Old Permic script
Encyclopedia
The Old Permic script, sometimes called Abur or Anbur, is an original ancient Permic writing system
.
n missionary, Stepan Khrap, also known as Saint Stephen of Perm
(Степан Храп, св. Стефан Пермский) in 1372. The name Abur is derived from the names of the first two characters: An and Bur. The alphabet derived from Cyrillic and Greek
, and Komi
tribal signs, the latter being similar in the appearance to runes or siglas poveiras
, because they were created by incisions, rather than by usual writing.
The alphabet was in use until the 17th century, when it was superseded by the Cyrillic alphabet
. Abur was also used as cryptographic writing for the Russian language
.
April 26, which is the saint's day of Stephen of Perm, is celebrated as Old Permic Alphabet Day.
, which had been written using the Old Hungarian script
first, then with the Latin script after 1000. For comparison, Finnish
as a written language only appeared
after the Reformation
in 1543. However, an isolated birch bark letter
, found in 1957 in Novgorod and written in a Finnic language
has been dated to the beginning of the 13th century.
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
.
History
The alphabet was introduced by a RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n missionary, Stepan Khrap, also known as Saint Stephen of Perm
Stephen of Perm
Saint Stephen of Perm was a fourteenth century missionary credited with the conversion of the Komi Permyaks to Christianity and the establishment of the Bishopric of Perm'. Stephen also created the Old Permic script, which makes him the founding-father of Permian written tradition...
(Степан Храп, св. Стефан Пермский) in 1372. The name Abur is derived from the names of the first two characters: An and Bur. The alphabet derived from Cyrillic and Greek
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
, and Komi
Komi language
The Komi language is a Finno-Permic language spoken by the Komi peoples in the northeastern European part of Russia. Komi is one of the two members of the Permic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric branch...
tribal signs, the latter being similar in the appearance to runes or siglas poveiras
Siglas poveiras
The siglas poveiras is a proto-writing system that has been used by the local community of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal for many generations. The siglas were primarily used as a signature for family coat-of-arms in order to mark family belongings...
, because they were created by incisions, rather than by usual writing.
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
. Abur was also used as cryptographic writing for the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
April 26, which is the saint's day of Stephen of Perm, is celebrated as Old Permic Alphabet Day.
Significance
The Abur inscriptions are among the oldest relics of the Uralic languages. Only one of these languages has earlier documents: HungarianHungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, which had been written using the Old Hungarian script
Old Hungarian script
The Old Hungarian script is an alphabetic writing system used by the Hungarians before the Middle Ages...
first, then with the Latin script after 1000. For comparison, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
as a written language only appeared
Mikael Agricola
Mikael Agricola was a clergyman who became the de facto founder of written Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden . He is often called the "father of the Finnish written language". Agricola was consecrated as the bishop of Turku in 1554, without papal approval...
after the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in 1543. However, an isolated birch bark letter
Birch bark letter no. 292
The Birch bark letter given the document number 292 is the oldest known document in any Finnic language. The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century...
, found in 1957 in Novgorod and written in a Finnic language
Finnic languages
The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages....
has been dated to the beginning of the 13th century.
External links
- (Russian) Abur at Minority languages of Russia on the Net
- Michael EversonMichael EversonMichael Everson is a linguist, script encoder, typesetter, and font designer. His central area of expertise is with writing systems of the world, specifically in the representation of these systems in formats for computer and digital media...
's Unicode proposal for encoding Old Permic script (PDF) - Abur on Omniglot.com