Old Permic

Old Permic alphabet

Origin

The Old Permic or Abur alphabet was created in the 14th century by the
Russian missionary Stepan Khrap (1373- 1395), who become St Stephen of Perm.
It was modelled on the Greek and Cyrillic
alphabets, but many of the letters resemble the Komi religious "Tamga
signs". The alphabet was used for about 300 years until the 17th
century.

Used to write:

Komi (Коми), which is also known as
Zyrian, or Komi-Zyrian, is spoken by about 350,000 people mainly in the Komi
Republic (Коми Республика)
in the northeast of European Russia. There are also some Komi speakers
in Perm. It is a member of the Permic subgroup, along with Udmurt, of the Finno-Ugric
branch of the Uralic language family.

There are two main dialects of Komi: Komi-Zyrian, which is spoken in the Komi
Republic and is the basis for the written language; and Komi-Yazva or Komi-Permyak,
which is spoken by a small number of people in Perm and the south of the Komi Republic.

Komi was written with the Old Permic or Abur alphabet from the 14th century to the
16th century, when the Cyrillic alphabet was adapted to write the language. During
the 1930s and 1940s Komi was written with a version of the Latin alphabet, then the
Cyrillic alphabet made a come back.

Old Permic (Abur) alphabet

Old Permic alphabet

The images on this page are based on fonts created by Micheal Everson
(www.evertype.com)

Cyrillic alphabet for Komi

Cyrillic alphabet for Komi

Sample text in Komi-Permyak (Lord’s Prayer)

Sample text in Komi-Permyak (Lord's Prayer)

http://www.language-museum.com/encyclopedia/k/komi-permyak.php

Sample text in Komi-Zyrian

Sample text in Komi-Permyak (Lord's Prayer)

Translation

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light
of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness
comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
John, 1: 1-6

http://www.language-museum.com/encyclopedia/k/komi-zyrian.php

Links

Introduction to Old Permic writing and the Komi language (in Russian)
http://www.peoples.org.ru/abur.html

Information about the Komi language and people (in English)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komi_language

Information about the Komi Republic (in Russian)
http://www.rkomi.ru/

  • Categoria dell'articolo:Lingue
  • Tempo di lettura:3 minuti di lettura