Arebica

South Slavic languages and dialects
Western South Slavic
Slovene dialects Prekmurje dialect Resian dialect
Serbo-Croatian
Bosnian Štokavian dialect
Croatian Štokavian dialect Čakavian Kajkavian Burgenland Molise Torlakian
Serbian Štokavian dialect Ekavian Ijekavian Torlakian Slavoserbian Serbian Romany Užice dialect
Differences between standard Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian
Non-ISO recognized languages and dialects Montenegrin Bunjevac dialect
Eastern South Slavic
Church Slavonic (Old)
Bulgarian Dialects Banat Torlakian Meshterski
Macedonian Dialects Western dialects Southeastern dialects Northern Dialects Torlakian Spoken Macedonian Standard Macedonian
Transitional dialects
Serbian–Bulgarian Transitional Bulgarian dialects Torlakian Gora dialect
Croatian–Slovenian Kajkavian
Alphabets
Modern Gaj's Latin1 Serbian Cyrillic Macedonian Cyrillic Bulgarian Cyrillic Slavica Slovene
Historical Bohoričica Dajnčica Metelčica Arebica Bosnian Cyrillic Glagolitic Early Cyrillic
1 Includes Banat Bulgarian alphabet.

Arebica or arabica was a variant of the Perso-Arabic script used to write the Bosnian language. It was used mainly between the 15th and 19th centuries. Before WWI there were unsuccessful efforts by Muslims to officially adopt Arebica as the third alphabet for Bosnian alongside Latin and Cyrillic. The last book printed in the script was in 1941.

One of the oldest texts written in Arabica is a love song called Chirvat-türkisi ('Croatian song') from 1588, written by a certain Mehmed in Bosnia. This manuscript is held in the National Library in Vienna. Besides literature, Arabica was used in religious schools and administration, though in much less use than other scripts.

Arebica was based on the Perso-Arabic script of the Ottoman Empire, with added letters for /t͡s/, /ʎ/, and /ɲ/, which are not found in Arabic, Persian, or Turkish. Full letters were eventually introduced for all vowels, making Arebica a true alphabet, unlike its Perso-Arabic base.

The final version of Arebica was devised by Mehmed Džemaludin Čaušević at the end of the 19th century. His version is called Matufovica, Matufovača, or Mektebica.

Arabica

arebica	latinica	arebica	latinica	arebica	latinica
آ‎	a	غ‎	g	ۉ‎	o
ب‎	b	ح‎	h	پ‎	p
ڄ‎	c	اى‎	i	ر‎	r
چ‎	č	ی‎	j	س‎	s
	ć	ق‎	k	ش‎	š
د‎	d	ل‎	l	ت‎	t
ج‎	dž	ڵ‎	lj	ۆ‎	u
	đ	م‎	m	و‎	v
ه‎	e	ن‎	n	ز‎	z
ف‎	f		nj	ژ‎	ž

Text example:

مۉلیمۉ سه ته‌بی بۉژه‎ = Molimo se tebi, Bože (We pray to you, o God)

See also

• Gaj's Latin alphabet
• Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
• Belarusian Arabic alphabet, another script used by Slavic-speaking Muslims
• Category:Arabic alphabets

External links

• Hevaji Text examples: Hevaji, Kaimija, etc.
• Još malo o arebici (More on arebica)

References

• Enciklopedija leksikografskog zavoda, entry: Arabica. Jugoslavenski leksikografski zavod, Zagreb, 1966