Old Permic Letter U

In Komi writing, it usually marks the vowel /u/. Some Old Permic manuscripts use it for consonant /v/ or /w/ too; other spellings use a separate letter called Ver for /v/.

Some alphabet lists call it U, others Vo, and a few leave it out. If /u/ makes a reading awkward, use the rest of the word and the manuscript’s convention.

Anbur also became a Russian cipher

A Russian missionary, Stephen of Perm, devised Anbur in the 14th century so Christian worship texts could be written in Komi. The alphabet drew on Greek and Cyrillic models and Komi tamga signs, traditional marks used in religious practice.

A mixed Old Permic–Russian inscription may date to the 1460s–early 1470s. The earliest precisely dated text is a note from 1486.

From the 15th century, Russian scribes also used Anbur to hide Russian writing from people unfamiliar with the script. In those passages, 𐍣 stands for Cyrillic у. Anbur letters also served as numerals: this one means 200, sometimes marked with a short overline called a titlo. The script’s Komi use faded as Cyrillic took over at the end of the 17th century.