Mark E. Shoulson wrote:

> >But Mongolian doesn't look much like Arabic ...
> >
> >
> Yeah, it does. Maybe not to you, but at zeroth or first glance to most
> people. Didn't it derive from Arabic turned 90° in the first place?
> (which doesn't necessarily mean it would resemble it, of course)

No, from Syriac (way back). Mongolian is a straight line with stuff
hanging off it, Arabic is all loops and curlicues.

> Take a look at http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-mongol.html and
> judge for yourselves. Or at least see if it looks like the sign i18n saw.

--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...