Georgian Alphabet

Georgian Alphabet

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The Georgian alphabet is the script currently used to write the Georgian language and other Kartvelian languages (such as Mingrelian), and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus (such as Ossetic in the 1940s).

The modern alphabet has thirty-three letters. Originally it had more, but some letters (selected cells in the tables below) have become obsolete.

Georgian Letters
geo-letters

The Georgian script makes no distinction between upper and lower case. However, certain modern writers have experimented with using Asomtavruli letters (see below) as capitals.

Georgian Asomtavruli (Capital) Letters
geo-letters-asomt111111111111

Sample text in Georgian

ყველა ადამიანი იბადება თავისუფალი და თანასწორი თავისი ღირსებითა და უფლებებით. მათ მინიჭებული აქვთ გონება და სინდისი და ერთმანეთის მიმართ უნდა იქცეოდნენ ძმობის სულისკვეთებით.

Transliteration

Qvela adamiani ibadeba t’avisup’ali da t’anascori tavisi ġirsebit’a da uplebebit’. Mat miničebuli ak’vt’ goneba da sindisi da ert’manet’is mimart’ unda ik’c’eodnen żmobis suliskvet’ebit’.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

History of the alphabet

A 5th-century plate from Bolnisi with one of the oldest forms of the Georgian alphabet

The oldest uncontroversial examples of Georgian writing are an asomtavruli inscription in a church in Bethlehem from 430 CE. Gamkrelidze 1990 (Alphabetic Writing and the Old Georgian script) argues that it must have followed the advent of Christianity in Georgia (c. 337 CE), and that the forms of the letters are freely invented in imitation of the Greek model. However, many of the letter forms are similar to contemporary Sassanian Persian and Sogdian scripts, while the left-to-right writing direction and the order of the alphabet are Greek.

Older Armenian sources attribute the alphabet to Saint Mesrop Mashtots, who is credited with the invention of the Armenian alphabet, but this is not generally accepted.

There are other interpretations. One of the more contentious is that the asomtavruli alphabet was invented in 412 BC by Georgian priests of the cult of Matra (Persian Mithra), and reformed in 284 BC by king Parnavaz I of Iberia.

The Asomtavruli alphabet is known also as Mrgvlovani (“rounded”). Examples of it are still preserved in monumental inscriptions, such as those of the Georgian church in Bethlehem (near Jerusalem, 430) and the church of Bolnisi Sioni near Tbilisi (4th-5th centuries). Older Asomtavruli inscriptions have been claimed to date from pre-Christian times, the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. These were found in Armaztsikhe (near Mtskheta) and Nekresi (in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia), in 1940 and 1995–2003 by the scientific expeditions of Simon Janashia (1900-1947) and Levan Chilashvili. The inscriptions from Armaztsikhe were investigated by Pavle Ingorokva.

Georgian Scripts

The Nuskhuri (“minuscule”) or Kutkhovani (“squared”) script first appeared in the ninth century. Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri, collectively known as Khutsuri (ხუცური, or “church script”), were used together to write religious manuscripts, with the Asomtavruli serving as capital letters.

The modern alphabet, called Mkhedruli (მხედრული, “secular” or “military writing”), first appeared in the eleventh century. It was used for non-religious purposes up until the eighteenth century, when it completely replaced Khutsuri. Georgian linguists claim that the orthography is phonemic.

Georgian Alphabet

# I II III IV V VI
1 Asomtavruli - an Nuskhuri - an Mkhedruli - an an 1 a
2 Asomtavruli - ban Nuskhuri - ban Mkhedruli - ban ban 2 b
3 Asomtavruli - gan Nuskhuri - gan Mkhedruli - gan gan 3 g
4 Asomtavruli - don Nuskhuri - don Mkhedruli - don don 4 d
5 Asomtavruli - en Nuskhuri - en Mkhedruli - en en 5 e
6 Asomtavruli - vin Nuskhuri - vin Mkhedruli - vin vin 6 v
7 Asomtavruli - zen Nuskhuri - zen Mkhedruli - zen zen 7 z
8 Asomtavruli - he Nuskhuri - he Mkhedruli - he he 8
9 Asomtavruli - tan Nuskhuri - tan Mkhedruli - tan tan 9 t
10 Asomtavruli - in Nuskhuri - in Mkhedruli - in in 10 i
11 Asomtavruli - kan Nuskhuri - kan Mkhedruli - kan kan 20 k’
12 Asomtavruli - las Nuskhuri - las Mkhedruli - las las 30 l
13 Asomtavruli - man Nuskhuri - man Mkhedruli - man man 40 m
14 Asomtavruli - nar Nuskhuri - nar Mkhedruli - nar nar 50 n
15 Asomtavruli - je Nuskhuri - je Mkhedruli - je je 60
16 Asomtavruli - on Nuskhuri - on Mkhedruli - on on 70 o
17 Asomtavruli - par Nuskhuri - par Mkhedruli - par par 80 p’
18 Asomtavruli - zhar Nuskhuri - zhar Mkhedruli - zhar zhar 90 zh
19 Asomtavruli - rae Nuskhuri - rae Mkhedruli - rae rae 100 r
20 Asomtavruli - san Nuskhuri - san Mkhedruli - san san 200 s
21 Asomtavruli - tar Nuskhuri - tar Mkhedruli - tar tar 300 t’
22 Asomtavruli - wie Nuskhuri - wie Mkhedruli - wie wie
23 Asomtavruli - un Nuskhuri - un Mkhedruli - un un 400 u
24 Asomtavruli - phar Nuskhuri - phar Mkhedruli - phar phar 500 p
25 Asomtavruli - khar Nuskhuri - khar Mkhedruli - khar khar 600 k
26 Asomtavruli - ghan Nuskhuri - ghan Mkhedruli - ghan ghan 700 gh
27 Asomtavruli - qar Nuskhuri - qar Mkhedruli - qar qar 800 q’
28 Asomtavruli - shin Nuskhuri - shin Mkhedruli - shin shin 900 sh
29 Asomtavruli - chin Nuskhuri - chin Mkhedruli - chin chin 1000 ch
30 Asomtavruli - can Nuskhuri - can Mkhedruli - can can 2000 ts
31 Asomtavruli - jil Nuskhuri - jil Mkhedruli - jil jil 3000 dz
32 Asomtavruli - cil Nuskhuri - cil Mkhedruli - cil cil 4000 ts’
33 Asomtavruli - char Nuskhuri - char Mkhedruli - char char 5000 ch’
34 Asomtavruli - xan Nuskhuri - xan Mkhedruli - xan xan 6000 kh
35 Asomtavruli - xar Nuskhuri - xar Mkhedruli - xar xar 7000
36 Asomtavruli - jhan Nuskhuri - jhan Mkhedruli - jhan jhan 8000 j
37 Asomtavruli - hae Nuskhuri - hae Mkhedruli - hae hae 9000 h
38 Asomtavruli - oh Nuskhuri - oh Mkhedruli - oh oh 10000

The Georgian alphabet

I: Asomtavruli (“capital”) or Mrgvlovani (“rounded”): oldest alphabet
II: Nuskhuri (“minuscule”) or Kutkhovani (“squared”), also Khutsuri (“church script”): mainly miniscules for Asomtavruli
III: Mkhedruli (“secular” or “military writing””): the modern alphabet
IV: names of the letters
V: numeric values of the letters
VI: Latin transcription