Editing Georgian scripts (section)

===Form of Asomtavruli letters===
In early Asomtavruli, the letters are of equal height. Georgian historian and philologist [[Pavle Ingorokva]] believes that the direction of Asomtavruli, like that of Greek, was initially [[boustrophedon]], though the direction of the earliest surviving texts is from left to the right.<ref>პ. ინგოროყვა, "შოთა რუსთაველი", "მნათობი", 1966, No. 3, გვ. 116</ref>

In most Asomtavruli letters, straight lines are horizontal or vertical and meet at right angles. The only letter with [[acute angle]]s is '''Ⴟ''' ([[Jani (letter)|''jani'']]). There have been various attempts to explain this exception. Georgian linguist and art historian Helen Machavariani believes ''jani'' derives from a [[Chi Rho|monogram of Christ]], composed of {{Script|Geok|Ⴈ}} (''[[Ini (Georgian letter)|ini]]'') and {{Script|Geok|Ⴕ}} (''[[Kani (letter)|kani]]'').{{sfn|Machavariani|2011| pp= 121–122}} According to Georgian scholar Ramaz Pataridze, the cross-like shape of letter ''jani'' indicates the end of the alphabet, and has the same function as the similarly shaped [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] letter [[taw]] ([[File:Phoenician taw.svg|20px]]), [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] [[Chi (letter)|chi]] (Χ), and [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] [[X]],<ref>რ. პატარიძე, ქართული ასომთავრული, თბილისი, 1980, გვ. 151, 260–261</ref> though these letters do not have that function in Phoenician, Greek, or Latin.

<div class="center">[[File:Coin of Queen Tamar 1200 AD.png|130px]] [[File:ლაშა-გიორგის მონეტა 1210 წ..png|130px]]<br/><small>Coins of Queen [[Tamar of Georgia]] and King [[George IV of Georgia]] minted using Asomtavruli script, 1200–1210 AD.</small></div>

From the 7th century, the forms of some letters began to change. The equal height of the letters was abandoned, with letters acquiring ascenders and descenders.<ref>ივ. ჯავახიშვილი, ქართული დამწერლობათა-მცოდნეობა ანუ პალეოგრაფია, თბილისი, 1949, 185–187</ref><ref>ე. მაჭავარიანი, ქართული ანბანი, თბილისი, 1977, გვ. 5–6</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.2;width:30em;"
|+Asomtavruli letters
|- style="text-align:center;"
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴀ</span><br/>''ani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴁ</span><br/>''bani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴂ</span><br/>''gani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴃ</span><br/>''doni''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴄ</span><br/>''eni''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴅ</span><br/>''vini''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴆ</span><br/>''zeni''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴡ</span><br/>''he''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴇ</span><br/>''tani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴈ</span><br/>''ini''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴉ</span><br/>''kʼani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴊ</span><br/>''lasi''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴋ</span><br/>''mani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴌ</span><br/>''nari''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴢ</span><br/>''hie''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴍ</span><br/>''oni''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴎ</span><br/>''pʼari''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴏ</span><br/>''zhani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴐ</span><br/>''rae''
|- style="text-align:center;"
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴑ</span><br/>''sani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴒ</span><br/>''tʼari''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴣ</span><br/>''vie''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴓ/ႭჃ</span><br/>''uni''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴔ</span><br/>''pari''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴕ</span><br/>''kani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴖ</span><br/>''ghani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴗ</span><br/>''qʼari''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴘ</span><br/>''shini''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴙ</span><br/>''chini''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴚ</span><br/>''tsani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴛ</span><br/>''dzili''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴜ</span><br/>''ts'ili''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴝ</span><br/>''ch'ari''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴞ</span><br/>''khani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴤ</span><br/>''qari''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴟ</span><br/>''jani''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴠ</span><br/>''hae''
|bgcolor="#ffffff"| <span style="font-size:230%;">Ⴥ</span><br/>''hoe''
|}