Lydian Alphabet Table
| Letter | Unicode name | Transliteration | Sound (IPA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 𐤠 | letter a | a | [a] |
| 𐤡 | letter b | b / p | [p~b] — traditional b, new p |
| 𐤢 | letter g | g | [ɡ] |
| 𐤣 | letter d | d | [θ~ð]? |
| 𐤤 | letter e | e | [eː] |
| 𐤥 | letter v | v / w | [w~v] — traditional v, new w |
| 𐤦 | letter i | i | [i] |
| 𐤧 | letter y | y | [ɪ̯~j]? |
| 𐤨 | letter k | k | [k~ɡ] — voiced to [ɡ] before nasals |
| 𐤩 | letter l | l | [l] |
| 𐤪 | letter m | m | [m] |
| 𐤫 | letter n | n | [n] |
| 𐤬 | letter o | o | [oː] |
| 𐤭 | letter r | r | [r] |
| 𐤮 | letter ss | ss | [s] — traditional ś, new s |
| 𐤯 | letter t | t | [t~d] — voiced to [d] before nasals |
| 𐤰 | letter u | u | [u] |
| 𐤱 | letter f | f | [f] or [ɸ] — the peculiar 8-shaped letter |
| 𐤲 | letter q | q | [kʲ] |
| 𐤳 | letter s | s | [ʃ] or [ç] — traditional s, new š |
| 𐤴 | letter tt | tt | [tʃ] or [tç] — Unicode name: LETTER TT |
| 𐤵 | letter an | an | nasal vowel — own letter |
| 𐤶 | letter en | en | nasal vowel — own letter |
| 𐤷 | letter ly | ly | [ʎ] (or [ɾʲ]?) — Unicode name: LETTER LY; palatalized l |
| 𐤸 | letter nn | nn | [ɱ] or [ŋ]? — traditional ν, new ñ |
| 𐤹 | letter c | c | [ts~dz]? |
| 𐤿 | triangular mark | triangular mark | word separator / quotation triangle — the only non-letter of the block |
Lydian script was used to write the Lydian language - the tongue of Sardis, capital of the kingdom whose kings Alyattes and Croesus minted the world’s first coins. Like the other scripts of Anatolia in the Iron Age, the Lydian alphabet is based on the Phoenician alphabet, related to the East Greek alphabet, but it has unique features. It contains letters for 26 sounds, some represented by more than one symbol that scholars count as one “letter”. Its most famous sign is the f with the peculiar 8 shape - a letter shared with the Neo-Etruscan alphabet and the Italic alphabets of Oscan and Umbrian, thought to be an invention of speakers of a Sabellian language, which ties this Anatolian chart to the other side of the Mediterranean. The table above lists all 26 letters plus the block’s only non-letter: the Lydian triangular mark, a quotation-mark-shaped triangle that closes the block at U+1093F.
The script’s modern life is unusually well documented: the first modern codification of the Lydian alphabet was made by Roberto Gusmani in 1964, in a combined lexicon, grammar, and text collection. The surviving texts are inscriptions - among them bi-directional boustrophedon lines and coin legends - and recent scholarship (the eDiAna dictionary and Melchert’s Lydian corpus) has introduced a new transliteration, which is why this chart’s rows show both the traditional and the new values side by side. Unicode has hosted the script since version 5.1 (April 2008) in the block U+10920, this chart’s verified source.
How to use
- Read the table in block order: each row gives the letter, its Unicode name, the transliteration (traditional / new where the two systems differ), and the sound in IPA. The double-value rows are the ones to memorize in pairs - b/p, v/w, ss/s, s/š - because the old and new transliteration systems disagree exactly there, and a text quoted in one system will look wrong if you expect the other. The vowels a, e (long), i, o (long), u behave as expected; the nasal rows ã and ẹ and the palatalized LY row have no Latin counterpart, so learn them by sound.
- Then read a real line and trust the script’s habits: early Lydian texts run either left to right or right to left, later texts all run right to left, and one surviving text is written in the bi-directional boustrophedon manner - so orient from a name you recognize before parsing. Words are separated by spaces, except in one text that uses dots. Expect dense consonant clusters: inscriptions routinely spell things like wctdid and kspʏtok with no helping vowel written in, so transliterate letter by letter and let the clusters stand.
- Finish by connecting the script to its coins and its cousins. Lydian legends appear on some of the earliest coinage in the world, which makes this one of the few ancient alphabets you can hold - a numismatic reading loop: weight and type from the coin, letters from this chart. For the letter shapes themselves, compare the 8-shaped f against the Italic alphabets that share it, and the triangle mark against any other script’s punctuation - you will not find one, which is exactly the point: the triangular mark is Lydian’s alone.
Frequently asked questions
Who codified the Lydian alphabet?
Roberto Gusmani, in 1964 - the first modern codification of the Lydian alphabet appeared in a combined lexicon, grammar, and text collection. Earlier scholars had read individual inscriptions through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but Gusmani’s tripartite work is the watershed that made Lydian teachable, and his sign inventory is essentially the ancestor of the table on this page.
Why do some letters have two transliterations?
Because the field is revising its habits: recent publications - the online Dictionary of the Minor Languages of Ancient Anatolia (eDiAna) and Melchert’s Lydian corpus - employ a newer transliteration that swaps several values relative to the traditional system (p for b, w for v, s for ś, š for s, and so on). Neither is wrong; they are conventions. This chart shows traditional and new values together so a text quoted in either system can be checked against the same rows.
What is the Lydian triangular mark?
The block’s only non-letter: a quotation-mark-shaped triangle, encoded at U+1093F, which Lydian uses where other scripts would use a word divider or other separator - a genuinely unique feature of the script. Lydian uniquely features this triangular quotation mark; no neighboring Anatolian alphabet has anything like it, which is why the Unicode consortium gave it the last codepoint of the block rather than a LYDIAN LETTER name.
Why does the Lydian f look like an 8?
The Lydian f has the peculiar 8 shape also found in the Neo-Etruscan alphabet and in the Italic alphabets of Osco-Umbrian languages such as Oscan, Umbrian, Old Sabine and South Picene, and it is thought to be an invention of speakers of a Sabellian language. In other words, the same 8-shaped letter appears on both sides of the Mediterranean - a striking case of a sign shape traveling with sound value intact, and the single most memorable letter on this chart.
Which way does Lydian writing run?
It depends on the age of the text: early Lydian inscriptions were written either left to right or right to left, while later texts all run right to left. One surviving text is even written in the bi-directional boustrophedon manner - lines alternating direction like plowed furrows. Practical rule for readers: find a recognizable word or name, fix its direction, then parse the rest of the line accordingly, and remember words are separated by spaces (dots in one exceptional text).