Glagolitic, one of the two ancient Slovenic, or less correctly Slavonic, forms of writing. The name is derived from the fourth letter, glagol, equivalent to our hard g; it is also known as the Bukvitza, from bukva, letter, or from the names of the second and third letters, bulc and vide, or b and v. Its formation is attributed by some to St. Jerome, and by others to Methodius, the apostle of Pannonia and Great Moravia (about 860). The shape of the 32 letters (of which 27 are also numeral signs) is very grotesque and protean, little resembling the Greek. The Glagolitza was used in Illy-ria, Dalmatia, and Bulgaria. The other form of Slovenic writing is the Kyrilitza, contrived by Cyril, the reputed brother of Methodius, many letters of which are like the Coptic, because they imitate the Greek forms. This consisted originally of 40 letters, and is still in use among the eastern Slavs and the Roumanians. The Russian azbuka or bukvar (alphabet) is a slight modification of the latter. These systems have been much extolled by some authors; but, though representing all sounds of the languages, they are imperfect, inasmuch as they contain single signs for complex sounds, such as tz, tch, shtch, ye, ya, yu.

The nations that employ these graphic systems belong mostly to the Greek church; while the Catholic Slavs (Poles, Bohemians, Slovaks, Lusatians, etc.) make use of the Latin or the so-called German letters, with some modifications. The most remarkable works in Glagolitic writing are: Glagolita Clozianus, by Count Paris Cloz of Trent in the 11th century, edited by Kopitar (Vienna, 1836); Codex Assemanicus, continens Lectiones Evangelicas, Bibliothecoe Vaticanoe, in A. Mai's Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio; and Codex continent Psalmos, cum Expositione Sancti Athanasii, etc, at Bologna. All these are in the Bulgarian idiom; Breviarium (edited by Brozich, Venice, 1561) is in Servian.