The Decree of Pixodaros in the Lycian script

The Lycian alphabet was used to write the Lycian language of the Asia Minor region of Lycia. 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 letterTransliterationIPANotes
𐊀a[a]
𐊂b[β]
𐊄g[ɣ]
𐊅d[ð]
𐊆i[i], [ĩ]
𐊇w[w]
𐊈z[t͡s]
𐊛h[h]
𐊉θ[θ]
𐊊j or y[j]
𐊋k[kʲ][ɡʲ] after nasals
𐊍l[l] and [l̩]~[əl]
𐊎m[m]
𐊏n[n]
𐊒u[u], [ũ]
𐊓p[p][b] after nasals
𐊔κ or c[k]? [kʲ]? [h(e)]
𐊕r[r] and [r̩]~[ər]
𐊖s[s]
𐊗t[t][d] after nasals. ñt is [d] as in 𐊑𐊗𐊁𐊎𐊒𐊜𐊍𐊆𐊅𐊀 / Ñtemuχlida for Greek Δημοκλείδης / Dēmokleídēs.
𐊁e[e]
𐊙ã[ã]𐊍𐊒𐊖𐊙𐊗𐊕𐊀 / Lusãtra for Greek Λύσανδρος / Lúsandros.
𐊚ẽ[ẽ]
𐊐m̃[m̩], [əm], [m.]originally perhaps syllabic [m], later coda [m]
𐊑ñ[n̩], [ən], [n.]originally perhaps syllabic [n], later coda [n]
𐊘τ[tʷ]? [t͡ʃ]?
𐊌q[k][ɡ] after nasals
𐊃β[k]? [kʷ]?voiced after nasals
𐊜χ[q][ɢ] after nasals

Numbers

Lycian uses the following number symbols: I (vertical stroke) = 1, < ("less than" sign) (or, rarely, L or C or V or Y) = 5, O (circle) = 10; a horizontal stroke — is one half; a symbol somewhat like our letter H may mean 100.

The number 128½ would therefore be expressed as HOO<III—.

Unicode

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[1][2] (PDF)
0123456789ABCDEF
U+1028x𐊀𐊁𐊂𐊃𐊄𐊅𐊆𐊇𐊈𐊉𐊊𐊋𐊌𐊍𐊎𐊏
U+1029x𐊐𐊑𐊒𐊓𐊔𐊕𐊖𐊗𐊘𐊙𐊚𐊛𐊜
Notes ^As of Unicode version 17.0 ^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

Notes

  • Adiego, I. J. (2007). "Greek and Lycian". In Christidis, A. F.; Arapopoulou, Maria; Chriti, Maria (eds.). A History of Ancient Greek From the Beginning to Late Antiquity. Chris Markham (trans.). Cambridge University press. ISBN978-0-521-83307-3.. Translator Chris Markham.
  • Bryce, Trevor R. (1986). The Lycians - Volume I: The Lycians in Literary and Epigraphic Sources. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN87-7289-023-1.
  • Roger D. Woodard, 2007, The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor.

External links