Multiocular O

Multiocular O (ꙮ) is a rare glyph variant of the Cyrillic letter O. This glyph variant can be found in a single 15th century manuscript, in the Old Church Slavonic phrase "серафими многоꙮ҄читїи҄" (serafimi mnogoočitii, "many-eyed seraphim"). It was documented by Yefim Karsky^[1] from a copy of the book of Psalms^[2] from around 1429, now found in the collection^[3] of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

Cyrillic letter Multiocular O
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
А А́ А̀ А̂ А̄ Ӓ Б В Г Ґ Д Ђ Ѓ Е Е́ Ѐ Е̂ Е̄ Ё Є Є́ Ж З З́ Ѕ И І І́ Ї И́ Ѝ И̂ Ӣ Й Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О О́ О̀ О̂ Ō Ӧ П Р С С́ Т Ћ Ќ У У́ У̀ У̂ Ӯ Ў Ӱ Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш Щ Ъ Ъ̀ Ы Ы́ Ь Ѣ Э Э́ Ю Ю́ Ю̀ Я Я́ Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
Ӑ А̊ А̃ Ӓ̄ А̨ Ӕ Ә Ә́ Ә̀ Ә̃ Ӛ Ә̄ В̌ Ғ Г̑ Г̣ Г̌ Г̂ Г̆ Г̈ Ҕ Ӻ Ғ̌ Ӷ Д́ Д̀ Д̌ Д̈ Д̣ Д̆ Ӗ Е̃ Ё̄ Є̈ Ӂ Җ Ӝ Ж̣ Ҙ Ӟ З̌ З̣ З̆ Ԑ Ԑ́ Ԑ̈ Ӡ И̃ Ҋ Ӥ І̄́ І̨ Ј̵ Қ К̈ Ӄ Ҡ Ҟ Ҝ К̣ Ԛ Л́ Л̀ Ӆ Ԯ Ԓ Л̈ Ӎ Н́ Н̀ Н̃ Н̄ Ӊ Ң Ԩ Ӈ Ҥ О̆ О̃ Ӧ̄ Ө Ө̄ Ө́ Ө̆ Ӫ Ҩ Ԥ П̈ Р́ Р̌ Ҏ С̀ С̌ Ҫ С̣ Т́ Т̈ Т̌ Т̣ Ҭ Т‍Ь У̃ Ӳ У̊ Ӱ̄ Ү Ү́ Ү̈ Ұ Х̣ Х̱ Х̮ Х̑ Х̌ Ҳ Ӽ Ӿ Һ Һ̈ Һ̌ Ԧ Ц́ Ц̌ Ц̈ Ҵ Ч̀ Ҷ Ҷ̣ Ӵ Ӌ Ҹ Ч̇ Ч̣ Ҽ Ҿ Ш̆ Ш̈ Ш̣ Ы̆ Ы̄ Ӹ Ҍ Э̆ Э̄ Э̇ Ӭ Ӭ́ Ӭ̄ Ю̆ Ю̈ Ю̈́ Ю̄ Я̆ Я̄ Я̈ Я̈́ Ԝ Ӏ
Archaic letters
Ꙁ Ꙃ Ꙅ Ꙇ Ꙉ Ҁ Ѻ Ѹ Ꙋ Ѡ Ѽ Ꙍ Ѿ Ꙏ Ꙑ Ѣ́ Ѣ̈ Ѣ̆ Ꙓ Ꙕ Ꙗ Ѥ Ѧ Ꙙ Ѫ Ꙛ Ѩ Ꙝ Ѭ Ѯ Ѱ Ѳ Ѵ Ѷ Ԙ Ꙟ Ꙡ Ꙣ Ꙥ Ꙧ Ꙩ Ꙫ Ꙭ ꙮ Ꚙ Ꚛ Ԁ Ԕ Ԗ Ԡ Ԣ Ҧ Ꚋ Ꚁ Ꚅ Ꚍ Ꚕ Ꚏ Ꚗ Ꚃ Ԃ Ԅ Ԉ Ԋ Ԍ Ԏ Ԇ Ꚑ Ꚉ Ꚇ Ꚓ Ԟ Ԫ Ԭ Б̣ Г̧ Г̄ К̂ К̅ З̀ Т̀
List of Cyrillic letters Cyrillic digraphs
v t e

The character was proposed for inclusion into Unicode in 2007^[4] and incorporated as character U+A66E in Unicode version 5.1 (2008).^[5] The representative glyph had seven eyes. However, in 2021, following a tweet highlighting the character,^[6] it came to linguist Michael Everson's attention that the character in the 1429 manuscript was actually made up of ten eyes. After a 2022 proposal to change the character to reflect this, it was updated later that year for Unicode 15.0 to have ten eyes.^[7][8]

The letter in the original manuscript.

The incorrect form originally implemented into Unicode (2007-2022).

See also

• O (Cyrillic), О
• Monocular O, Ꙩ
• Binocular O, Ꙫ
• Double monocular O, Ꙭ
• Double O (Cyrillic), Ꚙ
• Crossed O, Ꚛ
• Cyrillic script in Unicode

References

1. Карский, Ефим (1979). Славянская кирилловская палеография. Moscow. p. 197.
2. . folio 243v. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
3. . Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
4. Everson, Michael; Birnbaum, David; Cleminson, Ralph; et al. (2007-03-21). "Proposal to encode additional Cyrillic characters in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). p. 4. (PDF) from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
5. Compart AG (2018). "Unicode Character "ꙮ" (U+A66E)". from the original on 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
6. @etiennefd on Twitter (2020-10-31). "Happy Halloween! I feel like I have to talk about something scary.[…]". Retrieved 2022-11-02.
7. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-02-13.
8. Everson, Michael. "Proposal to revise the glyph of CYRILLIC LETTER MULTIOCULAR O" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-22. Retrieved 2022-03-22.