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Orkhon script Wikipedia

Image:Orkhon.png|right|Orkhon script

The Orkhon Script is an alphabet developed by the Gokturks|Gokturks, a Turkic tribespeople, to write the Uighur language from about 715 AD to about 800 AD, when it was replaced by the Uighur Alphabet. Orkhon inscriptions|Inscriptions written in this alphabet have been found in the Orhon River valley in the Orhon aymag|Orhon province of Mongolia. It is the earliest known alphabet developed by Turkic peoples living in Central Asia.

The Orkhon Script goes by many names: the Orkhon (Kokturk, Kok Turki, Gokturk, G?k-Turk or K?k-Turk) Alphabet, and because of its superficial resemblance to the Runes|Runic alphabets of the Germanic languages|Germanic-speaking peoples of Europe, it is sometimes called Orkhon runes or Turkic runes, or is described as runiform to gesture at the similarity.

The Kokturk alphabet had only 4 vowel symbols to represent its 9 vowel sounds, and 34 consonant letters to represent its 21 consonant sounds. This odd disparity has to do with the principle of vowel harmony, common in Turkic languages.

A variant of this alphabet is the Yenisei Alphabet, also called Siberian Runes. The Orkhon script may have evolved from a non-cursive form of the Sogdian alphabet. The so-called Hungarian runes|Hungarian Runes were also derived from this alphabet.

See also Old Turkic alphabet

Last Modified:   2005-04-13