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Inscriptional Pahlavi

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Inscriptional Pahlavi
Inscribed stone block from the Paikuli inscription
Script type
Period
2nd century BC — 6th century AD
DirectionRight-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesMiddle Iranian languages
Related scripts
Parent systems
Aramaic alphabet
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Phli (131), ​Inscriptional Pahlavi
Unicode
Unicode alias
Inscriptional Pahlavi
U+10B60–U+10B7F
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You may need rendering support to display the uncommon Unicode characters in this article correctly.

Inscriptional Pahlavi is the earliest attested form of Pahlavi scripts, and is evident in clay fragments that have been dated to the reign of Mithridates I (r. 171–138 BC). Other early evidence includes the Pahlavi inscriptions of Parthian coins and the rock inscriptions of Sasanian emperors and other notables, such as Kartir the High Priest.

Letters

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Inscriptional Pahlavi used 19 non-joining letters:[1][2]

Name[A] Image Text Principal phones (IPA; Middle Persian)[3] Transliteration[4]: 129(۱۲۹)-130(۱۳۰) [5]: xi, xii, xiii [1]
Iranian Semitic (Aramaic)
Aleph 𐭠‎ [a], [aː] ʼ or ʾ A
Beth 𐭡‎ [b], [w] b B
Gimel 𐭢‎ [ɡ], [j] g G
Daleth 𐭣‎ [d], [j] d D
He 𐭤‎ — -H, E
Waw- 𐭥‎ [w], [o(ː)], [u(ː)] w W
-Ayin- [∅] O
-Resh [r] r R
Zayin 𐭦‎ [z] z Z
Heth 𐭧‎ [h], [x] h Ḥ
Teth 𐭨‎ — Ṭ
Yodh 𐭩‎ [j], [e(ː)], [i(ː)], [d̠͡ʒ] y, j- Y
Kaph 𐭪‎ [k], [ɡ] k K
Lamedh 𐭫‎ [l], [r] l L
Mem- 𐭬‎ [m] m M
-Qoph — Q
Nun 𐭭‎ [n] n N
Samekh 𐭮‎ [s], [h] s S
Pe 𐭯‎ [p], [b], [f] p P
Sadhe 𐭰‎ [t̠͡ʃ], [d̠͡ʒ], [z] ṣ Ṣ
Shin 𐭱‎ [ʃ] š Š
Taw 𐭲‎ [t], [d] t T
  1. ^
    Letter names are based on the corresponding Imperial Aramaic characters[1]

Numbers

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Inscriptional Pahlavi had its own numerals:

Value 1 2 3 4 10 20 100 1000
Sign Image
Text 𐭸‎ 𐭹‎ 𐭺‎ 𐭻‎ 𐭼‎ 𐭽‎ 𐭾‎ 𐭿‎

Numbers are written right-to-left. Numbers without corresponding numerals are additive. For example, 24 is written as 𐭽𐭻‎‎ (20 + 4).[1]

Unicode

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Main article: Inscriptional Pahlavi (Unicode block)

Inscriptional Pahlavi script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Inscriptional Pahlavi is U+10B60–U+10B7F:

Inscriptional Pahlavi[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+10B6x 𐭠 𐭡 𐭢 𐭣 𐭤 𐭥 𐭦 𐭧 𐭨 𐭩 𐭪 𐭫 𐭬 𐭭 𐭮 𐭯
U+10B7x 𐭰 𐭱 𐭲 𐭸 𐭹 𐭺 𐭻 𐭼 𐭽 𐭾 𐭿
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
[edit]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Everson, Michael; Pournader, Roozbeh (2007-08-24). "L2/07-207R: Proposal for encoding the Inscriptional Parthian, Inscriptional Pahlavi, and Psalter Pahlavi scripts in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). pp. 10–11.
  2. ^ Livinsky, BA; Guang-Da, Zhang; Samghabadi, R Shabani; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich (March 1999), Dani, Ahmad Hasan (ed.), History of civilizations of Central Asia, Multiple history, vol. 3. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 89, ISBN 978-81-208-1540-7.
  3. ^ Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.
  4. ^ Nyberg, Henrik S. (1964). A Manual of Pahlavi (2nd ed.). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.
  5. ^ Mackenzie, D. N. (2014-09-25). A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-61396-8.
  6. ^ Lerner, Judith A. (2006). "The Seal of a Eunuch in the Sasanian Court" (PDF). Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology. 1: 114, 118. doi:10.1484/J.JIAAA.2.301928. ISSN 1783-9025.
  7. ^ Gyselen, Rika (2001). The Four Generals of the Sasanian Empire: Some Sigillographic Evidence. Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente. ISBN 978-88-85320-97-0.
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