ABSTRACT
The scripts of ultimately Semitic origin that have been used to write Turkic are the runiform, the Soghdian, the reformed Soghdian or Uyghur, the Manichaean, and the Arabic script. The Latin script was used by the Christian missionaries working mostly among the Kumans from the thirteenth century on. The Latin alphabet is used in the so-called Italian and in the German parts of the codex according to the contemporary usage of the Latin script in the respective countries. One year later, Soviet Azerbaijan adopted a similar Latin script, which had been in preparation for several years. Alphabets used by Turks for writing East Old Turkic texts may be divided into two major groups: those of Semitic and those of Indic origin. The Soghdian script belongs to the Aramaic group of Semitic scripts. The earliest specimens are the so-called ancient letters, dated at 312–313 ad or earlier. Among the early varieties of this script, the Samarkand type became dominant.
