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Bosnian Cyrillic

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Bosnian Cyrillic,widely known asBosančica,[1][2][3]is a variant of theCyrillic Alpha betthat originated inmedieval Bosnia.[2]The term was coined at the end of the 19th century byĆiro Truhelka.It was widely used in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and the bordering areas of modern-day Croatia (southern and middleDalmatiaandDubrovnikregions). Its name inSerbo-CroatianisBosančicaandBosanica[4]the latter of which might be translated asBosnian script.Serbscholars call itSerbian script,Serbian–Bosnian script,Bosnian–Serb Cyrillic,as part of variant ofSerbian Cyrillicand deem the term "bosančica" Austro-Hungarianpropaganda.[5]Croatscholars also call itCroatian script,Croatian–Bosnian script,Bosnian–Croat Cyrillic,harvacko pismo,arvaticaorWestern Cyrillic.[6][7]For other names of Bosnian Cyrillic, see below.

Bosnian Cyrillic
Script type
Alphabet
Cyrillic script
Time period
10th–19th century
LanguagesSerbo-Croatian
This article containsphonetic transcriptionsin theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA).For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.For the distinction between[ ],/ /and ⟨⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The use of Bosančica amongstBosnian Muslimswas replaced byArebicaupon the introduction ofIslaminBosnia Eyalet,first amongst the elite, then amongst the wider public.[8]The first book in Bosančica was printed byFrančesko Micalovićin 1512 in Venice.[9]

History and characteristic features

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Main article:Bosnian medieval literacy

It is hard to ascertain when the earliest features of a characteristic Bosnian type ofCyrillic scripthad begun to appear, but paleographers consider theHumac tablet(a tablet written in Bosnian Cyrillic) to be the first document of this type of script and is believed to date from the 10th or 11th century.[10]Bosnian Cyrillic was used continuously until the 18th century, with sporadic usage even taking place in the 20th century.[11]

Historically, Bosnian Cyrillic is prominent in the following areas:

  • Passages from theBiblein documents ofBosnian Churchadherents, 13th and 15th century.
  • Numerous legal and commercial documents (charters, letters, donations) of nobles and royalty from medieval Bosnian state in correspondence with theRepublic of Ragusaand various cities inDalmatia(e.g.theCharter of Ban Kulin,beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries, and reaching its peak in the 14th and 15th centuries.
  • Tombstone inscriptionson marbles in medievalBosnia and Herzegovina,chiefly between 11th and 15th centuries.
  • Legal documents in centralDalmatia,like thePoljica Statute(1440) and other numerous charters from this area; Poljica and neighbourhood Roman Catholic church books used this Alpha bet until the late 19th century.
  • The "Supetar fragment" from the 12th century was found inMonastery of Saint Peter in the Forestin centralIstria,among the stones of a collapsed southern monastery wall. Until the 15th century it was a Benedictine monastery and later a Pauline monastery. This finding could indicate that Bosančica spread all the way to Istria andKvarner Gulf.
  • The Roman Catholic diocese inOmišhad aseminary(calledarvacki šeminarij,"Croat seminary" ) active in the 19th century, in whicharvaticaletters were used.
  • Liturgical works (missals, breviaries, lectionaries) of theRoman Catholic Churchfrom Dubrovnik, 15th and 16th century, the most famous of which is a printed breviary from 1512.[12][13][14]
  • The comprehensive body ofBosnian literature,mainly portion associated with theFranciscan order,from the 16th to mid-18th century and early 19th century. This is by far the most abundant corpus of works written in Bosnian Cyrillic, covering various genres, but belonging to theliturgicalliterature: numerous polemical tractates in the spirit of theCounter-Reformation,popular tales from theBible,catechisms,breviaries,historicalchronicles,local church histories, religious poetry and didactic works. Among the most important writings of this circle are works ofMatija Divković,Stjepan MatijevićandPavao Posilović.
  • After theOttoman conquest,Bosnian Cyrillic was used, along withArebica,by the Bosnian Muslim nobility, chiefly in correspondence, mainly from the 15th to 17th centuries (hence, the script has also been calledbegovica,"bey's script "). Isolated families and individuals could write in it even in the 20th century.

In conclusion, main traits of Bosnian Cyrillic include:

  • It was a form of Cyrillic script mainly in use inBosnia and Herzegovina,centralDalmatiaandDubrovnik.
  • Its earliest monuments are from the 11th century, but the golden epoch covered the period from the 14th to 17th centuries. From the late 18th century it rather speedily fell into disuse to be replaced by the Latin script.
  • Its primary characteristics (scriptory, morphological, orthographical) show strong connection with theGlagoliticscript, unlike the standardChurch Slavonicform ofCyrillic scriptassociated withEastern Orthodoxchurches.[11]
  • It had been in use, in ecclesiastical works, mainly inBosnian ChurchandRoman Catholic Churchin historical lands ofBosnia,Herzegovina,DalmatiaandDubrovnik.Also, it was a widespread script in Bosnian Muslim circles, which, however, preferred modified Arabicaljamiadoscript.Serbian Orthodoxclergy and adherents used mainly the standardSerbian Cyrillicof the Resava orthography.[11]
  • The form of Bosnian Cyrillic has passed through a few phases, so although culturally it is correct to speak about one script, it is evident that features present in Bosnian Franciscan documents in the 1650s differ from the charters fromBračisland inDalmatiain the 1250s.

Polemics

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The polemic about "ethnic affiliation" of Bosnian Cyrillic started in the 19th century, then reappeared in the mid-1990s.[15]The polemic about attribution and affiliation of Bosnian Cyrillic texts seems to rest on following arguments:

  • Serbian scholars claim that it is just a variant ofSerbian Cyrillic;actually, a "minuscle", or Italic (cursive) script devised at the court ofSerbian kingStefan Dragutin,and accordingly, include Bosnian Cyrillic texts into the Serbian literary corpus. Authors inPrilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklorin 1956, go as far to state thatBosančicawas a term introduced through Austro-Hungarian propaganda, and regarded it a type of cursive Cyrillic script,[16]without specifics that would warrant an "isolation from Cyrillic".[17]The main Serbian authorities in the field are Jorjo Tadić,Vladimir Ćorović,Petar Kolendić, Petar Đorđić, Vera Jerković, Irena Grickat,Pavle Ivićand Aleksandar Mladenović.
  • On the Croatian side, the split exists among philologists. One group basically challenges the letters being Serbian, and claims that majority of the most important documents of Bosnian Cyrillic had been written either before any innovations devised at the Serbian royal court happened, or did not have any historical connection with it whatsoever, thus considering Serbian claims on the origin of Bosnian Cyrillic to be unfounded and that the script, since they allege belonging to the Croatian cultural sphere, should be called not Bosnian, but Croatian Cyrillic. Other group of Croatian philologists acknowledges that "Serbian connection", as exemplified in variants present at the Serbian court of king Dragutin, did influence Bosnian Cyrillic, but, they aver, it was just one strand, since scriptory innovations have been happening both before and after the mentioned one. First group insists that all Bosnian Cyrillic texts belong to the corpus of Croatian literacy, and the second school that all texts from Croatia and only a part from Bosnia and Herzegovina are to be placed into Croatian literary canon, so they exclude c. half of Bosnian Christian texts, but include all Franciscan and the majority of legal and commercial document. Also, the second school generally uses the name "Western Cyrillic" instead of "Croatian Cyrillic" (or Bosnian Cyrillic, for that matter). Both schools allege that supposedly various sources, both Croatian and other European,[citation needed]call this script "Croatian letters" or "Croatian script". The main Croatian authorities in the field areVatroslav Jagić,Mate Tentor,Ćiro Truhelka,Vladimir Vrana, Jaroslav Šidak, Herta Kuna, Tomislav Raukar,Eduard Hercigonjaand Benedikta Zelić-Bučan.
  • Jahić, Halilović, and Palić dismiss claims made by Croatian or Serbian philologists about national affiliation.[18]
  • Ivan G. Iliev, in his "Short History of the Cyrillic Alphabet", summarizes the Cyrillic variant and acknowledges it was spread into and used in both Bosnia and Croatia, where these variants were called "bosančica" or "bosanica" in Bosnian and Croatian ('Bosnian script'), with Croats also calling it "arvatica" ('Croatian script') or "Western Cyrillic".[11]

Legacy

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Micalović'scolophonofOfficio,printed inVenicein 1512, using Bosančica script

In 2015, a group of artists started a project called "I write to you in Bosančica" which involved art and graphic design students fromBanja Luka,Sarajevo,Široki Brijeg,andTrebinje.Exhibitions of the submitted artworks will be held inSarajevo,Trebinje,Široki Brijeg,Zagreb,andBelgrade.The purpose of the project was to resurrect the ancient script and show the "common cultural past" of all the groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first phase of the project was to reconstruct all of the ancient characters by using ancient, handwritten documents.[19][20]

Names

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The namebosančicawas first used byFran Kurelacin 1861.[21]Other instances of naming by individuals, in scholarship and literature or publications (chronological order, recent first):[22][23]

  • poljičica, poljička azbukvica,among the people ofPoljicaandFrane Ivanišević(1863−1947)[24]
  • srbskoga slovi ćirilskimi(Serbian Cyrillic letters) andbosansko-dalmatinska ćirilica(Bosnian-Dalmatian Cyrillic), by Croatian linguistVatroslav Jagić(1838–1923)[25][26]
  • bosanska ćirilica( "Bosnian Cyrillic" ), by Croatian historian and Catholic priestFranjo Rački(1828–1894)[23]
  • bosanska azbukva( "Bosnian Alpha bet" ), by Catholic priestIvan Berčić(1824–1870)
  • (Bosnian-Catholic Alpha bet), by Franciscan writerIvan Franjo Jukić(1818–1857)[25]
  • (Bosnian or Croatian Cyrillic Alpha bet), by Slovene linguistJernej Kopitar(1780–1844)[25]
  • bosanska brzopisna grafija( "Bosnian cursive graphics" ), byE. F. Karskij[21]
  • zapadna varijanta ćirilskog brzopisa( "Western variant of Cyrillic cursive" ), by Petar Đorđić
  • Serbian letters,byBosnian FranciscanwriterMatija Divković,who explains in preface to hisNauk krstjanski za narod slovinski,that he wrote "for the Slavic folk in correct and true Bosnian language", while Georgijević also notes that he referred to the Bosnian Cyrillic, which he wrote in, as "Serbian letters".[27][28]
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See also

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References

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Notes
  1. ^Bošnjak & Dobrowolsky 1968,p. 24.
  2. ^abBalić, Smail (1978).Die Kultur der Bosniaken, Supplement I: Inventar des bosnischen literarischen Erbes in orientalischen Sprachen.Vienna: Adolf Holzhausens, Vienna. pp. 49–50, 111.
  3. ^Algar, Hamid (1995).The Literature of the Bosnian Muslims: a Quadrilingual Heritage.Kuala Lumpur: Nadwah Ketakwaan Melalui Kreativiti. pp. 254–68.
  4. ^Popovic, Alexandre (1971).La littérature ottomane des musulmans yougoslaves: essai de bibliographie raisonnée, JA 259.Paris: Alan Blaustein Publishing House. pp. 309–76.
  5. ^Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor.Vol. 22–23. Belgrade: Državna štamparija. 1956. p. 308.
  6. ^Prosperov Novak & Katičić 1987,p. 73.
  7. ^Superčić & Supčić 2009,p. 296.
  8. ^Dobrača, Kasim (1963).Katalog arapskih, turskih i perzijskih rukopisa (Catalogue of the Arabic, Turkish and Persian Manuscripts in the Gazi Husrev-beg Library, Sarajevo).Sarajevo. pp. 35–38.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^Bošnjak & Dobrowolsky 1968,pp. 23, 24, 26, 75, 76.
  10. ^"Srećko M. Džaja vs. Ivan Lovrenović – polemika o kulturnom identitetu BiH Ivan Lovrenović".ivanlovrenovic(in Croatian). Polemics appeared betweenSrećko M. Džaja&Ivan Lovrenovićin Zagreb's biweekly "Vijenac", later in whole published in Journal of Franciscan theology in Sarajevo, "Bosna franciscana" No.42. 2014. Archived fromthe originalon 11 April 2018.Retrieved6 June2018.
  11. ^abcdIliev, Ivan G."Short history of the Cyrillic Alphabet".ijors.net.International Journal of Russian Studies.Retrieved4 July2016.
  12. ^Susan Baddeley; Anja Voeste (2012).Orthographies in Early Modern Europe.Walter de Gruyter.p. 275.ISBN9783110288179.Retrieved2013-01-24.[...] the first printed book in Cyrillic (or, to be more precise, inBosančica) [...] (Dubrovnik Breviaryof 1512; cf. Rešetar and Đaneli 1938: 1-109).[25]
  13. ^Jakša Ravlić, ed. (1972).Zbornik proze XVI. i XVII. stoljeća.Pet stoljeća hrvatske književnosti (in Croatian). Vol. 11.Matica hrvatska- Zora. p. 21. UDC 821.163.42-3(082).Retrieved2013-01-24.Ofičje blažene gospođe (Dubrovački molitvenik iz 1512.)
  14. ^Cleminson, Ralph (2000).Cyrillic books printed before 1701 in British and Irish collections: a union catalogue.British Library.p. 2.ISBN9780712347099.2. Book of Hours, Venice, Franjo Ratković, Giorgio di Rusconi, 1512 (1512.08.02)
  15. ^Tomasz Kamusella (15 January 2009).The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe.Palgrave Macmillan. p. 976.ISBN978-0-230-55070-4.
  16. ^Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor.Vol. 22–23. Belgrade: Državna štamparija. 1956. p. 308.
  17. ^Književnost i jezik.Vol. 14. 1966. pp. 298–302.
  18. ^Jahić, Dževad; Halilović, Senahid; Palić, Ismail (2000).Gramatika bosanskoga jezika(PDF).Zenica: Dom štampe. p. 49.ISBN9789958420467.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 10 January 2020.Retrieved4 November2017.
  19. ^Rodolfo Toe (10 December 2015)."Bosnian Arts Save Vanished Script From Oblivion".Balkan Insight.Retrieved7 May2020.
  20. ^Morton, Elise (11 December 2015)."Bosnian artists revive disused script".The Calvert Journal.Retrieved7 May2020.
  21. ^abVražalica, Edina (2018)."Bosančica u ćiriličnoj paleografiji i njen status u filološkoj nauci".Književni Jezik(in Bosnian).29(29). Institut za jezik: 7–27.doi:10.33669/KJ2018-29-01.ISSN0350-3496.Retrieved7 May2020.
  22. ^Kempgen, Sebastian; Tomelleri, Vittorio Springfield (2019).Slavic Alphabets and Identities(in German). University of Bamberg Press. p. 202.ISBN978-3-86309-617-5.Retrieved7 May2020.
  23. ^abMidžić, Fikret (2018)."Bosančica (zapadna ćirilica) kroz odabrana krajišnička pisma".MemorabiLika: Časopis za Povijest, Kulturu i Geografiju Like (Jezik, Običaji, Krajolik i Arhivsko Gradivo)(in Croatian) (god. 1, br. 1): 47–62.ISSN2623-9469.Retrieved7 May2020.
  24. ^Poljička glagoljica ili poljiška azbukvica
  25. ^abcJournal of Croatian Studies.Vol. 10. Croatian Academy of America. 1986. p. 133.
  26. ^Jagić, Vatroslav (1867).Historija književnosti naroda hrvatskoga i srbskoga. Knj.l.Staro doba,, Opseg 1.Zagreb: Štamparija Dragutina Albrechta. p. 142.Retrieved4 November2017.
  27. ^Fine, John V. A. (Jr )(2010).When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods.University of Michigan Press. pp. 304–305.ISBN978-0-472-02560-2.Retrieved7 May2020.Jagić cites another seventeenth-century author, the Bosnian Matija Divković (1563–1631), who was born in Bosnia, educated in Italy, and then became a Franciscan back in Bosnia; Divković, though usually calling the language "Illyrian," at times called it "Bosnian." Georgijević disagrees, saying he usually called the language "Bosnian", "Slavic", or "ours" and goes on to cite a passage: that Divković had translated (a work) into Slavic language, in the way that in Bosnia they speak the Slavic language. Moreover, Ravlić provides excerpts from Divković's "Beside varhu evandjela nediljnieh priko svehga godišta" (Venice 1614), including the whole dedication to Makarska Bishop Bartol Kačić (spelled Kadčić by Divković). In that dedication Divković twice refers to the language he is employing; both times he calls it "Slavic" (Slovinski jezik). Divković also used the term "Slavic," at times for the people involved; Kombol notes that he published in Venice, in 1611, a work entitled "Christian Doctrine for the Slavic People" (Nauk krstjanski za narod slovinski). In its preface, he stated that he wrote for the Slavic folk in correct and true Bosnian language. Georgijević also notes that he referred to the Bosnian Cyrillic, which he wrote in, as Serbian letters. "
  28. ^Krešimir Georgijević (1969).Hrvatska književnost od XVI do XVIII stoljeća u Sjevernoj Hrvatskoj i Bosni(Katalog Knjižnica grada Zagreba - Detalji ed.). Matica hrvatska Zagreb. pp. 150, 158, 164, 165.Retrieved7 May2020.
Bibliography
  • Bošnjak, Mladen; Dobrowolsky, Ferdinand (1968).A Study of Slavic Incunabula.Mladost.Najstarija do sada poznata djela tiskana su tim pismom u izdanju Dubrovcanina Franje Micalovic Ratkova
  • Domljan, Žarko, ed. (2006).Omiš i Poljica.Naklada Ljevak.ISBN953-178-733-6.
  • Mimica, Bože (2003).Omiška krajina Poljica makarsko primorje: Od antike do 1918. godine.Vitagraf.ISBN953-6059-62-2.
  • Prosperov Novak, Slobodan;Katičić, Radoslav,eds. (1987).Dva tisućljeća pismene kulture na tlu Hrvatske[Two thousand years of writing in Croatia]. Sveučilišna naklada Liber: Muzejski prostor.ISBN863290101X.
  • Superčić, Ivan; Supčić, Ivo (2009).Croatia in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance: A Cultural Survey.Philip Wilson Publishers.ISBN978-0-85667-624-6.
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