Global InformationDevanagari information
| Devanāgari देवनागरी | |
|---|---|
 Devanāgarī script (vowels top three rows, consonants below) | |
| Script type | Abugida
|
Time period | 10th century CE to present[1][2] |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Region | India and Nepal (Official) Fiji (Co-official) |
| Languages | Apabhramsha, Angika, Awadhi, Bajjika, Bhili, Bhojpuri, Boro, Braj, Chhattisgarhi, Dogri, Garhwali, Haryanvi, Hindi, Kashmiri, Khandeshi, Konkani, Kumaoni, Magahi, Maithili, Marathi, Marwari, Mundari, Nagpuri, Newari, Nepali, Pāli, Pahari, Prakrit, Rajasthani, Sanskrit, Santali, Saraiki, Sherpa, Sindhi, Surjapuri, and many more. |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Egyptian hieroglyphs[3]
|
Sister systems | Nandināgarī Kaithi Gujarātī Moḍī |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Deva (315), Devanagari (Nagari) |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Devanagari |
Unicode range | U+0900–U+097F Devanagari, U+A8E0–U+A8FF Devanagari Extended, U+11B00–11B5F Devanagari Extended-A, U+1CD0–U+1CFF Vedic Extensions |
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| The Brahmi script and its descendants |
Devanagari (/ˌdeɪvəˈnɑːɡəri/ DAY-və-NAH-gər-ee; देवनागरी, IAST: Devanāgarī, Sanskrit pronunciation: [deːʋɐˈnaːɡɐriː]) is an Indic script used in the northern Indian subcontinent. Also simply called Nāgari (Sanskrit: नागरि, Nāgari),[8] it is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system),[9] based on the ancient Brāhmi script.[10] It is one of the official scripts of the Republic of India and Nepal. It was developed and in regular use by the 7th century CE[8] and achieved its modern form by 1000 CE.[11] The Devanāgari script, composed of 48 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 34 consonants,[12] is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world,[13] being used for over 120 languages.[14]
The orthography of this script reflects the pronunciation of the language.[14] Unlike the Latin alphabet, the script has no concept of letter case.[15] It is written from left to right, has a strong preference for symmetrical rounded shapes within squared outlines, and is recognisable by a horizontal line, known as a शिरोरेखा śirorekhā, that runs along the top of full letters.[9] In a cursory look, the Devanāgarī script appears different from other Indic scripts, such as Bengali-Assamese or Gurmukhi, but a closer examination reveals they are very similar except for angles and structural emphasis.[9]
Among the languages using it as a primary or secondary script are Marathi, Pāḷi, Sanskrit,[16] Hindi,[17] Boro, Nepali, Sherpa, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha,[18] Chhattisgarhi, Haryanvi, Magahi, Nagpuri, Rajasthani, Khandeshi, Bhili, Dogri, Kashmiri, Maithili, Konkani, Sindhi, Nepal Bhasa, Mundari, Angika, Bajjika and Santali.[14] The Devanāgarī script is closely related to the Nandināgarī script commonly found in numerous ancient manuscripts of South India,[19][20] and it is distantly related to a number of southeast Asian scripts.[14]
- ^ Taylor, Isaac (1883). History of the Alphabet: Aryan Alphabets, Part 2. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. pp. 324, 333. ISBN 978-0-7661-5847-4.
... In the Kutila this develops into a short horizontal bar, which, in the Devanagari, becomes a continuous horizontal line ... three cardinal inscriptions of this epoch, namely, the Kutila or Bareli inscription of 992, the Chalukya or Kistna inscription of 945, and a Kawi inscription of 919 ... the Kutila inscription is of great importance in Indian epigraphy, not only from its precise date, but from its offering a definite early form of the standard Indian alphabet, the Devanagari ...
- ^ Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian epigraphy: a guide to the study of inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan languages. South Asia research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 39–41. ISBN 978-0-19-509984-3.
- ^ Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. "First Alphabet Found in Egypt", Archaeology 53, Issue 1 (January/February 2000): 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
- ^ Daniels, P.T. (January 2008). "Writing systems of major and minor languages". In B. Kachru; Y. Kachru; S. Sridhar (eds.). Language in South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 285–308. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511619069.017. ISBN 9780521786539.
- ^ Masica, Colin (1993). The Indo-Aryan languages. p. 143.
- ^ a b Kuiper, Kathleen (2010). The Culture of India. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 83. ISBN 978-1615301492.
- ^ a b c Salomon, Richard (26 July 2007). "Writing systems of the Indo-Aryan languages". In Cardona, George; Jain, Danesh (eds.). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-135-79710-2. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
Each Brāhmī-derived script has a characteristic stylistic format or ductus, which tends to exaggerate their apparent differences and mask their underlying similarities. For example, Nagari has a strong preference for symmetrical shapes, especially squared outlines and right angles...
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
gazettwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
salomon1000was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Devanagari – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
- ^ Templin, David. "Devanagari script". omniglot.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ^ a b c d Devanagari (Nagari), Script Features and Description, United States: SIL International, 2013, archived from the original on 2 July 2017
- ^ Nakanishi, Akira. Writing systems of the World. p. 48. ISBN 978-0804816540.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
georgewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Hindi". Omniglot Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012.
- ^ Snell, Rupert (1991). The Hindi classical tradition : a Braj Bhāṣā reader. London: School of Oriental and African studies. ISBN 0-7286-0175-3. OCLC 24794163.
- ^ Cardona, George; Jain, Danesh (2003). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 978-0415772945.
- ^ Grünendahl, Reinhold (2001). South Indian Scripts in Sanskrit Manuscripts and Prints. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. xxii, 201–210. ISBN 978-3447045049.