Inscriptional Parthian

Inscriptional Parthian was a script used to write the Parthian language, the majority of the text found were from clay fragments. This script was used from the 2nd century CE to the 5th century CE or in the Parthian Empire to the early Sasanian Empire. During the Sasanian Empire it was mostly used for official texts.^{[2][3][citation needed]}

Inscriptional Parthian
Parthian version of Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Script type	Abjad
Time period	c. 100 CE – c. 400 CE[1]
Direction	Right-to-left script
Languages	Parthian language
Related scripts
Parent systems	Aramaic alphabet Pahlavi scripts Inscriptional Parthian
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Prti (130), ​Inscriptional Parthian
Unicode
Unicode alias	Inscriptional Parthian
Unicode range	U+10B40–U+10B5F

Inscriptional Parthian is written right to left and the letters are not joined.^{[citation needed]}

Parthian (above), along with Greek (below) and Middle Persian was being used in inscriptions of early Sasanian emperors. Shapur I's inscription at the Naqsh-e Rajab

Letters

Inscriptional Parthian uses 22 letters:^[3]

Name[A]	Image	Text	IPA[4]
Aleph		𐭀	/a/, /aː/
Beth		𐭁	/b/, /v/
Gimel		𐭂	/g/, /j/
Daleth		𐭃	/d/, /j/
He		𐭄	/h/
Waw		𐭅	/v/, /r/
Zayin		𐭆	/z/
Heth		𐭇	/h/, /x/
Teth		𐭈	/t/
Yodh		𐭉	/j/, /ĕː/, /ĭː/
Kaph		𐭊	/k/
Lamedh		𐭋	/l/
Mem		𐭌	/m/
Nun		𐭍	/n/
Samekh		𐭎	/s/
Ayin		𐭏	/ʔ/
Pe		𐭐	/p/, /b/
Sadhe		𐭑	/s/
Qoph		𐭒	/q/
Resh		𐭓	/r/
Shin		𐭔	/ʃ/, /ʒ/
Taw		𐭕	/t/, /d/

1. ^
   Letter names are based on the corresponding Imperial Aramaic characters^[3]

Ligatures

Inscriptional Parthian uses seven standard ligatures^[3]

Ligature		Sequence
Image	Text
	𐭂𐭅	𐭂 (gimel) + 𐭅 (waw)
	𐭇𐭅	𐭇 (heth) + 𐭅 (waw)
	𐭉𐭅	𐭉 (yodh) + 𐭅 (waw)
	𐭍𐭅	𐭍 (nun) + 𐭅 (waw)
	𐭏𐭋	𐭏 (ayin) + 𐭋 (lamedh)
	𐭓𐭅	𐭓 (resh) + 𐭅 (waw)
	𐭕𐭅	𐭕 (taw) + 𐭅 (waw)

The letters sadhe (𐭑) and nun (𐭍) have swash tails which typically trail under the following letter.^[3]

Ligature		Sequence
Image	Text
	𐭍𐭍	𐭍 (nun) + 𐭍 (nun)
	𐭍𐭃	𐭍 (nun) + 𐭃 (daleth)

Numerals

Inscriptional Parthian had its own numerals

Value		1	2	3	4	10	20	100	1000
Sign	Image
	Text	𐭘	𐭙	𐭚	𐭛	𐭜	𐭝	𐭞	𐭟

Numbers are written right-to-left. Numbers without corresponding numerals are additive. For example, 158 is written as 𐭞𐭝𐭝𐭜𐭛𐭛‎ (100 + 20 + 20 + 10 + 4 + 4).^[3]

Unicode

Main article: Inscriptional Parthian (Unicode block)

Inscriptional Parthian script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Inscriptional Parthian is U+10B40–U+10B5F:

Inscriptional Parthian[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+10B4x

𐭀

𐭁

𐭂

𐭃

𐭄

𐭅

𐭆

𐭇

𐭈

𐭉

𐭊

𐭋

𐭌

𐭍

𐭎

𐭏

U+10B5x

𐭐

𐭑

𐭒

𐭓

𐭔

𐭕

𐭘

𐭙

𐭚

𐭛

𐭜

𐭝

𐭞

𐭟

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

1. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2hm6b38h
2. "Proposal for encoding the Inscriptional Parthian, Inscriptional Pahlavi, and Psalter Pahlavi scripts in the SMP of the UCS". escholarship.org. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
3. 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).
4. Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.