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| Khwārezmian | |
|---|---|
| Chorasmian | |
| 𐾸𐾲𐾰𐾻 𐾰𐾺 𐾹𐾶𐾰𐿂𐾺𐾸𐾽 زڨاک ای خوارزم | |
| Native to | Khwarezm |
| Region | Central Asia |
| Era | 550 BCE – 1200 CE[1] |
Indo-European
| |
| Khwarezmian script,Arabic script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xco |
xco | |
| Glottolog | khwa1238 |
Khwārezmian (Khwarezmian:زڨاک ای خوارزمzəβāg ī xwārazm, *xwārazmānk;[2][verification needed] also transliteratedKhwarazmian,Chorasmian,Khorezmian) is an extinctEastern Iranian language[3][4][5][6] closely related toSogdian. The language was spoken in the area ofKhwarezm (Chorasmia), centered in the lowerAmu Darya south of theAral Sea (the northern part of the modernRepublic of Uzbekistan and the adjacent areas ofKazakhstan andTurkmenistan).
Knowledge of Khwarezmian is limited to its Middle Iranian stage and, as with Sogdian, little is known of its ancient form. Based on the writings of Khwarezmian scholarsAl-Biruni andZamakhshari, the language was in use at least until the 13th century, when it was gradually replaced byPersian for the most part, as well as several dialects of Turkic.[7]
Sources of Khwarezmian include astronomical terms used by al-Biruni, Zamakhshari'sArabic–Persian–Khwarezmian dictionary and several legal texts that use Khwarezmian terms and quotations to explain certain legal concepts, most notably the Qunyat al-Munya of Mukhtār al-Zāhidī al-Ghazmīnī (d. 1259/60).[7][8]
The noted scholarW.B. Henning was preparing a dictionary of Khwarezmian when he died, leaving it unfinished. A fragment of this dictionary was published posthumously by D.N. MacKenzie in 1971.[9]
| Khwarezmian Chorasmian | |
|---|---|
| Direction | Right-to-left script, top-to-bottom  |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Chrs(109), Chorasmian |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Chorasmian |
| U+10FB0–U+10FDF | |
Before the advance ofIslam inTransoxiana (early 8th century), Khwarezmian was written in a script close to that of Sogdian andPahlavi with its roots in theImperial Aramaic script. From the few surviving examples of this script on coins and artifacts, it has been observed that written Khwarezmian included Aramaiclogograms orideograms, that is Aramaic words written to represent native spoken ones e.g.𐿃𐾾𐿄 (ŠNT) for سرذ,sarδ, "year", 𐾾𐿁𐿃𐾺 (NPŠY) for خداک,xudāk, "self" and 𐾽𐾼𐾻𐾰 (MLK') for اى شاه,ī šah, "the king".[10][original research?]
| Letter | Transliteration | IPA | Corresponding letter in | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenician | Imperial Aramaic | Inscriptional Parthian | Inscriptional Pahlavi | Old Sogdian | Sogdian | |||
| 𐾰 | ʾ | /[ʔ]/ | 𐤀 | 𐡀 | 𐭀 | 𐭠 | 𐼀 | 𐼰 |
| 𐾲 | b | /[b]/ | 𐤁 | 𐡁 | 𐭁 | 𐭡 | 𐼂 | 𐼱 |
| 𐾳 | g | /[ɡ]/ | 𐤂 | 𐡂 | 𐭂 | 𐭢 | 𐼄 | 𐼲 |
| 𐾴 | d | /[d]/ | 𐤃 | 𐡃 | 𐭃 | 𐭣 | | |
| 𐾵 | h | /[h]/ | 𐤄 | 𐡄 | 𐭄 | 𐭤 | 𐼅 | 𐼳 |
| 𐾶 | w | /[w]/ | 𐤅 | 𐡅 | 𐭅 | 𐭥 | 𐼇 | 𐼴 |
| 𐾸 | z | /[z]/ | 𐤆 | 𐡆 | 𐭆 | 𐭦 | 𐼈 | 𐼵 |
| 𐾹 | ḥ | /[ħ]/ | 𐤇 | 𐡇 | 𐭇 | 𐭧 | 𐼉 | 𐼶 |
| 𐾺 | y | /[j]/ | 𐤉 | 𐡉 | 𐭉 | 𐭩 | 𐼊 | 𐼷 |
| 𐾻 | k | /[k]/ | 𐤊 | 𐡊 | 𐭊 | 𐭪 | 𐼋 | 𐼸 |
| 𐾼 | l | /[l] | 𐤋 | 𐡋 | 𐭋 | 𐭫 | 𐼌 | 𐼹 |
| 𐾽 | m | /[m]/ | 𐤌 | 𐡌 | 𐭌 | 𐭬 | 𐼍 | 𐼺 |
| 𐾾 | n | /[n]/ | 𐤍 | 𐡍 | 𐭍 | 𐭭 | 𐼎 | 𐼻 |
| 𐾿 | s | /[s]/ | 𐤎 | 𐡎 | 𐭎 | 𐭮 | 𐼑 | 𐼼 |
| 𐿀 | ʿ | /[ʕ]/ | 𐤏 | 𐡏 | 𐭏 | | 𐼒 | 𐼽 |
| 𐿁 | p | /[p]/ | 𐤐 | 𐡐 | 𐭐 | 𐭯 | 𐼔 | 𐼾 |
| 𐿂 | r | /[r]/ | 𐤓 | 𐡓 | 𐭓 | | 𐼘 | 𐽀 |
| 𐿃 | š | /[ʃ]/ | 𐤔 | 𐡔 | 𐭔 | 𐭱 | 𐼙 | 𐽁 |
| 𐿄 | t | /[t]/ | 𐤕 | 𐡕 | 𐭕 | 𐭲 | 𐼚 | 𐽂 |
After the advance of Islam, Khwarezmian was written using an adapted version of thePerso-Arabic alphabet with a few extra signs to reflect specific Khwarezmian sounds, such as the letterڅ which represents /ts/ and /dz/, as in the traditionalPashto orthography.[11]
Khwarezmian script was added to theUnicode Standard in March, 2020 with the release of version 13.0.
The Unicode block for Khwarezmian, called Chorasmian, is U+10FB0–U+10FDF:
| Chorasmian[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+10FBx | 𐾰 | 𐾱 | 𐾲 | 𐾳 | 𐾴 | 𐾵 | 𐾶 | 𐾷 | 𐾸 | 𐾹 | 𐾺 | 𐾻 | 𐾼 | 𐾽 | 𐾾 | 𐾿 |
| U+10FCx | 𐿀 | 𐿁 | 𐿂 | 𐿃 | 𐿄 | 𐿅 | 𐿆 | 𐿇 | 𐿈 | 𐿉 | 𐿊 | 𐿋 | ||||
| U+10FDx | ||||||||||||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||