Multiocular O

Multiocular O () is a rare glyph variant of the Cyrillic letter O. This glyph variant can be found in a single 15th century manuscript, in the Old Church Slavonic phrase "серафими многоꙮчитїй" (abbreviated "мн҇оꙮчитїй") (serafimi mnogoočitii, "many-eyed seraphim"). It was documented by Yefim Karsky[1] in 1928 in a copy of the Book of Psalms[2] (back of page 244) from around 1429, now found in the collection[3] of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

Cyrillic letter Multiocular O
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̄Е̂ЁЄЄ́ЖЗЗ́
ЅИІІ́ЇЇ́И́
ЍИ̂ӢЙЈКЛЉ
МНЊОО́О̀О̂Ō
ӦПРСС́ТЋЌ
УУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́Ю
Ю́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈ҔҒӺҒ̌Ӷ
Д́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆ӖЕ̃
Ё̄Є̈ҖӜӁЖ̣ҘӞ
З̌З̣З̆ԐԐ̈ӠИ̃Ӥ
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣Ԛ
Л́ӅԮԒЛ̈Ӎ
Н́ӉҢԨӇҤО̆О̃
Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆ӪԤП̈
Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈
Т̌Т̇Т̣ҬУ̃ӲУ̊
Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑
Х̌ҲӼӾҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌
Ц̈ҴҶҶ̣ӴӋҸ
Ч̇Ч̣ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆
Ы̄ӸҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇
ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄Я̆
Я̄Я̈Я̈́Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̀Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆ
ԪІ̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆
К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂
Л̀ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧Н̃
ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀П́П̧
ҦП̑ҀԚ̆Р́Р̀Р̃
ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓Т̓Т̀
ԎТ̑Т̧Ꚍ̆
ѸУ̇У̨ꙋ́Ф̑
Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇Х̧Х̓
һ̱ѠѼѾЦ̀Ц́
Ц̓Ꚏ̆Ч́
Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓Ԭ
Ꚇ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆
Ꚗ̆Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂
Я̈Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦѪ
ѨѬѮѰѲѴ
Ѷ

There's a very likely chance that Multiocular O was a result of a writer’s attempt at depicting how many eyes the seraphim they were describing had.

The character was proposed for inclusion into Unicode in 2007[4] and incorporated as character U+A66E in Unicode version 5.1 (2008).[5] The representative glyph had seven eyes. However, in 2021, following a tweet highlighting the character,[6] it came to linguist Michael Everson's attention that the character in the 1429 manuscript was actually made up of ten eyes. After a 2022 proposal to change the character to reflect this, it was updated later that year for Unicode 15.0 to have ten eyes.[7][8]

The letter in the original manuscript.
The incorrect form originally implemented into Unicode (2007–2022).

See also

References

  1. Карский, Ефим (1979). Славянская кирилловская палеография. Moscow. p. 197.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. "Рукопись 308. Псалтирь. напис. 1429 (?) года". folio 243v. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  3. "Славянские рукописи — Главная библиотека". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  4. Everson, Michael; Birnbaum, David; Cleminson, Ralph; et al. (2007-03-21). "Proposal to encode additional Cyrillic characters in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  5. Compart AG (2018). "Unicode Character "ꙮ" (U+A66E)". Archived from the original on 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  6. @etiennefd on Twitter (2020-10-31). "Happy Halloween! I feel like I have to talk about something scary.[]". Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  7. "Cyrillic Extended-B; Range: A640–A69F" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-02-13.
  8. Everson, Michael. "Proposal to revise the glyph of CYRILLIC LETTER MULTIOCULAR O" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-22. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
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