The Todhri alphabet is an 18th-century Albanian writing system invented for writing the Albanian language by Theodhor Haxhifilipi, also known as Dhaskal Todhri.
History
It is a complex writing system of fifty-two characters which was used sporadically for written communication in and around
Elbasan from the late eighteenth century on. The earliest dated text in Todhri's alphabet is
Radhua Hesapesh (daybook) of a local merchant partnership known as Jakov Popa i Vogël dhe Shokët (Jakov Popa Junior and Friends). The entries in Todhri's alphabet start on 10 August 1795 and continue until 1797. An even older text written in the Todhri alphabet was discovered recently in a family notebook in Elbasan, dated 1 January 1780.
[Yll Rugova (2022). Malte Bruni dhe fillimi i studimeve mbi alfabetet origjinale të gjuhës shqipe. In Studimet për Shqiptarët në Francë, ASHAK Prishtina, pp. 571–2] Other older texts possibly written by Todhri himself cannot be dated or confirmed.
The Todhri alphabet was rediscovered in Elbasan by Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869) who published it in 1854 his work Albanesische Studien in Jena.
Unicode
The Todhri alphabet was added to the
Unicode Standard in September, 2024 with the release of version 16.0.
[ ]
The Unicode block for Todhri is U+105C0–U+105FF:
See also
