Script

letter Az on Glagolitic alley between the towns Hum and Roč, Croatia

The Glagolitic script also known as Glagoljica is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The oldest records are dated to 9th century CE, but the emergence of Glagolitic is for researchers but also for the interested still shrouded with secrecy. About this, there are dozens of different theories, but none of them could be entirely confirmed without any arguments.

The holy brothers, st. Cyrill and st. Methodius

The most widely accepted theory of Glagolitic origin is that the script was created by divine inspiration of st. Cyrill. According to this theory, the Glagolitic azbuka was created by Constantine-Cyrill just before he went to Moravia on a call of the Moravian duke Rastislav in year 863 CE. This theory was fully developed in the late 18th century, along with the emergence of scientific Slavic studies. 
Constantine was Greek, born in Thessaloniki in 826. or 827., he was, as well as his older brother Methodius (815-885 CE), a child of a Byzantine high military officer. Thessaloniki was in that time a great metropolis whose surroundings were widely inhabited by Slavs, so both brothers were well educated in Slavic language and customs. According to Hrvatski Ljetopis (Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja) duke Rastislav has sent a delegation to Byzantine emperor Michael with a request to send him Christian catechists who could preach in duke's own language. Emperor entrusted this task to Constantine, who devoted himself in prayers, compiled the letters and started translating The Gospel of John: “Iskoni be slovo, i slovo be Bog, i Bog be beseda…” (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God). Later he came to Rome, took monastic name Cyrill, but died in 869 CE, soon after his arrival.

Leonardo da Vinci: "St. Jerome in the Wilderness " c. 1480

The next most important theory is that Glagolitic azbuka was created by st. Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus). This is also the longest running theory about its origin. 

He translated the most of sacred books from Greek and Hebrew into Latin language thus creating the Vulgate, a translation of the Bible that is still used by the Catholic Church. Many of his epistels are also preserved, and in one of them, sent to his Roman friend Marcella, he even provided a famous list of ten holy names of God. He was of pagan Illyrian parents born c. 347 at Stridon, unknown place on the border between Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia. During his study in Rome, he was eventually baptized, and went to become one of the most educated people of his time. After his long time friend and patron, pope Damasus died in 384, he became fascinated with ascetic, life, went to Holy Land, where he founded a monastery, and continued his writtings. He died somewhere near Betlehem at september 30th 420.

The theory that st. Jerome is the author of Glagolitic script appeared later than the 13^th century, and it mainly relies on the letter of Pope Innocent IV, who has sent it to the bishop Philip of Senj. It was just after the time when the priesthood which has been conducting the Slavic liturgy, tried to avoid the embarrassment with Rome because of its declaration of st. Methodius as a heretic. For this reason, and also because there has not been found any reliable evidence that confirms Jerome's "involvement" in the creation of any script, the said theory is almost entirely discarded from the mid-19th century until today.

"Baščanska ploča" - The Baška Tablet, oldest monument written in Croatian language and Glagolitic script from around 1100. This is replica made inside the st. Lucia church where it was originally found. The text contains the earliest mention of any Croatian ruler in the native language (king Dmitar Zvonimir, died 1089) as well as Croat national name written in Croatian

The latest theory is actually a result of modern studies on the arrival and origins of Croats, and it was mainly developed and popularized by dr. Marko Japundžić (1914-2000), Franciscan friar of the Third Order, theologian and archaeologist. It was created in the early 20th century, but during the Yugoslav section of Croatian history was severely obstructed through the idea of expansion of south Slavic unity. Given that the Glagolitic alphabet in its form and liturgy was used mainly by the Croats and undoubtedly preserved on the wider Croatian territory, so in this way it is specifically related to Croatia and Croats, their migration, culture and religious practices. The Croatian language and Glagolitic script have many Gothic, Celtic, Armenian, Greek, Slavic, Hungarian, Iranian, Hebrew and Latin influences that are apparent not only in the form of certain letters, but also their order, numerical values, and their names. The fact is that any of the key sources never directly stated exactly what script was created by Constantine-Cyril, nor how that script really looked like. In any case, there are many holes inside the theories that occurrence of Glagolitic script associate with a particular person, and much evidence came out about the natural development of the letters within the Croatian, or rather early Slavic people, before the time of Constantine-Cyril and Methodius.

Missal from 1483. World's first book printed in a script that is not Latin

An interesting example of the latest research that is certainly interesting to note, is the recent finding from the ancient city of Anau, in what is today Turkmenistan. When doing research on excavations in a year 2000, the team led by Fredrik Hiebert of the University of Pennsylvania found a little signet dated to the period between the 2300 and 1900 BC. The signet has inscribed markings which are strangely reminiscent to the Glagolitic letters, K, I, Š and A. The experts still cannot agree on the answer whether those markings are some kind of symbols or a real script. 

Vrbničko kolo (Vrbnik wheel) in front of the Church of the assumption in Vrbnik, island of Krk, Croatia. It is made of sea pebbles, age unknown. According to several theorists this symbol was essential for the creation of Glagolitic letters

The name for the Glagolitic alphabet was created in the 19th century, while the term itself was coined in the 16th century, and is derived from the name of the alphabet’s fourth letter, Glagolju, the word that means “I speak”. Throughout history different names were used, the most notably azbukvica or bukvica, kurilovica, glagolica and hlaholica. Glagolitic was “official” Croatian script until the reform in the 19th century, when it was gradually deposed by the use of Latin script based on a Czech template, which is still in use today.

Today we distinguish the three types of Glagolitic which differ primarily on the way of writing the letters. Round Glagolitic is recognized by slightly curved lines, it is the oldest form of the script, which was in wider use among the Croats until 12th century, when it was superseded by the angular shape. Angular Glagolitic developed and continued to be used almost exclusively on the Croatian area, so it is often referred to as a Croatian Glagolitic script. Cursive Glagolitic was largely been used in secular life, and therefore many documents and letters has been found written in cursive version. 

It is important to say that Glagolitic scribes used a large number of so called ligatures. Ligature is a linkage of two or more graphemes that are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components. Glagolitic script is specific for its ligatures, there are more than 200 of them used in manuscripts and later in prints. Those ligatures have no numerical value, but the artistic value is immeasurable.

some ligatures

1 - Az – I, Me – read as A in fAther – transliteration as A
2 - Buki – letters, signs, books – Big - B
3 - Vjedje – He knows – Very – V
4 - Glagolju – I speak – Give – G
5 - Dobro – good, property - Day – D
6 - Jest – is, (he, she, it) exists – sEnd, YEt if on the beginning of the word or behind vowels – E
7 - Živite – Live! – Zh, as -ge in massaGE – Ž
8 - Dzjelo – very, many – as if you try to say sounds D and Z in the same time; like italian Z – DZ
9 - Zemlja – Earth, soil, land – Zero – Z
10 - Iže – which – bIg, or the same sound in diaeresis – Y
20 - I – and – bIg, or heY behind vowels – I
30 - Đerv – wood, where – Jack, or saY – Đ, J
40 - Kako – how, as – Kick – K
50 - Ljudije – people – Land – L
60 - Mislite – Think! – Mind – M
70 - Naš – ours – Net – N
80 - On – he, him, this – Obsession – O
90 - Pokoi – peace, end – Pit – P
100 - Reci – Speak! – different kind of R than in English. Do not try to make that “are” sound,
but rather say it sharp, with the tip of your tongue touching the back of your teeth - R
200 - Slovo – word, request, order, message – Say – S
300 - Tvrdo – hard, heavy, solid, unreachable, firm, rigid – Tail – T
400 - Uk – science, knowledge; clamor – pUt – U
500 - Frt – dandy – Fire – F
600 - Hjer – cross, penis – Hair – H
700 - Ot – from, of – it is used only as a number, or in the foreign words as a replacement for
Greek omega, long O – Ō
800 - Šta – what – Sht, Shch or CH as in Chess, but with a middle of your tongue touching the
palate – ŠT, ŠĆ, Ć
900 - Ci – or, whether - TZar – C
1000 - Črv – worm – CH in chess, but with a tip of your tongue touching the palate
2000 - Ša – banishing cry – SHeep – Š
(800) - Jat – flock, herd, any kind of group – one of the most important and the most
complicated to understand of all the letters in Slavic languages, YA, YE, E, IYE – Ě
( - ) - Jer - because - like indefinite article a, also behind N or L for use of sounds like NJ (like GN in lasagne or close to NI in onion, as you try to say the sounds N and Y in the same time) or LJ (like LLI in million, as you try to say the sounds L and Y in the same time) - '

Glagolitic round, angular, numeric values, transliteration and names