Cypriot Syllable A

It represents the open syllable a in the Cypriot syllabary.

Read it as a single syllable inside a word, never as the Latin letter A. The system writes vowel-only signs a, e, i, o, u; 𐠀 is the a, and every other sign pairs a consonant with a vowel.

It descends from Cypro-Minoan, a script of the late Bronze Age (1550–1050 BCE) related to the Aegean Linear scripts. The earliest evidence Masson discussed reaches the 11th century BCE; surviving texts span the 8th to the 3rd or 2nd centuries BCE.

Where was 𐠀 actually used?

It wrote names, laws, dedications, and memorials across Cyprus.

It mainly recorded Arcado-Cypriot Greek, the island's old dialect, but also Eteocypriot, a pre-Greek local language around Amathus. Texts survive on votive and funerary stones, painted pottery, coins, and legal documents; it faded during the Hellenistic period.

The Idalion bronze tablet is the showpiece: a legal text on civic duty and the treatment of wounded soldiers. Other inscriptions pair the syllabary with the Greek or Phoenician alphabet, which helped scholars decode it. Lines run right-to-left, except the Paphian repertory's left-to-right.

How do I type 𐠀?

Enter it by code point; no keyboard has a Cypriot key.

In Microsoft Word, type 10800 and press Alt+X. On Linux, Ctrl+Shift+U, then 10800, then Enter. Any editor or character map that takes a code point works.

Display is the fragile part: fonts lacking the Cypriot range show an empty box, and the sign joins running text as right-to-left.