Todhri letter Ja

It is a Todhri letter with the value ja.

Todhri is a historical script used to write Albanian around Elbasan. In transliterations into the modern Albanian Latin alphabet, this letter corresponds to J; they are signs from different scripts. Alone, 𐗓 identifies a letter rather than a full message, so ask for context if someone sends it without explanation.

When did Todhri first appear in writing?

The earliest dated example is an Elbasan notebook from 1 January 1780.

Older writings are mentioned but remain undated. A separate Popaj family chronicle was kept from 1785 to 1933, so Todhri continued into the twentieth century. It served local religious writing and practical tasks around Elbasan: the record includes biblical copybooks, merchants’ letters and accounts, and a little use in nearby Berat.

Who created Todhri, and what happened to it?

Theodor Haxhifilipi is traditionally credited, but the origin is disputed.

His nickname Dhaskal Todhri means “teacher Todhri.” Accounts differ on whether he devised the alphabet or brought it to Elbasan from Moschopolis (now Voskopoja); another names his teacher, Gregory of Durrës, who taught at Voskopojë’s New Academy. Johann Georg von Hahn, an Austrian consul, published manuscript examples in 1854. He speculated about Phoenician ancestry; Leopold Geitler later compared the letterforms with Greek and Roman cursive—quick handwritten forms. That describes their appearance, not a proven origin.

In 1900, the monk Parthenius told linguist Gjergj Pekmezi that Todhri was giving way to the newer Kristoforidhi and Frashëri alphabets, though merchants and letter writers still used it and church hymns remained. Todhri, Elbasan, and Vithkuqi are separate Albanian scripts, not variants of one alphabet.