Gothic alphabet | Wikipedia Easy Search

Gothic

Script type	Alphabet
Time period	From c. 350, in decline by 600
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Gothic
Related scripts
Parent systems	Greek script augmented with Latin and possibly Runic (questionable) Gothic
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Goth (206), Gothic
Unicode
Unicode alias	Gothic
Unicode range	U+10330–U+1034F
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains Gothic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of letters.

Egyptian hieroglyphs 32nd c. BCE

Hieratic 32nd c. BCE
- Demotic 7th c. BCE
  - Meroitic 3rd c. BCE
Proto-Sinaitic 19th c. BCE
- Ugaritic 15th c. BCE
- Epigraphic South Arabian 9th c. BCE
  - Geʽez 5–6th c. BCE
- Phoenician 12th c. BCE
  - Paleo-Hebrew 10th c. BCE
    - Samaritan 6th c. BCE
  - Aramaic 8th c. BCE
    - Kharosthi 3rd c. BCE
    - Brahmi 3rd c. BCE
      - Brahmic family (see)
        Pallava 4th c. CE
        Cham 4th c. CE
        
        Dhives Akuru 6th c. CE
        
        Khmer 611 CE
        
        Tibetan 7th c. CE
        Phagspa 1269 CE
        
        Devanagari 10th c. CE
        Canadian Aboriginal 1840
    - Hebrew 3rd c. BCE
      - Square Aramaic Alphabet 2007
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      - Arabic 4th c. CE
        N'Ko 1949 CE
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        Orkhon (old Turkic) 6th c. CE
        Old Hungarian c. 650 CE
        
        Old Uyghur
        Mongolian 1204 CE
    - Mandaic 2nd c. CE
  - Greek 8th c. BCE
    - Etruscan 8th c. BCE
      - Latin 7th c. BCE
        Cherokee (syllabary; letter forms only) c. 1820 CE
        Vai (syllabary) c. 1832 CE
        
        Deseret 1854 CE
        
        Great Lakes Algonquian 19th c. CE
        
        Blackfoot (influence from Canadian) 1888 CE
        
        Fraser (Old Lisu) 1915 CE
        
        Saanich 1978 CE
        
        Osage 2006 CE
      - Runic 2nd c. CE
      - Ogham (origin uncertain) 4th c. CE
    - Lycian 5th c. BCE
    - Coptic (influence from Demotic) 3rd c. CE
    - Gothic 3rd c. CE
    - Armenian 405 CE
      - Caucasian Albanian (origin uncertain) c. 420 CE
    - Georgian (origin uncertain) c. 430 CE
    - Glagolitic 862 CE
    - Cyrillic c. 940 CE
      - Old Permic 1372 CE
  - Libyco-Berber 10th c. BCE
    - Tifinagh 4th c. CE
      - Neo-Tifinagh 1970 CE
  - Paleohispanic (semi-syllabic) 7th c. BCE

The Gothic alphabet is an alphabet used for writing the Gothic language. It was developed in the 4th century AD by Ulfilas (or Wulfila), a Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent, for the purpose of translating the Bible.^[1]

The alphabet essentially uses uncial forms of the Greek alphabet, with a few additional letters to express Gothic phonology:

Latin F and G
a questionably Runic letter to distinguish the /w/ glide from vocalic /u/
the letter hwair (ƕ) to express the Gothic labiovelar.

^ According to the testimony of the historians Philostorgius, Socrates of Constantinople and Sozomen. Cf. Streitberg (1910:20).