| Old Permic Abur 𐍐𐍝𐍑𐍣𐍠[1] | |
|---|---|
 Komi-Zyryan alphabet, created byStephen of Perm. The alphabet is transposed with the names in Cyrillic and the modern Komi alphabet. | |
| Script type | alphabet |
Time period | 1372–17th century |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Komi |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Perm(227), Old Permic |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Old Permic |
| U+10350–U+1037F Final Accepted Script Proposal | |
TheOld Permic script (Komi:Важ Перым гижӧм,𐍮𐍐𐍕 𐍟𐍔𐍠𐍨𐍜 𐍒𐍙𐍕𐍞𐍜,Važ Perym gižöm), sometimes known by its initial two characters asAbur orAnbur, is a "highly idiosyncratic adaptation"[2] of theCyrillic script once used to write medievalKomi (a member of thePermic branch ofFinno-Ugric languages).[1]
The script was introduced by a Russian missionary,Stephen of Perm, in 1372. The nameAbur is derived from the names of the first two characters:An andBur. The script derived fromCyrillic andGreek, withKomi "Rödvužpas"Tamga" signs, the latter being similar in the appearance torunes orsiglas poveiras because they were created by incisions rather than by usual writing. The inclusion of the latter aided the script to greater acceptance among the medieval Permic speakers of the time.
The script was in use until the 17th century, when it was superseded by theCyrillic script. Abur was also used as cryptographic writing for theRussian language.
April 26, which is the feast day of Stephen of Perm, is celebrated as Old Permic Alphabet Day.
The Abur inscriptions are among the oldest relics of theUralic languages. Only one of them has earlier documents:Hungarian, which had been written using theOld Hungarian script first before the Latin script was used after 1000.
For comparison, an isolatedbirch bark letter, found inNovgorod and written inCyrillic in aFinnic language, has been dated to the beginning of the 13th century andFinnish as a written languageappeared only after theReformation in 1543.
Lytkin's 1952 work is often considered the authoritative source of documentation for this script.[3] There are 24 primary characters, along with 10 secondary characters that are subordinate to the primary characters. There are also some combining marks that may have been used for phonological purposes, in addition to some combining letters from Latin and Cyrillic that have been found as well. Spaces, middle dots, and semi-apostrophes have also been seen as punctuation in documents. A Cyrillic combiningtitlo is used to indicate numerals.
Old Permic (U+10350–1037F) was added to theUnicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.
| Old Permic[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+1035x | 𐍐 | 𐍑 | 𐍒 | 𐍓 | 𐍔 | 𐍕 | 𐍖 | 𐍗 | 𐍘 | 𐍙 | 𐍚 | 𐍛 | 𐍜 | 𐍝 | 𐍞 | 𐍟 |
| U+1036x | 𐍠 | 𐍡 | 𐍢 | 𐍣 | 𐍤 | 𐍥 | 𐍦 | 𐍧 | 𐍨 | 𐍩 | 𐍪 | 𐍫 | 𐍬 | 𐍭 | 𐍮 | 𐍯 |
| U+1037x | 𐍰 | 𐍱 | 𐍲 | 𐍳 | 𐍴 | 𐍵 | 𐍶 | 𐍷 | 𐍸 | 𐍹 | 𐍺 | |||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||