The Enigmatic Letters и҃ . пѣ҃ . хл҃ъ . тъ҃ and ш҃ . ъ҃ . шь҃ . мь҃ . ъ҃ in the Lists of the Monk Hrabr. Clarifying the Composition of the Glagolitic Alphabet

The purpose of the article is to establish the exact composition and order of letters in the final part of the Glagolitic alphabet. In the main part of the paper, the author analyses two unclear sections of the lists of letters in the treatise of the monk Hrabr. These are segments и . пѣ҃ . хл҃ъ . тъ҃ at the end of the list of letters similar to the Greek ones, and ш . ъ . шь҃ . мь҃ . ъin the list of letters proper to the Slavic language. The article substantiates the argument that хл҃ъ . тъ҃and шь҃ . мь҃are the names of the so-called “second x” and “second š”, and that и stands for the “third i”. While analyzing alphabetic acrostics, Moshin and Afanasyeva proved the existence of two letters for the sound [š] in the Glagolitic alphabet. However, neither the name of the “second š” nor its appearance were known. The author considers it possible that the original appearance of this letter can be found in the Glagolitic abecedarium in the Sinaitic manuscript of the Demetrius’ Psalter. Ultimately, the author reconstructs the final part of the Glagolitic alphabet as follows (in Cyrillic transliteration of the letter names): ѡтъ, пѣ, ци, чрьвь, ша, еръ, *шьдъ or *шьмь (“second š”), *и (“third i”), ерь, ѣть, *хлъмъ или *хлътъ (“second x”), ѭсъ, ю, ѧ. The article also examines the adoption and adaptation of letter shapes from other alphabets by its creator, patterns for naming letters, and the composition of the Glagolitic alphabet.