Psalter Pahlavi

Psalter Pahlavi
Psalter Pahlavi;
	Sample of text taken from the Cross of Herat
Script type	Abjad
Time period	Mid-6th to 7th century CE
Direction	Right-to-left script
Languages	Middle Persian
Related scripts
Parent systems	Aramaic alphabet Pahlavi scripts Psalter Pahlavi; ;
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Phlp (132), Psalter Pahlavi
Unicode
Unicode alias	Psalter Pahlavi
Unicode range	U+10B80–U+10BAF

You may need rendering support to display the uncommon Unicode characters in this article correctly.

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^[a]	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	Description
	𐮙	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
Sign	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

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:

Psalter 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+10B8x	𐮀‎	𐮁‎	𐮂‎	𐮃‎	𐮄‎	𐮅‎	𐮆‎	𐮇‎	𐮈‎	𐮉‎	𐮊‎	𐮋‎	𐮌‎	𐮍‎	𐮎‎	𐮏‎
U+10B9x	𐮐‎	𐮑‎								𐮙‎	𐮚‎	𐮛‎	𐮜‎
U+10BAx										𐮩‎	𐮪‎	𐮫‎	𐮬‎	𐮭‎	𐮮‎	𐮯‎
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Notes

^ The names are based on the corresponding Imperial Aramaic characters

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Everson, Michael; Pournader, Roozbeh (2011-05-06). "N4040: Proposal for encoding the Psalter Pahlavi script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.
^ Encyclopædia Iranica: Pahlavi Psalter
^ Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.

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[3] The names are based on the corresponding Imperial Aramaic characters

[N4040-1] Everson, Michael; Pournader, Roozbeh (2011-05-06). "N4040: Proposal for encoding the Psalter Pahlavi script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.

[2] Encyclopædia Iranica: Pahlavi Psalter

[WWS-4] Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.

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