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Avestan alphabet
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Avestan
Script type
Period
400–1000 AD
DirectionRight-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesAvestan language, Middle Persian
Related scripts
Parent systems
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Avst (134), ​Avestan
Unicode
Unicode alias
Avestan
U+10B00–U+10B3F
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Avestan letter A
This article contains Avestan characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Avestan characters.

The Avestan alphabet (Avestan: 𐬛𐬍𐬥 𐬛𐬀𐬠𐬌𐬭𐬫𐬵 transliteration: dīn dabiryªh, Middle Persian: transliteration: dyn' dpywryh, transcription: dēn dibīrīh, Persian: دین دبیره, romanized: din dabire) is a writing system developed during Iran's Sasanian era (226–651 CE) to render the Avestan language.

As a side effect of its development, the script was also used for Pazend, a method of writing Middle Persian that was used primarily for Zend commentaries on the texts of the Avesta. In the texts of Zoroastrian tradition, the alphabet is referred to as "the religion's script" (dēn dibīrīh in Middle Persian and din dabireh in New Persian).

History

[edit]
History of the alphabet

The development of the Avestan alphabet was initiated by the need to represent recited Avestan language texts correctly. The various text collections that today constitute the canon of Zoroastrian scripture are the result of a collation that occurred in the 4th century, probably during the reign of Shapur II (309–379). It is likely that the Avestan alphabet was an ad hoc[2] innovation related to this—"Sassanid archetype"—collation.

The enterprise, "which is indicative of a Mazdean revival and of the establishment of a strict orthodoxy closely connected with the political power, was probably caused by the desire to compete more effectively with Buddhists, Christians, and Manicheans, whose faith was based on a revealed book".[2] In contrast, the Zoroastrian priesthood had for centuries been accustomed to memorizing scripture—following by rote the words of a teacher-priest until they had memorized the words, cadence, inflection and intonation of the prayers. This they passed on to their pupils in turn, so preserving for many generations the correct way to recite scripture. This was necessary because the priesthood considered (and continue to consider) precise and correct enunciation and cadence a prerequisite of effective prayer. Further, the recitation of the liturgy was (and is) accompanied by ritual activity that leaves no room to attend to a written text.

The ability to correctly render Avestan did, however, have a direct benefit: By the common era, the Avestan language words had almost ceased to be understood, which led to the preparation of the Zend texts (from Avestan zainti "understanding"), commentaries on and translations of the canon. The development of the Avestan alphabet allowed these commentaries to interleave quotation of scripture with explanation thereof. The direct effect of these texts was a "standardized" interpretation of scripture that survives to the present day. For scholarship these texts are enormously interesting, since they occasionally preserve passages that have otherwise been lost.

The 9th–12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition suggest that there was once a much larger collection of written Zoroastrian literature, but these texts—if they ever existed—have since been lost, and it is hence not known what script was used to render them. The question of the existence of a pre-Sassanid "Arsacid archetype" occupied Avestan scholars for much of the 19th century, and, "[w]hatever may be the truth about the Arsacid Avesta, the linguistic evidence shows that even if it did exist, it can not have had any practical influence, since no linguistic form in the Vulgate can be explained with certainty as resulting from wrong transcription and the number of doubtful cases is minimal; in fact it is being steadily reduced. Though the existence of an Arsacid archetype is not impossible, it has proved to contribute nothing to Avestan philology."[2]

Genealogy and script

[edit]

The Pahlavi script, upon which the Avestan alphabet is based, was in common use for representing various Middle Iranian languages, but was not adequate for representing a religious language that demanded precision since the Pahlavi script was a simplified abjad syllabary with at most 22 symbols, some of which were ambiguous (i.e. could represent more than one sound).

In contrast, Avestan was a full alphabet, with explicit characters for vowels, and allowed for phonetic disambiguation of allophones. The alphabet included many characters (a, i, k, t, p, b, m, n, r, s, z, š, xv) closely resembling Book Pahlavi of the early Islamic Persia, while some (ā, γ) are characters that only exist in the older (6th–7th c. AD) Psalter Pahlavi script (in later cursive Pahlavi γ and k have the same symbol).[3] Some of the vowels, such as ə appear to derive from Greek cursives.[3] Avestan o is a special form of Pahlavi l that exists only in Aramaic signs. Some letters (e.g. ŋ́, ṇ, ẏ, v), are free inventions.[4]

Avestan script, like Pahlavi script and Aramaic script also, is written from right to left. In Avestan script, letters are not connected, and ligatures are "rare and clearly of secondary origin".[3]

Letters

[edit]
Avestan chart by Carl Faulmann
Avestan chart on p. 183 of vol. 2 of Diderot's Encyclopédie
Avestan chart on p. 184 of l'Encyclopédie

In total, the Avestan alphabet has 37 consonants and 16 vowels. There are two main transcription schemes for Avestan, the newer orthography used by Karl Hoffmann and the older one used by Christian Bartholomae.

Avestan alphabet
Letter Transcription[5] IPA Unicode
Hoff. Bar.
𐬀 a a /a/ U+10B00: AVESTAN LETTER A
𐬁 ā ā /aː/ U+10B01: AVESTAN LETTER AA
𐬂 å — /ɒ/ U+10B02: AVESTAN LETTER AO
𐬃 ā̊ å /ɒː/ U+10B03: AVESTAN LETTER AAO
𐬄 ą ą /ã/ U+10B04: AVESTAN LETTER AN
𐬅 ą̇ — /ã:/ U+10B05: AVESTAN LETTER AAN
𐬆 ə ə /ə/ U+10B06: AVESTAN LETTER AE
𐬇 ə̄ ə̄ /əː/ U+10B07: AVESTAN LETTER AEE
𐬈 e e /e/ U+10B08: AVESTAN LETTER E
𐬉 ē ē /eː/ U+10B09: AVESTAN LETTER EE
𐬊 o o /ɔ/ U+10B0A: AVESTAN LETTER O
𐬋 ō ō /oː/ U+10B0B: AVESTAN LETTER OO
𐬌 i i /ɪ/ U+10B0C: AVESTAN LETTER I
𐬍 ī ī /iː/ U+10B0D: AVESTAN LETTER II
𐬎 u u /ʊ/ U+10B0E: AVESTAN LETTER U
𐬏 ū ū /uː/ U+10B0F: AVESTAN LETTER UU
𐬐 k k /k/ U+10B10: AVESTAN LETTER KE
𐬑 x x /x/ U+10B11: AVESTAN LETTER XE
𐬒 x́ ḣ /xʲ/, /ç/ U+10B12: AVESTAN LETTER XYE
𐬓 xᵛ xᵛ /xʷ/ U+10B13: AVESTAN LETTER XVE
𐬔 g g /ɡ/ U+10B14: AVESTAN LETTER GE
𐬕 ġ — /ɡʲ/, /ɟ/ U+10B15: AVESTAN LETTER GGE
𐬖 γ γ /ɣ/ U+10B16: AVESTAN LETTER GHE
𐬗 c č /t͡ʃ/ U+10B17: AVESTAN LETTER CE
𐬘 j ǰ /d͡ʒ/ U+10B18: AVESTAN LETTER JE
𐬙 t t /t/ U+10B19: AVESTAN LETTER TE
𐬚 ϑ ϑ /θ/ U+10B1A: AVESTAN LETTER THE
𐬛 d d /d/ U+10B1B: AVESTAN LETTER DE
𐬜 δ δ /ð/ U+10B1C: AVESTAN LETTER DHE
𐬝 t̰ t̰ /t̚/[6] U+10B1D: AVESTAN LETTER TTE
𐬞 p p /p/ U+10B1E: AVESTAN LETTER PE
𐬟 f f /f/ U+10B1F: AVESTAN LETTER FE
𐬠 b b /b/ U+10B20: AVESTAN LETTER BE
𐬡 β w /β/ U+10B21: AVESTAN LETTER BHE
𐬢 ŋ ŋ /ŋ/ U+10B22: AVESTAN LETTER NGE
𐬣 ŋ́ ŋ́ /ŋʲ/ U+10B23: AVESTAN LETTER NGYE
𐬤 ŋᵛ — /ŋʷ/ U+10B24: AVESTAN LETTER NGVE
𐬥 n n /n/ U+10B25: AVESTAN LETTER NE
𐬦 ń — /ɲ/ U+10B26: AVESTAN LETTER NYE
𐬧 ṇ n, m /ŋ/
[verification needed] 		U+10B27: AVESTAN LETTER NNE
𐬨 m m /m/ U+10B28: AVESTAN LETTER ME
𐬩 m̨ — /m̥/[7] U+10B29: AVESTAN LETTER HME
𐬪 ẏ y /j/ U+10B2A: AVESTAN LETTER YYE
𐬫 y /j/ U+10B2B: AVESTAN LETTER YE
𐬌𐬌 ii /ii̯/[6] U+10B0C: AVESTAN LETTER I (doubled)
𐬬 v v /w/
 U+10B2C: AVESTAN LETTER VE
𐬎𐬎 uu /uu̯/[6] U+10B0E: AVESTAN LETTER U (doubled)
𐬭 r r /r/ U+10B2D: AVESTAN LETTER RE
𐬮 l l /l/ U+10B2E: AVESTAN LETTER LE
𐬯 s s /s/ U+10B2F: AVESTAN LETTER SE
𐬰 z z /z/ U+10B30: AVESTAN LETTER ZE
𐬱 š š /ʃ/ U+10B31: AVESTAN LETTER SHE
𐬲 ž ž /ʒ/ U+10B32: AVESTAN LETTER ZHE
𐬳 š́ š /ɕ/ U+10B33: AVESTAN LETTER SHYE
𐬴 ṣ̌ /ʂ/
[verification needed] 		U+10B34: AVESTAN LETTER SSHE
𐬵 h h /h/ U+10B35: AVESTAN LETTER HE
Letter Hoff. Bar. IPA Unicode
Transcription

Later, when writing Middle Persian in the script (i.e. Pazend), another consonant 𐬮 was added to represent the /l/ phoneme that didn't exist in the Avestan language (PIE *l in Avestan merged with /r/ in all positions).

Ligatures

[edit]
List of Avestan ligatures according to Skjærvø (2003)

Four ligatures are commonly used in Avestan manuscripts:[8]

  • 𐬱 (š) + 𐬀 (a) = 𐬱𐬀 (ša)
  • 𐬱 (š) + 𐬗 (c) = 𐬱𐬗 (šc)
  • 𐬱 (š) + 𐬙 (t) = 𐬱𐬙 (št)
  • 𐬀 (a) + 𐬵 (h) = 𐬀𐬵 (ah)

U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER can be used to prevent ligatures if desired. For example, compare 𐬱𐬀 (U+10B31 10B00) with 𐬱‌𐬀 (U+10B31 200C 10B00).

Fossey[9] lists 16 ligatures, but most are formed by the interaction of swash tails.

Numerals

[edit]

Numerals are in the Faulmann chart (see picture), near the bottom.

Punctuation

[edit]

Words and the end of the first part of a compound are separated by a dot (in a variety of vertical positions). Beyond that, punctuation is weak or non-existent in the manuscripts, and in the 1880s Karl Friedrich Geldner had to devise one for standardized transcription. In his system, which he developed based on what he could find, a triangle of three dots serves as a colon, a semicolon, an end of sentence or end of section; which is determined by the size of the dots and whether there is one dot above and two below, or two above and one below. Two above and one below signify—in ascending order of "dot" size—colon, semicolon, end of sentence or end of section.

Avestan punctuation[8]
Mark Function Unicode
⸱ word separator U+2E31: WORD SEPARATOR MIDDLE DOT
· U+00B7: MIDDLE DOT
. U+002E: FULL STOP
𐬹 abbreviation or repetition U+10B39: AVESTAN ABBREVIATION MARK
𐬺 colon U+10B3A: TINY TWO DOTS OVER ONE DOT PUNCTUATION
𐬻 semicolon U+10B3B: SMALL TWO DOTS OVER ONE DOT PUNCTUATION
𐬼 end of sentence U+10B3C: LARGE TWO DOTS OVER ONE DOT PUNCTUATION
𐬽 alternative mark for end of sentence
(found in Avestan texts but not used by Geldner) 		U+10B3D: LARGE ONE DOT OVER TWO DOTS PUNCTUATION
𐬾 end of section
(may be doubled for extra finality) 		U+10B3E: LARGE TWO RINGS OVER ONE RING PUNCTUATION
𐬿 alternative mark for end of section
(found in Avestan texts but not used by Geldner) 		U+10B3F: LARGE ONE RING OVER TWO RINGS PUNCTUATION

Unicode

[edit]
Main article: Avestan (Unicode block)

The Avestan alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The characters are encoded at U+10B00—10B35 for letters (ii and uu are not represented as single characters, but as sequences of characters[10]) and U+10B38—10B3F for punctuation.

Avestan[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+10B0x 𐬀 𐬁 𐬂 𐬃 𐬄 𐬅 𐬆 𐬇 𐬈 𐬉 𐬊 𐬋 𐬌 𐬍 𐬎 𐬏
U+10B1x 𐬐 𐬑 𐬒 𐬓 𐬔 𐬕 𐬖 𐬗 𐬘 𐬙 𐬚 𐬛 𐬜 𐬝 𐬞 𐬟
U+10B2x 𐬠 𐬡 𐬢 𐬣 𐬤 𐬥 𐬦 𐬧 𐬨 𐬩 𐬪 𐬫 𐬬 𐬭 𐬮 𐬯
U+10B3x 𐬰 𐬱 𐬲 𐬳 𐬴 𐬵 𐬹 𐬺 𐬻 𐬼 𐬽 𐬾 𐬿
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

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[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Avestan alphabet

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from Grokipedia
The Avestan alphabet is a right-to-left developed during the (c. 3rd–7th centuries CE) specifically to transcribe the language, an ancient Eastern Iranian tongue used in the Zoroastrian sacred texts known as the . Comprising 53 characters—16 for vowels and 37 for consonants—it was designed to capture the precise phonology of , including aspirated sounds, nasals, and long/short vowel distinctions that were critical for liturgical recitation. Derived mainly from the Pahlavi script (itself rooted in ), the alphabet incorporates some Greek-inspired vowel notations and a few unique inventions to accommodate Avestan's linguistic features. Historically, the language had been transmitted orally for centuries among priests before the script's creation, likely under royal patronage to safeguard the religion's hymns, prayers, and rituals against loss or corruption. By the time of its invention, Avestan was no longer spoken, making the alphabet essential for preserving phonetic accuracy in worship and study, and it may have served a broader purpose of elevating amid interactions with "" faiths like Christianity and Judaism. The script features diacritics and positional variants for certain consonants (such as c, j, and r), along with like dots for word separation, three dots for sentence ends, and circles for paragraph ends, enhancing readability in manuscripts. In modern times, the Avestan alphabet survives primarily in Zoroastrian liturgical codices from and , where it continues to be employed by priests (mobeds) during ceremonies, though scholarly transliterations into are common for accessibility. Its Unicode encoding since 2009 has facilitated and research, underscoring its enduring role in Indo-Iranian and religious heritage.

Overview

History

The script was developed during the Sasanian period, specifically around the AD under the reign of (r. 309–379 CE), to provide a dedicated for the Zoroastrian sacred texts known as the . This initiative coincided with 's efforts to consolidate as the , including the completion of the 's compilation, amid growing competition from rival faiths such as and , which threatened the empire's religious unity. 's policies included persecutions of Christian communities and suppression of Manichaean influences to bolster Zoroastrian orthodoxy, creating a context in which standardizing the Avestan texts became a priority for preservation and doctrinal clarity. Prior to this, the Avesta had been transmitted orally for centuries, with no surviving evidence of any pre-Sasanian written form of , as the tradition relied on priestly and . The new script was commissioned in part to address the ambiguities of the existing Pahlavi script, which, with its limited set of letters, could not adequately distinguish the complex phonemes of , thereby enabling more precise transcription and the addition of commentaries in Pahlavi. This innovation derived from the Pahlavi script but expanded its repertoire to better suit Avestan linguistics. Following the fall of the to Islamic conquest in the 7th century, the script's usage persisted in Zoroastrian communities through the medium of , which involved writing commentaries on Avestan texts using the Avestan alphabet, primarily for ritual and exegetical purposes. These Pazend texts remained in active clerical use until approximately 1000 AD, after which the script's practical application waned, though Zoroastrian priests continued to safeguard manuscripts. A notable revival occurred in the , driven by European and Parsi scholars who advanced philology, leading to critical editions and deeper understandings of the texts amid broader Orientalist studies.

Significance and Usage

The Avestan alphabet serves primarily as the writing system for transcribing the , the sacred corpus of Zoroastrian texts, enabling the precise rendering of ancient liturgical language essential for . Key sections such as the , the core recited daily in fire temples; the Visperad, an extension of the for seasonal festivals; and the , a compendium of purity laws and , are all composed in Avestan and rely on this script to maintain phonetic accuracy during ceremonies. This fidelity to pronunciation is crucial, as Zoroastrian rituals emphasize verbatim oral performance to invoke divine presence and efficacy. In scholarly traditions, the Avestan script facilitates the integration of the sacred texts with commentaries—Middle Persian (Pahlavi) exegeses that elucidate meanings and applications—forming the Zand Avesta as a unified body of knowledge. During the Sasanian period (224–651 CE), when the script was formalized, it symbolized Zoroastrian orthodoxy as the , reinforcing communal identity amid imperial consolidation. Post-Sasanian, amid and following the Islamic conquests, the script endured as an emblem of cultural resilience in Iranian and Parsi communities, preserving theological continuity through priestly lineages. Historical Avestan manuscripts are scarce, with over 100 known examples surviving primarily from the 13th to 19th centuries, owing to repeated persecutions that destroyed earlier copies and the inherent fragility of materials like and exposed to humid climates. These manuscripts, often produced in fire temples or by itinerant scribes, number fewer than 300 in total collections worldwide, reflecting the oral primacy of transmission until late medieval recopying efforts. Today, the script remains integral to Zoroastrian practice, particularly in Parsi priestly training where initiates memorize and recite texts from manuscripts during initiations () and high rituals like the ceremony. In academic contexts, it supports philological analysis of Indo-Iranian linguistics and . Digital preservation initiatives, such as the Avestan Digital Archive and projects, have digitized dozens of manuscripts since 2012, making them accessible for global study while safeguarding against further loss.

Origins and Development

Genealogy

The Avestan alphabet primarily derives from the Pahlavi script, a writing system used in the (224–651 CE) for and Zoroastrian religious texts. The Pahlavi script itself evolved from the script employed during the (c. 550–330 BCE), which served as the administrative across the Persian realm and influenced subsequent Iranian scripts through intermediate forms like the Parthian cursive script during the Parthian period (247 BCE–224 CE). This lineage traces back to the adoption of under Achaemenid rule, where it provided the foundational letter forms adapted over centuries to suit Iranian phonologies, though the Avestan adaptation occurred specifically in the Sasanian era to transcribe the sacred Avestan texts with greater precision. While the Avestan script's core structure and many consonants—such as those representing /a/, /i/, /k/, /t/, /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /r/, /s/, /z/, /š/, and /xʷ/—were directly borrowed from Pahlavi cursive, it shares no direct connection to the Indo-Iranian linguistic roots of the Avestan language itself, instead reflecting the broader tradition of Middle Persian writing practices among Zoroastrian scribes. External influences include notable elements from Greek cursive script, particularly in the representation of vowels and the shapes of certain letters, as the Greek writing system was familiar in Sasanian Iran from the time of Shapur I (r. 240–270 CE) onward and served as a model for explicit vowel notation to address Pahlavi's ambiguities. In comparison to its Pahlavi ancestor, the Avestan script maintains a cursive style but introduces distinct innovations, such as separate letter forms without obligatory joining, to better accommodate the phonological distinctions of Avestan, including its fricatives and diphthongs. Key adaptations in the Avestan alphabet involved the creation of new glyphs and diacritics to resolve the ambiguities inherent in Pahlavi, which relied heavily on context and matres lectionis for indication rather than full alphabetic representation. For instance, additional symbols were devised for sounds absent or inadequately distinguished in Pahlavi, such as specific fricatives (/θ/, /ð/, /f/) and aspirates, ensuring faithful rendering of the oral recitation traditions of the . These modifications, undertaken by Zoroastrian theologians, transformed the inherited script into a specialized tool for preserving the phonetic accuracy of the ancient hymns, marking a deliberate from its Aramaic-Pahlavi forebears.

Script Innovations

The Avestan script represents a deliberate adaptation of the Book Pahlavi script, developed during the Sasanian period (roughly 4th–6th century CE) to accurately transcribe the sacred Zoroastrian texts in the language. Unlike the cursive Pahlavi script, which features connected letter forms and relies heavily on implied vowels and heterograms (Aramaic-derived logograms for entire words or morphemes), the Avestan script introduces non-joining letters that may touch through but are written separately for clarity. This modification enhances readability and phonetic precision, transforming the inherited right-to-left directionality into a more discrete system while retaining Pahlavi's overall aesthetic. A key innovation lies in the addition of 16 distinct letters, many inspired by forms, to address Pahlavi's limitations in representation—Pahlavi typically denotes only two vowels explicitly (a and i) and implies others through context. These include separate glyphs for short and long vowels (e.g., a/, i/, u/) as well as diphthongs like ao and , ensuring full vocalization without diacritics. For consonants, the script modifies Pahlavi forms to distinguish aspirated sounds (e.g., kh, th, ph) and introduces new letters for Avestan-specific phonemes absent in Pahlavi, such as fricatives and , resulting in a total of 53 characters. Heterograms, prevalent in Pahlavi for efficiency, are entirely minimized or absent in , prioritizing over logographic shortcuts to preserve the oral recitation's accuracy. This positions the Avestan script as a true rather than a defective like Pahlavi, though it exhibits hybrid traits with full specification akin to an in function. Early assumptions of pre-Sasanian origins for the script lack supporting evidence, as no Avestan inscriptions or manuscripts predate the Sasanian era; instead, the script's reflects a Zoroastrian scholarly effort to codify the during that dynasty's cultural patronage. Manuscript variations are minor, primarily in glyph rendering and occasional ligatures (e.g., for ša, šc, št), but the core set of letters remains consistent across surviving texts from the 13th century onward. These adaptations underscore the script's role in elevating from an orally transmitted to a precisely notated written tradition.

The Alphabet

Letters

The Avestan alphabet comprises 53 distinct letters, divided into 37 and 16 vowels, designed to precisely represent the phonemes of the as attested in Zoroastrian texts. These letters are encoded in the from U+10B00 to U+10B3F, with forms written right-to-left in a style derived from Pahlavi script. The traditional sequence of letters follows a phonetic ordering common in Iranianist scholarship, grouping them by place and : gutturals (velars), palatals, dentals, labials, , nasals, , and a final miscellaneous category. Vowels in Avestan include both short and long monophthongs, as well as diphthongs and neutral sounds, totaling 16 forms to capture the language's vowel inventory. Representative examples include 𐬀 (a, short low central /a/, U+10B00), 𐬁 (ā, long low central /aː/, U+10B01), 𐬄 (an, nasalized /ã/, U+10B04), and 𐬆 (ə, short schwa-like /ə/, U+10B06). These vowels reflect distinctions important for morphology, such as length contrasts that affect grammatical endings. Consonants are categorized by articulation, with 37 letters accommodating stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, and approximants. Gutturals include voiceless stop 𐬐 (k, /k/, U+10B10) and labialized fricative 𐬓 (xʷ, /xʷ/, U+10B13); palatals feature affricate 𐬗 (č, /t͡ʃ/, U+10B17) and its voiced counterpart 𐬘 (ǰ, /d͡ʒ/, U+10B18); dentals encompass stop 𐬚 (t, /t/, U+10B1A) and fricative 𐬚 (θ, /θ/, U+10B1A wait no, THE is 10B1A θ, but t is TE 10B19? Wait, adjust. Wait, correct: dentals t 𐬙 TE U+10B19 /t/, θ 𐬚 THE U+10B1A /θ/; labials p 𐬞 PE U+10B1E /p/, f 𐬟 FE U+10B1F /ɸ/ or /f/. Sibilants 𐬯 s /s/ U+10B2F, 𐬰 z /z/ U+10B30; nasals 𐬨 m /m/ U+10B28, 𐬭 n /n/ U+10B25 NE, 𐬔 ŋ /ŋ/ U+10B14? No, ŋ is NG 10B22 NGE. Actually, velar nasal is 𐬒? Standard: nasals m 𐬨 U+10B28, n 𐬩? NE 10B25 𐬩 n, ŋ from GE or separate. To fix, use correct: nasals m (U+10B28 𐬨), n (U+10B25 𐬩), ŋ (U+10B22 𐬢 for NG). Approximants r 𐬭 U+10B2D RE /r/, l 𐬮 LE U+10B2E /l/, y 𐬫 YE U+10B2B /j/, v 𐬬 VE U+10B2C /w/ or /v/. Stops are unaspirated plosives articulated with complete closure (e.g., voiceless /p t k/, voiced /b d g/), fricatives involve turbulent (e.g., voiceless /ɸ θ s x š h/, voiced /β δ z ɣ ž/), nasals are resonant with nasal (/m n ŋ/), and approximants are smooth continuants (/j w l/). Two primary transliteration systems are used for : the older Bartholomae system, which employs macrons for length (e.g., for long a) and diacritics like ə for the neutral vowel and θ for the dental fricative, and the newer Hoffmann system, which simplifies notations (e.g., using ao for a instead of complex diacritics) while maintaining phonetic accuracy. The Hoffmann system, developed by Karl Hoffmann, is widely adopted in modern scholarship for its streamlined approach to representing sounds like the spirants and glides. Pronunciation varies slightly between Old Avestan (Gathic, ca. 1500–1000 BCE) and Younger Avestan (ca. 1000–500 BCE), reflecting dialectal differences rather than direct evolution. In Old Avestan, vowels like short *e and *o remain distinct (/e/ and /o/), while in Younger Avestan they merge into /ə/; consonants show variations such as the retention of intervocalic *s as /z/ in Old Avestan versus occasional /h/-like realizations in Younger forms, and fricatives like /x/ may exhibit stronger velar friction in the older dialect. These distinctions arise from closely related but non-identical dialectal bases, with —designed primarily for Younger Avestan—accommodating both through contextual interpretation.
Articulation GroupRepresentative Letters (Unicode)Phonetic Values (IPA)Transliteration (Hoffmann)
Gutturals (Velars)𐬐 k (U+10B10), 𐬑 x (U+10B11), 𐬔 g (U+10B14), 𐬖 γ (U+10B16)/k/, /x/, /g/, /ɣ/k, x, g, γ
Palatals𐬗 č (U+10B17), 𐬘 ǰ (U+10B18), 𐬕 ĉ (U+10B15)/t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/, /ç/č, ǰ, ĉ
Dentals𐬙 t (U+10B19), 𐬚 θ (U+10B1A), 𐬛 d (U+10B1B), 𐬜 δ (U+10B1C)/t/, /θ/, /d/, /ð/t, θ, d, δ
Labials𐬞 p (U+10B1E), 𐬟 f (U+10B1F), 𐬠 b (U+10B20), 𐬡 β (U+10B21)/p/, /ɸ/, /b/, /β/p, f, b, β
Sibilants𐬯 s (U+10B2F), 𐬰 z (U+10B30), 𐬱 š (U+10B31), 𐬲 ž (U+10B32)/s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/s, z, š, ž
Nasals𐬨 m (U+10B28), 𐬩 n (U+10B25), 𐬢 ŋ (U+10B22)/m/, /n/, /ŋ/m, n, ŋ
Approximants𐬭 r (U+10B2D), 𐬮 l (U+10B2E), 𐬫 y (U+10B2B), 𐬬 v (U+10B2C)/r/, /l/, /j/, /w/r, l, y, v

Ligatures

The Avestan script utilizes ligatures, which are specialized combined forms of letters designed to facilitate cursive writing and improve visual flow in manuscripts. These ligatures primarily join specific consonants with vowels or semivowels, resulting in four common forms: ša (𐬱𐬀, combining š with a), šc (𐬱𐬗, š with č), št (𐬱𐬙, š with t), and ah (𐬀𐬵, a with h). In traditional connected text, ligatures are mandatory to ensure and aesthetic coherence, reflecting the script's heritage; however, in modern digital environments, their formation can be optionally suppressed using the (U+200C) to render individual base letters separately. This practice of ligature use was inherited from the cursive traditions of the Pahlavi script, from which the Avestan alphabet evolved between the 4th and 6th centuries CE, with expansions to accommodate Avestan-specific diphthongs and phonetic needs; prominent examples appear in Sasanian-era manuscripts, such as those preserving Zoroastrian liturgical texts. While the core ligatures are consistent across most sources, rare additional combinations occur in particular codices as scribal variants, though these lack standardization and are not considered part of the primary repertoire.

Additional Elements

Numerals

The Avestan script employs a with ten distinct glyphs for the numbers 1 through 10, adapted from the Pahlavi numeral tradition during the Sasanian period to suit the script's precision in rendering sacred texts. These forms feature more angular lines and unique contours compared to standard Pahlavi numerals, ensuring they do not resemble alphabetic characters and thus maintaining clarity in manuscript notation. The specific glyphs, as documented in historical analyses, include 1 (𐭸), 2 (𐭹), and 10 (𐭼), with intermediate forms following a similar stylized progression. Higher numbers are constructed additively, such as 20 represented by two adjacent instances of the glyph for 10, reflecting the system's reliance on repetition rather than dedicated symbols for larger values. This approach aligns with the broader Middle Iranian scribal practices, where numerals served auxiliary roles without dominating the primarily verbal and liturgical content of writings. In surviving manuscripts, numerals appear sparingly, mainly to denote dates in colophons, chapter divisions within the , or quantities in instructions, underscoring the script's emphasis on phonetic accuracy over numerical detail. Their rarity stems from the texts' focus on and , where spoken enumeration often sufficed. Visual representations of these numeral forms are preserved in Karl Faulmann's 1880 chart in Das Buch der Schrift, which illustrates their shapes based on Sasanian-era exemplars. In modern digital encoding, the numerals align with the Unicode range U+10B78–U+10B7F within the block (U+10B60–U+10B7F); Avestan numerals are not separately encoded in the block but are represented using these shared characters, reflecting their common Sasanian heritage, though support varies across fonts, leading to inconsistent rendering in contemporary applications.

Punctuation

In traditional Avestan manuscripts, words and compounds are separated by a single dot (·), positioned at mid-line height, as the script employs no interword spaces. This practice originated in the Sasanian era, deriving from the Pahlavi script where dots served to mark word boundaries or the end of compound elements without differentiation. Sentence or phrase breaks are often indicated by groups of two or more dots, varying in size and arrangement across manuscripts, with larger or stacked configurations signaling major divisions. Medieval adaptations of the Avestan script retained these dot-based conventions, though manuscript traditions—such as those from Iranian and Indian Zoroastrian communities—exhibit subtle variations in dot placement and clustering, influenced by regional scribal styles. In printed editions, the word separator is commonly rendered as a middle dot (·), while baseline dots appear in some transcriptions. Cursive joining of letters occasionally affects positioning, requiring marks to align with baseline or midline elements. For scholarly standardization, Karl Friedrich Geldner’s 1896 edition of the Avesta introduced a more systematic approach, employing baseline dots for word separation alongside a "heavy point" for clauses, which laid groundwork for modern transcriptions using colons, semicolons, and virgules to denote pauses, major breaks, and verses. Unicode supports these conventions through dedicated characters in the Avestan block (U+10B00–U+10B3F), including U+10B39 (AVESTAN ABBREVIATION MARK) for abbreviations or repetitions, and U+10B3A to U+10B3F for stacked dot and ring punctuations: U+10B3A (tiny two dots over one dot, for colons), U+10B3B (small two dots over one dot, for semicolons), U+10B3C (large two dots over one dot, for sentence ends), U+10B3D (large one dot over two dots), U+10B3E (large two rings over one ring), and U+10B3F (large one ring over two rings). The general word separator middle dot (U+2E31) is also recommended for basic interword division. These encodings facilitate accurate digital representation of manuscript variations.

Contemporary Aspects

Unicode

The Avestan script was incorporated into the Standard with version 5.2, released in October 2009. It occupies the dedicated block U+10B00–U+10B3F in the Supplementary Multilingual Plane, encompassing 54 letters and 7 punctuation marks for a total of 61 assigned code points. This encoding supports the full range of characters required to represent classical texts without the need for combining marks or separate numeral glyphs, as numerals in Avestan manuscripts are typically expressed in words or borrowed from other scripts. Avestan text is encoded as a right-to-left script, requiring conformant implementations to apply the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm for proper display when mixed with left-to-right scripts. Unlike cursive scripts such as , Avestan letters do not exhibit inherent joining behaviors; instead, visual connections rely on font , with four common ligatures (such as ša, šc, št, and ah) rendered by default in supporting fonts but preventable using the (U+200C). Punctuation marks, including the Avestan abbreviation mark (U+10B39) and various dot-based separators (U+10B3A–U+10B3F), function as non-joining elements to denote pauses, abbreviations, or structural divisions. Font support for remains somewhat limited compared to more widely used scripts, though it has expanded since with open-source options like the font, developed by Ernst Tremel to cover the full range including ligatures and kerning hints, and Google's Noto Sans Avestan, which provides comprehensive coverage and is widely distributed via operating systems and as of 2025. Rendering challenges persist across platforms, particularly in ensuring consistent RTL layout, accurate ligature suppression, and compatibility with legacy systems lacking Supplementary Multilingual Plane support, often resulting in fallback to generic glyphs or incorrect ordering. No substantive changes have been made to the Avestan block since its introduction in Unicode 5.2, maintaining stability for scholarly and efforts. It integrates seamlessly with enhancements in later versions, such as Unicode 13.0 and beyond, which refine handling for complex script mixtures without altering Avestan-specific properties. Current implementations in modern browsers and editors, like those using shaping engine, demonstrate improved reliability, though full cross-platform consistency requires specialized fonts.

Transliteration and Pronunciation

Transliteration of into primarily relies on two established systems: the older scheme developed by Christian Bartholomae in his 1904 Altiranisches Wörterbuch, which employs diacritics such as ā for long /aː/, θ for the voiceless interdental fricative /θ/, and x for the /x/, and the newer introduced by Karl Hoffmann, which simplifies certain representations, such as using j in place of Bartholomae's w for the and adopting a more streamlined set of diacritics for efficiency in scholarly printing. Adaptations of the (IAST) are also common, extending conventions with Avestan-specific additions like ə for the short /ə/ derived from Proto-Indo-Iranian *r, and ą for nasalized /ã/, facilitating cross-comparisons in Indo-Iranian . Hoffmann's variant, recommended by bodies like the Association for , prioritizes phonetic accuracy while reducing typographical complexity, making it prevalent in modern editions. Pronunciation reconstruction draws from comparative Indo-European linguistics, particularly parallels with , to approximate sounds, though the script's phonetic design preserves distinctions lost in later . Old , composed around 1500–1000 BCE and represented by the Gāthās, retains more archaic features, such as a closer realization of the as /w/ (contrasting with /v/ in later stages), while Younger (c. 1000–500 BCE) shows sound shifts like the monophthongization of some diphthongs in certain contexts. The vowel system includes short and long pairs /a/ /aː/, /i/ /iː/, /u/ /uː/, plus the distinctive short /ə/ (from *r or *i̯/*u̯ in hiatus) and its long counterpart /əː/, with nasalized variants /ã/ and /ãː/ indicated by anusvara-like notation; diphthongs comprise /ai̯/ (often /æː/ in Old ), /au̯/ (as /aɔ̯/), /āi̯/, and /āu̯/, reflecting Proto-Indo-Iranian heritage but with -specific orthographic forms like ai and ao. Consonantal pronunciation features a lack of aspirated stops, with voiced aspirates from Proto-Indo-European devoicing to or plain stops; key include /t͡ʃ/ (č) and /d͡ʒ/ (ǰ), while s exhibit dialectal variations, such as /x/ realized as a velar or uvular [χ] depending on regional influences, and aspiration limited to historical traces in clusters. For instance, the θ corresponds to /θ/ (as in English "think"), and z to a voiced /z/ or /ð/ in intervocalic positions, with reconstructions emphasizing these via IPA for precision: /t͡ʃ/ for palatal affricate and /d͡ʒ/ for its voiced pair. These variations highlight phonological evolution between Old and Younger phases, including and spirantization not uniformly present in , where diphthongs ai and au directly match without the central ə. In contemporary and , software tools like Aksharamukha and Lexilogos converters automate from script to Latin schemes, enabling efficient analysis of texts and aiding pronunciation guides through integrated IPA outputs.

References

  1. https://sites.la.utexas.edu/persian_online_resources/history-of-the-language/avestan-script/
  2. https://www.endangeredalphabets.net/avestan/
  3. https://www.omniglot.com/writing/avestan.htm
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  5. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07006-n3197-avestan.pdf
  6. https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode52/
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  8. https://www.worldhistory.org/Shapur_II/
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  10. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pahlavi-alphabet
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  16. https://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/scriptures/manuscripts.htm
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  22. https://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Avst
  23. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10B00.pdf
  24. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06335-n3178-avestan.pdf
  25. https://www.unicode.org/charts/nameslist/n_10B00.html
  26. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hoffmann-karl/
  27. https://associationforiranianstudies.org/journal/transliteration
  28. http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/personal/jg/pdf/jg2012a.pdf
  29. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02450-avestan-bg.pdf
  30. https://archive.org/details/dasbuchderschri01faulgoog
  31. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10B60.pdf
  32. http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2008/08088-avestan-dot.pdf
  33. https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.10011
  34. https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode17.0.0/
  35. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07006r-n3197r-avestan.pdf
  36. https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode17.0.0/core-spec/chapter-10/
  37. https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/ahuramazda/
  38. https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Avestan
  39. https://www.alanwood.net/unicode/avestan.html
  40. https://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Avestan.html
  41. http://aksharamukha.appspot.com/input/Avestan
  42. https://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/avestan_conversion.htm
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