Todhri alphabet

The Todhri alphabet is an 18th-century Albanian alphabetical 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. 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. He thought it was 'the original' Albanian alphabet and a derivative of the ancient Phoenician alphabet. Leopold Geitler (1847–1885) and Slovenian scholar Rajko Nahtigal (1877–1958) subsequently studied the alphabet, concluding that it was derived primarily from the Roman cursive.

Unicode
A Todri block was accepted for inclusion in Unicode 16.0, to be released in 2024.