Lycian alphabet

<h2 id="the-alphabet">The alphabet</h2>
<p>The Lycian alphabet<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> contains letters for 29 sounds. Some sounds are represented by more than one symbol, which is considered one "letter". There are six vowel letters, one for each of the four oral vowels of Lycian, and separate letters for two of the four nasal vowels. Nine of the Lycian letters do not appear to derive from the Greek alphabet.
</p>
The Lycian alphabet<table><tbody><tr><th>Lycian letter</th><th>Transliteration</th><th><a href="/facts/International_Phonetic_Alphabet/2e7jmUaG">IPA</a></th><th>Notes</th></tr><tr><td>𐊀</td><td>a</td><td>[a]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊂</td><td>b</td><td>[β]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊄</td><td>g</td><td>[ɣ]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊅</td><td>d</td><td>[ð]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊆</td><td>i</td><td>[i], [ĩ]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊇</td><td>w</td><td>[w]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊈</td><td>z</td><td>[t͡s]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊛</td><td>h</td><td>[h]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊉</td><td>θ</td><td>[θ]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊊</td><td>j or y</td><td>[j]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊋</td><td>k</td><td>[kʲ]</td><td>[ɡʲ] after nasals</td></tr><tr><td>𐊍</td><td>l</td><td>[l] and [l̩]~[əl]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊎</td><td>m</td><td>[m]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊏</td><td>n</td><td>[n]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊒</td><td>u</td><td>[u], [ũ]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊓</td><td>p</td><td>[p]</td><td>[b] after nasals</td></tr><tr><td>𐊔</td><td>κ or c</td><td>[k]? [kʲ]? [h(e)]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊕</td><td>r</td><td>[r] and [r̩]~[ər]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊖</td><td>s</td><td>[s]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊗</td><td>t</td><td>[t]</td><td>[d] after nasals. <i>ñt</i> is [d] as in 𐊑𐊗𐊁𐊎𐊒𐊜𐊍𐊆𐊅𐊀 / <i>Ñtemuχlida</i> for Greek Δημοκλείδης / <i><i>Dēmokleídēs</i></i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>𐊁</td><td>e</td><td>[e]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊙</td><td>ã</td><td>[ã]</td><td>𐊍𐊒𐊖𐊙𐊗𐊕𐊀 / <i>Lusãtra</i> for Greek Λύσανδρος / <i><i>Lúsandros</i></i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>𐊚</td><td>ẽ</td><td>[ẽ]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊐</td><td>m̃</td><td>[m̩], [əm], [m.]</td><td>originally perhaps syllabic [m], later coda [m]</td></tr><tr><td>𐊑</td><td>ñ</td><td>[n̩], [ən], [n.]</td><td>originally perhaps syllabic [n], later coda [n]</td></tr><tr><td>𐊘</td><td>τ</td><td>[tʷ]? [t͡ʃ]?</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>𐊌</td><td>q</td><td>[k]</td><td>[ɡ] after nasals</td></tr><tr><td>𐊃</td><td>β</td><td>[k]? [kʷ]?</td><td>voiced after nasals</td></tr><tr><td>𐊜</td><td>χ</td><td>[q]</td><td>[ɢ] after nasals</td></tr></tbody></table>
<h2 id="numbers">Numbers</h2>
<p>Lycian uses the following number symbols: I (vertical stroke) = 1, < ("less than" sign) (or, rarely, <i>L</i> or C or V or Y) = 5, O (circle) = 10; a horizontal stroke — is one half;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> a symbol somewhat like our letter H may mean 100.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p><p>The number 128½ would therefore be expressed as HOO<III—.
</p>
<h2 id="unicode">Unicode</h2>
<p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Lycian_(Unicode_block)/GPzdCfWU">Lycian (Unicode block)</a></p>
<p>The Lycian alphabet was added to the <a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">Unicode</a> Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1.
It is encoded in Plane 1 (<a href="/facts/Supplementary_Multilingual_Plane/TATj3rUP">Supplementary Multilingual Plane</a>).
</p><p>The Unicode block for Lycian is U+10280–U+1029F:
</p>
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="17"><a href="/facts/Lycian_(Unicode_block)/GPzdCfWU">Lycian</a>[1][2]<a href="https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10280.pdf">Official Unicode Consortium code chart</a> (PDF)</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>7</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>A</td><td>B</td><td>C</td><td>D</td><td>E</td><td>F</td></tr><tr><td>U+1028x</td><td>𐊀</td><td>𐊁</td><td>𐊂</td><td>𐊃</td><td>𐊄</td><td>𐊅</td><td>𐊆</td><td>𐊇</td><td>𐊈</td><td>𐊉</td><td>𐊊</td><td>𐊋</td><td>𐊌</td><td>𐊍</td><td>𐊎</td><td>𐊏</td></tr><tr><td>U+1029x</td><td>𐊐</td><td>𐊑</td><td>𐊒</td><td>𐊓</td><td>𐊔</td><td>𐊕</td><td>𐊖</td><td>𐊗</td><td>𐊘</td><td>𐊙</td><td>𐊚</td><td>𐊛</td><td>𐊜</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan="17">Notes<ol><li>^ As of Unicode version 16.0</li><li>^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points</li></ol></td></tr></tbody></table>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li>Asia portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Letoon_trilingual/uShKeDCG">Letoon trilingual</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Lycian_language/9uotLqML">Lycian language</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<ul><li>Adiego, I. J. (2007). "Greek and Lycian". In Christidis, A. F.; Arapopoulou, Maria; Chriti, Maria (eds.). <i>A History of Ancient Greek From the Beginning to Late Antiquity</i>. Chris Markham (trans.). Cambridge University press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-521-83307-3.. Translator Chris Markham.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Trevor_R._Bryce/KfVejfG1">Bryce, Trevor R.</a> (1986). <i>The Lycians - Volume I: The Lycians in Literary and Epigraphic Sources</i>. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 87-7289-023-1.</li>
<li>Roger D. Woodard, 2007, <i>The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor</i>.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lycian alphabet.

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Michael_Everson/8Se2cLdz">Everson, Michael</a> (2006-02-05). <a href="https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n3019.pdf">"N3019R2: Proposal to encode the Lycian and Lydian scripts in the SMP of the UCS"</a> (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. Retrieved 2024-06-25.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Adiego (2007) page 764. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Bryce (1986) pages 56-57. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Bryce, T. R. (January 1986). "The Pronunciation of Delta in Greek and Lycian". Classical Philology. 81 (1): 56–58. doi:10.1086/366958. JSTOR 269877. S2CID 162200292. First page displayable no charge. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Bryce (1986) page 58. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Laroche, Emmanuel (1979). "L'inscription lycienne". Fouilles de Xanthos. VI: 51–128: 100–101. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Melchert, H. Craig. "The Trilingual Inscription of the Létôon. Lycian Version" (PDF). Achemenet. Retrieved 2021-03-04. <a href="http://www.achemenet.com/pdf/lycian/lyletoon.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.achemenet.com/pdf/lycian/lyletoon.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Lycian alphabet open-in-new

Lycian alphabet