Ū is a vowel of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ū is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter . As an Indic vowel, Ū comes in two normally distinct forms: as an independent letter and as a vowel sign for modifying a base consonant. Bare consonants without a modifying vowel sign have the inherent "A" vowel.
Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The ू modifier sign was used to modify a consonant's value ×104, but the vowel letter ऊ did not have an inherent value by itself.[1]
Historic Ū
There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Ū as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gujarat . Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian Ū has an accompanying vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A. All other independent vowels, including Ū are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.
Brahmi Ū
The Brahmi letter Ū , is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Waw, and is thus related to the modern Latin F, V, U, W, Y and Greek Upsilon.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ū can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with some vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.
The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi . Unlike some of the consonants, Tocharian vowels do not have a Fremdzeichen form.
Tocharian consonants with Ū vowel marks
Kū
Khū
Gū
Ghū
Cū
Chū
Jū
Jhū
Nyū
Ṭū
Ṭhū
Ḍū
Ḍhū
Ṇū
Tū
Thū
Dū
Dhū
Nū
Pū
Phū
Bū
Bhū
Mū
Yū
Rū
Lū
Vū
Śū
Ṣū
Sū
Hū
Kharoṣṭhī Ū
The Kharoṣṭhī letter Ū is indicated with the U vowel mark plus the vowel length mark . As an independent vowel, Ū is indicated by adding the vowel marks to the independent vowel letter A.
Devanagari Ū
Devanagari independent Ū and Ū vowel sign.
Ū (ऊ) is a vowel of the Devanagariabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter ઊ, and the Modi letter 𑘅.
Devanagari Using Languages
The Devanagari script is used to write the Hindi language, Sanskrit and the majority of Indo-Aryan languages. In most of these languages, ऊ is pronounced as [uː]. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.
Bengali Ū
Bengali independent Ū and Ū vowel sign.
Ū (ঊ) is a vowel of the Bengaliabugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter , and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, ऊ.
Bengali Script Using Languages
The Bengali script is used to write several languages of eastern India, notably the Bengali language and Assamese. In most languages, ঊ is pronounced as [uː]. Like all Indic scripts, Bengali vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ɔ/ vowel.
Gujarati Ū
Gujarati independent Ū and Ū vowel sign.
Ū (ઊ) is a vowel of the Gujaratiabugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ū , and ultimately the Brahmi letter .
Gujarati-using Languages
The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઊ is pronounced as [u]; there is no phonemic distinction from U (ઉ) in Gujarati. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel. In addition to the standard vowel sign, Ū forms a unique ligature when combined with the consonant R:
ર (r) + ઊ (ū) gives the ligature રૂ (rū):
Telugu Script
Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign Ū.
Ū (ఊ) is a vowel of the Teluguabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಊ. Like in other Indic scripts, Telugu vowels have two forms: and independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of Telugu consonant letters. Vowel signs in Telugu can interact with a base consonant in one of three ways: 1) the vowel sign touches or sits adjacent to the base consonant without modifying the shape of either 2) the vowel sign sits directly above the consonant, replacing its v-shaped headline, 3) the vowel sign and consonant interact, forming a ligature.
Telugu Ū vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Kū, Khū, Gū, Ghū and Ngū. As a right-side attaching vowel mark, it does not alter the shape of the underlying consonant, although there are variants of the vowel mark that attach in different ways.
Malayalam Ū
Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign Ū.
Ū (ഊ) is a vowel of the Malayalamabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter uu. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. Some vowel signs, such as Ū, can also form a ligature with some consonants, although this is much more common in old-style paḻaya lipi texts than in the modern reformedpaḻaya lipi orthography.
Malayalam Ū vowel sign on ക, ഖ, ഗ, ഘ, & ങ: Kū, Khū, Gū, Ghū and Ngū in paḻaya lipi.
Odia Ū
Odia independent vowel and vowel sign Ū.
Ū (ଊ) is a vowel of the Odiaabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter uu. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Odia usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Odia.
Kaithi Ū
Kaithi independent vowel and vowel sign Ū.
Ū (𑂈) is a vowel of the Kaithiabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Uu. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Kaithi usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Kaithi.
Comparison of Ū
The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including Ū, are related as well.
^The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms.
^Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession.
^Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
^May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
^The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida.
^Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas.
^Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.
Character encodings of Ū
Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter Ū in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. Ū from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.
^Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 447–450. ISBN0-471-39340-1.
^Asiatic Society of Bengal (1838). Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Princeton Theological Seminary Library. Calcutta : Printed at the Baptist Mission Press [etc.]
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