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Font: Glagolitic
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Believed to be the first alphabet ever for any Slavic language, the earliest record for Glagolitic is in the 9th century AD. Glagolitic was used to write the translation of the Bible into Old Bulgarian. Glagolitic script was often referred to as azbuka which is a generic name for alphabet created from the name of the first two letters. The term 'Glagolitic' is derived from the name of third letter, glagol, which means 'word'. Consisting of 33 basic letters, the alphabetic order of Glagolitic is based on the Greek alphabet with the exception of the letters representing Slavic sounds which do not occur in Greek.
Although there are plenty of theories about it, the origin of Glagolitic is not certain. Some attribute the invention of the script to Saint Cyril who is also credited with devising Cyrillic. Most likely, the letter forms of Glagolitic were derived from a cursive style of Greek script. Likewise, there is plenty of conjecture regarding the origin of the non-Greek forms, but there is little solid evidence. Some letters are said to be of Hebrew or Coptic derivation.
For a time, Glagolitic co-existed with Cyrillic in the Bulgarian and Macedonian regions. However, by the 13th century, Cyrillic became the dominant script. Glagolitic continued to be used for some time in Serbia and Bosnia and to a limited extent, in Polish and Czech churches. It was in Croatia, however, that Glagolitic script took root and prospered. Over the centuries, the original round forms of Glagolitic writing developed into a distinctively square Croatian style. Starting in the 17th century, Glagolitic script began to lose its dominance to Latin script outside church circles in Croatia. Nowadays, Glagolitic is a dead script, confined to the realm of scholarly work.
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