Belarusian Arabic alphabet
Encyclopedia
The Belarusian Arabic alphabet was based on the Arabic script and was developed in the 16th century (possibly 15th). It consisted of twenty-eight graphemes, including several additions to represent Belarusian
sound
s not found in Arabic
.
The Belarusian Arabic alphabet was used by the Lipka Tatars
, who had been invited to settle on Belarusian territories. During the 14th–16th centuries they gradually stopped using their own language and started using the Old Belarusian language
rendered in the Belarusian Arabic alphabet. Books of that literary tradition are known as Kitab , which is the Arabic word for book.
Some Polish texts were also written in the Arabic script, dated not earlier than 17th century.
and
These graphemes were used during the 18th-20th centuries.
Source: :be-x-old:Беларускі альфабэт
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
sound
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s not found in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
.
The Belarusian Arabic alphabet was used by the Lipka Tatars
Lipka Tatars
The Lipka Tatars are a group of Tatars who originally settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of 14th century. The first settlers tried to preserve their shamanistic religion and sought asylum amongst the non-Christian Lithuanians...
, who had been invited to settle on Belarusian territories. During the 14th–16th centuries they gradually stopped using their own language and started using the Old Belarusian language
Old Belarusian language
Old Belarusian was a historic East Slavic language, written and spoken at least in the 14th–17th century, and reported spoken as late as the very beginning of the 19th century, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the East Slavic territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, probably...
rendered in the Belarusian Arabic alphabet. Books of that literary tradition are known as Kitab , which is the Arabic word for book.
Some Polish texts were also written in the Arabic script, dated not earlier than 17th century.
Additional graphemes
- For the sounds /ʒ/ (ж), /tʃ/ (ч) and /p/ (п), which are absent from the Arabic languageArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, the following Persian graphemes were used:
- For denoting the soft /dz/ (дз) and /ts/ (ц) sounds, the following newly-constructed graphemes were used:
andThese graphemes were used during the 18th-20th centuries.
- The sounds /w/ (ў) and /v/ (в) were both represented by the same symbol:
Equivalence chart
As only consonants were written, there do not seem to be equivalents for vowels.| Cyrillic | Latin | Arabic |
| Б, б | B, b | ب |
| Ц, ц | C, c | |
| Ч, ч | Č, č | چ |
| Х, х | CH, ch | خ |
| Д, д | D, d | د |
| ДЖ, дж | DŽ, dž | ج |
| Ф, ф | F, f | ف |
| Ґ, ґ | G, g | غ |
| Г, г | H, h | ه |
| Й, й | J, j | ى |
| К, к | K, k | ق |
| Л, л | Ł, ł | ل |
| М, м | M, m | م |
| Н, н | N, n | ن |
| П, п | P, p | پ |
| Р, р | R, r | ر |
| С, с | S, s | ص |
| Ш, ш | Š, š | ش |
| Т, т | T, t | ط |
| Ў, ў | Ŭŭ | و |
| В, в | Vv | و |
| З, з | Zz | ض |
| Ж, ж | Žž | ژ |
| ЦЬ, ць | Ćć | س |
| ДЗЬ, дзь | DŹ, dź | |
| ЛЬ, ль | L, l | ل |
| НЬ, нь | Ń, ń | ن |
| СЬ, сь | Ś, ś | ث |
| ЗЬ, зь | Ź, ź | ز |
| ТЬ, ть | TJ, tj | ت |
| КЬ, кь | KJ, kj | ك |
| ' | – | ع |
| Ь, ь | – | - |
Source: :be-x-old:Беларускі альфабэт
External links
- Kitabs, the unique highlight of the Belarusian language at pravapis.org
See also
- Belarusian Latin alphabetBelarusian Latin alphabetThe Belarusian Latin alphabet or Łacinka is the common name of the several historical alphabets to render the Belarusian text in Latin script.-Use:...
- ArebicaArebicaArebica or arabica was a variant of the Perso-Arabic script used to write the Bosnian language. It was used mainly between the 15th and 19th centuries. Before WWI there were unsuccessful efforts by Muslims to officially adopt Arebica as the third alphabet for Bosnian alongside Latin and Cyrillic...
– modified Arabic script used for the Bosnian languageBosnian languageBosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....