The , also called the '''Old Uyghur alphabet''' is derived from
Syriac , the descendant script of the
Aramaic Alphabet . It was originally used for the
Sogdian Language , which belongs to the Iranian family, but has since been used for
Old Uyghur and other eastern Turkic languages. It was generally superseded by versions of the
Arabic Alphabet on the conversion of the Turkic peoples to
Islam .
It is occasionally known as the , and is similar to the script of the ancient letters used in writing on papyri. Many
Buddhist ,
Manichaean ,
Nestorian , and
Zoroastrian texts as well as all secular material such as letters, legal documents, coin legends, and inscriptions were written in this script.
When used for the Sogdian language, this alphabet was usually written in horizontal lines from right to left. When used for Uyghur, it was normally in vertical direction from top to bottom, probably under
Chinese influence, but with the first vertical line starting from the left side, not from the right as in Chinese, most probably because the
Right-to-left direction was used in horizontal writing. The
Mongolian Alphabet proper, being an adaptation of the Old Uyghur alphabet, still uses this kind of vertical writing, as does its remoter descendant
Manchu .
Khitan Small Script was developed in the mid-920s after a delegation from the
Uyghur visited the capital of the
Khitan Empire at Shangjing.
Abaoji , also known as
Emperor Taizu , ordered the development of this second script, after the Khitan large script was developed earlier in the decade.
p. 42-43 It seems likely, though it is uncertain, that the Sogdian alphabet influenced the formation of the Khitan small script to at least some degree.
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