Ña (Indic)

^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
^ May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ May also be derived from Ranjana (see above)
^ Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.

Ña or Nya is the tenth consonant of Indic abugidas. It is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter .

Historic Nya

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Nya as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . The Tocharian Nya did not have an alterante Fremdzeichen form. The third form of nya, in Kharoshthi () was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.

Brahmi Nya

The Brahmi letter , Nya, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Nun , and is thus related to the modern Latin N and Greek Nu. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Nya can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.^[1] 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 vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

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

Tocharian Nya

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , but does not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian Nya with vowel marks
Nya	Nyā	Nyi	Nyī	Nyu	Nyū	Nyr	Nyr̄	Nye	Nyai	Nyo	Nyau	Nyä

Kharoṣṭhī Nya

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Nun , and is thus related to N and Nu, in addition to the Brahmi Nya.

Devanagari script

Ña (ञ, Sanskrit and Hindi: ञकार ñakāra) is the tenth consonant of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , after having gone through the Gupta letter . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter ઞ, and the Modi letter 𑘗.

Devanagari-using Languages

In all languages, ञ is pronounced as [ɲə] or [ɲ] when appropriate, similar to the phoneme in English canyon (/ˈkænjən/).. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Devanagari ञ with vowel marks
Ña	Ñā	Ñi	Ñī	Ñu	Ñū	Ñr̥	Ñr̥̄	Ñl̥	Ñl̥̄	Ñe	Ñai	Ño	Ñau	Ñ
ञ	ञा	ञि	ञी	ञु	ञू	ञृ	ञॄ	ञॢ	ञॣ	ञे	ञै	ञो	ञौ	ञ्

Conjuncts with ञ

Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.^[2]

Ligature conjuncts of ञ

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form for an initial "R" instead of repha.

Repha र্ (r) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature rña: ^note

Eyelash र্ (r) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature rña:

ञ্ (ñ) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature ñra:

ञ্ (ñ) + न (na) gives us the ligature ñna:

Devanagari Jña

One of the most common true ligatures in Devanagari is the conjunct jña ज्ञ. This ligature is a required form for most Devanagari languages, and the conjunct even has its own half form that freely joins other letters in horizontal conjuncts.

ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature jña:

Repha र্ (r) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature rjña:

Eyelash र্ (r) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature rjña:

भ্ (bʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bʰjña:

ब্ (b) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bjña:

छ্ (cʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature cʰjña:

च্ (c) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature cjña:

ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ḍʱjña:

ड্ (ḍ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ḍjña:

द্ (d) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature djña:

घ্ (ɡʱ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ɡʱjña:

ग্ (g) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature gjña:

ह্ (h) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature hjña:

ज্ (j) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature jjña:

झ্ (jʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature jʰjña:

ख্ (kʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature kʰjña:

क্ (k) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature kjña:

ल্ (l) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ljña:

म্ (m) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature mjña:

न্ (n) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature njña:

ञ্ (ñ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ñjña:

ङ্ (ŋ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ŋjña:

फ্ (pʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature pʰjña:

प্ (p) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature pjña:

श্ (ʃ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ʃjña:

स্ (s) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature sjña:

ष্ (ṣ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṣjña:

थ্ (tʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature tʰjña:

त্ (t) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature tjña:

ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṭʰjña:

ट্ (ṭ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṭjña:

व্ (v) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature vjña:

य্ (y) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature yjña:

Stacked conjuncts of ञ

Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.

भ্ (bʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bʰña:

ब্ (b) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bña:

छ্ (cʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature cʰña:

च্ (c) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature cña:

ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ḍʱña:

ड্ (ḍ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ḍña:

ध্ (dʱ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature dʱjña:

ध্ (dʱ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature dʱña:

द্ (d) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature dña:

घ্ (ɡʱ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ɡʱña:

ह্ (h) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature hña:

झ্ (jʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature jʰña:

ख্ (kʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature kʰña:

क্ (k) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature kña:

ळ্ (ḷ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ḷña:

ल্ (l) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature lña:

म্ (m) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature mña:

ङ্ (ŋ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ŋña:

न্ (n) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature nña:

ञ্ (ñ) + ब (ba) gives us the ligature ñba:

ञ্ (ñ) + च (ca) gives us the ligature ñca:

ञ্ (ñ) + ज (ja) gives us the ligature ñja:

ञ্ (ñ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ñla:

ञ্ (ñ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ñña:

ञ্ (ñ) + व (va) gives us the ligature ñva:

फ্ (pʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature pʰña:

प্ (p) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature pña:

श্ (ʃ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ʃña:

स্ (s) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature sña:

ष্ (ṣ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṣña:

थ্ (tʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature tʰña:

त্ (t) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature tña:

ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṭʰña:

ट্ (ṭ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṭña:

व্ (v) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature vña:

य্ (y) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature yña:

Bengali script

The Bengali script ঞ is derived from the Siddhaṃ , and is marked by no horizontal head line, and a less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ञ. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter ঞ will sometimes be transliterated as "nyo" instead of "nya". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /ɲo/.

Like all Indic consonants, ঞ can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a".

Bengali ঞ with vowel marks
nya	nyā	nyi	nyī	nyu	nyū	nyr	nyr̄	nye	nyai	nyo	nyau	ny
ঞ	ঞা	ঞি	ঞী	ঞু	ঞূ	ঞৃ	ঞৄ	ঞে	ঞৈ	ঞো	ঞৌ	ঞ্

ঞ in Bengali-using languages

ঞ is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.

Conjuncts with ঞ

Bengali ঞ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a mix of both stacked and linear ligatures.^[3]

চ্ (c) + ঞ (ña) gives us the ligature cña:

জ্ (j) + ঞ (ña) gives us the ligature jña:

ঞ্ (ñ) + চ (ca) gives us the ligature ñca:

ঞ্ (ñ) + ছ (cʰa) gives us the ligature ñcʰa:

ঞ্ (ñ) + জ (ja) gives us the ligature ñja:

ঞ্ (ñ) + ঝ (jʰa) gives us the ligature ñjʰa:

ষ্ (ṣ) + ঞ (ña) gives us the ligature ṣña:

Gurmukhi script

Ñaññā (ਞ, Punjabi: ਞੱਞਾ ñaññā) is a consonant of Gurmukhi. It is represented in Shahmukhi with Punjabi: ں nun gunnah or Punjabi: ن nun.

Gujarati Ña

Ña (ઞ) is a consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ña , and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Ña (ઞ) is a consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ña with the top bar (shiro rekha) removed, and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઞ is pronounced as [ɲə] or [ɲ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Ña	Ñā	Ñi	Ñī	Ñu	Ñū	Ñr	Ñl	Ñr̄	Ñl̄	Ñĕ	Ñe	Ñai	Ñŏ	Ño	Ñau	Ñ

Gujarati Ña syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with ઞ

Gujarati ઞ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari.

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra.

ર્ (r) + ઞ (ɲa) gives us the ligature RÑa:

ઞ્ (ɲ) + ર (ra) gives us the ligature ÑRa:

જ્ (j) + ઞ (ɲa) gives us the ligature JÑa:

ર્ (r) + જ (ja) ઞ (ɲa) gives us the ligature RJÑa:

જ (ja) + ઞ્ (ɲ) + ર (ra) gives us the ligature JÑRa:

ઞ્ (ɲ) + ન (na) gives us the ligature ÑNa:

Javanese script

Telugu Ña

Telugu independent and subjoined Ña.

Ña (ఞ) is a consonant of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಞ. Since it lacks the v-shaped headstroke common to most Telugu letters, ఞ remains unaltered by most vowel matras, and its subjoined form is simply a smaller version of the normal letter shape.

Telugu conjuncts are created by reducing trailing letters to a subjoined form that appears below the initial consonant of the conjunct. Many subjoined forms are created by dropping their headline, with many extending the end of the stroke of the main letter body to form an extended tail reaching up to the right of the preceding consonant. This subjoining of trailing letters to create conjuncts is in contrast to the leading half forms of Devanagari and Bengali letters. Ligature conjuncts are not a feature in Telugu, with the only non-standard construction being an alternate subjoined form of Ṣa (borrowed from Kannada) in the KṢa conjunct.

Malayalam Ña

Ña (ഞ) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter Nya. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Malayalam Nya matras: Nya, Nyā, Nyi, Nyī, Nyu, Nyū, Nyr̥, Nyr̥̄, Nyl̥, Nyl̥̄, Nye, Nyē, Nyai, Nyo, Nyō, Nyau, and Ny.

Conjuncts of ഞ

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

ഞ് (ñ) + ച (ca) gives us the ligature ñca:

ഞ് (ñ) + ജ (ja) gives us the ligature ñja:

ജ് (j) + ഞ (ña) gives us the ligature jña:

ഞ് (ñ) + ഞ (ña) gives us the ligature ñña:

Thai script

Yo Ying (ญ, Thai: ญอ หญิง) is the thirteenth letter of the Thai script. It falls under the low class of Thai consonants. In IPA, yo ying is pronounced as [j] at the beginning of the syllable and [n] at the end of syllable and in Old Thai, it was pronounced as [ɲ], Thai consonants do not form conjunct ligatures, and use the pinthu—an explicit virama with a dot shape—to indicate bare consonants. In the acrophony of the Thai script, ying (หญิง) means ‘woman’. Yo Ying corresponds to the Sanskrit character ‘ञ’.

Odia Ña

Ña (ଞ) is a consonant of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Nya. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Odia Nya with vowel matras
Nya	Nyā	Nyi	Nyī	Nyu	Nyū	Nyr̥	Nyr̥̄	Nyl̥	Nyl̥̄	Nye	Nyai	Nyo	Nyau	Ny
ଞ	ଞା	ଞି	ଞୀ	ଞୁ	ଞୂ	ଞୃ	ଞୄ	ଞୢ	ଞୣ	ଞେ	ଞୈ	ଞୋ	ଞୌ	ଞ୍

Conjuncts of ଞ

As is common in Indic scripts, Odia joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. ଞ does not have the small subjoined form that is the most common means of conjunct formation in Odia. The second type of conjunct formation is through pure ligatures, where the constituent consonants are written together in a single graphic form. This ligature may be recognizable as being a combination of two characters or it can have a conjunct ligature unrelated to its constituent characters. For other conjuncts, an explicit Halanta is needed when adding ଞ.

ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଚ (ca) gives us the ligature ñca:

ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଛ (cʰa) gives us the ligature ñcʰa:

ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଜ (ja) gives us the ligature ñja:

ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଝ (jʰa) gives us the ligature ñjʰa:

ଜ୍ (j) + ଞ (ña) gives us the ligature jña:

References

^ Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838 [1]
^ Pall, Peeter. "Microsoft Word - kblhi2" (PDF). Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
^ "The Bengali Alphabet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.

^note Conjuncts are identified by IAST transliteration, except aspirated consonants are indicated with a superscript "h" to distinguish from an unaspirated cononant + Ha, and the use of the IPA "ŋ" and "ʃ" instead of the less dinstinctive "ṅ" and "ś".

[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.

[9] Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838 [1]

[KNAB-10] Pall, Peeter. "Microsoft Word - kblhi2" (PDF). Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Retrieved 19 June 2020.

[11] "The Bengali Alphabet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[1]

[2]

[3]