ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2556
2002-12-04
Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set
International Organization for Standardization
Organisation internationale de normalisationеждународная организация по стандартизации
Doc Type: Working Group Document
Title:
Revised proposal to encode the Avestan and Pahlavi script in the UCS
Source: Michael Everson
Status:Individual Contribution
Action:For consideration by JTC1/SC2/WG2 and UTC
Date:
2002-12-04

A. Administrative
1. Title
Revised proposal to encode the Avestan and Pahlavi script in the UCS.
2. Requester’s nameMichael Everson
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution)
Individual contribution.
4. Submission date
2002-12-04
5. Requester’s reference (if applicable)
N1684
6. Choose one of the following:
6a. This is a complete proposal
No.
6b. More information will be provided later
Yes.

B. Technical -- General
1. Choose one of the following:
1a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters)
Yes.
Proposed name of script
Avestan and Pahlavi.
1b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing blockNo.
1b. Name of the existing block
2. Number of characters in proposal
87
3. Proposed category (see section II, Character Categories)
Category B.1.
4a. Proposed Level of Implementation (1, 2 or 3) (see clause 14, ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000)
Level 3.
4b. Is a rationale provided for the choice?
Uses combining characters.
4c. If YES, reference
5a. Is a repertoire including character names provided?
Yes.
5b. If YES, are the names in accordance with the character naming guidelines in Annex L of ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000?
Yes.
5c. Are the character shapes attached in a legible form suitable for review?
Yes.

1

6a. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font (ordered preference: True Type, or PostScript format) for
publishing the standard?
Michael Everson.
6b. If available now, identify source(s) for the font (include address, e-mail, ftp-site, etc.) and indicate the tools used:
Michael Everson, Fontographer.
7a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided?
No.
7b. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources) of proposedcharacters attached?
No.
8. Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing (if applicable) such as input, presentation,sorting, searching, indexing, transliteration etc. (if yes please enclose information)?
No.
9. Submitters are invited to provide any additional information about Properties of the proposed Character(s) or
Script that will assist in correct understanding of and correct linguistic processing of the proposed character(s) or
script. Examples of such properties are: Casing information, Numeric information, Currency information, Display
behaviour information such as line breaks, widths etc., Combining behaviour, Spacing behaviour, Directionalbehaviour, Default Collation behaviour, relevance in Mark Up contexts, Compatibility equivalence and other Unicode
normalization related information. See the Unicode standard at http://www.unicode.org for such information on otherscripts. Also see Unicode Character Database http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/UnicodeCharacter
Database.html and associated Unicode Technical Reports for information needed for consideration by the Unicode
Technical Committee for inclusion in the Unicode Standard.

C. Technical -- Justification
1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before? If YES, explain.
Yes. N1684.
2a. Has contact been made to members of the user community (for example: National Body, user groups of the scriptor characters, other experts, etc.)?
Yes.
2b. If YES, with whom?
Jost Gippert, Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst, and the TITUS project in Frankfurt.
2c. If YES, available relevant documents
http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/unicode/iranian/3tagung.htm
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example: size, demographics, information
technology use, or publishing use) is included?
Zoroastrians, Iranianists and other scholars.
4a. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
Used liturgically and by scholars.
4b. Reference
P. Oktor Skjærvø in Daniels & Bright 1996.
5a. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
Yes.
5b. If YES, where?
Scholarly publications.
6a. After giving due considerations to the principles in Principles and Procedures document (a WG 2 standingdocument) must the proposed characters be entirely in the BMP?
Yes. Proposed allocation is U+10B00-U+10B2F
6b. If YES, is a rationale provided?
6c. If YES, reference
Accordance with the Roadmap. Avestan is used in modern Zoroastrian religion.
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)?
Yes.
8a. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing character or character
sequence?
No.
8b. If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
8c. If YES, reference29a. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence of either existing charactersor other proposed characters?
No.
9b. If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
9c. If YES, reference
10a. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance or function) to an existing
character?
No.
10b. If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
10c. If YES, reference
11a. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite sequences (see clauses 4.12 and4.14 in ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000)?
Yes.
11b. If YES, is a rationale for such use provided?
No.
11c. If YES, reference
12a. Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic symbols) provided?
No.
12b. If YES, reference
13a. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as control function or similar semantics?
No.
13b. If YES, describe in detail (include attachment if necessary)
14a. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility character(s)?
No.
14b. If YES, is the equivalent corresponding unified ideographic character(s) identified?

The Avestan script was derived as a rationalization and improvement on the original Pahlavi script,
which itself was derived from a variety of Aramaic. The Avestans used modified letterforms todistinguish between signs which in Pahlavi had fallen together. Indeed, while Pahlavi words arecommonly used within Avestan texts, it was often the case that the scribes had no idea what the values of
the words were, because so many of the letters’ shapes were identical. The notion of archigrapheme has
been found to be useful in proposing several of the Pahlavi extension characters: it is often quite clearthat the scribes themselves were writing “a bowl and an ear” even though no such letter exists in Pahlavi– the encoding of these enables scholars to represent the same kinds of ambiguities which the scribes
themselves were writing. This is not the same as encoding palaeographical variants.
In this encoding, Avestan is taken as the primary form. Letters unique to Pahlavi, or letters with a glyph
shape unrelated to the normalized Avestan letters, are encoded separately. In addition to this Pahlavispecific the combining marks and archigraphemes are added.
Both scripts are written from right to left. Pahlavi is a connected script with some Arabic-like shaping
behaviour; Avestan letters are written separately, or touch accidentally in normal cursive hands.

3

Proposal for the Universal Character Set

Michael Everson 2002-12-01

TABLE XXX - Row XX: AVESTAN AND PAHLAVIxx0

01

2

3

4

5

6

789A

B

C

DEFxx1Ä êÅ ëÇ íÉ ìÑ îÖ ïÜ ñá óà òâ ôä öã õå úç ùé ûè üxx2xx3xx4xx5† ∞ ¿° ± ¡¢ ≤ ¬£ ≥ √§ ¥ ƒ• µ ≈¶ ∂ ∆ß ∑ «® ∏ »© π …
™ ∫ ~˙´ ª À˙¨ º Ã˙≠ Ω Õ˙Æ æ Œ˙Ø ø œ–—“”‘’÷◊ÿŸ⁄¤‹›ﬁﬂ

G = 00
P = 004

Michael Everson

Proposal for the Universal Character Set

TABLE XXX - Row XX: AVESTAN AND PAHLAVIhex
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
090A
0B
0C
0D
0E
0F
101112
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
1A
1B
1C
1D
1E
1F
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
2A
2B
2C
2D
2E
2F
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
3A
3B
3C
3D
3E
3F
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
4A
4B4C4D4E4F505152535455565758Group 00Name
AVESTAN LETTER A
AVESTAN LETTER AA
AVESTAN LETTER AO
AVESTAN LETTER AAO
AVESTAN LETTER AN
AVESTAN LETTER AEN
AVESTAN LETTER AE
AVESTAN LETTER AEE
AVESTAN LETTER E
AVESTAN LETTER EEAVESTAN LETTER O
AVESTAN LETTER OO
AVESTAN LETTER I
AVESTAN LETTER II
AVESTAN LETTER U
AVESTAN LETTER UUAVESTAN LETTER KA
AVESTAN LETTER XAAVESTAN LETTER XYA
AVESTAN LETTER XVA
AVESTAN LETTER GA
AVESTAN LETTER GYA
AVESTAN LETTER GHA
AVESTAN LETTER CA
AVESTAN LETTER JA
AVESTAN LETTER TA
AVESTAN LETTER THA
AVESTAN LETTER DA
AVESTAN LETTER DHA
AVESTAN LETTER TTA
AVESTAN LETTER PA
AVESTAN LETTER FA
AVESTAN LETTER BA
AVESTAN LETTER WA
AVESTAN LETTER NGA
AVESTAN LETTER NGYAAVESTAN LETTER NGVAAVESTAN LETTER NA
AVESTAN LETTER NYA
AVESTAN LETTER NNA
AVESTAN LETTER MA
AVESTAN LETTER MYA
AVESTAN LETTER YYA
AVESTAN LETTER YA
AVESTAN LETTER VA
AVESTAN LETTER RA
AVESTAN LETTER SA
AVESTAN LETTER ZAAVESTAN LETTER SHA
AVESTAN LETTER ZHA
AVESTAN LETTER SHYAAVESTAN LETTER SHHAAVESTAN LETTER HA(This position shall not be used)(This position shall not be used)(This position shall not be used)(This position shall not be used)(This position shall not be used)(This position shall not be used)(This position shall not be used)
AVESTAN PUNCTUATION END OF WORD
AVESTAN PUNCTUATION END OF SENTENCE
AVESTAN PUNCTUATION END OF VERSE
AVESTAN PUNCTUATION FLEURONAVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER ONE
AVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER TWO
AVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER THREE
AVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER FOUR
AVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER TENAVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER TWENTY
AVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER FORTY
AVESTAN PAHLAVI NUMBER ONE THOUSAND(This position shall not be used)(This position shall not be used)
AVESTAN COMBINING PAHLAVI G
AVESTAN COMBINING PAHLAVI D
AVESTAN COMBINING PAHLAVI Y
AVESTAN COMBINING PAHLAVI S
AVESTAN COMBINING PAHLAVI SH
AVESTAN PAHLAVI KASHIDAAVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI HA
AVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI GA
AVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI DA
AVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI HE
AVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI WA
AVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI AYIN
AVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI RA
AVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI FINAL STROKEAVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI LLAhex595A
5B
5C
5D5E
5F

Plane 00NameAVESTAN LETTER PAHLAVI QA
AVESTAN ARCHIGRAPHEME PAHLAVI PA
AVESTAN ARCHIGRAPHEME PAHLAVI MA
AVESTAN ARCHIGRAPHEME PAHLAVI YA
AVESTAN ARCHIGRAPHEME PAHLAVI EARAVESTAN ARCHIGRAPHEME PAHLAVI ELBOWAVESTAN ARCHIGRAPHEME PAHLAVI BELLYRow xx5