Bosnian Cyrillic

Bosnian Cyrillic
Bosančica
Type
Alphabet Cyrillic script
Languages Bosnian
Time period
10th-18th century

Bosnian Cyrillic, widely known as Bosančica[1][2] is an extinct variant of the Cyrillic alphabet generally found in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1] It was widely used in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the bordering areas of Croatia (southern and middle Dalmatia and Dubrovnik regions). It was particularly used by the Bosnian Church community. Its name in Bosnian is bosančica, bosanica or bošnjačko pismo,[3] the latter of which can be translated as Bosnian script. Croat scholars also call it Croatian script, Croatian–Bosnian script, Bosnian–Croat Cyrillic, harvacko pismo, arvatica or Western Cyrillic.[4][5] For other names of Bosnian Cyrillic, see below.

The use of Bosančica amongst Bosniaks was replaced by Arebica upon the introduction of Islam in Bosnia Eyalet, first amongst the elite, then amongst the wider public.[6]

History and characteristic features

It is hard to ascertain when features of characteristically Bosnian type of Cyrillic script had begun to appear, but paleographers consider that the Humac tablet (Bosnian Cyrillic tablet) is the first document of this type of script and dates back supposedly to the 10th/11th century. Bosnian Cyrillic lasted continuously until the 18th century, with sporadic uses even in the 20th century.

Historically, Bosnian Cyrillic is prominent in the following areas:

In conclusion, main traits of Bosnian Cyrillic include:

Controversies and polemic

The polemic about "ethnic affiliation" of Bosnian Cyrillic started in the 19th century, then reappeared in the mid-1990s.[10] Without going into nuances and details, the polemic about attribution and affiliation of Bosnian Cyrillic texts seems to rest on further arguments:

The irony of the contemporary status of Bosnian Cyrillic is as follows: scholars are still trying to prove that Bosnian Cyrillic is ethnically their own, while simultaneously relegating the corpus of Bosnian Cyrillic written texts to the periphery of national culture. This extinct form of Cyrillic is peripheral to Croatian paleography which focuses on Glagolitic and Latin script corpora.

Legacy

In 2015, a group of artists started a project called "I write to you in Bosancica" which involved art and graphic design students from Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Siroki Brijeg, and Trebinje. Exhibitions of the submitted artworks will be held in Sarajevo, Trebinje, Siroki Brijeg, Zagreb, and Belgrade.[11] 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.

Names

Names used in scholarship and literature (chronological order, recent first):

Gallery

See also

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 Balić, Smail (1978). Die Kultur der Bosniaken, Supplement I: Inventar des bosnischen literarischen Erbes in orientalischen Sprachen. Vienna: Adolf Holzhausens, Vienna. pp. 49–50, 111.
  2. Algar, Hamid (1995). The Literature of the Bosnian Muslims: a Quadrilingual Heritage. Kuala Lumpur: Nadwah Ketakwaan Melalui Kreativiti. pp. 254–68.
  3. Popovic, Alexandre (1971). La littérature ottomane des musulmans yougoslaves: essai de bibliographie raisonnée, JA 259. Paris: Alan Blaustein Publishing House. pp. 309–76.
  4. Prosperov Novak & Katičić 1987, p. 73.
  5. Superčić & Supčić 2009, p. 296.
  6. Dobraća, Kasim (1963). Katalog Arapskih, Turskih i Perzijskih Rukopisa (Catalogue of the Arabic, Turkish and Persian Manuscripts in the Gazihusrevbegova Library, Sarajevo). Sarajevo. pp. 35–38.
  7. Susan Baddeley, Anja Voeste (2012). Orthographies in Early Modern Europe. Walter de Gruyter. p. 275. ISBN 9783110288179. Retrieved 2013-01-24. [...] the first printed book in Cyrillic (or, to be more precise, in Bosančica) [...] (Dubrovnik Breviary of 1512; cf. Rešetar and Đaneli 1938: 1-109).[25]
  8. Jakša Ravlić, ed. (1972). Zbornik proze XVI. i XVII. stoljeća. Pet stoljeća hrvatske književnosti (in Croatian) 11. Matica hrvatska - Zora. p. 21. UDC 821.163.42-3(082). Retrieved 2013-01-24. Ofičje blažene gospođe (Dubrovački molitvenik iz 1512.)
  9. Cleminson, Ralph (2000). Cyrillic books printed before 1701 in British and Irish collections: a union catalogue. British Library. p. 2. ISBN 9780712347099. 2. Book of Hours, Venice, Franjo Ratković, Giorgio di Rusconi, 1512 (1512.08.02)
  10. Tomasz Kamusella (15 January 2009). The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 976. ISBN 978-0-230-55070-4.
  11. Poljička glagoljica ili poljiška azbukvica
  12. 1 2 3 4 Journal of Croatian Studies 10. Croatian Academy of America. 1986. p. 133.
  13. Vladimir Ćorović (1925), Bosna i Hercegovina
    Čuveni krajiški begovi Kulenovići [...] Njihovo pismo bilo je sve do okupacije ćirilica, takozvano begovsko pismo, koje su oni sami zvali stara srbija.
  14. Matija Antun Reljković (1974) [17xx], Ivo Bogner, ed., Satir iliti divji čovik
  15. Ivan Franjo Jukić, ed. (1850). "V. Književnost bosanska". Bosanski prijatelj (Zagreb: Ljudevit Gaj) 1: 29. Plač blažene divice Marie, koi plač izpisavši sarpski... fra Matie Divković iz Ielašak...
Bibliography
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