Inscriptional Parthian

Inscriptional Parthian;
	Parthian version of Shapur I's inscription at Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Type	Abjad
Languages	Parthian language
Time period	250 BC
Parent systems	Aramaic alphabet Pahlavi scripts Inscriptional Parthian; ;
Direction	Right-to-left
ISO 15924	Prti, 130
Unicode alias	Inscriptional Parthian
Unicode range	U+10B40–U+10B5F

Inscriptional Parthian is a script used to write Parthian language on coins of Parthia from the time of Arsaces I of Parthia (250 BC). It was also used for inscriptions of Parthian (mostly on clay fragments) and later Sassanian periods (mostly on official inscriptions).

Inscriptional Parthian script is written from right to left and the letters are not joined.

Parthian (above), along with Greek (below) and Middle Persian was being used in inscriptions of early Sassanian kings. Shapur inscription in Naqsh-e Rajab

Letters

Inscriptional Parthian uses 22 letters:^[1]

Name^[A]	Text	IPA^[2]	Name	Text	IPA	Name	Text	IPA
Aleph	𐭀	/a/, /ā/	Teth	𐭈	/ṭ/	Pe	𐭐	/p/, /b/
Beth	𐭁	/b/, /w/	Yodh	𐭉	/j/, /ē̆/, /ī̆/	Sadhe	𐭑	/t͡ʃ/
Gimel	𐭂	/g/, /y/	Kaph	𐭊	/k/, /g/	Qoph	𐭒	/q/
Daleth	𐭃	/d/, /y/	Lamedh	𐭋	/l/	Resh	𐭓	/r/
He	𐭄	/h/	Mem	𐭌	/m/	Shin	𐭔	/ʃ/, /ʒ/
Waw	𐭅	/w/, /ʿ/, /r/	Nun	𐭍	/n/	Taw	𐭕	/t/, /d/
Zayin	𐭆	/z/	Samekh	𐭎	/s/
Heth	𐭇	/h/, /x/	Ayin	𐭏	/ʕ/

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

Ligatures

Inscriptional Parthian uses seven standard ligatures:^[1]

Ligature		Sequence
Image	Text	Sequence
	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.^[1] For example:

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

Numbers

Inscriptional Parthian had its own numerals:

Value		1	2	3	4	10	20	100	1000
Sign	Image
Sign	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).^[1]

Unicode

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 11.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

1 2 3 4 5 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).
↑ Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. p. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.

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

[L207207-1] 1 2 3 4 5 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).

[WWS-2] Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. p. 518. ISBN 978-0195079937.

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