Indian letter. The meaning of the Word Brahmi in the Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brahmi
extensive written group of southern and South-East Asiabound by the generality of origin and a single (phonetic) principle of the structure of alphabets. In addition to the territory of India itself, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka varieties of Indian letters had more or less widespread in neighboring areas: in the north - in Tibet and Central Asia, up to Mongolia, in the southeast - in Burma, on the peninsula Indochina and in Indonesia. The penetration of Indian letters to neighboring countries with India, which took place mainly in 1st thousand n. er, largely related to the distribution in these areas of Buddhist religion and literature. The number of species of the Indian letter reaches several dozen, only the most important of them are mentioned below.
Letter Brahmi.
In India itself, writing has no less than 5 thousand years. Its ancient type is represented by hieroglyphic inscriptions on seals of the 3-2th thousand to n. e. From the Indus Valley (Mohenjo-Doro and Harappa). The decryption of this letter is not finished yet, and his connection with the later species of the Indian letter can not be installed. The earliest written written monuments (3 V. BC) are executed by a sluggish letter of Brahhi, who appeared by the appearance of the later Indian written writers and writing as they, from left to right. Along with Brahmy in 3rd. BC e. - 5 V. n. e. In North-West India, there was a letter to Kharoshthi, which was written on the right left, which was gradually displaced first. Already in early monuments, the writers of Brahmi allocate its local species, on the basis of which they subsequently developed 3 main branches of Indian letters: North, South and South-Eastern.
In the northern branch, for the alphabets of which the angular outlines of letters having straight vertical and horizontal strokes are characterized, the following main types of letters are highlighted:
a) Vertical and oblique Central Asian Brahmi (the so-called Guptic), which was used in 6-10 centuries. in Central Asia to record texts in Sanskrit, Saksky, Kucansky and other languages;
b) a Tibetan letter (used in several varieties from 7 c. to the present);
c) Nagari letter folded from 7-8 centuries. (monumental type) and witnessed in manuscripts from 10-11 centners; His late form - Devanagari - took a central place among the alphabets of Northern India, used for Hindi, Maratha, etc., as well as to record and publish Sanskrit texts;
d) Sharada, consuming from 8 c. in Kashmir;
alphabets, where there is no division in the series and does not have a diacritic for the designation of the tones, independent signs of vowels in most writings are uncommon or absent, and vowels initially, by analogy with consonants, are designated by a special "silent" aquare with the corresponding diacritics (this feature is characteristic of some of the first alphabets groups); This includes the writings of the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines, and within the group, on the instruction of signs, it is possible to allocate, on the one hand, are highly simplified in the form of the Bogian-Makasar, Bayakskoe, Ka-Ga-Nga, Tagalog, Pangassin and other types of letters, on the other hand - Javane letter of charakan. A mansion is a cham letter, which preserved structural proximity to Indian writing.
In the borrowing of writing, the general trend of the perception of Indian culture was manifested - to borrow "book" Sanskrit studies in order to approach the canonical samples (although in the field of writing due to the lack of a strict canon could not but borrow local modifications). The investigation of this is a certain uniformity of early letters in all Southeast Asia and the transfer structural features local languages \u200b\u200bby means of the Indian letter, without the introduction of new diacries (for example, the "seam" of Indonesian languages \u200b\u200bcould be transmitted through -a, through Ø and through the doubling of the subsequent consonant).
The first extensive written text from Southeast Asia is the inscription in Canya from the territory of the Funan State ( A letter to the South-East Asian epigraphy of the 4th - early 7th centuries, detecting similarity with South Indian Pallaw - a grantha option, it is customary to call "Early Pallaw", and his next stage [Mid 7 - middle (on Yava) or end 8 centuries], which is different before In total, the equation of the height of Akshar, - "Late Pallaw". To a lesser extent, and mainly in Buddhist texts used "early nagari" (siddha-matrix), but it did not affect the modern alphabets.
From the middle of the 8th century There are actually south-East Asian brands modifications that do not have direct Indian prototypes [the first monument is the inscription Plumpungan (Hampran) from the central part of. Java, 750]. New diacristers are introduced, the features of graphics characterizing modern alphabets (writing a number of Khmer accrehension with an additional upper element, etc.), but the principle of recording continues to correspond to the Sanskrit phonetics.
The establishment of record systems characteristic of modern languages \u200b\u200bother than Indian refers to late Middle Ages. So, on Java no later than 15 V. The recording of vowel initiaries of syllables is drawn up by consonants by means of "dumb" Akshara HA-. This trend is finalized in the Bugi-Makasar letter, the writings of some Thai languages, where there are no independent signs of vowels, and the lack of consonant at the beginning of the syllable is denoted by special conditional graphs (grafts) that does not have an independent reading and employees as if "support" for the inherent vowel or diacritical icon.
In Khmer and most Thai languages, the differences in the letter between the deaf and ring butter of one origin, in most cases disappeared in pronunciation, led to the creation of a two-series system: the first, or high (where are these etherologically deaf consonants), and the second, or Low (where they enter etymologically ringing), and this system, in turn, was used to record more rich than in Sanskrit, vocalism or tones. Thus, in Khmersky in the composition of different series - different inherent vowels, and the same diacristers are usually read in different ways depending on the series. The principle of "two episodes" was brought to a logical conclusion in the language of Lians: if in Khmer and actually Thai division in the series is mostly etologically justified, then in the lies after writing reform in 1956, all counts, regardless of the origin, received two writing for two episodes.
The Indian recording system is maintained in some modern languages \u200b\u200b(Khmer, Yavansky, etc.) for Sanskrit, Pali and its own ancient texts.
- Cœdès.G., History of Thai Writing, Bangkok ,;
- Damais L. ch., Les Écritures d'Origine Indienne en Indonésie et Dans Le Sud-Est Asiatique Continental, Bulletin De La Société des Études Indochinoises », Nouv. Sér., 1955, XXX, No. 4;
- Casparis J. G. DE, Indonesian Palaeography. A History of Writing in Indonesia from the beginnings to c. A. D. 1500, Leiden - Köln, 1975.
The theory of origin of the letter of Brahmi may be combined into two main groups: the first include those involving the Indian origin of Brahmi, to the second - those seeking an external source for him.
1) Many scientists, for example Edward Thomas, thought that the letter was created by Dravids; Canningham, Dawson and others believed that it was developed by Indian priests based on a pattern letter. After the opening of the civilization of the Indus valley in the writing discovered there, the last theory was evidenced by writing. It also shares many Indian scientists; Above, we have already said why this should not be done.
2) followers of the second theory in turn adhere to two directions.
a) James Princep, Raul de Rosette, Otfrid Muller, Emil Senar, Gobla d "Alviella and others believe that the letter of Brahmi happened from Greek. Hellenistic influence on Brahmy also admitted Joseph Gallevy, Wilson, etc. We do not consider this theory satisfactory, Since: 1) Indians have come to direct contact with Greek culture after they were in long-term contact with other peoples who knew the alphabetical letter; and, moreover, Brahmi was born at least one or two centuries before establishing the earliest Indian-Greek cultural ties; 2) The main advantage of the Greek alphabet compared to the Semitic was the introduction of vowels, while the main weakness of Indian writing is just an unsatisfactory solution to the problem of calling.
b) other historians of the letter (their majority) are considering a letter of brachm like a derivative from the Semitic. This theory, advanced in 1806, Jones, and then in 1811, the von Titzen, in 1821 by Kopp and in 1834 by Lepsius, was developed in 1834 by Weber and at the end of the last century by the Bühler.
Within this general Theory Four private issues of the issue were proposed:
1) Such outstanding scientists, like Benpin, Weber, Bühler, Iense, etc., believed that the letter was happening from the Phoenician alphabet. Considering about a third of Phoenician letters identical to the oldest forms of relevant marks of Brahmi, they tried to establish a well-known similarity for another third, as well as find relative compliance and shape of the remaining letters. The main argument against this point of view is the fact that in the time of interest to us, the time between India and the east coast of the Mediterranean did not exist, therefore it is difficult to assume that the Phoenicians could have any impact on the origin of the writing of countries located east of them.
2) According to Deckeka, Cenen Taylor, as well as Professor Zeta, the letter of Brahmi happened from the South Shemight alphabet. This point of view is also unacceptable. Although the presence of direct connections between India and South Arabia can be considered quite probable, the cultural influence of the latter was unlikely to have a place in such an early period; In addition, the similarities that exist between South Simaite letters and letters is very slightly similar.
3) An even less likely is the assumption that is an alphabet for brachmists to the clinopy. This point of view is nominated by Professor Rice Davids: "The only thing that can lift the discovery data is the theory, is the theory, elevating Indian letters not to the Non-Simmitic or South-Shemite alphabet, but to that source from which they both happened, that is, to the annoying form of the letter used in the Valley of Euphrates. " This large connoisseur of Buddhist literature is completely alone in its theory, which is also not supported by any worthy facts.
4) Best of all historical and cultural and historical data are coordinated by the theory, which considers the Aramaic alphabet letter to be a prototype. The similarity of the marks of Brahmi with Phoenician letters dates back to the ancientaaramy letters; In addition, it seems to me undoubted that the first of all seven direct connections with the Indoary merchants were established by Aramaites.
However, it should not be considered a letter to brachmith direct derivatives from the Aramaic alphabet. Probably, first of all, the idea of \u200b\u200ban alphabetical letter itself was perceived, although the form of many marks of Brahmi and the initial reference of the letter to Brahmi - to the right to left - indicate the direct semitic effect. It is generally recognized that the oldest of the famous forms of Brahmi is a letter created by Brahmins for Sanskrit, therefore, if not to talk about the very idea of \u200b\u200bthe letter, Brahmanov can be considered inventors on the merits of the National Alphabet of Brahmi. The deep-developed brahmine system is the frozen philological and philological accuracy, in which the ancient Indians surpassed all the contemporary peoples, - unusually accurately reflects the phonetic features of all numerous Indian languages.
The question remains an unresolved (absolutely, increasingly, who was brought to India alphabet - Aramey or Indian merchants who themselves met him either in Babylonia or somewhere else.
Some scientists believe that the Indian letter could not occur from the alphabet, since it looks outwardly it looks like a slider, because alphabetical writing is undoubtedly more developed than the sludge. Obviously, these scientists forget that in the Semitic alphabet there were no vowels 1 As mentioned above, the initial North Amatent letter can be viewed as a sludge or semidal. - approx. ed.; But if in Semitic languages \u200b\u200byou can do without the signs of vowels, then for Indo-European languages \u200b\u200bit is absolutely impossible. The Greeks were quite satisfactory allowed the problem of calling; The luck of the Indians was somewhat smaller. Perhaps the inventor Brahmi is not comprehended by the essence of the alphabetic system of the letter. It is likely that the Semitic writing seemed to him as the carrier of the Indo-European language, semisal.
In fact, to designate any word associated with the concept of "letter", the Jews write K-T-B, but never read it to KTB, and in accordance with the meaning of the sentence or Katāb he wrote, "or KōTeb" He writes. " Meanwhile, in the Indo-European language, the word written in alone consonants would have either immediately many values, either in general any (for example, in English CT could mean Cat "Cat", Cut "Cut", Cot "Coyk", City "City ", Cute" Smart ", ACT" Case ", Acute" sharp "or not at all that would not mean anything).
The fact that the sound is meant in all signs of the consonant Indian letters, if its absence is not specifically indicated, is generated, probably the influence of the Aramaic language, where the final alef prevails 2 If we consider that the Vessel Letter was also a slug, this phenomenon can be explained much easier. - approx. ed..
The time of writing the letter is definitely not known; The most likely date should be considered to be the VIII or VII century. BC.
More than sixty years ago, the article R. N. Cast dedicated to this question, who was then honorable secretary of the Royal Asian society. Despite the fact that since then, many new discoveries have been made in this area and this problem has been considered more than once in many hundreds of books and articles, I am now inclined to take the first two castors of the Caste in the matter of origin:
"I. The Indian alphabet in no way is an independent invention of the Indian people, although Indians are strikingly processed by the borrowed material. "
"II. There is no reason to doubt that the idea of \u200b\u200bthe designation of vowels and consonant sounds by signs of a purely alphabetic nature was borrowed from Western Asia. " (True, the Indian letter is not a purely alphabetic, but half-phase.)
Indian types of letters include as a rule, to the number of sludge. In fact, with the exception of signs for individual vowels, standing at the beginning of the word, that is also expressing the syllable, but consisting in this case from one vowel, all other independent signs denote syllables from the consonant plus a vowel; Signs for consonant with zero vowels are secondary. The originality of this syllable system is only use for syllables with the same consonants, differing only in their vowels, similar signs, or, or rather, options for the same sign. However, all of them are the options for the main sludge signs with vowels A, and not alphabetic designations of one, at least the consonant, sound. Thus, it can be considered that the Indian letter system is an improvement of such a syllable system, where each sign meant a consonant plus any vowel; By modifying the form of these basic signs, separate designations were created for syllables with different vowels with the same consonant or with zero of the vowel. Such an initial system could only be Semitic (Phoenician or its derivatives). Cf. Similar development from the South Semitic Letter to the published Ethiopian. - approx. ed.
| Brahmi | |
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| Letter's direction: |
from left to right |
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| Ancient document: |
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| Origin: | Phoenician Aramaic |
| Developed in: | |
| Related: |
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| See also: Project: Linguistics | |
The earliest monuments read: Copper plate from Sustaura, Country of Gorakhpur (IV century BC. E.), Edicts of Emperor Ashoki (III century BC. E.).
Linguistic data
Based brahmy Three branches of the Indian letter were formed: North, South and South-Eastern.
- Northern branch:
- nagari, his later form - Devanagari (most common in North India for Hindi, Marathi and other languages)
- nevari (dispensed Devanagari)
- Southern branch:
- grantha represented by four alphabets of modern literary languages \u200b\u200bof South India (Kannada, Telugu, Malayal and Tamil).
- Southeast branch (writing, which developed outside India, mainly on the basis of an ancient Palius letter):
- old Writers of Indochina and Indonesia (Kavi (eng.)russian and Javanese letter).
History
In the north of India, in the city of Heri Gudjar, Haryan, a copper figure was found with parallel inscriptions with an earlier hieroglyphic indie (Harapp) writing and later sign of Brahmi. Nakhodka has the form of a person with a boar head, on whose chest there is a relief image resembling a unicorn. Presumably it depicts Varach, Avatar Vishnu, having a kind of boar. Two inscriptions are above: on the ancient syllable letter of Brahmi and in the signs of Indus civilization (Harrap signs). Based on Brahmi, the inscription is read as "king ki-ma-ji [Name of Own] Sha-yes-I [embodiment of God]." Approximate dating of the find - 2000-1000 BC.
Examples
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Notes
Literature
- Diringer d. Alphabet. M. 1963.
- Istrin V. A. The story of the letter. M. 1965.
- Friedrich and. The story of the letter. M. URSS, 2001. - 464 p.
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- Please, if you go to dad, do not be afraid of him ... it sometimes happens strange, but this is when he is not real. " - the girl whispered. And felt that she was unpleasant to talk about it.I did not want to ask and upset her even more, so I decided that I would deal myself.
I asked Weste, who of them want me to show where they lived to their death, and whether her father still lives there? The place they called, I slightly upset me, as it was pretty far from my house, and to get there, a lot of time was required. Therefore, so rightly I could not think of anything and asked my new acquaintances if they could appear again at least in a few days? And having received an affirmative answer, "Iron," they promised them, which would definitely meet during this time with their husband and father.
West Lukavo looked at me and said:
- If dad does not want to listen to you at once, you tell him that his "fox" misses him very much. So dad called me only when we were alone with him, and except for him, no one knows ...
Her flavored face suddenly became very sad, apparently remembering something very expensive, and she really became something like a small leisure ...
- Well, if he does not believe me - I'll tell him it. - I promised.
Figures, gently Merzay, disappeared. And I was sitting on my chair, tensely trying to figure out how I would win my home at least two or three hours to be able to keep this word and visit the father disappointed life ...
At that time, "two or three hours" outside the house was pretty for me a long period of time, for which I would absolutely had to report to my grandmother or mom. And since I could never lie in me, it was necessary to urgently come up with some real reason for leaving the house for a long time.
I could not bring my new guests ...
The next day was Friday, and my grandmother, as usually gathered to the market, that she did almost every week, although, to be honest, there was no big need for it, since very many fruits and vegetables grew in our garden, and the rest of the products Usually, all the nearest food stores were packed. Therefore, such a weekly "campaign" for the market was probably simply symbolic - the grandmother sometimes loved to "ventilate", meeting with her friends and acquaintances, and also bring something from the market something "especially delicious" on weekends.
I wondered around for a long time, nothing could come up with anything, as the grandmother suddenly calmly asked:
- So what you do not sit, or did it fit? ..
- I need to leave! - Having reached unexpected help, I blurted out. - For a long time.
- For others or for yourself? - squinting asked her grandmother.
- For others, I really need it, I gave the floor!
Grandma, as always, looking at me looked at me (few people loved her gaze - it seemed that she looked straight to you in the soul) and finally said:
- To dinner to be at home, no later. It's enough?
I just nodded, almost bouncing from joy. I did not think that everything would cost so easy. Grandma often surprised me often - it seemed that she always knew when it was serious, and when it was just a whim, and usually, if possible, I always helped me. I was very grateful to her for her faith in me and my strange actions. Sometimes I even had almost confident that she knew exactly what I did and where I was ... Although, maybe really knew, only I never asked her about it? ..
We went out of the house together, as if I was also going to go to the market with her, and in the first turn partily broke up, and each had already went to his dear and on their affairs ...
The house in which the father of Little West was still in the first "New District" built by us (so called the first high-rise buildings) and was from us about forty minutes of fast walking. I always loved walking very much, and it did not give me any inconvenience. Only I really didn't love this new district myself, because the houses were built at home as match boxes - All the same and faceless. And since this place is just still beginning to be built up, there was not a single tree or any "greenery" in it, and it was similar to a stone-asphalt layout of some ugly, unreal town. Everything was cold and soulless, and I felt there always very badly - it seemed that I was simply not to breathe ...
And also, find the rooms of the houses, even with the biggest desire, there was almost impossible. As, for example, at that moment I was between houses No. 2 and No. 26, and could not understand how this could be?!. And wondered where my "missing" house number 12? .. There was no logic in it, and I could not understand how people in such a chaos could live?
Plusinn Valery
Indian writing
Plusinn Valery
Indian writing
Yekaterinburg
Introduction
The Indian letter is a family of syllable written written in South and Southeast Asia (and early Asia) and originating from a scroll letter. Indian written writers are Abuhdami (consonant-sludge), that is, each sign in them means a syllable with any consonant and basic vowel, and syllables with other vowels or without vowels are formed on its basis by standard modification or adding special characters.
Starting with the III century. BC. In India, two writing systems were used: Brahimi and Khashchhhi. The second comes from the Aramaic letter and used in the north-west of India to the III century. AD And in Central Asia, up to the VII century, after which she was displaced by Brahmi. It was written to the right left.
The exact origin of Brahmi is unknown, it is assumed that it was created on the basis of a consonant-syllable system used in Kharoshtha (and therefore partly connected with the Aramaic letter), especially for the Edicts of King Ashoka or similar inscriptions. No connection with a letter in seals 3-2 thousand BC. From Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, etc., found in the Indus Valley, are not traced. All other Indian writing occur from wrach letters and are usually written from left to right.
Kharoshthi - writing, apparently, which occurred from the Aramaic alphabet. It was distributed in Northern India and in the south of Central Asia in the III century. BC. AD By character is a half-phase, half-chart. Each sign indicated either a vowel, or a consonant plus any vowel; The grouping vowels were designated additional features or modifications of signs. There were also ligatures.
History
There is a definite confusion and inconsistency in their names, since in most cases there were no special names in Indian tradition for individual varieties of the letter. The names used now are somewhat conditional and are mostly formed either from the names of the ruling dynasties (Kadamba, Pallava, Gupta, Shung, Kushanskoye, etc.), or according to the languages \u200b\u200bused (TORSKOE, SAKSKoe), including retrospectively (Starokanadskoye, Starobengal) or descriptively (oblique script, "Box-Headed Script"). Even the names "Brahmi" and "Kharoshthi" were restored by modern researchers based on rare references to Buddhist and jine manuscripts. In the south of India, such varieties are known as Kaligna - existed before the VI century. AD Tamil Brahmi, known to attempt to rethink the value of the basic syllable. Bhattiprol - 10 small inscriptions on Prakrit, found on the site of the ancient city of Bhattyprole (modern state of Andhra Pradesh). In the period of late Brahmi (IV-VII centuries. AD) It is customary to say separate species Letters. In the north of India, it was a guptic letter (IV-VI centuries), in Central Asia, this is a special inclined Brahmy (Central Asian Brahmi), known for at least three species: Torak, Sakska and Uigur.
In the west of India, there are several new varieties of writing letter, characterized by roundness of the outlines of letters and those who have crowded earlier options. Kadamba, who developed in Chalukye, and then the likely as the basis of the old-year-old letter, from which modern writing of Telugu and Kannad developed. Pallava, which has become the main source of a huge number of written in Southeast Asia. Grantha, from which Tamil's time was distinguished early with a rapid version of the Executivet, and the Malayalax letter later. Singhales, the early forms of which are close to North Indian writing, and the late originated on the basis of South Indian.
The dominant letter in the north from the mid-6th century was Siddakhamka (Siddhamskoye, Kutil), in the VII-VIII centuries. From it developed a Tibetan letter, a Mongolian square letter (Pagba), a few written languages \u200b\u200bfor small languages \u200b\u200bof the Himalayas: Limba, Lescha, etc.
Charade (in northwest india); Landa, Gurmukhi, Sindhi, Torry and Kashmiri, Cashmir, Cinda and neighboring areas, were developed from it, but subsequently widespread by Arabica and Devanagari, survived only in Punjab (Gurmukhi, introduced by Sikhami in the XVI century) and for Several small languages \u200b\u200bin the North-West of India (Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh).
Nagari (in the center and east of India). It developed several types of letters, such as Nandinigari - was used sporadically in Karnataka, Nevaroskaya (Ranjan) - from the XI century to our days in Nepal for Nevaro language, served as the basis for the Mongolian letter, Devanagari - on its basis there were several cursor Forms (Majani in Rajasthan, Moi in Maharashtra, Kitehi in Bihara, Gujaratskoye), coexisting and subsequently almost displaced by him (except Gujarati). The Devanagari itself during the 20th century spread widely throughout Northern India and Nepal, applying for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Nepal and many other languages.
Main characteristics
The basic structure of the consonant-sludge Indian writing was originally built on the basis of Mid-Indian phyological systems with their absence of closed syllables. Each sign (Akshara) is either a separate vowel, or the consonant plus a basic vowel (usually brief "a", less often "o"). Sounds with other vowels are formed by standard modification of the base sign or the addition of special signs on the left, right, top or bottom. The absence of a vowel in the end of the word is denoted by the subscript sign "Virama". The combinations of consonants are more often designated by complex signs - ligators, including the characteristic elements of the signs of signs. In a typographic set, such signs require separate litera, the total number of which reaches, for example, in Devanagari, six hundred (with 50 base signs).
We have seen that the residents of Harappa had a writing that could not be deciphered. From the time after the disappearance of the Indus civilization, that is, approximately from the XVII century. BC. and until the middle of the III century. BC. Not a single written Indian document has been preserved. Mention of the existence of writing appears in the Pali works of Buddhists and in the sutra, although neither "Vedas" nor Brahmans nor the Upanishada say about it. The lack of direct evidence nevertheless is not decisive evidence, since at the end of the Vedic period some form of writing should have been used by merchants. The inscriptions of Ashoka are the first significant monuments of writing India, which we have, use two alphabets that are almost perfect for the transfer of Indian sounds. It is generally recognized that these alphabets by the time of the Board of Ashoki had to already have several decades, if not centuries of development.
Of these alphabets dated Ashoki's era, the main, common throughout the Indian Territory, with the exception of the North-West, is Brahhi, about the origin of which there are two opposite theories. Most Indian professionals today believe that this letter dates back to Harapp culture. Many European and some Indian scientists, on the contrary, believe that it is borrowed from the Semitic writing. The first of these theories, nominated by Sir Alexander Cunningham and developed by Professor-Assyriologist S. Langdon, faces certain difficulties. Since we are unknown by the pronunciation of two hundred seventy harapp signs, we can only argue that some of them the letters letters are borrowed from there. The analogies between the brahs and some ancient northern semitic systems of letters are more apparent, moreover, these latter consist only of twenty-two letters. Nevertheless, this similarity is not enough for indisputable conclusion, and the question remains open.
In Brahmi, the text is read from left to right, as in the European letter, unlike the Semitic, which is read right to left. In Yerragoudi, in Andhra Pradesh, there are several edicts of Ashoki, very incomplete, the part of which is written by Broadfered (read both from left to right and right to left). In addition, one very ancient Singhale record and a legend on an ancient coin from Erena, in Madhya Pradesh, read on the right left. These facts testify to the start of development of scroll writing, although they are not enough to finalize. Be that as it may, these data do not reveal to us the secret origin BrahmyFor it is believed that the Harappa letter also read right left.
In any case, Brahmi is remarkably adapted to the sounds of Indian languages, which, of course, is the result of targeted efforts. In the form in which it came to us, Brahmi is the creation of not merchants, but brahmans or other enlightened people who possessed the knowledge of the Vedic Phonetics. Perhaps initially they used merchants, resorting to Semitic letters or remembering the Harapp written, but during the times of Ashoki, without reaching his classical perfection, Brahmi was a letter of mainly scientific world.
Greeks, borrowing their alphabet from the Phoenicians, added new graphic badges to it to transfer all vowels except "A"; As for Indians, they used to designate their vowels in another way: their basic signs have already included a brief sound "A". Thus, the Brahmy Letter denotes not one sound "K", but "ka". Other vowels were designated icons that were attributed to or under the letter, for example: "-F kd", "-f- ki", "-f kt", "-fc" "KU", "ki", "ko". To show the host of two consonants, the corresponding letters were superimposed on each other; Connecting, form "kua". As a rule, words in the phrase were not separated from each other, the ultimate letter of one word was adjacent to the initial letter of the next word, with some changes this method is stored in Sanskrit, which further complicates the study of the language for beginners.
In the era of Ashoki, a brahmy letter has already been obvious modifications. In the next century, divergence processes will lead to the formation of several separate alphabets. Even before the start of our era, engravers in the north, undoubtedly imitating the correspondence, began to add small badges to the letters, which in the language of Western printing are called serifs, and use a varied decor. The trend towards ornamentation intensified over time, so that in the end of the Middle Ages, the upper serux of letters merged in almost a continuous line; Thus, Nagari appeared ("Alphabet of the city", also called Devanagari, i.e. "Alphabet of the city of gods"), used today in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi and Marathi. Local features contributed to the development different species Letters in Punjab, Bengal, Orissa, Gujarat, etc.
Meanwhile, in the regions of the dean, writing became more and more perfect and sophisticated. In Central India in the V and VI centuries. The type of letter is generated, in which the serifs of the northern fonts are replaced by quadrangular icons. The letter of the Southern Dean and Ceylon was so rapidly rounded that already in the Middle Ages acquired his modern view. At the same time, Tamil language gave rise to an angular letter of Grantha, which is sometimes used in the country of Tamils \u200b\u200bfor Sanskrit and from which the modern Tamil alphabet occurred. Thus, at the end of our period, the alphabets of India differed little from the modern alphabets.
The peoples of the Asian South-East were known in the writing of India, and especially southern India. The most ancient from the records of Southeast Asia, found to Borneo, Java and Malaysia and dated IV and V centuries, and dated IV and V centuries, are compiled on a very correct Sanskrit and transferred the letter of the letter corresponding to the writing of the first Pallavs. Despite the obvious distinction, all systems of Southeast Asia (except, the Arabic and Roman writing, taken from Malaysev and Indonesians) go back to Brahmi. The Indian letter type is used in such a remote area of \u200b\u200bits appearance as the Philippines.
As for the origin of the Ashoka of the second type of letter, called Kharoshtha (the term that can be translated as "Ruba Oske"), then it undoubtedly goes back to the Aramaic alphabet, which was widespread in Agemenid Persia and is known in the north-west of India. And KharoshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhThe letter of Kharoshthi was adapted to the phonetics of the Indian language due to the introduction of new letters and graphic signs to designate the vowels that were absent in the Aramaic language. It is believed that Kharoshtha was adapted under the influence of brachms, but the priority of this or the other remains hypothetical. Kharoshthi, in essence, almost not used in India after III century. n. e., But it remained a few centrals in Central Asia, where numerous documents on Prakrit, recorded by Kharoshthi, were discovered. In subsequent epochs in Central Asia, the letter of Kharoshtha was replaced by a type of the Guptian alphabet, on the basis of which the modern Tibetan writing developed.
Most often, a palpal palpote (Talapatra, Olai - in Tamil language) was used as a material for the letter, dried, softened, outcred and divided into stripes. For the book, several such bands were combined, which were binding to the twine, which would be told in the leaf made in the center of the sheet or, if the volume was large, - in two holes located from two ends. The book is usually supplied with a wooden cover, shocked and painted. In the Himalaya region, where it was difficult to get dry palm leaves, they were replaced by birch bark, which, properly processed and softened, was quite suitable for this. Along with these materials, cotton or silk were used, as well as thin sheets of wood or bamboo. Documents engraved on copper sheets. It is possible that in Northern India, paper was used in China at the beginning of II century. AD, in any case, it was widely used in Central Asia.
In the most part of India, the ink was obtained from black soot or charcoal, and wrote a cane feather. In the south, the letters were mainly applied to palm sheets with a sharp stick, and the sheet was then sprinkled with a thin layer of black soot. This method gave a clear and accurate outline of letters and allowed to write very subtle, probably, it led to the appearance of the angular letters of the Tamil alphabet.
The generally info syllable letter model is built in accordance with the phonetic system of Indoarian languages \u200b\u200b(in particular Sanskrit). All graphic units are disintegrated into two categories: independent and non-remote signs. Independent - these are the letters that designate syllables, consisting of either from one vowel, or from the consonant with the inherent vowel "A": अ - "A"; प - "PA"; त - "TA", etc. Disappointing signs are used only in combination with letters. The unsavoral signs can be transmitted: heading - vowel sounds in a syllable other than "A"; FINALLES - the consonants of the end of the syllable, or the second consonant in the consonant groups; Specific phenomena of the language (tones, lamps, etc.), syntax and punctuation. A combination of independent and non-feasible signs forms a graph (letter plus a job).
The Obcenta Model Model is based on the so-called. "Triangle basic vowels." Icons in the form of diacritics are attributed to the left, right, top and bottom of the letter. Thus, they show that the consonant should be vowel, different from "A". And, as a rule, the inscription will mark the vowel "I" (less than "E), a subscription - vowel" U ": पे -" PE "; पु - "PU"; पि - "PI". It is not uncommon when the heading is conjugate with the letter (or the so-called. Akshaga, which is translated as "non-resident"). A complex system of such conjugations has developed in Dravidian writing.
The absence of an inherent vowel with the letter is indicated by a special marker: प - "NA"; प् - "N".
However, in a modern sign - Virama (from the Indian Ram - "Stop", the letter of Devanagary Virama is rarely found (due to the loss of the final "A" in Hindi).
Distinctive trait Most Indian writing - matrix (top horizontal line or additional element). You can find at least two explanations for this phenomenon:
1) The matrix is \u200b\u200ba universal calligraphic reception, evidence of the development of the letter. (Compare the appearance of upper additional sites in the Latin and Runic letter).
2) The matrix is \u200b\u200ba frozen shape of the heading to indicate a brief "a".
Of the special characters in many Indian writings, the following finalems are applied: Varága "ः" (literally "exhaling") " -h"; Anusvara " - n "; Signs of the preposition "R - "And postposition" - r »: प्र -" PRA "; र्प - "RPA".
Phonological principle of Syllabaria organization
Letters in Indian Syllabarium are located taking into account the place and method of education in Warmar (groups). Therefore, Indian Syllabarium is usually represented in the form of a table, the order of letters in which it is not determined by the tradition (as in the Semitic alphabets) and non-magical practice (both in the Runic and Ohamic alphabets), but grammatical considerations. (In the form of tables, the letters of the Korean alphabet and the Japanese Syllabarium, who experienced the influence of the Indian Language Decision).
In Indian Syllabaria, 5 pure Varg. In the sixth, unclean Warga enclosed the last 8 letters - it is Sonanta and Spirants. The order of their following follows is determined conditionally.
The letter "A" in some Slobabarius (Tibetan, Thai, Khmer, Lao, Burmese) is sometimes included in the table as consonant. In them, it denotes the lack of consonant (zero investment, and not the sound "A" in its pure form. In these Slobrabarians, the sound began to be transferred to the syllable as the letter "A" plus a job.
- Brahmi
- Brahmi
one of ancient varieties Indian syllable letter; Writing from left to right. The earliest monuments read: Copper plate from Savory, County Mountain ... - Brahmi in modern encyclopedic dictionary:
- Brahmi in the encyclopedic dictionaries:
one of the most ancient varieties of Indian Syllabic (sludge) letter. The earliest read written monuments are dating 3 in. BC. Direction ... - Brahmi in the big Russian encyclopedic dictionary:
Brahmi, one of the oldest species of ind. Slogging letter that emerged in 3 V. BC. To B. dates back most of the owl. species ... - Brahmi in the modern explanatory dictionary, BSE:
one of the oldest species of the Indian sludge letter, which arose in 3 V. BC e. Most modern species dates back to Brahmi ... - ALPHABET in the Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree:
Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "Tree". In this article, incomplete marking. Alphabet, from the names of the first 2 letters of Greek. Alphabet - "Alpha" ... - TELUGU in Literary encyclopedia:
- One of the most important Dravidian languages \u200b\u200bof India. The distribution area of \u200b\u200bT. mainly - dean; The number of speakers on T. - ... - TAMIL in the literary encyclopedia:
It is the most important of Dravidian languages. Spread area T. I. - Southeast Part of the Indian Peninsula (South of Madrasian Presidency and North ... - Indian languages. in the literary encyclopedia:
The three hundred millionthous population of India (not counting Burma and Beloohistan) speaks several dozen languages. If you learn somewhat safeguard ("Munda" and ... - TORRICAL LANGUAGES in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
the group of extinct related languages \u200b\u200bbelong to the Indo-European family of languages. The self-setting of carriers of Torak languages \u200b\u200bis unknown, so one of Torak languages \u200b\u200bis called ... - Tibetan language in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
tibetan language. Refers to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Tibetan letter goes back to ... - TAMIL in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
the official language of the Indian state of Tamilad. Refers to Dravidian languages. Tamil alphabet goes back to ... - SINHALESE in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
refers to the Indian Group of Indo-European Languages \u200b\u200bFamily. Official language of the Republic of Sri Lanka. Writing on the Singhal alphabet, ascending to ... - SANSKRIT in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
(from Sanskr. Samskrta letters. - Processed), literary processing variety of ancient Indian Language Indo-European language family. Known monuments 1 in. BC ... - PUNJABI in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
(Punjabi) Padjabtse language, refers to the Indian Group of Indo-European Languages \u200b\u200bFamily. The official language of Indian pcs. Punjab. Letter in India based on ... - Malayalam in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
the language of the people of Malayali. Refers to Dravidian languages. Alphabet goes back to ... - Kannada in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
(Cannara) language refers to Dravidian languages. The official language of Indian pcs. Carnataka. Writing based on the Alphabet of Kannad, ascending to ... - Indian letter in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
the general name of the syllable written writers South-Vost. Asia, related to the generality of origin and the unified principle of the structure of the alphabets (see Brahmi, ... - Devanagari. in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
letter syllable system, ascending to the Old Indian writing of Brahmi. It is applied in the languages. India (Hindi, Marathi, Nepalese, etc.), as well as ... - BENGALI in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
(Bengali) Bengaltsev. Refers to the Indian Group of Indo-European Languages \u200b\u200bFamily. Official language Bangladesh and pcs. Zap. Bengal in India. Alphabet ... - Assamian in the big encyclopedic dictionary:
refers to the Indian Group of Indo-European Languages \u200b\u200bFamily. Official language PC. Assam in India. Writing goes back to ... - Phoenician letter in big soviet encyclopedia, BSE:
letter, type of letter used by the Phoenicians and Cartheginians, as well as ancient Jews and Moavites. Monuments V from the 2nd half of the 2nd thousand ... - LETTER in the Big Soviet Encyclopedia, BSE:
a sign of a speech fixation system that allows you to transfer speech information using the design (graphic) items and fix it in time. ... - Indian letter in the Big Soviet Encyclopedia, BSE:
letter, an extensive group of writing Southeast Asia, related to the generality of origin and the unified principle of the structure of the alphabets. In addition to the territory of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal ...