Author Archives: ducky

About ducky

I'm a computer programmer professionally, currently working on mapping applications. I have been interested non-professionally for a long time in the effect on society on advances in communications technology -- things like writing, vowels, spaces between words, paper, etc.

Syloti Nagari — 1550? AD, Bangladesh

Posted on April 26, 2011 by ducky

Syloti Nagari, also called Sylheti Nagari, was used in northern India, what is now the Sylhet region of Bangladesh, from around 1550 AD until the 1970s.  The region where it was used has been Muslim for a very long time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 5 "Whoa!!" | 2 Comments

Mithilakshar — 1300 AD, India

Posted on April 25, 2011 by ducky

Mithilakshar — also called Maithili, Mithilaksara, and Tirahut — has been used since the 14th century in the northeast part of India, although it has limited use now.  It is very similar to Bengali, so much so that early 20th … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, now ceremonial, Rating: 4 "Huh, interesting!" | Leave a comment

Kaithi — 1500 AD, India

Posted on April 24, 2011 by ducky

Kaithi is Brahmi-derived, descended from Nagari. Because of the fuzziness in when Bengali split from Nagari, it’s not really clear whether to say if Kaithi is descended from Bengali or from Nagari; this means Kaithi is either sibling to Devanagari … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 3 "I did not know that" | Leave a comment

Oriya — 1100 AD, India

Posted on April 23, 2011 by ducky

Oriya probably descended from Bengali, though some say Kalinga (a script so obscure I can’t find out much about it, and which unfortunately shares a name with a language spoken in the Phillipines). Oriya looks quite different from the other … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 5 "Whoa!!", technology influenced | 4 Comments

Bengali — 1100 AD, Bangladesh

Posted on April 22, 2011 by ducky

Bengali script, sometimes called Bangla, evolved gradually from Nagari, which makes giving it a starting point difficult.  Certainly Bengali was a separate script by 1778, when the first metal type was cut for it, but the date sources say it … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 4 "Huh, interesting!" | 5 Comments

Modi — 1600 AD, India

Posted on April 16, 2011 by ducky

Like Gujarati, Modi is a variant of Devanagari that was developed in about 1600 AD. Like Gujarati, it was used mostly for accounting, then later for administration. It looks very similar to Devanagari, but with fewer ligatures, rounder/”swoopier” glyphs that … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 2 "Not all that interesting" | Leave a comment

Gujarati — <1600 AD, India

Posted on April 15, 2011 by ducky

Gujarati is a direct descendant of Devanagari, used mostly but not exclusively for writing the Gujarati language. Like the Landa scripts, Gujarati was initially used mostly for commerce. It is sometimes called “banker’s script”, “merchant’s script”, or “trader’s script” in … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 3 "I did not know that" | 2 Comments

Devanagari — 1000 AD, India

Posted on April 14, 2011 by ducky

Devanagari developed from Gupta via an intermediary script called “Nagari” which has very little information about it available.  “Nagri” means “urbane”, so presumably it was used for commercial purposes.  “Deva” means “deity”, so calling the derivative script “Devanagari” presumably was … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 3 "I did not know that" | 2 Comments

Tibetan — 630 AD, Tibet

Posted on April 13, 2011 by ducky

According to Tibetan tradition, Thonmi Sambhota went to India in about 630 AD to study writing, and devised a script based on Gupta or Siddham for the Tibetan language. Tibetan has some differences from mainline Brahmi-derived scripts.  For consonant clusters, … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 4 "Huh, interesting!" | 1 Comment

Siddham — 650 AD, India

Posted on April 12, 2011 by ducky

Buddhists in around 400 AD wrote Sanskrit with a version of Gupta script that eventually diverged into Siddham script.  At first, writing down the Sanskrit was used mostly as a memorization aid, but when Buddhism spread to the much-more literate … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, now ceremonial, Rating: 4 "Huh, interesting!" | 2 Comments