1928) («Культура и письменность Востока» (№ 1, 1928 год)), the first version of the Ossetian Latinized alphabet had the following form: a в c d e f i g h j k l m n o p r s t u v z æ y u q x ś ż t’ p’ k’ c’ ç ç’ dz dž į, while there were differences in the recording of individual consonants in North and South Ossetia. However, the alphabet actually used (after the exclusion of the letters W w and Ꜧ ꜧ from it in the mid-1920s) looked like this:

{| class=standard cellpadding=5 style="font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 2.5em; text-align: center;"

| style=«width:3em;» |A a

| style=«width:3em;» |Æ æ

| style=«width:3em;» |B b

| style=«width:3em;» |C c

| style=«width:3em;» |Ch ch

| style=«width:3em;» |Č č

| style=«width:3em;» |Čh čh

| style=«width:3em;» |D d

| style=«width:3em;» |Dz dz

| style=«width:3em;» |Dž dž

| style=«width:3em;» |E e

| style=«width:3em;» |F f

| style=«width:3em;» |G g

| style=«width:3em;» |H h

| style=«width:3em;» |I i

| style=«width:3em;» |J j

| style=«width:3em;» |K k

| style=«width:3em;» |Kh kh

| style=«width:3em;» |L l

| style=«width:3em;» |M m

| style=«width:3em;» |N n

| style=«width:3em;» |O o

| style=«width:3em;» |P p

| style=«width:3em;» |Ph ph

| style=«width:3em;» |Q q

| style=«width:3em;» |R r

| style=«width:3em;» |S s

| style=«width:3em;» |Š š

| style=«width:3em;» |T t

| style=«width:3em;» |Th th

| style=«width:3em;» |U u

| style=«width:3em;» |V v

| style=«width:3em;» |X x

| style=«width:3em;» |Y y

| style=«width:3em;» |Z z

This alphabet was used until 1938.

Georgian alphabet

thumb|320px|An example of Ossetian list in Georgian script. Preface to a book published in 1940.

In 1938, in the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, which was part of the Georgian SSR, the Ossetian script was converted to the Georgian alphabet (while in the North Ossetian Autonomous Republic, which was part of the RSFSR, the Cyrillic alphabet began to be used that same year). Thus, in the two Ossetian autonomous regions, two parallel writing systems coexisted at that time. The Georgian alphabet for the Ossetian language included all the letters of the Georgian alphabet, as well as ჷ ჲ ჳ ჶ ჽ. In 1954, this script was abolished, and the Cyrillic alphabet, the same as in North Ossetia, was introduced in South Ossetia. In 1954, the Ossetian script in South Ossetia was also converted to the Cyrillic alphabet.

The six labialized consonant sounds of Ossetian do not have their own letters but are represented by di- and trigraphs: , , , , , . These are not considered distinct letters of the alphabet.

Correspondence chart

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

|- style="font-size: 80%"

! Current alphabet (since 1938)

! Sjögren’s alphabet (1844)

! Miller’s alphabet (1881)

! Alphabet of the Teachers' Congress (1917)

! Latinized alphabet (1923—1938)

! Georgian-based alphabet (South Osetia, 1938—1954)

! IPA (iron dialect)

! IPA (digor dialect)

| А а ||colspan=3|А а || A a || ა || ||

| Ӕ ӕ || colspan=3|Ӕ ӕ || Æ æ || ჽ || ||

| Б б || colspan=3|Б б || B b || ბ ||colspan=2|

| В в || colspan=3|В в || V v || ვ ||colspan=2|

| Г г || colspan=3|Г г || G g || გ ||colspan=2|

| Гъ гъ || Ҕ ҕ ||Г̓ г̓ || H h || Ꜧ ꜧ, H h || ღ || ||

| Д д || colspan=3|Д д || D d || დ ||colspan=2|

| Дз дз || colspan=2|Ꚉ ꚉ || Z z || Dz dz || ძ || ~ ||

| Дж дж || Ԫ ԫ || Џ џ || G g || Dž dž || ჯ || || —

| Е е || colspan=3 |Е е || E e || ე || ||

| Ё ё || colspan=5| — ||colspan=2|

| Ж ж || colspan=3|Ж ж || Ž ž || ჟ || || —

| З з || colspan=3|З з || Z z || ზ ||~||,

| И и || colspan=3|І і || I i || ი || || ,

| Й й || colspan=3|Ј ј || J j || ჲ |||| —

| К к || colspan=3|К к || K k || ქ ||colspan=2|

| Къ къ || Ӄ ӄ || К̓ к̓ || Ӄ ӄ || Kh kh || კ ||colspan=2|

| Л л || colspan=3|Л л || L l || ლ ||colspan=2|

| М м || colspan=3|М м || M m || მ ||colspan=2|

| Н н || colspan=3|Н н || N n || ნ ||colspan=2|

| О о || colspan=3|О о || O o || ო || ||

| П п || colspan=3|П п || P p || ფ ||colspan=2|

| Пъ пъ || Ҧ ҧ || П̓ п̓ || Ҧ ҧ || Ph ph || პ ||colspan=2|

| Р р || colspan=3|Р р || R r || რ ||colspan=2|

| С с || colspan=3|С с || S s || ს ||~||,

| Т т || colspan=3 |Т т || T t || თ ||colspan=2|

| Тъ тъ || Ꚋ ꚋ || Т̓ т̓ || Ꚋ ꚋ || Th th || ტ ||colspan=2|

| У у || colspan=3|У у, Ў ў || U u, W w || უ, ჳ ||, ||

| Ф ф || colspan=3|Ф ф || F f || ჶ ||colspan=2|

| Х х || colspan=3|Х х || X x || ხ || ||

| Хъ хъ || colspan=3|Ԛ ԛ || Q q || ყ ||colspan=2|

| Ц ц || colspan=3|Ц ц || C c || ც ||~ || ,

| Цъ цъ || Ҵ ҵ || Ц̓ ц̓ || Ҵ ҵ || Ch ch || წ || || ,

| Ч ч || colspan=3|Ч ч || Č č || ჩ || || —

| Чъ чъ || Ꚓ ꚓ || Ч̓ ч̓ || Ꚓ ꚓ || Čh čh || ჭ || || —

| Ш ш || Ш ш || colspan="2"| — || Š š || შ |||| —

| Щ щ || colspan="5"| — |||| —

| ъ || colspan="7"| —

| Ы ы || colspan="3"|Ѵ ѵ || Y y || ჷ || || —

| ь || colspan=7| —

| Э э || colspan=5| — |||| —

| Ю ю || colspan=5| — |||| —

| Я я || colspan=5| — |||| —

Notes

References

Bibliography

. Доступен также более чистый скан книги по репринту 2009 года .
Осетинские тексты // Записки Императорской академіи наук. Том 14, Выпуск 2. СПб.: Императорская академія наук, 1868.