Vithkuqi script

Vithkuqi
𐖑𐖥𐖶𐖨𐖷𐖰𐖥^[1]
Vithkuqi; 𐖑𐖥𐖶𐖨𐖷𐖰𐖥
Script type	Alphabet
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Vith (228), Vithkuqi
Unicode
Unicode alias	Vithkuqi
Unicode range	U+10570–U+105BF

The Vithkuqi script, also rendered Büthakukye and Beitha Kukju after the birthplace of its inventor, as applied to it by German Albanologist Johann Georg von Hahn, was an alphabetic script invented for writing the Albanian language between 1825 and 1845 by Albanian scholar Naum Veqilharxhi.^[1]

History

The script is named for Vithkuq, a village in the Korçë region where Veqilharxhi was born. It never took hold because of its inventor's premature death and because of the prohibitive costs of cutting new type for the invented characters. It was never a serious competitor to the Greek, Arabic and Latin alphabets it had been designed to supplant, with two Latin alphabets becoming co-official orthographies in 1909. Other scripts invented for Albanian were the Elbasan alphabet and the Todhri alphabet of the 18th century. These similarly failed to see prolonged or widespread usage.

Description

The Vithkuqi script was specifically designed to be as religiously neutral as possible, avoiding the duplication of Greek, Latin, or Arabic characters. It had a close correspondence between letters and phonemes, but lacked single letters for modern Albanian "gj", "rr", "xh", and "zh". Additionally, modern "b" and "h" were each represented by two letters – the lesser-used letters in each pair are transliterated "bb" and "hh" below.^[1]

Capital letter		Small letter		Modern Albanian	IPA
Image	Text	Image	Text	Modern Albanian	IPA
	𐕰		𐖗	a	/a/
	𐕱		𐖘	bb	/b/
	𐕲		𐖙	b	/b/
	𐕳		𐖚	c	/t͡s/
	𐕴		𐖛	ç	/t͡ʃ/
	𐕵		𐖜	d	/d/
	𐕶		𐖝	dh	/ð/
	𐕷		𐖞	e	/ɛ/
	𐕸		𐖟	ë	/ə/
	𐕹		𐖠	f	/f/
	𐕺		𐖡	g	/ɡ/
	𐕼		𐖣	h	/h/
	𐕽		𐖤	hh	/h/
	𐕾		𐖥	i	/i/
	𐕿		𐖦	ie	/iɛ̯/
	𐖀		𐖧	j	/j/
	𐖁		𐖨	k	/k/
	𐖂		𐖩	l	/l/
	𐖃		𐖪	ll	/ɫ/
	𐖄		𐖫	m	/m/
	𐖅		𐖬	n	/n/
	𐖆		𐖭	nj	/ɲ/
	𐖇		𐖮	o	/ɔ/
	𐖈		𐖯	p	/p/
	𐖉		𐖰	q	/c͡ç/
	𐖊		𐖱	r	/ɹ/
	𐖌		𐖳	s	/s/
	𐖍		𐖴	sh	/ʃ/
	𐖎		𐖵	t	/t/
	𐖏		𐖶	th	/θ/
	𐖐		𐖷	u	/u/
	𐖑		𐖸	v	/v/
	𐖒		𐖹	x	/d͡z/
	𐖔		𐖻	y	/y/
	𐖕		𐖼	z	/z/

The letters of the Vithkuqi alphabet matched to their Latin equivalents

Typeface

The books by Veqilharxhi were lithographed in Bucharest by George Venrich.^[2] Though the alphabet was lithographed, in 1847 it was also cut for typographic use in Vienna, by the Austrian philologists and punchcutter Alois Auer. It was first used for a type specimen called Das Vaterunser in 206 Sprachen by the Imperial Printing Press (k.k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei) in Vienna, under the direction of Auer, who did not speak the language or understand the script and badly misinterpreted it (ironically even inventing a corrupted version of the Pater Noster, despite that appearing in Veqilharxhi's 1845 text). The same type was also used by Carl Faulmann in a different book a few years later. It was the first typeface to be cut for an original Albanian script.^[3]

Unicode

Vithkuqi was added to the Unicode Standard in September 2021 with the release of version 14.0.

The Unicode block for Vithkuqi is U+10570–U+105BF:

Vithkuqi^[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+1057x	𐕰	𐕱	𐕲	𐕳	𐕴	𐕵	𐕶	𐕷	𐕸	𐕹	𐕺		𐕼	𐕽	𐕾	𐕿
U+1058x	𐖀	𐖁	𐖂	𐖃	𐖄	𐖅	𐖆	𐖇	𐖈	𐖉	𐖊		𐖌	𐖍	𐖎	𐖏
U+1059x	𐖐	𐖑	𐖒		𐖔	𐖕		𐖗	𐖘	𐖙	𐖚	𐖛	𐖜	𐖝	𐖞	𐖟
U+105Ax	𐖠	𐖡		𐖣	𐖤	𐖥	𐖦	𐖧	𐖨	𐖩	𐖪	𐖫	𐖬	𐖭	𐖮	𐖯
U+105Bx	𐖰	𐖱		𐖳	𐖴	𐖵	𐖶	𐖷	𐖸	𐖹		𐖻	𐖼
Notes 1.^As of Unicode version 17.0 2.^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Everson, Michael (2020-12-07). "Proposal for encoding the Vithkuqi script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). L2/20-187R2. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
^ Yll Rugova (2022). Tipografia shqiptare 1555–1912, Varg & Berk, Prishtinë, p. 166-167
^ Yll Rugova (2022). Tipografia shqiptare 1555–1912, Varg & Berk, Prishtinë, p. 170-177

Sources

Diringer, David. (1949). The Alphabet.
Десницкая, Агния Васильевна. (1968). Албанский язык и его диалекты. Leningrad: Nauka.
Десницкая, Агния Васильевна. (1987). Албанская литература и албанский язык. Leningrad: Nauka.
Elsie, Robert. (1995). The Elbasan Gospel Manuscript (Anonimi i Elbasanit), 1761, and the struggle for an original Albanian alphabet.
Faulmann, Karl. (1880). Das Buch der Schrift.
Skendi, Stavro. 1960. The history of the Albanian alphabet: a case of complex cultural and political development. Südost-Forschungen: Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte, Kultur und Landeskunde Südosteuropas 19:263-284.
Trix, Frances. 1997. Alphabet conflict in the Balkans: Albanian and the congress of Monastir. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 128:1-23.
Veqilharxhi, Naum. (1845). Ëvetar Shqip Fort i Shkurtër.

[Everson-1] Everson, Michael (2020-12-07). "Proposal for encoding the Vithkuqi script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). L2/20-187R2. Retrieved 2021-02-19.

[2] Yll Rugova (2022). Tipografia shqiptare 1555–1912, Varg & Berk, Prishtinë, p. 166-167

[3] Yll Rugova (2022). Tipografia shqiptare 1555–1912, Varg & Berk, Prishtinë, p. 170-177

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