page_title: Khitan small script
section_title: Corpus
hierarchical_section_title: Khitan small script / Corpus
caption_attribution_description: English: Woodcut facsimile of a bronze fish tally (魚符) with Small Khitan script inscription in the collection of Stephen Wootton Bushell (1844-1908). Inscription reads: [?] eu.ul ca.úr s.êŋ.un = "Commander [Xiangwen] of the Heaven Cloud Army" (Chinese 天雲軍詳穩) on the body of the fish, plus [?] zủ = "Imperial" on the tail.
context_page_description: The Khitan small script was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language. It was used during the 10th–12th century by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in north-eastern China. In addition to the small script, the Khitans simultaneously also used a functionally independent writing system known as the Khitan large script. Both Khitan scripts continued to be in use to some extent by the Jurchens for several decades after the fall of the Liao Dynasty, until the Jurchens fully switched to a script of their own. Examples of the scripts appeared most often on epitaphs and monuments, although other fragments sometimes surface.
context_section_description: There are no surviving examples of printed texts in the Khitan language, and aside from five example Khitan large characters with Chinese glosses in a book on calligraphy written by Tao Zongyi (陶宗儀) during the mid 14th century, there are no Chinese glossaries or dictionaries of Khitan.
  The main source of Khitan texts are monumental inscriptions, mostly comprising memorial tablets buried in the tombs of Khitan nobility.  There are about 33 known monuments with inscriptions in the Khitan small script, ranging in date from 1053 to 1171.
caption: Bronze 'fish tally' with small Khitan inscription owned by Stephen Wootton Bushell
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