Aramaic Script Derivatives in Central Eurasia

Publisher: Sino-Platonic Papers
Publication date: 2010
Number of pages: 21This project began with a request from Victor Mair for a chart showing the offshoots of Aramaic writing in Central Eurasia. The chart is meant to accompany an article in the catalog he
has edited for an exhibition on the Silk Road and the Tarim Mummies to take place in 2010–2011.*
The paragraphs below, in alphabetic order, briefly describe every entry on the tree, explain lineages and dating, and refer to the authorities consulted. Many lineages and dates can be questioned. Some entries may appear to refer to languages rather than scripts, but it is assumed that when a script is transferred to a different language, the resulting writing system is unique. Often a script has conventions that come from a different source than the character shapes. In these cases the lineages on the tree refer to character shapes, and the sources of the conventions are mentioned in the descriptions. Some modern and pre-modern scripts are grouped
together on the tree and individual scripts in each group are to some extent distinguished in the
notes for each group.