Thirke

Thirke
Thirke;
	Letters found in a 14th century Kodagu temple inscription
Script type	Abugida
Time period	14th century
Region	India
Language	Kodava
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brāhmī Tamil Brahmi Pallava Grantha Thirke; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Sister systems	Malayalam script; Tigalari script
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Thirke is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ancient Brāhmī script.^[4]^[5] It was developed and in use during the 14th century CE in Kodagu, in present-day Karnataka.^[6]^[4]

Etymology

Mookonda Kushalappa called this script "thirke" ("temple" in Kodava).^[4]^[5] Kodava is the language native to Kodagu.^[4]

History

Two inscriptions dating to 1370-1371 AD with the thirke script were found in the Bhagandeshwara temple in Bhagamandala and the Palurappa Mahalingeshwara temple in Palur.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Decipherment

The inscriptions have been attributed to a King Bodharupa. The Coorg Inscriptions volume of the Epigraphia Carnatica mentioned these two 14th century inscriptions. Authored by B. L. Rice in 1914, the two inscriptions were deciphered for him by Narasimhachar and Krishna Shastri. They did not believe the inscriptions to be a unique language.^[6]^[4]^[5] Narasimhachar said that the "characters are a jumble of Grantha, Malayalam, Tamil and a few Vatteluttu. There is no doubt about portions being in Tamil, but other portions are in a language that is neither Malayalam nor Tulu but is related to them. I think the inscriptions are older than 1400 AD. Some of the characters appear to go back to the 11th century."^[6]^[4]^[5]

Discovery

Mookonda Kushalappa separated the characters used in the two inscriptions and put together the alphabet used.^[4]^[5]

References

^ Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. (2000). "First Alphabet Found in Egypt". Archaeology. Vol. 53, no. 1. p. 21.
^ Salomon 1996, p. 378.
^ Salomon, Richard, On The Origin Of The Early Indian Scripts: A Review Article. Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995), 271–279, archived from the original on 22 May 2019, retrieved 27 March 2021
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Kushalappa, Mookonda (4 February 2022). "The discovery of an old alphabet". Deccan Herald. The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kushalappa, Mookonda (24 January 2022). "Discovering alphabets of old Kodava script". Star of Mysore. Star of Mysore. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Rice, B L (1914). Coorg inscriptions: Epigraphia Carnatica (Revised Edition), Volume 1. Madras (now Chennai): Government Press. p. 4.
^ Rice, B L (1914). Coorg inscriptions: Epigraphia Carnatica (Revised Edition), Volume 1. Madras (now Chennai): Government Press. pp. 28, 54, 55.

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c A Semitic origin for the Brāhmī script is not universally accepted.

Sources

Salomon, Richard (1996). "Brahmi and Kharoshthi". In Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (eds.). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507993-0.

[1] Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. (2000). "First Alphabet Found in Egypt". Archaeology. Vol. 53, no. 1. p. 21.

[FOOTNOTESalomon1996378-3] Salomon 1996, p. 378.

[Salomon_1995-4] Salomon, Richard, On The Origin Of The Early Indian Scripts: A Review Article. Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995), 271–279, archived from the original on 22 May 2019, retrieved 27 March 2021

[DH-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Kushalappa, Mookonda (4 February 2022). "The discovery of an old alphabet". Deccan Herald. The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd. Retrieved 3 May 2023.

[Star_of_Mysore-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kushalappa, Mookonda (24 January 2022). "Discovering alphabets of old Kodava script". Star of Mysore. Star of Mysore. Retrieved 3 May 2023.

[Rice-7] Rice, B L (1914). Coorg inscriptions: Epigraphia Carnatica (Revised Edition), Volume 1. Madras (now Chennai): Government Press. p. 4.

[8] Rice, B L (1914). Coorg inscriptions: Epigraphia Carnatica (Revised Edition), Volume 1. Madras (now Chennai): Government Press. pp. 28, 54, 55.

[sem-2] A Semitic origin for the Brāhmī script is not universally accepted.

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