Old Uyghur alphabet

Template:Short description The Old Uyghur alphabet was a Turkic script used for writing Old Uyghur, a variety of Old Turkic spoken in Turpan and Gansu that is the ancestor of the modern Western Yugur language. The term "Old Uyghur" used for this alphabet is misleading because Qocho, the Uyghur (Yugur) kingdom created in 843, originally used the Old Turkic alphabet. The Uyghur adopted this "Old Uyghur" script from local inhabitants when they migrated into Turfan after 840. It was an adaptation of the Aramaic alphabet used for texts with Buddhist, Manichaean and Christian content for 700–800 years in Turpan. The last known manuscripts are dated to the 18th century. This was the prototype for the Mongolian and Manchu alphabets. The Old Uyghur alphabet was brought to Mongolia by Tata-tonga.

The Old Uyghur script was used between the 8th and 17th centuries primarily in the Tarim Basin of Central Asia, located in present-day Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The script flourished through the 15th century in Central Asia and parts of Iran, but it was eventually replaced by the Arabic script in the 16th century. Its usage was continued in Gansu through the 17th century.

Characteristics

The Old Uyghur alphabet is a cursive-joining alphabet with features of an abjad. Letters join together at a baseline, and have both isolated and contextual forms, when they occur in initial, medial or final positions. The script is traditionally written vertically, from top to bottom and left to right. After the 14th century, some examples in a horizontal direction can be found. Words are separated by spaces. Like the Sogdian alphabet (technically, an abjad), the Old Uyghur tended to use matres lectionis for the short vowels as well as for the long ones. The practice of leaving short vowels unrepresented was almost completely abandoned. Thus, while ultimately deriving from a Semitic abjad, the Old Uyghur alphabet can be said to have been largely "alphabetized".

Tables

Unicode text might render incorrectly depending on the typeface version installed.

Letters

LettersTemplate:Rp
Letter nameTemplate:WbrTemplate:NoteTag	Image				Transliteration	Normalization	Sound (IPA)	Prototype in the Sogdian (sutra) scriptTemplate:Rp	Derived grapheme in the Mongolian scriptTemplate:Rp
	IsolateTemplate:Rp	Initial	Medial	Final
Aleph	File:Old Uyghur letter Aleph (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Aleph (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Aleph (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Aleph (final form).svg		(see vowels)		Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Beth	File:Old Uyghur letter Beth (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Beth (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Beth (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Beth (final form).svg		/		Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
GimelTemplate:NoteTag	File:Old Uyghur letter Gimel (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Gimel (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Gimel (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Gimel (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
HethTemplate:NoteTag	File:Old Uyghur letter Heth (isolated form).svg			File:Old Uyghur letter Gimel (final form).svgTemplate:NoteTag	,	,		Template:Rotate text
				File:Old Uyghur letter Heth (final form).svg
Dotted hethTemplate:NoteTag	File:Old Uyghur letter Heth with two dots above (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Heth with two dots above (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Heth with two dots above (medial form).svg	Dotted File:Old Uyghur letter Gimel (final form).svg
				File:Old Uyghur letter Heth with two dots above (final form).svg
Waw	File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (final form).svg		(see vowels)		Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Zayin	File:Old Uyghur letter Zayin (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Zayin (initial form).svgTemplate:NoteTag	File:Old Uyghur letter Zayin (medial form).svgTemplate:NoteTag	File:Old Uyghur letter Zayin (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Dotted zayinTemplate:NoteTag	File:Old Uyghur letter Zayin with two dots below (isolated form).svg			File:Old Uyghur letter Zayin with two dots below (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	—
Yodh	File:Old Uyghur letter Yodh (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Yodh (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Yodh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Yodh (final form).svg		, (see vowels)	(see vowels)	Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Kaph	File:Old Uyghur letter Kaph (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Kaph (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Kaph (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Kaph (final form).svg		~ Template:NoteTag		Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Lamedh	File:Old Uyghur letter Lamedh (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Lamedh (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Lamedh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Lamedh (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text  ()	Template:Hlist()
Mem	File:Old Uyghur letter Mem (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Mem (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Mem (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Mem (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Nun	File:Old Uyghur letter Nun (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Nun with dot above (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Nun with dot above (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Nun (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Samekh	File:Old Uyghur letter Samekh (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Samekh (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Samekh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Samekh (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Pe	File:Old Uyghur letter Pe (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Pe (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Pe (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Pe (final form).svg		,		Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Sadhe	File:Old Uyghur letter Sadhe (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Sadhe (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Sadhe (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Sadhe (final form).svg			Template:IPAslink	Template:Rotate text  ()	Template:Hlist()
Resh	File:Old Uyghur letter Resh (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Resh (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Resh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Resh (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Shin	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Double-dotted shin	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin with two dots below (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin with two dots below (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin with two dots below (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Shin with two dots below (final form).svg					Template:Hlist()
Taw	File:Old Uyghur letter Taw (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Taw (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Taw (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Taw (final form).svg				Template:Rotate text	Template:Hlist()
Lesh (hooked resh)	File:Old Uyghur letter Lesh (isolated form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Lesh (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Lesh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Lesh (final form).svg					Template:Hlist()

Vowels

VowelsTemplate:Rp
Letter(s)	Initial	Medial	Final	Transliteration	Normalization	Sound (IPA)
Aleph ()	File:Old Uyghur digraph Aleph-Aleph (initial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Aleph (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Aleph (final form).svg	()
	File:Old Uyghur letter Aleph (initial form).svg
Yodh ()	Aleph+File:Old Uyghur letter Yodh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Yodh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Yodh (final form).svg	()	/
Waw ()	Aleph+File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (final form).svg	()	/
Waw (+yodh)	Aleph+File:Old Uyghur digraph Waw-Yodh (medial form).svg	File:Old Uyghur digraph Waw-Yodh (medial form).svgTemplate:NoteTag		()()	/
Waw	—	File:Old Uyghur letter Waw (medial form).svgTemplate:NoteTag

Gallery

• Yuan dynasty Buddhist inscription written in Old Uyghur on the west wall of the Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass
  Yuan dynasty Buddhist inscription written in Old Uyghur on the west wall of the Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass
• Yuan dynasty Buddhist inscription written in Old Uyghur on the east wall of the Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass
  Yuan dynasty Buddhist inscription written in Old Uyghur on the east wall of the Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass
• Slave contract
  Slave contract
• Contract on taxation
  Contract on taxation
• Ming era text from volume with accompanying Chinese translation
  Ming era text from volume with accompanying Chinese translation
• Yuan era epitaph
  Yuan era epitaph
• Mehmed the Conqueror's Fetihname (Declaration of conquest) after the Battle of Otlukbeli
  Mehmed the Conqueror's Fetihname (Declaration of conquest) after the Battle of Otlukbeli
• An Old Uyghur excerpt from Qutadgu Bilig, written left-to-right, showing Arabic influence.
  An Old Uyghur excerpt from Qutadgu Bilig, written left-to-right, showing Arabic influence.
• Jarlig of Temür Qutlugh
  Jarlig of Temür Qutlugh

Unicode

The Old Uyghur alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 2021 with the release of version 14.0.

The Unicode block for Old Uyghur is U+10F70–U+10FAF:

See also

• Western Yugur language

External links

• Latin to Old Uyghur transliteration
• Old Uyghur Alphabet on Omniglot
• Old Uyghur alphabet and Orkhon Turkic alphabet