Armenian alphabet

From Freepedia

Saint Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet in 405 AD. It is used for the Armenian language.

edit

History of the Alphabet
Wadi el-Hol 19th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Paleo-Hebrew 9th c. BC Samaritan 6th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Hebrew 3rd c. BC Avestan 3th c. Brāhmī 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Arabic 4th c. Greek 8th c. BC Old Italic 8th c. BC Runes 2nd c. Latin 7th c. BC Gothic 4th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic 10th c. South Arabian 9th c. BC Ethiopic 3rd-4th c.
Meroitic 3rd c. BC

Various scripts have been credited with being the prototype for the Armenian alphabet, including Pahlavi, Syriac, and Phoenician. However, the order of the letters, the use of the digraph ou for the vowel [u], and a noticeable similarity of letter forms to cursive Greek suggests that it was likely based on the Greek alphabet.

Alphabet:

	Name	Lowercase	Uppercase	Transliteration	num. Value
1	Ayb	ա	Ա	a	1
2	Ben	բ	Բ	b	2
3	Gim	գ	Գ	g	3
4	Da	դ	Դ	d	4
5	Yech`	ե	Ե	e	5
6	Za	զ	Զ	z	6
7	Eh	է	Է	ē	7
8	Ët`	ը	Ը	ə	8
9	T`o	թ	Թ	t῾	9
10	Zhe	ժ	Ժ	ž	10
11	Ini	ի	Ի	i	20
12	Liun	լ	Լ	l	30
13	Xeh	խ	Խ	x	40
14	C'a	ծ	Ծ	c	50
15	Ken	կ	Կ	k	60
16	Ho	հ	Հ	h	70
17	Dz'a	ձ	Ձ	j	80
18	Ghat	ղ	Ղ	ł	90
19	Cheh	ճ	Ճ	č	100
20	Men	մ	Մ	m	200
21	Yi	յ	Յ	y	300
22	Nu	ն	Ն	n	400
23	Sha	շ	Շ	š	500
24	Vo	ո	Ո	o	600
25	Ch`a	չ	Չ	č῾	700
26	Peh	պ	Պ	p	800
27	Jheh	ջ	Ջ	ǰ	900
28	Rra	ռ	Ռ	ṙ	1000
29	Seh	ս	Ս	s	2000
30	Vew	վ	Վ	v	3000
31	Tiun	տ	Տ	t	4000
32	Reh	ր	Ր	r	5000
33	C`o	ց	Ց	č	6000
34	Hiun	ւ	Ւ	w	7000
35	P`iur	փ	Փ	p῾	8000
36	K`eh	ք	Ք	k῾	9000
37	Oh	օ	Օ	ō	10000
38	Feh	ֆ	Ֆ	f	20000

Modifiers and punctuation:

Name	Character
Small Ligature Ech` Wiwn (functions as an ampersand)	և
Modifier letters
Modifier Letter Left Half Ring	ՙ
Apostrophe = Armenian Modifier Letter Right Half Ring	՚
Modifier Emphasis Mark = Shesht	՛
Punctuation
Exclamation Mark = Bac`aganch`akan Nshan	՜
Comma = Bowt`	՝
Question Mark = Harc`akan Nshan	՞
Abbreviation Mark = Patiw	՟
Full Stop = Verjhaket	։
Hyphen = Ent`amnay	֊

See also

• Armenian language
• ISO 9985