Psalter Pahlavi

For the translated document this writing system is named after, see Pahlavi Psalter.
Psalter Pahlavi
Sample of text taken from the Cross of Herat
Script type
Time period
Mid-6th to 7th century CE
DirectionRight-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesMiddle Persian
Related scripts
Parent systems
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Phlp (132), ​Psalter Pahlavi
Unicode
Unicode alias
Psalter Pahlavi
U+10B80–U+10BAF
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You may need rendering support to display the uncommon Unicode characters in this article correctly.

Psalter Pahlavi is a cursive abjad that was used for writing Middle Persian on paper; it is thus described as one of the Pahlavi scripts.[1] It was written right to left, usually with spaces between words.[1]

It takes its name from the Pahlavi Psalter, part of the Psalms translated from Syriac to Middle Persian and found in what is now western China.[2]

Letters

Letters (Isolated Form)
Name[a] Image Text IPA[3]
Aleph 𐮀 /a/, /aː/
Beth 𐮁 /b/, /w/
Gimel 𐮂 /g/, /j/
Daleth 𐮃 /d/, /j/
He 𐮄 /h/
Waw-Ayin-Resh 𐮅 /w/, /r/
Zayin 𐮆 /z/
Heth 𐮇 /h/, /x/
Yodh 𐮈 /j/, /ē̆/, /ī̆/, /d͡ʒ/
Kaph 𐮉 /k/, /g/
Lamedh 𐮊 /l/, /r/
Mem-Qoph 𐮋 /m/, /q/
Nun 𐮌 /n/
Samekh 𐮍 /s/, /h/
Pe 𐮎 /p/, /b/, /f/
Sadhe 𐮏 /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/, /z/
Shin 𐮐 /ʃ/
Taw 𐮑 /t/, /d/

Punctuation

Four different large section-ending punctuation marks were used:

Mark Description
Image Text
𐮙 Section mark
𐮚 Turned section mark
𐮛 Four dots with cross
𐮜 Four dots with dot

Numbers

Psalter Pahlavi had its own numerals:

Value 1 2 3 4 10 20 100
Sign Image
Text 𐮩 𐮪 𐮫 𐮬 𐮭 𐮮 𐮯

Some numerals have joining behavior (with both numerals and letters).[1] Numbers are written right-to-left. Numbers without corresponding numerals are additive. For example, 96 is written as 𐮮𐮮𐮮𐮮𐮭𐮫𐮫‎ (20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 10 + 3 + 3).[1]

Unicode block

Main article: Psalter Pahlavi (Unicode block)

Psalter Pahlavi script was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2014 with the release of version 7.0.

The Unicode block is U+10B80–U+10BAF:

Psalter 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+10B8x 𐮀‎ 𐮁‎ 𐮂‎ 𐮃‎ 𐮄‎ 𐮅‎ 𐮆‎ 𐮇‎ 𐮈‎ 𐮉‎ 𐮊‎ 𐮋‎ 𐮌‎ 𐮍‎ 𐮎‎ 𐮏‎
U+10B9x 𐮐‎ 𐮑‎ 𐮙‎ 𐮚‎ 𐮛‎ 𐮜‎
U+10BAx 𐮩‎ 𐮪‎ 𐮫‎ 𐮬‎ 𐮭‎ 𐮮‎ 𐮯‎
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Notes

  1. ^ The names are based on the corresponding Imperial Aramaic characters

References

  1. ^ a b c d Everson, Michael; Pournader, Roozbeh (2011-05-06). "N4040: Proposal for encoding the Psalter Pahlavi script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.
  2. ^ Encyclopædia Iranica: Pahlavi Psalter
  3. ^ Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.
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