Glagolitic script (10–11 centuries)

Alphabets that became a basis for slavonic writing were called "Glagolitic" and "Cyrillic" alphabets. The history of their emergence is totally unknown. One can judge upon the ancient forms of glagolitsa only approximately, as the extant monuments of glagolitsa are dated no later than the end of the 10th century. Looking through glagolitsa one can understand that its forms are very ingenious. Symbols as a rule are composed of two elements that are combined one above the other.
Glagolitic script

Such construction can be seen in the decoration of kirillitsa. It usually doesn’t include simple forms. They are connected with straights. Some letters (ш, у, м, ч, э) correspond to their modern form. Resting upon the form of letters one can speak about two types of glagolitsa. The first one – Bulgarian glagolitsa – has roundish letters, and Croatian glagolitsa – called as well illyrian or dalmatian – has an angular forms of letters. Neither of the two types has strict border zones of spreading. Later glagolitsa borrowed many sounds from kirillitsa. West slavic glagolitsa existed for only a short time and was replaced with the Latin writing. But glagolitsa didn’t perish in modern times. It was used up to the beginning of World War II, and was even used for newspapers. It is currently being used in Croatian settlements of Italy.