Khitan script
Encyclopedia
Khitan scripts may refer to one of two mutually exclusive scripts
used by the Khitan people
during the 10th-12th centuries:
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
used by the Khitan people
Khitan people
thumb|250px|Khitans [[Eagle hunting|using eagles to hunt]], painted during the Chinese [[Song Dynasty]].The Khitan people , or Khitai, Kitan, or Kidan, were a nomadic Mongolic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century...
during the 10th-12th centuries:
- Khitan small scriptKhitan small scriptThe 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...
– invented in about 924 or 925 CE by a scholar named DielaDielaYelü Diela , younger brother of Khitan Emperor Yelü Abaoji, invented the "Khitan small script" to accommodate the more agglutinative Khitan language about 925 — based partly on the earlier "Khitan large script" or Chinese-like logographic writing, but also after having been inspired by the... - Khitan large scriptKhitan large scriptThe Khitan large script was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language. It was used during the 10th-12th centuries by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in north-eastern China. In addition to the large script, the Khitans simultaneously also used a...
– introduced in 920 CE by AbaojiEmperor Taizu of LiaoThe Emperor Taizu of Liao was the first emperor of the Liao Dynasty . His given name was Abaoji . Some sources also suggest that the surname Yelü was adopted during his lifetime, though there is no unanimity on this point....
, founder of the Liao DynastyLiao DynastyThe Liao Dynasty , also known as the Khitan Empire was an empire in East Asia that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper between 9071125...