Social:Psalter Pahlavi

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Short description: Abjad which was used for writing Middle Persian on paper
Psalter Pahlavi
Sample of text taken from the Cross of Herat
Type
Abjad
LanguagesMiddle Persian
Time period
Mid-6th to 7th century CE
Parent systems
DirectionRight-to-left
ISO 15924Phlp, 132
Unicode alias
Psalter Pahlavi
U+10B80–U+10BAF

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[lower-alpha 1] 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 30px 30px 30px 30px 30px
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 page: 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:


Notes

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

References