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E (Indic)

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Comparison of E in different scripts
Aramaic
-
Kharoṣṭhī
𐨅
Ashoka Brahmi
E / E
Kushana Brahmi[a]
E / E
Tocharian[b]
[[File:|20px|alt=E]] / [[File:|20px|alt=E]]
Gupta Brahmi
E / E
Pallava
-
Kadamba
-
Bhaiksuki
𑰊 / 𑰸
Siddhaṃ
E / E
Grantha
𑌏 / 𑍇
Cham
Sinhala
එ / ෙ
Pyu /
Old Mon[c]
-
Tibetan
E / E
Newa
𑐊 / 𑐾
Ahom
𑜦
Malayalam
ഏ / േ
Telugu
ఏ / ే
Burmese
ဧ / ေ
Lepcha
Ranjana
-
Saurashtra
ꢌ / ꢾ
Dives Akuru
𑤆 / 𑤵
Kannada
ಏ / ೇ
Kayah Li
Limbu
Soyombo[d]
𑩔
Khmer
ឯ / េ
Tamil
E / ே
Chakma
𑄆 / 𑄬
Tai Tham
Meitei Mayek
ꫠ / ꯦ
Gaudi
-
Thai
Lao
Tai Le
Marchen
𑲳
Tirhuta
𑒋 / 𑒹
New Tai Lue
Tai Viet
Aksara Kawi
-
'Phags-pa
Odia
ଏ / େ
Sharada
𑆍 / 𑆼
Rejang
Batak
Buginese
Zanabazar Square
𑨄
Bengali-Assamese
E / ে
Takri
𑚆 / 𑚲
Javanese
ꦌ / ꦺ
Balinese
ᬅ / ᬾ
Makasar
𑻵
Hangul[e]
-
Northern Nagari
-
Dogri
𑠆 / 𑠳
Laṇḍā
-
Sundanese
ᮈ / ᮨ
Baybayin
-
Modi
𑘊 / 𑘹
Gujarati
એ / ે
Khojki
𑈄 / 𑈰
Khudabadi
𑊶 / 𑋥
Mahajani
𑅓
Tagbanwa
-
Devanagari
E / E
Nandinagari
𑦪 / 𑧚
Kaithi
𑢐 / 𑂵
Gurmukhi
ਏ / ੇ
Multani
𑊃
Buhid
-
Canadian Syllabics[f]
-
Soyombo[g]
𑩔
Sylheti Nagari
ꠄ / ꠦ
Gunjala Gondi
-
Masaram Gondi[h]
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.


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.

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 E

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 E

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 E

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
Ke Khe Ge Ghe Ce Che Je Jhe Nye Ṭe Ṭhe Ḍe Ḍhe Ṇe
Te The De Dhe Ne Pe Phe Be Bhe Me Ye Re Le Ve
Śe Ṣe Se He

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 E


Bengali E

Javanese E


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. "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 [1]