Armenian alphabet

TheArmenian alphabet(Armenian:Հայոց գրեր,Hayocʼ grerorՀայոց այբուբեն,Hayocʼ aybuben) or, more broadly, theArmenian script,is analphabeticwriting system developed forArmenianand occasionally used to write other languages. It was developed around 405 CE byMesrop Mashtots,an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The script originally had 36 letters. Eventually, two more were adopted in the 13th century. Inreformed Armenian orthography(1920s), the ligatureևevis also treated as a letter, bringing the total number of letters to 39.

Armenian
Script type	Alphabet
Creator	Mesrop Mashtots
Time period	AD 405 to present
Direction	Left-to-right
Official script	Armenia
Languages	Armenian
Related scripts
Parent systems	Greek Armenian
Child systems	Caucasian Albanian
Sister systems	Latin Coptic Cyrillic
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Armn(230),​Armenian
Unicode
Unicode alias	Armenian
Unicode range	U+0530–U+058FArmenian U+FB00–U+FB17Alphabetic Pres. Forms

Armenian letter art and its cultural expressions
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Country	Armenia
Reference	01513
Region	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	2019 (14 session)
List	Representative

Armeniankhachkarsin the form of individual Armenian letters inOshakan,Armenia

The Armenian word for 'alphabet' isայբուբեն(aybuben), named after the first two letters of the Armenian alphabet:⟨Ա⟩Armenian:այբayband⟨Բ⟩Armenian:բենben.Armenian is writtenhorizontally, left to right.

History and development

Main article:History of the Armenian alphabet

Possible antecedents

One of the classical accounts of the existence of an Armenian alphabet before Mesrop Mashtots comes fromPhilo of Alexandria(20 BC – AD 50), who in his writings notes that the work of theGreek philosopherand historianMetrodorus of Scepsis(c. 145 BC – 70 BC),On Animals,was translated into Armenian.Metrodorus was a close friend and a court historian of the Armenian emperorTigranes the Greatand also wrote his biography. A third century Roman theologian,Hippolytus of Rome(170–235), in hisChronicle,while writing about his contemporary, EmperorSeverus Alexander(r. 222–235), mentions that the Armenians are amongst those nations who have their own distinct alphabet.

Philostratus the Athenian,asophistof the second and third centuries, wrote:

And they say that a leopardess was once caught inPamphyliawhich was wearing a chain round its neck, and the chain was of gold, and on it was inscribed in Armenian lettering: "Theking Arsacesto theNysiangod ".

According to the fifth-century Armenian historianMovses Khorenatsi,Bardesanes of Edessa(AD 154–222), who founded theGnosticcurrent of theBardaisanites,went to the Armenian castle ofAniand there read the work of a pre-Christian Armenian priest named Voghyump, written in the Mithraicscript of the Armenian temples, named afterMihr,theArmenian national godof light, truth, and the sun. In Voghyump's work, amongst other histories, an episode was noted of the Armenian KingTigranes VII(who reigned from 144 to 161, and again from AD 164–186) erecting a monument on the tomb of his brother, the Mithraic High Priest of theKingdom of Greater Armenia,Mazhan. Movses of Khoren notes that Bardesanes translated this Armenian book intoSyriac(Aramaic), and later also intoGreek.Another important evidence for the existence of a pre-Mashtotsian alphabet is the fact that the pantheon of the ancient Armenians includedTir,who was the patron god of writing and science.

A 13th-century Armenian historian,Vardan Areveltsi,in hisHistory,notes "that an Armenian script existed of old is attested" during the reign of KingLeo the Magnificent(r. 1187–1219), after coins naming idolatrous kings were found stamped with the script.

The evidence that the Armenian scholars of the Middle Ages knew about the existence of a pre-Mashtotsian alphabet can also be found in other medieval works, including the first book composed in the Mashtotsian alphabet by the pupil of Mashtots, Koriwn, in the first half of the fifth century. Koriwn notes that Mashtots was told of the existence of ancient Armenian letters which he was initially trying to integrate into his own alphabet.

Creation by Mashtots

See also:Sinai Armenian inscriptions

Armenian alphabet letters fromYererouk Basilica,5th century

Armenian crossfound fromJerusalem5-6th centuries

Armenian script-puzzleinJerusalem.It is dated to the second half of theVII century

The Armenian alphabet was introduced byMesrop MashtotsandIsaac of Armenia(Sahak Partev) in AD 405. Medieval Armenian sources also claim that Mashtots invented theGeorgianandCaucasian Albanianalphabets around the same time. However, most scholars link the creation of the Georgian script to the process ofChristianization of Iberia,a core Georgian kingdom ofKartli.The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia underMirian III(326 or 337) and theBir el Qutt inscriptionsof 430,contemporaneously with the Armenian alphabet.Traditionally, the following phrase translated from Solomon'sBook of Proverbsis said to be the first sentence to be written down in Armenian by Mashtots:

Ճանաչել զիմաստութիւն եւ զխրատ, իմանալ զբանս հանճարոյ:
Čanačʿel zimastutʿiun yev zxrat, imanal zbans hančaroy.
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding.

— Book of Proverbs,1:2.

Various scripts have been credited with being the prototype for the Armenian alphabet.Pahlaviwas the priestly script in Armenia before the introduction of Christianity, andSyriac,along with Greek, was one of the alphabets of Christian scripture. Armenian shows some similarities to both. However, the general consensus is that Armenian is modeled after theGreek alphabet,supplemented with letters from a different source or sources for Armenian sounds not found in Greek. This is suggested by the Greek order of the Armenian alphabet; theowligature for the vowel/u/,as in Greek; the similarity of the letterի/i/in shape and sound value toCyrillicИиand(Modern) GreekΗη;and the shapes of letters which "seem derived from a variety of cursive Greek", including Greek/Armenian pairsΘ/թ,Φ/փ,andΒ/բ.It has been speculated by some scholars in African studies, following Dimitri Olderogge, that theGe'ez scripthad an influence on certain letter shapes,but this has not been supported by any experts in Armenian studies.

Armenian alphabet letter inGeghard Monastery

Armenian alphabet latter inKecharis Monastery

Armenian alphabet letter inMakaravank Monastery

Armenian manuscript of the 10th or 11th century.History of ArmeniaofMovses Khorenatsi

There are four principal calligraphichandsof the script.Erkatagir,or 'ironclad letters', seen as Mesrop's original, was used in manuscripts from the 5th to 13th century and is still preferred for epigraphic inscriptions.Bolorgir,or 'cursive', was invented in the 10th century and became popular in the 13th. It has been the standard printed form since the 16th century.Notrgir,or 'minuscule', invented initially for speed, was extensively used in the Armenian diaspora in the 16th to 18th centuries, and later became popular in printing.Sheghagir,or 'slanted writing', is now the most common form.

The earliest known example of the script's usage was a dedicatory inscription over the west door of thechurch of Saint Sarkis in Tekor.Based on the known individuals mentioned in the inscription, it has been dated to the 480s.The earliest known surviving example of usage outside of Armenia is a mid-6th century mosaic inscription in the chapel of St Polyeuctos in Jerusalem.A papyrus discovered in 1892 atFayyumand containing Greek words written in Armenian script has been dated on historical grounds to after the creation of the script, i.e. after 400, and on paleographic grounds between the 5th and 7th centuries.It is now in theBibliotheque Nationale de France.The earliest surviving manuscripts written in Armenian using Armenian script date from the 9th–10th century.

Later development

The monument to the Armenian alphabet at theMelkonian Educational InstituteinNicosia,Cyprus

Gold Coin of KingLeo IIofCilicia

Silver Coin of KingLeo IIofCilicia

Certain shifts in the language were at first not reflected in the orthography. The digraphաւ(au) followed by a consonant used to be pronounced [au] (as inluau) inClassical Armenian,but due to asound shiftit came to be pronounced[o],and has since the 13th century been writtenօ(ō). For example, classicalաւր(awr,[auɹ],'day') became pronounced[oɹ],and is now writtenօր(ōr). (One word has keptaw,now pronounced/av/:աղաւնի(ałavni) 'pigeon', and there are a few proper names still havingawbefore a consonant:ՏաւրոսTauros,ՓաւստոսFaustos, etc.) For this reason, today there are native Armenian words beginning with the letterօ(ō) although this letter was taken from the Greek alphabet to write foreign words beginning witho[o].

The Armenian letter⟨Վ⟩is on theWikipedia logo(up left)

Armenian script in facade ofBibliotheca Alexandrina(right down) withԲԾԵԳՀԻՁ

The number and order of the letters have changed over time. In the Middle Ages, two new letters (օ[o],ֆ[f]) were introduced in order to better represent foreign sounds; this increased the number of letters from 36 to 38. From 1922 to 1924,Soviet Armeniaadopted areformed spellingof the Armenian language. The reform changed the digraphուand the ligatureևinto two new letters, but it generally did not change the pronunciation of individual letters (see the footnotes of the chart). Those outside of the (former)Soviet sphere,including all Western Armenians as well as Eastern Armenians inIran,have rejected the reformed spellings and continue to use thetraditional Armenian orthography.They criticize some aspects of the reforms and allege political motives behind them.

Alphabet

Forms	Name					Letter					Numerical value
	Classical	Reformed	Pronunciation			Pronunciation			Transliteration
			Classical	Eastern	Western	Classical	Eastern	Western	Classical	ISO 9985
Ա• ա	այբayb		/ɑjb/		/ɑjpʰ/	/ɑ/			a		1
Բ• բ	բենben		/bɛn/		/pʰɛn/	/b/		/pʰ/	b		2
Գ• գ	գիմgim		/ɡim/		/kʰim/	/ɡ/		/kʰ/	g		3
Դ• դ	դաda		/dɑ/		/tʰɑ/	/d/		/tʰ/	d		4
Ե• ե	եչyečʼ		/ɛtʃʰ/	/jɛtʃʰ/		/ɛ/	/ɛ/,word-initially/jɛ/6		e		5
Զ• զ	զաza		/zɑ/			/z/			z		6
Է• է	էē1		/e/	/ɛ/		/e/	/ɛ/		ê	ē	7
Ը• ը7	ըթëtʼ		/ətʰ/			/ə/			ə	ë	8
Թ• թ	թօtʼò	թոt'o	/tʰɔ/			/tʰ/			t̔, tʿ	tʼ	9
Ժ• ժ	ժէžē	ժեže	/ʒe/	/ʒɛ/		/ʒ/			ž		10
Ի• ի	ինիini		/ini/			/i/			i		20
Լ• լ	լիւնliwn	լյունlyun	/liwn/	/ljun/	/lʏn/	/l/			l		30
Խ• խ	խէxē	խեxe	/χe/	/χɛ/		/χ/			x		40
Ծ• ծ	ծաca		/tsɑ/		/dzɑ/	/ts/		/dz/	c	ç	50
Կ• կ	կենken		/kɛn/		/ɡɛn/	/k/		/ɡ/	k		60
Հ• հ	հօhò	հոho	/ho/			/h/			h		70
Ձ• ձ	ձաja		/dzɑ/		/tsʰɑ/	/dz/		/tsʰ/	j		80
Ղ• ղ	ղադġat		/ɫɑt/	/ʁɑt/	/ʁɑd/	/ɫ/	/ʁ/		ł	ġ	90
Ճ• ճ	ճէčē	ճեče	/tʃe/	/tʃɛ/	/dʒɛ/	/tʃ/		/dʒ/	č	č̣	100
Մ• մ	մենmen		/mɛn/			/m/			m		200
Յ• յ	յիyi	հիhi	/ji/	/hi/		/j/	/h/1,/j/		y		300
Ն• ն	նուnu		/nu/			/n/,/ŋ/			n		400
Շ• շ	շաša		/ʃɑ/			/ʃ/			š		500
Ո• ո	ոvo		/ɔ/	/ʋɔ/		/ɔ/	/ɔ/,word-initially/ʋɔ/2		o		600
Չ• չ	չաčʼa		/tʃʰɑ/			/tʃʰ/			č̔, čʿ	č	700
Պ• պ	պէpē	պեpe	/pe/	/pɛ/	/bɛ/	/p/		/b/	p		800
Ջ• ջ	ջէǰē	ջեǰe	/dʒe/	/dʒɛ/	/tʃʰɛ/	/dʒ/		/tʃʰ/	ǰ		900
Ռ• ռ	ռաṙa		/rɑ/		/ɾɑ/	/r/		/ɾ/	ṙ		1000
Ս• ս	սէsē	սեse	/se/	/sɛ/		/s/			s		2000
Վ• վ	վեւvew	վեվvev	/wɛw/	/vɛv/		/w/	/v/		v		3000
Տ• տ	տիւնtiwn	տյունtyun	/tiwn/	/tjun/	/dʏn/	/t/		/d/	t		4000
Ր• ր	րէrē	րեre	/ɹe/	/ɾɛ/3		/ɹ/	/ɾ/3		r		5000
Ց• ց	ցօcʼò	ցոcʼo	/tsʰɔ/			/tsʰ/			c̔, cʿ	cʼ	6000
Ւ• ւ	հիւնhiwn	հյունhyun,վյունvyun5	/hiwn/	/hjun/,/vjun/	/hʏn/	/w/	—	/v/5	w		7000
Ու• ու	—	ու4u	—	/u/	—	—	/u/	—	u	ow	-9
Փ• փ	փիւրpʼiwr	փյուրp'yur	/pʰiwɹ/	/pʰjuɹ/	/pʰʏɾ/	/pʰ/			p̔, pʿ	pʼ	8000
Ք• ք	քէkʼē	քեkʼe	/kʰe/	/kʰɛ/		/kʰ/			k̔, kʿ	kʼ	9000
Օ• օ	օò1		—	/o/		—	/o/		ô	ò	-9
Ֆ• ֆ	ֆէfē	ֆեfe	—	/fɛ/		—	/f/		f		-9
և	—	և4,8yew	—	/jɛv/		—	/ɛv/,word-initially/jɛv/		ew		-9

• Listen to the pronunciation of the letters inor in.

Notes:

1. ^Primarily used in classical orthography; after the reform used word-initially and in some compound words.
2. ^Except inով/ɔv/'who' andովքեր/ɔvkʰer/'those (people)' in Eastern Armenian.
3. ^Iranian Armenians(who speak a subbranch of Eastern Armenian) pronounce the sound represented by this letter with a retracted tongue body[ɹ̠]:post-alveolar rather than alveolar.
4. ^In classical orthography,ուandևare considered a digraph (ո+ւ) and a ligature (ե+ւ), respectively. In reformed orthography, they are separate letters of the alphabet:ևis the 37th letter of the alphabet, andուis the 34th letter, taking the place ofւ.
5. ^In reformed orthography, the letterւappears only as a component ofու.In classical orthography, the letter usually represents/v/,except in the digraphիւ/ju/.The spelling reform in Soviet Armenia replacedիւwith the trigraphյու.
6. ^Except in the present tense of 'to be':եմ/ɛm/'I am',ես/ɛs/'you are (sing.)',ենք/ɛnkʰ/'we are',եք/ɛkʰ/'you are (pl.)',են/ɛn/'they are'.
7. ^The letterըis generally used only at the start or end of a word, and so the sound/ə/is typically unwritten between consonants. One exception isմըն/mən/(Western Armenian indefinite article, when followed by a word beginning with a vowel), e.g.,մէյ մըն ալ/mɛjmənɑl/'one more time'.
8. ^The ligatureևhas no majuscule form; when capitalized it is written as two lettersԵւ(classical) orԵվ(reformed).
9. ^By the time this lowercase was included (Armenian alphabet reform of 1922-24 in the Soviet Union) in the alphabet, counting was conducted with Arabic numbers.Numbers over 9999 were achieved by putting a line over smaller letters-numerals

Handwritten forms

In handwriting, the upper- and lower-case letters look more similar than they do in print, and the stroke order is more apparent.

• 
  ա
• 
  բ
• 
  գ
• 
  դ
• 
  ե
• 
  զ
• 
  է
• 
  ը
• 
  թ
• 
  ժ
• 
  ի
• 
  լ
• 
  խ
• 
  ծ
• 
  կ
• 
  հ
• 
  ձ
• 
  ղ
• 
  ճ
• 
  մ
• 
  յ
• 
  ն
• 
  շ
• 
  ո
• 
  չ
• 
  պ
• 
  ջ
• 
  ռ
• 
  ս
• 
  վ
• 
  տ
• 
  ր
• 
  ց
• 
  ու
• 
  փ
• 
  ք
• 
  օ
• 
  ֆ
• 
  և

Ligatures

Ancient Armenian manuscripts used manyligatures.A commonly used ligature isև(composed ofեandւ). Armenian print typefaces also include many ligatures. In the new orthography, the characterևis no longer a typographical ligature, but a distinct letter, placed in the new alphabetic sequence, before "o".

Punctuation

The wordԱստուածAstuac'God' abbreviated. Only the first and last letters, and the abbreviation mark ՟, are written.

Armenian punctuation marks outside a word

• « »– Thečakertnerare used as ordinaryquotation marks.They are placed like Frenchguillemets,just above the baseline (preferably vertically centered in the middle of the x-height of Armenian lowercase letters). They can be angled or rounded. The computer-induced use of English-style single or double quotes (vertical, diagonal or curly forms, placed above the baseline near the M-height of uppercase or tall lowercase letters and at the same level as accents) is strongly discouraged in Armenian as they look too much like other – unrelated – Armenian punctuation marks.
• ,– Thestoraketis used as acomma,and placed as in English.
• ՝– Thebut'(which looks like a comma-shaped reversed apostrophe) is used as a short stop, and placed in the same manner as thesemicolonto indicate a pause that is longer than that of a comma, but shorter than that of a colon; in many texts it is replaced by the single opening single quote (a 6-shaped, or mirrored 9-shaped, or descending-wedge-shaped elevated comma), or by a spacing grave accent.
• ․– Themijaket(whose single dot on the baseline looks like a Latin full stop) is used like an ordinarycolon,mainly to separate two closely related (but still independent) clauses, or when a long list of items follows.
• ։– Theverjaket(whose vertically-stacked two dots look like a Latin colon) is used as the ordinaryfull stop,and placed at the end of the sentence (many texts in Armenian replace theverjaketby the Latin colon as the difference is almost invisible at low resolution for normal texts, but the difference may be visible in headings and titles as the dots are often thicker to match the same optical weight as vertical strokes of letters, the dots filling the common x-height of Armenian letters).

The following Armenian punctuation marks are placed above and slightly to the right of the vowel whose tone is modified in order to reflect intonation:

• ՜– Theyerkaratsman nshan(which looks like a diagonally risingtilde) is used as anexclamation mark.
• ՛– Theshesht(which looks like a non-spacingacute accent) is used as anemphasis mark.
• ՞– Thehartsakan nshanis used as aquestion mark.

Armenian punctuation marks used inside a word

• ֊– Theyent'amnais used as the ordinary Armenianhyphen.
• ՟– Thepativused to be used as an Armenianabbreviationmark, and was placed on top of an abbreviated word to indicate that it was abbreviated. It is now obsolete.
• ՚– Theapat'artsis used as a spacing apostrophe (which looks either like a vertical stick or wedge pointing down, or like an elevated 9-shaped comma, or like a small, superscript left-to-right closing parenthesis or half ring) in Western Armenian only, to indicate elision of a vowel, usually/ə/.

Transliteration

Main article:Romanization of Armenian

ISO 9985(1996) transliterates the Armenian alphabet for modern Armenian as follows:

ա	բ	գ	դ	ե	զ	է	ը	թ	ժ	ի	լ	խ	ծ	կ	հ	ձ	ղ	ճ	մ
a	b	g	d	e	z	ē	ë	tʼ	ž	i	l	x	ç	k	h	j	ġ	č̣	m
յ	ն	շ	ո	չ	պ	ջ	ռ	ս	վ	տ	ր	ց	ւ	փ	ք	օ	ֆ	ու	և
y	n	š	o	č	p	ǰ	ṙ	s	v	t	r	cʼ	w	pʼ	kʼ	ò	f	ow	ew

In the linguistic literature on Classical Armenian, slightly different systems are in use.

ա	բ	գ	դ	ե	զ	է	ը	թ	ժ	ի	լ	խ	ծ	կ	հ	ձ	ղ	ճ	մ
a	b	g	d	e	z	ê	ə	tʽ	ž	i	l	x	c	k	h	j	ł	č	m
յ	ն	շ	ո	չ	պ	ջ	ռ	ս	վ	տ	ր	ց	ւ	փ	ք	օ	եւ	ու	ֆ
y	n	š	o	čʽ	p	ǰ	ṙ	s	v	t	r	cʽ	w	pʽ	kʽ	ô	ew	u	f

Use for other languages

See also:Armeno-Turkish alphabet

For about 250 years, from the early 18th century until around 1950, more than 2,000 books in the Turkish language were printed using the Armenian alphabet. Not only did Armenians read this Turkish in Armenian script, so did the non-Armenian (including the Ottoman Turkish) elite. An American correspondent in Marash in 1864 calls the alphabet "Armeno-Turkish", describing it as consisting of 31 Armenian letters and "infinitely superior" to theArabicorGreek alphabetsfor rendering Turkish.This Armenian script was used alongside the Arabic script on official documents of the Ottoman Empire written in Ottoman Turkish. For instance, the firstnovelto be written in Turkish in the Ottoman Empire wasHovsep Vartanian's 1851Akabi Hikayesi(Akabi's Story), written in the Armenian script. When the ArmenianDuzian familymanaged the Ottoman mint during the reign of Abdülmecid I, they kept records in Armenian script but in the Turkish language.From the middle of the 19th century, the Armenian alphabet was also used for books written in the Kurdish language in the Ottoman Empire.

The Armenian script was also used by Turkish-speaking assimilated Armenians between the 1840s and 1890s.Constantinople was the main center of Armenian-scripted Turkish press. This portion of the Armenian press declined in the early twentieth century but continued until theArmenian genocideof 1915.

In areas inhabited by both Armenians andAssyrians,Syriac texts were occasionally written in the Armenian script, although the opposite phenomenon, Armenian texts written inSerto,the Western Syriac script, is more common.

TheKipchak-speaking Armenian Christians ofPodoliaandGaliciaused an Armenian alphabet to produce an extensive amount of literature between 1524 and 1669.

The Armenian script, along with theGeorgian,was used by the poetSayat-Novain his Armenian poems.

An Armenian alphabet was an official script for theKurdish languagein 1921–1928 inSoviet Armenia.

TheArmeno-Tats,who've historically spokenTat,wrote their language in the Armenian alphabet.

Character encodings

Main article:Armenian (Unicode block)

The Armenian alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in version 1.0, in October 1991. It is assigned the range U+0530–058F. Five Armenianligaturesare encoded in the "Alphabetic presentation forms" block (code point range U+FB13–FB17).

On 15 June 2011, the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) accepted theArmenian dram signfor inclusion in the future versions of the Unicode Standard and assigned a code for the sign – U+058F (֏). In 2012 the sign was finally adopted in the Armenian block of ISO and Unicode international standards.

TheArmenian eternity sign,since 2013, is assigned Unicode U+058D (֍ – RIGHT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN) and, for its left-facing variant, U+058E (֎ – LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN).

Armenian[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+053x

Ա

Բ

Գ

Դ

Ե

Զ

Է

Ը

Թ

Ժ

Ի

Լ

Խ

Ծ

Կ

U+054x

Հ

Ձ

Ղ

Ճ

Մ

Յ

Ն

Շ

Ո

Չ

Պ

Ջ

Ռ

Ս

Վ

Տ

U+055x

Ր

Ց

Ւ

Փ

Ք

Օ

Ֆ

ՙ

՚

՛

՜

՝

՞

՟

U+056x

ՠ

ա

բ

գ

դ

ե

զ

է

ը

թ

ժ

ի

լ

խ

ծ

կ

U+057x

հ

ձ

ղ

ճ

մ

յ

ն

շ

ո

չ

պ

ջ

ռ

ս

վ

տ

U+058x

ր

ց

ւ

փ

ք

օ

ֆ

և

ֈ

։

֊

֍

֎

֏

Notes 1.^As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Armenian subset ofAlphabetic Presentation Forms[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart(PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+FB1x				ﬓ	ﬔ	ﬕ	ﬖ	ﬗ	(U+FB00–FB12, U+FB18–FB4F omitted)
Notes 1.^As of Unicode version 16.0

Legacy

TheArmSCIIcharacter encoding,developed between 1991 and 1999, was widely used inWindows 9xoperating systems but has become obsolete due to the advent of Unicode. Similarly, Arasan-compatible fonts, based on Hrant Papazian's original Arasan font encoding from 1986, replaced ASCII's Latin characters with Armenian ones, like using theASCIIcode for⟨+⟩(43) to represent the Armenian⟨Չ⟩.These fonts, once popular onWindows 9x,have also been deprecated in favor ofUnicode.

Keyboard layouts

Thephonetic keyboard layoutis the most common Armenian keyboard layout, enjoying broad support across modern operating systems. Because there are more characters in the Armenian alphabet (39) than in Latin (26), some Armenian characters appear on non-alphabetic keys on a conventional QWERTY keyboard (for example,շmaps to,).

Armenianphonetic keyboard layout.

The phonetic layout is not very performant, due to the letter frequency difference between the Armenian and English languages, although it is easier to learn and use.

Gallery

Armenian scripts in various churches

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  Bilingual Armenian-Greek inscription now kept at theHistory Museum of Armenia,6th century
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  Tatev Monastery,8th century
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  Sanahin Monastery,10th century
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  Ani Cathedral,10th century
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  Marmashen Monastery,11th century
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  Goshavank,12th century
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  Haghartsin Monastery,13th century
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  Noravank,13th century

Armenian scripts in various gospels and manuscripts

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  Page from 5th century Manuscript
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  Armenian Greek inscription 5-7th centuryes
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  Armenian Manuscript, 887
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  Armenian Manuscript, 974
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  Armenian Manuscript, 1099
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  List of invitees to the enthronement of KingLevon I,1198
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  Document ofLeo III of Armeniaconnoting the granting of special privilages and rights to Genoese merchant community, 1288
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  Armenian Manuscript, 1318
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  Page of a letter fromKing Gagik IofVaspurakantoRomanos I Lekapenos,14th-century manuscript (Vatican Apostolic Library)
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  Armenian linguistic manuscript, 1476
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  Manuscript page of theAlexander Romance,1544
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  Armenian Manuscript, 1647
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  Armenian grammar,1675
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  Letter from Catholicos Khachatur toLouis XIV,1672 (Bibliothèque nationale de France)
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  Page from Simeon Jughaetsi gospel, 18th century
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  Cover of the bookDictionary of the Armenian LanguagebyMkhitar Sebastatsi,published in 1769,Venice

See also

• Armenian braille
• Armenian calendar
• Armenian numerals
• Classical Armenian orthography
• Reformed Armenian orthography
• Romanization of Armenian(includesISO 9985)

External links

• բառարան.հայ– Armenian dictionary.
• Monument of Armenian Alphabet
• Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) Church Library Online (in English, Armenian, and Russian)

Armenian Transliteration

• English / French script to Armenian TransliterationHayadar.com – Online, Latin to Armenian transliteration engine.
• Latin-Armenian TransliterationConverts Latin letters into Armenian and vice versa. Supports multiple transliteration tables and spell checking.
• Transliteration schemes for the Armenian alphabet(transliteration.eki.ee)

Armenian Orthography converters

• Nayiri.com(integrated orthography converter: reformed to classical)