Inscriptional Pahlavi

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Inscriptional Pahlavi
Inscribed stone block from the Paikuli inscription
Script type
Time period
2nd century BC — 6th century AD
Direction
Unicode range
U+10B60–U+10B7F
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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 rock inscriptions of Sasanian emperors and other notables, such as Kartir the High Priest.

Letters

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

Name[A] Image Text IPA[3]
Aleph 𐭠‎ /a/, /aː/
Beth 𐭡‎ /b/, /w/
Gimel 𐭢‎ /ɡ/, /j/
Daleth 𐭣‎ /d/, /j/
He 𐭤‎ /h/
Waw-Ayin-Resh 𐭥‎ /u/, /o/, /v/, /ʕ/, /r/
Zayin 𐭦‎ /z/
Heth 𐭧‎ /h/, /x/
Teth 𐭨‎ /tˤ/
Yodh 𐭩‎ /j/, /eː/, /iː/, /d̠͡ʒ/
Kaph 𐭪‎ /k/, /ɡ/
Lamedh 𐭫‎ /l/, /r/
Mem-Qoph 𐭬‎ /m/, /q/
Nun 𐭭‎ /n/
Samekh 𐭮‎ /s/, /h/
Pe 𐭯‎ /p/, /b/, /f/
Sadhe 𐭰‎ /t̠͡ʃ/, /d̠͡ʒ/, /z/
Shin 𐭱‎ /ʃ/
Taw 𐭲‎ /t/, /d/
  1. ^
    Letter names are based on the corresponding Imperial Aramaic characters[1]

Numbers

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

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 15.1
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Gallery

  • Inscriptional Pahlavi text from Shapur III at Taq-e Bostan, 4th century
    Inscriptional Pahlavi text from Shapur III at Taq-e Bostan, 4th century
  • Kartir's inscription at Naqsh-e Rajab
    Kartir's inscription at Naqsh-e Rajab
  • Coin of Ardashir I (r. 224–42) with Inscriptional Pahlavi writings
    Coin of Ardashir I (r. 224–42) with Inscriptional Pahlavi writings
  • Sasanian relief with Inscriptional Pahlavi monogram ʾpr, which stands for abzūn farr, meaning "May his farr increase!"
    Sasanian relief with Inscriptional Pahlavi monogram ʾpr, which stands for abzūn farr, meaning "May his farr increase!"

References

  1. ^ a b c 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).
  2. ISBN 978-81-208-1540-7
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0195079937
    .
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