Αναζητώντας περίεργους χαρακτήρες στους απέραντους πίνακες του πρότυπου Unicode θα βρει κανείς και το Greek Letter Sho, πεζό και κεφαλαίο μάλιστα. Ποιο είναι πάλι τούτο το «ελληνικό γράμμα» σο;
Η βίκι, πέρα από την πιο πάνω εικόνα του, δεν προσφέρει πολλές πληροφορίες:
Πριν προχωρήσουμε, δύο ενδιαφέρουσες συνδέσεις που απαντούν σε κάποιες απορίες που ίσως σας δημιούργησε το κείμενο από τη βίκι:
Πολύ περισσότερες και ενδιαφέρουσες πληροφορίες βρίσκουμε στο έγγραφο των Everson, M. and Sims-Williams, N. (2002) “Proposal to add two Greek letters for Bactrian to the UCS”,ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2411.
Το έγγραφο είναι κατά βάση τεχνικό-εισηγητικό για την εισαγωγή του γράμματος στο πρότυπο Unicode και για τον τυπογραφικό σχεδιασμό του, όμως η πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα εισαγωγή του αποκαλύπτει μια ιρανική γλώσσα, από τις σημαντικότερες του κόσμου στην εποχή της, που γραφόταν με ελληνικούς χαρακτήρες, το γιατί η (άγνωστη αλλά πιο πιθανή) προφορά είναι η (IPA: /ʃ/) και ποιος βάφτισε το γράμμα σο. Αντιγράφω ένα εκτενές απόσπασμα (έντονα, πλάγια, αποσιωπητικά κλπ δικά μου):
Bactrian, the ancient language of Bactria in northern Afghanistan, is unique among the Iranian languages in being written in the Greek script – a legacy of the conquest of Bactria by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE. From this period onwards the Greek language, written in the Greek script, was for a long time the exclusive language of culture and administration in Bactria.
When Bactria was overrun by nomadic peoples from the north, its new rulers, the Kushans, at first continued the use of the Greek language for administrative purposes, but soon they came to use the Greek script to write the local language, Bactrian. A crucial moment in the history of this language was the decision of the Kushan ruler Kanishka to adopt Bactrian as the language of his coinage. After the first issues of Kanishka, Greek disappears from the coinage completely, replaced by Bactrian.
During the first centuries CE, Bactrian could legitimately have been ranked amongst the world’s most important languages. As the language of the Kushan kings, Bactrian must have been widely known throughout a great empire, in Afghanistan, Northern India and part of Central Asia. Even after the collapse of the Kushan empire, Bactrian continued in use for at least six centuries... The career of Bactrian as a language of culture thus lasted for close to a thousand years. Bactrian was deciphered in 1957, by W. B. Henning...
Bactrian had a sibilant, most likely pronounced [ ʃ ] as in ΚανηϷκο ‘Kanishka’, for which there was no letter in Greek...
This letter is written, in Bactrian manuscript, very much as PHI and RHO... No traditional name is attested for this letter, but because of its similarity to RHO, the name SHO has been suggested here...
Figure 1. Bactrian inscription of Dasht-e Nawur, showing SHO, RHO, and PHI. After N. Sims-Williams and J. Cribb, “A new Bactrian inscription of Kanishka the Great”, Silk Road Art and Archaeology, IV, [1995-1996, p. 136.
Η βίκι, πέρα από την πιο πάνω εικόνα του, δεν προσφέρει πολλές πληροφορίες:
Sho (Ϸ) was a letter added to the Greek alphabet in order to write the Bactrian language. It probably represented a sound similar to English "sh" (IPA: /ʃ/). The name "sho" is modern; its Bactrian name is unknown, as is its order in the Bactrian alphabet.
It is similar in appearance to the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic "þ" (pronounced as "thorn"), though this letter is derived from the runic alphabets used by Germanic Languages prior to their adoption of the Latin Alphabet, not from the Bactrian.
It is similar in appearance to the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic "þ" (pronounced as "thorn"), though this letter is derived from the runic alphabets used by Germanic Languages prior to their adoption of the Latin Alphabet, not from the Bactrian.
Πριν προχωρήσουμε, δύο ενδιαφέρουσες συνδέσεις που απαντούν σε κάποιες απορίες που ίσως σας δημιούργησε το κείμενο από τη βίκι:
Για το θορν, το άρθρο του νίκελ εδώ, στη Λεξιλογία: Ye Olde: Το παλιό καλό θορν
Για τους Έλληνες στη Βακτριανή, τα εξαιρετικά άρθρα του Ρογήρου στο ιστολόγιό του: μέρος α' και μέρος β'.
Για τους Έλληνες στη Βακτριανή, τα εξαιρετικά άρθρα του Ρογήρου στο ιστολόγιό του: μέρος α' και μέρος β'.
Πολύ περισσότερες και ενδιαφέρουσες πληροφορίες βρίσκουμε στο έγγραφο των Everson, M. and Sims-Williams, N. (2002) “Proposal to add two Greek letters for Bactrian to the UCS”,ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2411.
Το έγγραφο είναι κατά βάση τεχνικό-εισηγητικό για την εισαγωγή του γράμματος στο πρότυπο Unicode και για τον τυπογραφικό σχεδιασμό του, όμως η πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα εισαγωγή του αποκαλύπτει μια ιρανική γλώσσα, από τις σημαντικότερες του κόσμου στην εποχή της, που γραφόταν με ελληνικούς χαρακτήρες, το γιατί η (άγνωστη αλλά πιο πιθανή) προφορά είναι η (IPA: /ʃ/) και ποιος βάφτισε το γράμμα σο. Αντιγράφω ένα εκτενές απόσπασμα (έντονα, πλάγια, αποσιωπητικά κλπ δικά μου):
Bactrian, the ancient language of Bactria in northern Afghanistan, is unique among the Iranian languages in being written in the Greek script – a legacy of the conquest of Bactria by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE. From this period onwards the Greek language, written in the Greek script, was for a long time the exclusive language of culture and administration in Bactria.
When Bactria was overrun by nomadic peoples from the north, its new rulers, the Kushans, at first continued the use of the Greek language for administrative purposes, but soon they came to use the Greek script to write the local language, Bactrian. A crucial moment in the history of this language was the decision of the Kushan ruler Kanishka to adopt Bactrian as the language of his coinage. After the first issues of Kanishka, Greek disappears from the coinage completely, replaced by Bactrian.
During the first centuries CE, Bactrian could legitimately have been ranked amongst the world’s most important languages. As the language of the Kushan kings, Bactrian must have been widely known throughout a great empire, in Afghanistan, Northern India and part of Central Asia. Even after the collapse of the Kushan empire, Bactrian continued in use for at least six centuries... The career of Bactrian as a language of culture thus lasted for close to a thousand years. Bactrian was deciphered in 1957, by W. B. Henning...
Bactrian had a sibilant, most likely pronounced [ ʃ ] as in ΚανηϷκο ‘Kanishka’, for which there was no letter in Greek...
This letter is written, in Bactrian manuscript, very much as PHI and RHO... No traditional name is attested for this letter, but because of its similarity to RHO, the name SHO has been suggested here...
Figure 1. Bactrian inscription of Dasht-e Nawur, showing SHO, RHO, and PHI. After N. Sims-Williams and J. Cribb, “A new Bactrian inscription of Kanishka the Great”, Silk Road Art and Archaeology, IV, [1995-1996, p. 136.