Glagolitic

Glagolitic, an old Slavonic alphabet, so called from glagol, the name of the letter G. The letters are ojf peculiar form, quite different from those of the ordinary Slavonic alphabet invented by the apostles Cyril and Methodius. They are of uncertain origin, being attributed by some to St. Jerome, by some derived from the cursive Greek script, and by others connected with an old Albanian system of which nothing further is known. None of these hypotheses have met with general acceptance; but while the problem of origin remains unsolved, it appears certain that Glagolitic is older than Cyrillic. At least the language of the old Glagolitic MSS. is of more archaic form, and all Slav palimpsests show the Cyrillic written over the Glagolitic texts. At present Glagolitic, being of somewhat rigid form, is little used, and mainly restricted to the religious writings of the Dalmatian Slavs. (Dr. M. Gaster, Ilcltester Lectures on Greek a/nd Slavonic Literature, London, 1887; Canon Isaac Taylor, in Archiv fiir Slavische Philologie, v. p. 191.)