Old Permic Alphabet Table
| Glyph | Unicode name | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter AN | first letter of Abur - the script is named An + Bur |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter BUR | second letter of Abur - the script is named An + Bur |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter GAI | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter DOI | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter E | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter ZHOI | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter DZHOI | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter ZATA | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter DZITA | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter I | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter KOKE | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter LEI | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter MENOE | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter NENOE | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter VOOI | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter PEEI | – |
| ๐ | Old Permic Letter REI | – |
| ๐ก | Old Permic Letter SII | – |
| ๐ข | Old Permic Letter TAI | – |
| ๐ฃ | Old Permic Letter U | – |
| ๐ค | Old Permic Letter CHERY | namesake of the Cyrillic ch |
| ๐ฅ | Old Permic Letter SHOOI | namesake of the Cyrillic sha (sh) |
| ๐ฆ | Old Permic Letter SHCHOOI | namesake of the Cyrillic shcha (shch) |
| ๐ง | Old Permic Letter YRY | namesake of the Cyrillic yery |
| ๐จ | Old Permic Letter YERU | namesake of the Cyrillic yeru (y) |
| ๐ฉ | Old Permic Letter O | – |
| ๐ช | Old Permic Letter OO | – |
| ๐ซ | Old Permic Letter EF | – |
| ๐ฌ | Old Permic Letter HA | – |
| ๐ญ | Old Permic Letter TSIU | – |
| ๐ฎ | Old Permic Letter VER | – |
| ๐ฏ | Old Permic Letter YER | namesake of the Cyrillic yer (hard sign) |
| ๐ฐ | Old Permic Letter YERI | – |
| ๐ฑ | Old Permic Letter YAT | namesake of the Cyrillic yat |
| ๐ฒ | Old Permic Letter IE | namesake of the Cyrillic ie |
| ๐ณ | Old Permic Letter YU | namesake of the Cyrillic yu |
| ๐ด | Old Permic Letter YA | namesake of the Cyrillic ya |
| ๐ต | Old Permic Letter IA | – |
| ๐ถ | Old Permic Letter COMBINING AN | combining form of AN |
| ๐ท | Old Permic Letter COMBINING DOI | combining form of DOI |
| ๐ธ | Old Permic Letter COMBINING ZATA | combining form of ZATA |
| ๐น | Old Permic Letter COMBINING NENOE | combining form of NENOE |
| ๐บ | Old Permic Letter COMBINING SII | combining form of SII |
The Old Permic script - known from its first two letters as Abur or Anbur - is what happens when a missionary builds a bridge: introduced in 1372 by Stephen of Perm to write the medieval Komi language, it is, in Bernard Comrie’s phrase quoted by Wikipedia, a “highly idiosyncratic adaptation” of the Cyrillic script - Cyrillic and Greek stock reshaped around a language of the Finno-Ugric Permic branch.
The idiosyncrasy is the point. Stephen folded local Komi “Rödvuลพpas” tamga signs - owners’ marks cut by incision, looking like runes or the Portuguese siglas poveiras - into the borrowed alphabet, and Wikipedia credits exactly that mixing of native marks with “greater acceptance among the medieval Permic speakers.” Many letter names are straight Cyrillic namesakes (yeru, yat, yu, ya, shcha), while the shapes record the meeting of two graphic worlds: pen-drawn letters beside cut-mark signs.
The table below lists the entire Unicode block (U+10350–U+1037F, added in version 7.0, June 2014): 43 letters, of which 38 are base letters and 5 are combining forms. Five codepoints remain unassigned. The script served Komi until the 17th century, when Cyrillic displaced it - and it survives in cryptography history, in a feast day, and in the logo of the Komi Wikipedia.
How to use
- Read the Note column as a map of the script’s double parentage: rows flagged “namesake of the Cyrillic” carry the borrowed Slavic letter names (yeru, yer, yat, yu, ya, shcha and more), while the AN and BUR rows are the two letters whose names fused into the script’s own name, Abur. Base letters come first in Unicode order; the five COMBINING rows (AN, DOI, ZATA, NENOE, SII) at the end are the combining counterparts of base letters.
- Treat the Unicode names as transliteration keys: AN, BUR, GAI, DOI, ZHOI and the rest spell out Komi sound values, so a word’s reading can be assembled directly from the name column - the same convention Wikipedia’s letter tables use for the Cyrillic-namesake rows.
- For the look-alike question, use the runic comparison carefully: the resemblance to runes comes from the incised tamga component, not from any historical relationship - the tamga signs were cut, the alphabet letters were written, and only the borrowed marks look carved.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the name Abur come from?
From the script itself: Wikipedia explains that Abur (also Anbur) is derived from the names of the first two characters, AN and BUR - the same convention that gives alphabet its name from alpha and beta. The Unicode block accordingly opens with OLD PERMIC LETTER AN and OLD PERMIC LETTER BUR, the first two rows of the chart above.
Is Old Permic just a reskinned Cyrillic?
No - it is a deliberate hybrid. The core descends from Cyrillic and Greek, but Stephen of Perm added local Komi tamga signs (Rödvuลพpas), incised owners’ marks similar to runes or siglas poveiras, and Comrie’s verdict - “highly idiosyncratic adaptation” - is Wikipedia’s own summary. The mixing was strategic: native marks helped the script gain acceptance among medieval Permic speakers. The 17th century brought the reverse integration, with Cyrillic displacing Abur altogether.
What are the combining letters at the end of the chart for?
The block’s last five codepoints are COMBINING AN, DOI, ZATA, NENOE and SII - combining counterparts of five base letters, encoded separately so a base letter and its combining form can be told apart by codepoint. They are the block’s only non-base-letter content; there are no numeral or punctuation codepoints in Old Permic.
Is the script dead today?
As everyday writing, yes - Cyrillic replaced it in the 17th century. But it kept a curious afterlife: it served as cryptographic writing for Russian, its creator’s feast day (April 26) is celebrated as Old Permic Alphabet Day, and the Komi Wikipedia chose the script for its logo. Unicode 7.0 (June 2014) gave it a digital afterlife as well.
What are tamga signs and why do they matter here?
Tamga are livestock and property marks used across the steppe and neighboring regions - abstract signs cut rather than written. Komi “Rödvuลพpas” marks of this kind were folded into the Abur inventory, which is why some letters look carved and why the script is often (wrongly) compared to runes: the resemblance is material - incision - not genealogical. Wikipedia notes the borrowing helped the alphabet win acceptance among the Permic speakers.