TheGjirokastër alphabet, also known asVeso Bey alphabet (Albanian:Alfabeti i Veso Beut), is one of the originalAlbanian languagealphabets of the 19th century.[1] It is named after the town ofGjirokastër in South Albania where it was first encountered by the scholarJohann Georg von Hahn, also after Veso Bey, a rich localbey from the influential Alizoti family who provided it to Hahn. Hahn published in 1854 in his "Albanesische Studien", inJena.[2]
According to Hahn, the alphabet was given to him by Veso bey, and had been used that far withinAlizoti family circles.[2]
"Finally, another alphabet from southern Albania must be recorded here, one which the present author owes the discovery of to Veso bey, who is one of the most prominent chiefs of Gjirokastër, from the family of the Alisot Pashalides. Veso Bey learned it in his youth from an Albanianhodja as a secret script which his family inherited, and used it himself for correspondence with his relatives.
The alphabet, probably cryptic,[3] contains 22 letters.[4]