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 the rock inscriptions of Sasanian emperors and other notables, such as Kartir the High Priest.
| Inscriptional Pahlavi | |
|---|---|
 Inscribed stone block from the Paikuli inscription | |
| Script type | |
Time period | 2nd century BC — 6th century AD |
| Direction | Right-to-left script  |
| Languages | Middle Iranian languages |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Aramaic alphabet
|
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Phli (131), Inscriptional Pahlavi |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Inscriptional Pahlavi |
| U+10B60–U+10B7F | |
Letters
editInscriptional Pahlavi used 19 non-joining letters:[1][2]
| Name[A] | Image | Text | Phones (IPA; Middle Persian)[3] | Transliteration[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aleph | 
|
𐭠 | [a], [aː] | ' |
| Beth | 
|
𐭡 | [b], [w] | b |
| Gimel | 
|
𐭢 | [ɡ], [j] | g |
| Daleth | 
|
𐭣 | [d], [j] | d |
| He | 
|
𐭤 | [h][citation needed] | h |
| Waw-Ayin-Resh | 
|
𐭥 | [w], [o(ː)], [u(ː)], [∅], [r], [ʕ][citation needed] | w |
| Zayin | 
|
𐭦 | [z] | z |
| Heth | 
|
𐭧 | [h], [x] | ḥ |
| Teth | 
|
𐭨 | y[tˤ][citation needed] | ṭ |
| Yodh | 
|
𐭩 | [j], [e(ː)], [i(ː)], [d̠͡ʒ] | y |
| Kaph | 
|
𐭪 | [k], [ɡ] | k |
| Lamedh | 
|
𐭫 | [l], [r] | l |
| Mem-Qoph | 
|
𐭬 | [m], [q][citation needed] | m |
| Nun | 
|
𐭭 | [n] | n |
| Samekh | 
|
𐭮 | [s], [h] | s |
| Pe | 
|
𐭯 | [p], [b], [f] | p |
| Sadhe | 
|
𐭰 | [t̠͡ʃ], [d̠͡ʒ], [z] | ṣ |
| Shin | 
|
𐭱 | [ʃ] | ś/š |
| Taw | 
|
𐭲 | [t], [d] | t |
Numbers
editInscriptional 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
editInscriptional 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 | ||||||||||||||||
Gallery
edit-
Inscriptional Pahlavi text from Shapur III at Taq-e Bostan, 4th century -
Kartir's inscription at Naqsh-e Rajab -
Coin of Ardashir I (r. 224–42) with Inscriptional Pahlavi writings -
References
edit- ^ a b c d 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). pp. 10–11.
- ^ Livinsky, BA; Guang‐Da, Zhang; Samghabadi, R Shabani; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich (March 1999), Dani, Ahmad Hasan (ed.), History of civilizations of Central Asia, Multiple history, vol. 3. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 89, ISBN 978-81-208-1540-7.
- ^ Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.
