Todhri letter U

It is the Todhri alphabet’s vowel letter for u.

Todhri was used around Elbasan, in central Albania. The earliest dated example described is a family notebook from 1 January 1780; a merchant partnership daybook uses the script from 10 August 1795 to 1797. Reports mention older material, but its date is uncertain.

Accounts differ: Theodor Haxhifilipi is credited with the script, but he may instead have learned it while studying in the town of Voskopojë and brought it to Elbasan; another account credits Gregory of Durrës.

Why was the Todhri alphabet used?

It let people write Albanian around Elbasan.

Surviving examples include copybooks—books where Bible passages were copied—as well as merchants’ letters and account books. A single 𐗤 is a vowel inside Todhri writing, not a word by itself.

In 1854, Johann Georg von Hahn called Todhri an “original” Albanian alphabet and proposed a link to Phoenician, an ancient Mediterranean writing system. Geitler instead linked its letter shapes to Greek and Roman cursive, a flowing handwriting style. These accounts offer competing explanations of the script’s forms. Todhri shares the history of Albanian writing with the Elbasan and Vithkuqi alphabets.

A report from 1900 describes only a small number of writers remaining and says Todhri was giving way to newer Albanian alphabets.