Re: [tied] Devanagari -A script without a language?

10-07-03 18:03, Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> It isn't a question for IE scholars but for people who study the history
> of writing systems. Devanagari is not the oldest writing system of
> India. It -- and some other Indian scripts, including those used for the
> non-IE Dravidian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam) --
> developed out of the Brahmi system whose early form was used in the
> inscriptions of Prince As'oka (3rd c. BC). Another early writing system
> of India, contemporary with Brahmi, is known as Kharoshti. Both systems
> are believed to have been inspired by the Aramaic consonantal script,
> developed about the 8th c. BC and widely used throughout the Persian Empire.

P.S.

Here are a few useful links:

http://www.ancientscripts.com/brahmi.html
http://www.ancientscripts.com/kharosthi.html
http://www.ancientscripts.com/gupta.html
http://www.ancientscripts.com/devanagari.html

http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/scripts.html

The following book is a must for anyone interested in the history of
writing:

Diringer, David. 1968 (3rd ed.). _The Alphabet: A Key to the History of
Mankind_. New York: Funk & Wagnall.

It's been translated into many languages. I first read it in Polish when
I was in secondary school.

Piotr