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- Abjad
- Abugida
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- developed by illiterate(s)
- Evolved slowly from parent
- first in its area
- government-mandated
- inventor known
- language unknown
- Logograms
- mercantile script
- National pride
- now ceremonial
- Numbers
- previous script didn't quite work
- private or secret
- probably developed by illiterate(s)
- probably first in its area
- Rating: 1 "Dull, only here for completeness"
- Rating: 2 "Not all that interesting"
- Rating: 3 "I did not know that"
- Rating: 4 "Huh, interesting!"
- Rating: 5 "Whoa!!"
- revealed in a dream
- significant female influence
- spiritual or supernatural
- stupid
- Syllabaries
- technology influenced
- Uncategorized
- Undeciphered
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Category Archives: now ceremonial
Old Hungarian — 600? AD, Hungary
Hungary, despite being solidly in Europe, has had a long history of trade with and conquest by Central Asian peoples. It is not entirely clear where Hungarians came from — or more specifically, where the people who brought the Hungarian … Continue reading
Tolong Siki — 1999 AD, India
Tolong Siki was developed rather recently for the Kurukh spoken language. Previously, Devanagari was used (and is still used in large part a decade later). Tolong Siki is one of the few languages that was created from scratch collaboratively that … Continue reading
Sora Sompeng — 1936 AD, India
In the history of writing systems, it is not uncommon for people create writing systems based on dreams or visions. It is also not uncommon for writing systems to have particular religious significance. It *is* somewhat rare for people to … Continue reading
Grantha — 500 AD, India
Around 500 AD, the Tamil people of Southern Inda started using Grantha, a slightly different form of the Brahmi alphabet, to write Sanskrit (the language of sacred Hindu texts), while still continuing to use Vatteluttu to write representations of the … Continue reading
Pau Cin Hau Logograms — 1902 AD, Mayanmar
In 1902 AD, a man named Pau Cin Hau had a dream where the characters of a logographic script were revealed to him. He also developed the Laipian religion, and his script was used extensively in liturgical works. Laipian actually … Continue reading
Mithilakshar — 1300 AD, India
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
Siddham — 650 AD, India
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!"
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Khojki — 1350 AD, Pakistan
Khojki was developed in around 1350 AD by Pir Sadardin in the Sindh region of Pakistan for recording Ismaili (a branch of Shia Islam) religious literature, mostly in the Sindhi language. As with its sibling Gurmukhi, it is very similar … Continue reading
Sharada — 800 AD, India
Sharada — also called Sarada and Sharda — is descended from Gupta through Kutila (a writing system so obscure that I wasn’t able to find enough to write about, and I have pretty low standards). Sharada’s use centered in Kashmir, … Continue reading