E (Indic)

E is a vowel of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, E is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter ng after having gone through the Gupta letter . As an Indic vowel, E comes in two normally distinct forms: 1) as an independent letter, and 2) as a vowel sign for modifying a base consonant. Bare consonants without a modifying vowel sign have the inherent "A" vowel.

E
E
Example glyphs
Bengali-AssameseE
TibetanE
TamilE
Thai
Malayalam
Sinhala
Ashoka BrahmiE
DevanagariE
Properties
Phonemic representation/eː/
IAST transliteratione E
ISCII code pointAC (172)

Āryabhaṭa numeration

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The े sign was used to modify a consonant's value ×1010, but the vowel letter ए did not have an inherent value by itself.[1]

Historic Ē

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. E as found in standard Brahmi, E was a simple geometric shape, and remained basically unchanged all the way through the generally more flowing Gupta as E. Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian E E has an accompanying vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A. All other independent vowels, including E are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Brahmi Ē

The Brahmi letter E E, is probably derived from the Aramaic Ayin , and is thus related to the modern Latin O and Greek Omicron.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi E can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with some vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi E historic forms
Ashoka
(3rd-1st c. BCE)
Girnar
(~150 BCE)
Kushana
(~150-250 CE)
Gujarat
(~250 CE)
Gupta
(~350 CE)

Tocharian Ē

The Tocharian letter E is derived from the Brahmi E. Unlike some of the consonants, Tocharian vowels do not have a Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian consonants with E vowel marks
KeKheGeGheCeCheJeJheNyeṬeṬheḌeḌheṆe
TeTheDeDheNePePheBeBheMeYeReLeVe
ŚeṢeSeHe

Kharoṣṭhī E

The Kharoṣṭhī letter E is indicated with the vowel mark E. As an independent vowel, E is indicated by adding the vowel mark to the independent vowel letter A A.

Devanagari Ē

Ē vowel
Ē vowel sign
Devanagari independent Ē and Ē vowel sign.

Ē () is a vowel of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Ē, after having gone through the Gupta letter Ē. Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter , and the Modi letter 𑘊.

Devanagari Using Languages

The Devanagari script is used to write the Hindi language, Sanskrit and the majority of Indo-Aryan languages. In most of these languages, ए is pronounced as [e]. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Bengali Ē

Ē vowel
Ē vowel sign
Bengali independent Ē and Ē vowel sign.

Ē () is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter Ē, and is marked by the lack of horizontal head line and less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ए.

Bengali Script Using Languages

The Bengali script is used to write several languages of eastern India, notably the Bengali language and Assamese. In most languages, এ is pronounced as [e]. Like all Indic scripts, Bengali vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ɔ/ vowel.

Gujarati Ē

E vowel
E vowel sign
Gujarati independent E and E vowel sign.

Ē () is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ē e, and ultimately the Brahmi letter e.

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, એ is pronounced as [e]. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Gujarati Candra E

Candra E vowel
Candra E vowel sign
Gujarati independent Candra E and Candra E vowel sign.

Candra E ( short E) is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Candra E, and ultimately the Brahmi letter e.

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઍ is pronounced as gu. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Telugu E

Telugu independent vowel E
Telugu vowel sign E
Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign E.

E () is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter E. It is closely related to the Kannada letter . Like in other Indic scripts, Telugu vowels have two forms: and independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of Telugu consonant letters. Vowel signs in Telugu can interact with a base consonant in one of three ways: 1) the vowel sign touches or sits adjacent to the base consonant without modifying the shape of either 2) the vowel sign sits directly above the consonant, replacing its v-shaped headline, 3) the vowel sign and consonant interact, forming a ligature.

Telugu E vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Ke, Khe, Ge, Ghe and Nge. Note that how the vowel sign interacts with the base consonant is dependent on the location of the headline, the absence of a headline, and the presence of a tail to attach to.

Telugu Ē

Telugu independent vowel Ē
Telugu vowel sign Ē
Telugu independent Ē vowel and vowel sign .

In addition, Telugu also contains a second E vowel, Ē (). It is also derived from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter . The long Ē vowel sign interacts with base consonants the same as the short E.

Telugu vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Kē, Khē, Gē, Ghē and Ngē. Note that how the vowel sign interacts with the base consonant is dependent on the location of the headline, the absence of a headline, and the presence of a tail to attach to.

Malayalam E

Malayalam independent vowel E
Malayalam vowel sign E
Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign E.

E () is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter E, via the Grantha letter E e. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound.

Malayalam Ē

Malayalam independent vowel Ē
Malayalam vowel sign Ē
Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign Ē.

Ē (, Long E) is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It is ultimately a derivation of a predecessor to Malayalam short "E" that arose after Grantha. Like other Malayalam vowels, Ē has two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound.

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Vowels

, , and are the bare vowel characters in the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. is derived from the vowel series, and has the value of a glottal stop. Unlike the bare-consonant forms of most Canadian syllabic letters that are a small version of the A-series letter, ᐞ is a small version of the I-series ᐃ. The base character ᐁ is derived from a handwritten form of the Devanagari letter ए.[4][5] Unlike most writing systems without legacy computer encodings, complex Canadian syllabic letters are represented in Unicode with pre-composed characters, rather than with base characters and diacritical marks.

Variant E-series I-series O-series A-series Other
Bare vowels -
EIOA-
Small ---
-ʔEastern WWestern W--Ai
Long vowels -
-ĪŌCree ŌĀ
W- vowels -
WeCree WeWiCree WiWoCree WoWaCree Wa-
W- long vowels --
-CreeCreeNaskapiCreeNaskapi-
Carrier vowels ---
ĒI---
Vowels with ring diacritic --
-ĀiOyAyĀyWay-

Odia E

Odia independent vowel and vowel sign E

E () is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter E, via the Siddhaṃ letter E e. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Odia usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Odia.

Kaithi E

Kaithi independent vowel E
Kaithi vowel sign E
Kaithi independent vowel and vowel sign E.

E (𑂉) is a vowel of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter E, via the Siddhaṃ letter E E. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Kaithi usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Kaithi.

Comparison of E

The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including E, are related as well.

Comparison of E in different scripts
Aramaic
E
Kharoṣṭhī
𐨅
Ashoka Brahmi
E
Kushana Brahmi[lower-alpha 1]
E
Tocharian[lower-alpha 2]
-
Gupta Brahmi
E
Pallava
E
Kadamba
-
Bhaiksuki
𑰊
Siddhaṃ
E
Grantha
𑌏
Cham
Sinhala
Pyu /
Old Mon[lower-alpha 3]
-
Tibetan
E
Newa
𑐊
Ahom
𑜦
Malayalam
Telugu
Burmese
Lepcha
Ranjana
E
Saurashtra
Dives Akuru
𑤆
Kannada
Kayah Li
Limbu
Soyombo[lower-alpha 4]
𑩔
Khmer
 / 
Tamil
E
Chakma
𑄆
Tai Tham
Meitei Mayek
Gaudi
-
Thai
Lao
Tai Le
Marchen
𑲳
Tirhuta
𑒋
New Tai Lue
Tai Viet
Aksara Kawi
-
'Phags-pa
Odia
Sharada
𑆍
Rejang
Batak
Buginese
Zanabazar Square
𑨄
Bengali-Assamese
E
Takri
𑚆
Javanese
Balinese
Makasar
𑻵
Hangul[lower-alpha 5]
-
Northern Nagari
-
Dogri
𑠆
Laṇḍā
-
Sundanese
Baybayin
-
Modi
𑘊
Gujarati
Khojki
𑈄
Khudabadi
𑊶
Mahajani
𑅓
Tagbanwa
-
Devanagari
E
Nandinagari
𑦪
Kaithi
E
Gurmukhi
Multani
𑊃
Buhid
-
Canadian Syllabics[lower-alpha 6]
Soyombo[lower-alpha 7]
𑩔
Sylheti Nagari
Gunjala Gondi
-
Masaram Gondi[lower-alpha 8]
𑴆
Hanuno'o
-
Notes
  1. The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms.
  2. Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession.
  3. Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
  4. May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
  5. The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida.
  6. Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas.
  7. May also be derived from Ranjana (see above)
  8. Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.

Character encodings of E

Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter E in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. E from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.

Character information
Preview
Unicode name DEVANAGARI LETTER E BENGALI LETTER E TAMIL LETTER EE TELUGU LETTER EE ORIYA LETTER E KANNADA LETTER EE MALAYALAM LETTER EE GUJARATI LETTER E GURMUKHI LETTER EE
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode2319U+090F2447U+098F2959U+0B8F3087U+0C0F2831U+0B0F3215U+0C8F3343U+0D0F2703U+0A8F2575U+0A0F
UTF-8224 164 143E0 A4 8F224 166 143E0 A6 8F224 174 143E0 AE 8F224 176 143E0 B0 8F224 172 143E0 AC 8F224 178 143E0 B2 8F224 180 143E0 B4 8F224 170 143E0 AA 8F224 168 143E0 A8 8F
Numeric character referenceएएএএஏஏఏఏଏଏಏಏഏഏએએਏਏ
ISCII172AC172AC172AC172AC172AC172AC172AC172AC172AC


Character information
Preview
Ashoka
Kushana
Gupta
𑌏
Unicode name BRAHMI LETTER E SIDDHAM LETTER E GRANTHA LETTER EE
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechex
Unicode69647U+1100F71050U+1158A70415U+1130F
UTF-8240 145 128 143F0 91 80 8F240 145 150 138F0 91 96 8A240 145 140 143F0 91 8C 8F
UTF-1655300 56335D804 DC0F55301 56714D805 DD8A55300 57103D804 DF0F
Numeric character reference𑀏𑀏𑖊𑖊𑌏𑌏


Character information
Preview𑐊𑰊𑆍
Unicode name PHAGS-PA LETTER E NEWA LETTER E BHAIKSUKI LETTER E SHARADA LETTER E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode43104U+A86070666U+1140A72714U+11C0A70029U+1118D
UTF-8234 161 160EA A1 A0240 145 144 138F0 91 90 8A240 145 176 138F0 91 B0 8A240 145 134 141F0 91 86 8D
UTF-1643104A86055301 56330D805 DC0A55303 56330D807 DC0A55300 56717D804 DD8D
Numeric character referenceꡠꡠ𑐊𑐊𑰊𑰊𑆍𑆍


Character information
Preview
Unicode name MYANMAR LETTER E NEW TAI LUE VOWEL SIGN E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode4135U+10276581U+19B5
UTF-8225 128 167E1 80 A7225 166 181E1 A6 B5
Numeric character referenceဧဧᦵᦵ


Character information
Preview
Unicode name KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QE THAI CHARACTER SARA E TAI VIET VOWEL E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechex
Unicode6063U+17AF3648U+0E4043701U+AAB5
UTF-8225 158 175E1 9E AF224 185 128E0 B9 80234 170 181EA AA B5
Numeric character referenceឯឯเเꪵꪵ


Character information
Preview𑄆𑤆
Unicode name SINHALA LETTER EYANNA CHAKMA LETTER E TAI LE LETTER E DIVES AKURU LETTER E SAURASHTRA LETTER E CHAM LETTER E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode3473U+0D9169894U+111066507U+196B71942U+1190643148U+A88C43523U+AA03
UTF-8224 182 145E0 B6 91240 145 132 134F0 91 84 86225 165 171E1 A5 AB240 145 164 134F0 91 A4 86234 162 140EA A2 8C234 168 131EA A8 83
UTF-1634730D9155300 56582D804 DD066507196B55302 56582D806 DD0643148A88C43523AA03
Numeric character referenceඑඑ𑄆𑄆ᥫᥫ𑤆𑤆ꢌꢌꨃꨃ


Character information
Preview𑘊𑦪
Unicode name MODI LETTER E NANDINAGARI LETTER E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode71178U+1160A72106U+119AA
UTF-8240 145 152 138F0 91 98 8A240 145 166 170F0 91 A6 AA
UTF-1655301 56842D805 DE0A55302 56746D806 DDAA
Numeric character reference𑘊𑘊𑦪𑦪


Character information
Preview𑒋
Unicode name TIRHUTA LETTER E MEETEI MAYEK LETTER E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode70795U+1148B43744U+AAE0
UTF-8240 145 146 139F0 91 92 8B234 171 160EA AB A0
UTF-1655301 56459D805 DC8B43744AAE0
Numeric character reference𑒋𑒋ꫠꫠ


Character information
Preview𑚆𑠆𑈄𑊶𑅓𑊃
Unicode name TAKRI LETTER E DOGRA LETTER E KHOJKI LETTER E KHUDAWADI LETTER E MAHAJANI LETTER E MULTANI LETTER E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode71302U+1168671686U+1180670148U+1120470326U+112B669971U+1115370275U+11283
UTF-8240 145 154 134F0 91 9A 86240 145 160 134F0 91 A0 86240 145 136 132F0 91 88 84240 145 138 182F0 91 8A B6240 145 133 147F0 91 85 93240 145 138 131F0 91 8A 83
UTF-1655301 56966D805 DE8655302 56326D806 DC0655300 56836D804 DE0455300 57014D804 DEB655300 56659D804 DD5355300 56963D804 DE83
Numeric character reference𑚆𑚆𑠆𑠆𑈄𑈄𑊶𑊶𑅓𑅓𑊃𑊃


Character information
Preview
Unicode name BALINESE LETTER EKARA JAVANESE LETTER E SUNDANESE LETTER E
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechex
Unicode6927U+1B0F43404U+A98C7048U+1B88
UTF-8225 172 143E1 AC 8F234 166 140EA A6 8C225 174 136E1 AE 88
Numeric character referenceᬏᬏꦌꦌᮈᮈ


Character information
Preview𑴆
Unicode name MASARAM GONDI LETTER E
Encodingsdecimalhex
Unicode72966U+11D06
UTF-8240 145 180 134F0 91 B4 86
UTF-1655303 56582D807 DD06
Numeric character reference𑴆𑴆
Character information
Preview
Unicode name CANADIAN SYLLABICS E CANADIAN SYLLABICS I CANADIAN SYLLABICS O CANADIAN SYLLABICS A CANADIAN SYLLABICS GLOTTAL STOP
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode5121U+14015123U+14035125U+14055130U+140A5150U+141E
UTF-8225 144 129E1 90 81225 144 131E1 90 83225 144 133E1 90 85225 144 138E1 90 8A225 144 158E1 90 9E
Numeric character referenceᐁᐁᐃᐃᐅᐅᐊᐊᐞᐞ
  • The full range of E Canadian syllabic characters can be found at the codepoint ranges 1401-141B, 141E, 142B-142E, 18B0-18B3, 18DC-18DD.

References

  1. Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 447–450. ISBN 0-471-39340-1.
  2. Bühler, Georg (1898). "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838
  4. Andrew Dalby (2004:139) Dictionary of Languages
  5. Some General Aspects of the Syllabics Orthography, Chris Harvey 2003
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