Although contemporary Croats exclusively use latin alphabet in their every day written communication, in earlier times in various regions of Croatia a peculiar, glagolitic alphabet, as well as Croatian cyrillic alphabet, had been used.

Hundreds of pages of historic text written in those alphabets, some produced as late as 19th century, can be found in Croatian archives. For a devoted genealogist, it is especially important the fact that many vital records in Catholic parishes were kept by what we today call cursive glagolitsa (kurzivna glagoljica). It is a variant of Glagolitic alphabet devised for easier handwriting. Since the alphabet wasn’t standardized, various writers would transcribe same letters in sligthly different ways.

Here we publish the list of glagolitic letters and their latin counterparts, courtesy of Grozdana Franov Živković from Zadar, who created this list.

Vital records in cursive glagolitic alphabet, according to www.croatianhistory.net web site, are as follows:

Matice krštenih, vjenčanih i umrlih (Baptismal, marital and death records) from 1815 for Sutomišćica, Preko (Poljane) parish
Matice krštenih i vjenčanih (Baptismal and marital records) from 17th century for Gruško-Zadar
Matice vjenčanih (Marital records) from 17th century for the island of Iž
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Ugljan, 1650.-1732. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Silba, 1650.-1682. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Ugljan, 1651.-1678. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Tkon, 1651.-1838. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Petrčane, 1653.-1686. (Zadar state archive),
Matica krizmanih (Confirmation records), Pašman, 1655.-1677. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Tkon, 1655.-1826. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Tkon, 1656.-1838. (Zadar state archive),
Stanje duša (Status animarum, Anagrafa), Brbinj, 1658.-1808. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Sukošan, 1658.-1732. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Sukošan, 1658.-1775. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Sukošan, 1658.-1759. (Zadar state archive),
Stanje duša (Status animarum, Anagrafa), Ugljan, 1660.-1722. (Zadar state archive),
Stanje duša (Status animarum, Anagrafa), Filip Jakov, 1661.-1681. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Tkon, 1666-1813. (Zadar state archive),
Stanje duša (Status animarum, Anagrafa), Kožino, 1667.-1840. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Primošćen (Primošten), 1667.-1681. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Silba, 1668.-1698. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Žman, 1668.-1832. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Žman, 1668.-1830. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records) župe Mali Lošinj, 1670.-1745.,
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Kožino, 1671.-1833. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Ugljan, 1673.-1731. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Sali, 1674.-1827. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Ugljan, 1678.-1709. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Kali, 1683.-1825. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Kali, 1693.-1753. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Turanj, 1694.-1839. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Turanj, 1694.-1839. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Turanj, 1694.-1839. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Sali, 1695.-1830. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Sali, 1696.-1830. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Silba, 1696.-1712. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Tkon, 1699.-1813. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Silba, 1712.-1823. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Ugljan, 1712.-1740. (Zadar state archive),
Stanje duša (Status animarum, Anagrafa), 1715.-1719. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Slivnica, 1716.-1726. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Prkos, 1718.-1734. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Sukošan, 1732.-1760. (Zadar state archive),
Matica, Vrhpolje (kod Šibenika), 1734.-1815. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Božava, 1738-1832. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Božava, 1738.-1832. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Sutomišćica, 1739-1825. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Božava, 1740.-1832. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Ugljan, 1740.-1778. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Ugljan, 1741.-1806. (Zadar state archive),
Stanje duša (Status animarum, Anagrafa), Sestrunj, 1744.-1837. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Sutomišćica, 1747-1825. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Sukošan, 1761.-1811. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Božava, 1765-1825. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Sukošan, 1765.-1799. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih, vjenčanih i mrtvih (Birth, marital and death records), Olib, 1765.-1802. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Soline, 1794.-1863. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Filip Jakov, 1803.-1843. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Sestrunj, 1803.-1837. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Sestrunj, 1806.-1837. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Tkon, 1812.-1844. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Sukošan, 1812.-1830. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Tkon, 1812.-1844. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Slivnica, 1824.-1851. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Brbinj, 1825.-1856. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Kožino, 1825.-1857. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Kožino, 1825.-1845. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Brbinj, 1825.-1839. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Olib, 1825.-1834. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Pašman, 1825.-1849. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Pašman, 1825.-1834. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Petrčane, 1825.-1845. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Petrčane, 1825.-1834. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Preko – Ošljak, 1825.-1857. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Preko – Ošljak, 1825.-1847. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Novigrad, 1835.-1843. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Brbinj, 1837.-1853. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Preko – Ošljak, 1839.-1857. (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Tkon, 1840.-1847. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Olib, 1842.-1851. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Olib, 1844.-1857. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Novigrad, 1846.-1857. (Zadar state archive),
Matica rođenih (Birth records), Arbanasi, 1847.-1853., (Zadar state archive),
Matica mrtvih (Death records), Tkon, 1848.-1861. (Zadar state archive),
Matica vjenčanih (Marital records), Tkon, 1856.-1859. (Zadar state archive),
knjiga godova u župi Kali na Ugljanu, 1873.

Image: Roberta F, Wikimedia Commons