Armenian Alphabet
The Armenian alphabet (, or , ) or, more broadly, the Armenian script, is an alphabetic writing system developed for Armenian and occasionally used to write other languages. It is one of the three historical alphabets of the South Caucasus. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The script originally had 36 letters. Eventually, two more were adopted in the 13th century. In reformed Armenian orthography (1920s), the ligature is also treated as a letter, bringing the total number of letters to 39. The Armenian word for 'alphabet' is ('), named after the first two letters of the Armenian alphabet: ' and '. Armenian is written horizontally, left to right. History and development Possible antecedents One of the classical accounts of the existence of an Armenian alphabet before Mesrop Mashtots comes from Philo of Alexandria (20 BCAD 50), who in his writings notes that the work of the Greek philosoph ...
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