Lycian alphabet

For other uses, see Lycian (disambiguation).

Lycian
Type	Alphabet
Languages	Lycian language
Time period	500-330 BC
Parent systems	Greek alphabet Lycian
Sister systems	Lydian, Phrygian
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924	Lyci, 202
Unicode alias	Lycian
Unicode range	U+10280–U+1029F

The Lycian alphabet was used to write the Lycian language. It was an extension of the Greek alphabet, with half a dozen additional letters for sounds not found in Greek. It was largely similar to the Lydian and the Phrygian alphabets.

The alphabet

The Lycian alphabet 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.

The Lycian alphabet

Lycian letter	Transliteration	Sound	Notes
𐊀	a	[a]
𐊂	b	[β]
𐊄	g	[ɣ]
𐊅	d	[ð]
𐊆	i	[i], [ĩ]
𐊇	w	[w]
𐊈	z	[ts]
𐊛	h	[h]
𐊉	θ	[θ]
𐊊	j or y	[j]
𐊋	k	[kʲ]	[ɡʲ] after nasals
𐊍	l	[l] and [l̩]~[əl]
𐊎	m	[m]
𐊏	n	[n]
𐊒	u	[u], [ũ]
𐊓	p	[p]	[b] after nasals
𐊔	κ	[k]? [kʲ]? [h(e)]
𐊕	r	[r] and [r̩]~[ər]
𐊖	s	[s]
𐊗	t	[t]	[d] after nasals. ñt is [d] as in Ñtemuχlida for Greek Dēmokleidēs.
𐊁	e	[e]
𐊙	ã	[ã]	Lusãtra for Greek Lusandros.
𐊚	ẽ	[ẽ]
𐊐	m̃	[m̩], [əm], [m.]	originally perhaps syllabic [m], later coda [m]
𐊑	ñ	[n̩], [ən], [n.]	originally perhaps syllabic [n], later coda [n]
𐊘	τ	[tʷ]? [tʃ]?
𐊌	q	[k]	[ɡ] after nasals
𐊃	β	[k]? [kʷ]?	voiced after nasals
𐊜	χ	[q]	[ɢ] after nasals

Unicode

Main article: Lycian (Unicode block)

The Lycian alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1. It is encoded in Plane 1 (Supplementary Multilingual Plane).

The Unicode block for Lycian is U+10280–U+1029F:

Lycian Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+1028x

𐊀

𐊁

𐊂

𐊃

𐊄

𐊅

𐊆

𐊇

𐊈

𐊉

𐊊

𐊋

𐊌

𐊍

𐊎

𐊏

U+1029x

𐊐

𐊑

𐊒

𐊓

𐊔

𐊕

𐊖

𐊗

𐊘

𐊙

𐊚

𐊛

𐊜

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 8.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

An inscription in Lycian in example

• Letoon trilingual
• Lycian language

References

• . Translator Chris Markham.
• Roger D. Woodard, 2007, The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor.