Osmanya Letter Xa

It represents the Somali sound written x in Latin-script Somali.

Read 𐒄 as one letter inside a Somali word. Its meaning comes from the surrounding word; by itself, it names no word or message.

Why was Osmanya created?

To give Somali a writing system designed for the language.

Osman Yusuf Kenadid devised it in 1920–1922. An article published in 1932 is an early description based on material from his nephew. Earlier efforts had adapted Arabic script for Somali; Osmanya was a separate alphabet made for Somali.

How did Osmanya's role change?

It grew from private family use into a contested candidate for Somalia's national script.

Kenadid's friends and relatives used it for private letters, with little wider reach until after World War II. The Somali Youth League, an independence party, then taught and promoted it; in that postwar campaign, people also called it far Soomaali (“Somali writing”). The choice met resistance from people who objected to Somali rather than Arabic as the national language, or to an indigenous script rather than Arabic or Latin.

The Somali Language and Literature Society began a short Osmanya journal in 1957. Latin orthography became Somalia's final national choice in 1973. A 1977 account records private correspondence and bookkeeping in Osmanya. In 2001, a proposal to add Osmanya to Unicode, the shared text-character standard, described its users as mostly scholars and librarians, with some ordinary use.