alanorth/dev.englishbulgaria.net
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Projects Releases Wiki Activity
662a0c2fc3
dev.englishbulgaria.net/public/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/index.html

308 lines
11 KiB
HTML
Raw Normal View History

Add initial test site
2021-02-13 11:37:37 +01:00
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta property="og:title" content="Beautiful Ligatures in Macedonian Cyrillic" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Macedonian is a Slavic language closely related to Bulgarian, but has (at least) one beautiful difference: ligatures." />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:url" content="/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/" />
<meta property="article:published_time" content="2016-02-08T09:14:15+00:00" />
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2016-02-08T09:14:15+00:00" />
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/>
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Beautiful Ligatures in Macedonian Cyrillic"/>
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Macedonian is a Slavic language closely related to Bulgarian, but has (at least) one beautiful difference: ligatures."/>
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="DDjjsgQkHNfTs0c7eNhK9cLOKICiG4UV4S25Y08LTZU" />
<meta name="msvalidate.01" content="2CA373095D945D1AA256B1CD8A3DF872" />
<meta name="yandex-verification" content="4da8e13ffdc83261" />
<meta name="generator" content="Hugo 0.80.0" />
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "BlogPosting",
"headline": "Beautiful Ligatures in Macedonian Cyrillic",
"url": "/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/",
"wordCount": "283",
"datePublished": "2016-02-08T09:14:15+00:00",
"dateModified": "2016-02-08T09:14:15+00:00",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Alan Orth"
},
"keywords": "Language, Travel, Bulgarian, Cyrillic, Macedonia",
"description": "Macedonian is a Slavic language closely related to Bulgarian, but has (at least) one beautiful difference: ligatures."
}
</script>
<link rel="canonical" href="/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/">
<title>Beautiful Ligatures in Macedonian Cyrillic | English Bulgaria</title>
<!-- combined, minified CSS -->
<link href="/css/style.min.7630f633048d0ad0729792dd11eaf5941c807ec38e3f3897289a9bf133b9e91d.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha256-djD2MwSNCtByl5LdEer1lByAfsOOPziXKJqb8TO56R0=" crossorigin="anonymous">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#7952b3">
<!-- RSS 2.0 feed -->
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<header class="blog-header py-3">
<div class="row flex-nowrap justify-content-between align-items-center">
<div class="col-4 pt-1">
<a class="link-secondary" href="#">Subscribe</a>
</div>
<div class="col-4 text-center">
<a class="blog-header-logo text-dark" href="/">English Bulgaria</a>
</div>
<div class="col-4 d-flex justify-content-end align-items-center">
<a class="link-secondary" href="#" aria-label="Search">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" class="mx-3" role="img" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><title>Search</title><circle cx="10.5" cy="10.5" r="7.5"/><path d="M21 21l-5.2-5.2"/></svg>
</a>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<div class="nav-scroller py-1 mb-2">
<nav class="nav d-flex justify-content-between">
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">World</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">U.S.</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Technology</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Design</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Culture</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Business</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Politics</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Opinion</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Science</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Health</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Style</a>
<a class="p-2 link-secondary" href="#">Travel</a>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<main class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-8">
<article class="blog-post">
<h2 class="blog-post-title"><a href="/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/">Beautiful Ligatures in Macedonian Cyrillic</a></h2>
<p class="blog-post-meta"><time datetime="2016-02-08T09:14:15Z">Mon Feb 08, 2016</time>
in
<a href="/categories/language/" rel="category tag">Language</a>, <a href="/categories/travel/" rel="category tag">Travel</a>
<a href="/tags/bulgarian/" rel="tag">Bulgarian</a>, <a href="/tags/cyrillic/" rel="tag">Cyrillic</a>, <a href="/tags/macedonia/" rel="tag">Macedonia</a>
</p>
<p>Macedonian is a Slavic language closely related to Bulgarian. My untrained ear can&rsquo;t tell the difference between the two, but my eyes spot differences immediately. In addition to minor variations in spelling and grammar, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_alphabet">Macedonian&rsquo;s Cyrillic alphabet</a> uses a handful of characters not present in Bulgarian&rsquo;s, for example the beautiful ligatures for &ldquo;ль&rdquo; and &ldquo;нь&rdquo;: љ and њ, respectively.</p>
<figure>
<img
sizes="(min-width: 35em) 1200px, 100vw"
srcset='
'
src="/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/macedonian-ligatures_hu0e4397e87b34a5a00372b36345cb0b06_9925_800x0_resize_box_2.png"
alt="Ligatures for upper and lowercase &amp;ldquo;Lje&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;Nje&amp;rdquo; characters (rendered in PT Sans)"/> <figcaption>
<p>Ligatures for upper and lowercase &ldquo;Lje&rdquo; and &ldquo;Nje&rdquo; characters (rendered in PT Sans)</p>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic_ligature">Ligatures</a> are interesting because they were originally invented to solve a practical typesetting problem during the days of the printing press. When using metal fonts, certain characters had features that collided with other characters, so troublesome letters were combined into a single piece of type. In Latin script this is most obvious in combinations involving the lowercase f, for example &ldquo;fi&rdquo; and &ldquo;fl&rdquo;.</p>
<p>Macedonian Cyrillic&rsquo;s use of ligatures fascinates me because in modern, digital typesetting they are generally only stylistic, but also because they involve the <a href="https://englishbulgaria.net/2016/01/finding-er-maluk/">beautifully subtle and rare <em>er maluk</em></a> (ь) character.</p>
<h2 id="sightings">Sightings</h2>
<p>On a recent trip to Skopje I was fascinated to see these characters in use on signs and billboards. This advertisement for <a href="http://www.lasko.eu/en">Laško</a>, a Slovenian beer brewery, features the ligature for &ldquo;ль&rdquo;:</p>
<figure>
<img
sizes="(min-width: 35em) 1200px, 100vw"
srcset='
/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/DSC_0135_hu0b8db3f8b42fc9816735d5e6d1759f12_1350477_480x0_resize_q75_box.jpg 480w,
/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/DSC_0135_hu0b8db3f8b42fc9816735d5e6d1759f12_1350477_800x0_resize_q75_box.jpg 800w,
/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/DSC_0135_hu0b8db3f8b42fc9816735d5e6d1759f12_1350477_1200x0_resize_q75_box.jpg 1200w,
/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/DSC_0135_hu0b8db3f8b42fc9816735d5e6d1759f12_1350477_1500x0_resize_q75_box.jpg 1500w,
'
src="/2016/02/beautiful-ligatures-in-macedonian-cyrillic/DSC_0135_hu0b8db3f8b42fc9816735d5e6d1759f12_1350477_800x0_resize_q75_box.jpg"
alt="Advertisement for Laško beer in Skopje, Macedonia"/> <figcaption>
<p>Advertisement for Laško beer in Skopje, Macedonia</p>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For comparison, here&rsquo;s how the sign&rsquo;s text (&ldquo;with love since 1825&rdquo;) would be written in Macedonian and Bulgarian:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Macedonian:</strong> Со љубов од 1825</li>
<li><strong>Bulgarian:</strong> С любов от 1825</li>
</ul>
<p>First, notice the striking similarity between the two. Aside from the minor differences in Со/С (&ldquo;with&rdquo;) and од/от (&ldquo;since/from&rdquo;), the љ character in the Macedonian version has the same function as the лю sequence in the Bulgarian version — both are responsible for the &ldquo;lyu&rdquo; sound in &ldquo;<em>lyubov</em>&rdquo; (love).</p>
</article><!-- /.blog-post -->
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
<div class="p-4 mb-3 bg-light rounded">
<h4 class="fst-italic">About</h4>
<p class="mb-0"><em>English Bulgaria</em>. Life in the Balkans&hellip; in English! <a href="/about">Read more →</a></p>
</div>
<div class="p-4">
<h4 class="fst-italic">Archives</h4>
<ol class="list-unstyled mb-0">
<li><a href="/2018/02/the-radiant-and-peaceful-shipka-memorial-church/">The Radiant and Peaceful Shipka Memorial Church</a></li>
<li><a href="/2016/11/if-you-give-a-bulgarian-man-some-grapes/">If You Give a Bulgarian Man Some Grapes&hellip;</a></li>
<li><a href="/2016/05/katarzyna-estate-and-the-legend-of-thracian-wine/">Katarzyna Estate and the Legend of Thracian Wine</a></li>
<li><a href="/2016/05/vratsa-is-a-picturesque-thracian-city/">Vratsa Is a Picturesque Thracian City</a></li>
<li><a href="/2016/05/tanks-rolling-streets-sofia/">Tanks Rolling Down the Streets of Sofia</a></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="p-4">
<h4 class="fst-italic">Elsewhere</h4>
<ol class="list-unstyled">
<li><a href="https://alaninkenya.org">Alan in Kenya</a></li>
<li><a href="https://mjanja.ch">Mjanja Tech</a></li>
<li><a href="https://picturingjordan.com">Picturing Jordan</a></li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div><!-- /.row -->
</main><!-- /.container -->
<footer class="blog-footer">
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license</a>.
<p>
<a href="#">Back to top</a>
</p>
</footer>
</body>
</html>
Reference in New Issue Copy Permalink