List of inventors of writing systems
Encyclopedia
This is a chronological list of any individuals, legendary or real, who are purported by traditions to have invented alphabets or other writing system
s, whether this is proven or not.
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...
s, whether this is proven or not.
A
- Adrien-Gabriel MoriceAdrien-Gabriel MoriceAdrien-Gabriel Morice was a missionary priest belonging to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He served as a missionary in Canada, and created a writing system for the Carrier language.-Early life:...
- French, developed Carrier syllabary c. 1885. - Afáka Atumisi - Surinamian, invented Afaka scriptAfaka scriptThe Afaka script is a syllabary of 56 letters devised in 1910 for the Ndyuka language, an English-based creole of Surinam. The script is named after its inventor, Afáka Atumisi...
in 1908. - Alexandre de Rhodes - French missionary, developed Vietnamese alphabetVietnamese alphabetThe Vietnamese alphabet, called Chữ Quốc Ngữ , usually shortened to Quốc Ngữ , is the modern writing system for the Vietnamese language...
c. 1624, adapting the Roman alphabet - Alexander Melville BellAlexander Melville BellAlexander Melville Bell was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics and was the author of numerous works on orthoepy and elocution....
- American teacher, invented Visible SpeechVisible SpeechVisible speech is the writing system used by Alexander Melville Bell, who was known internationally as a teacher of speech and proper elocution and an author of books on the subject. The system is composed of symbols that show the position and movement of the throat, tongue, and lips as they...
in 1867 - Ali Moslehi Moslehabadi - Iranian comparative linguist, developed IPA2, also known as Pársik in 2004.
- Anton BezenšekAnton BezenšekAnton Toma Bezenšek was a Slovene linguist, publicist, shorthand expert, and lecturer, who spent most of his life in Bulgaria...
- Slovenian linguist, developed Bezenšek ShorthandBezenšek ShorthandBezenšek Shorthand is a shorthand system, used for rapidly recording Bulgarian speech. The system was invented by the Slovene linguist Anton Bezenšek c. 1879. It is based on the Gabelsberger shorthand , so it is often referred to as the Gabelsberger–Bezenšek Shorthand...
c. 1879 - Aulay MacaulayAulay MacaulayAulay Macaulay was an 18th century English tea-dealer, based in Manchester, who invented a system of shorthand which could be used in English and many other languages. He died on 19 March 1788, in Manchester....
- English tea-dealer, who invented Polygraphy, a system of shorthandShorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
in 1747.
B
- Bakri SapaloBakri SapaloSheikh Bakri Sapalo was an Oromo scholar, poet and religious teacher. He is best known as the inventor of a writing system for the Oromo language.-Life:...
- OromoOromo peopleThe Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
from Ethiopia, invented syllabary. - Beitha KukjuBeitha KukjuVithkuqi script, also called Büthakukye or Beitha Kukju after the appellation applied to it by German Albanist Johann Georg von Hahn, was an alphabet invented for writing the Albanian language between 1825 and 1845 by Albanian scholar Naum Veqilharxhi...
- Albanian, invented the Beitha Kukju alphabet in 1840. - Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
- American statesman, developed Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabetBenjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabetBenjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet was Benjamin Franklin's proposal for a spelling reform of the English language. It used many of the same letters, but changed some of them and what sounds they represented. It was one of the earliest proposed spelling reforms to the English...
ca. 1768. - Bogdo ZanabazarBogdo ZanabazarUndur Geghen Zanabazar , born Eshidorji , was the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism for the Khalkha in Outer Mongolia. His name 'Zanabazar' is the Mongolian rendition of the Sanskrit 'Jnana-vajra' meaning thunderbolt of wisdom...
- Mongolian monk, created Soyombo scriptSoyombo scriptThe Soyombo script is an abugida developed by the Mongolian monk and scholar Bogdo Zanabazar in 1686 to write Mongolian.It can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit....
in 1686.
C
- C. Theo YerianC. Theo YerianC. Theo "Ted" Yerian, Ph.D., was Head of the Business Education and Secretarial Science Departments at Oregon State University for more than 30 years. After retirement from OSU he became President of Educational Research Associates of Portland, Oregon...
and Carl W. Salser - American teachers, developed Personal ShorthandPersonal ShorthandPersonal Shorthand, originally known as Briefhand in the 1950s, is a completely alphabetic shorthand.There are three basic categories of written shorthand. Best known are pure symbol shorthand systems...
c. 1955. - CadmusCadmusCadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology was a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores...
- legendary Phoenician prince, ascribed invention of Greek alphabetGreek alphabetThe Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
c. 1350 BC (?) according to tradition. - CangjieCangjieCangjie is a very important figure in ancient China , claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained...
- legendary Chinese scribe, also ascribed invention of Chinese characters c. 2650 BC (?) according to tradition. - CarmentaCarmentaIn ancient Roman religion and myth, Carmenta was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation as well as the protection of mothers and children, and a patron of midwives...
- legendary Roman prophetess and mother of EvanderEvanderIn Roman mythology, Evander , also spelled Euander, was a deific culture hero from Arcadia, Greece, who brought the Greek pantheon, laws and alphabet to Italy, where he founded the city of Pallantium on the future site of Rome, sixty years...
, ascribed adoption of Greek alphabet to Latin alphabetLatin alphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
c. 1250 BC (?) according to tradition. - Celadet Elî Bedirxan - Kurd linguist, developed Kurdish alphabetKurdish alphabetThe Kurdish language is written either using a variant of the Latin alphabet, according to a system introduced by Jeladet Ali Bedirkhan in 1932 , or using a variant of the Persian alphabet, the so-called Sorani alphabet, named for the city of Soran, Iraq.The Hawar is used in Turkey, Syria and...
in 1932. - Chao Yuen Ren - Chinese, led the development of Gwoyeu RomatzyhGwoyeu RomatzyhGwoyeu Romatzyh , abbreviated GR, is a system for writing Mandarin Chinese in the Latin alphabet. The system was conceived by Y.R. Chao and developed by a group of linguists including Chao and Lin Yutang from 1925 to 1926. Chao himself later published influential works in linguistics using GR...
in 1925–6. - Charles A. Thomas - invented Thomas Natural ShorthandThomas Natural ShorthandThomas Natural Shorthand is an English shorthand system created by Charles A. Thomas which was first published in 1935. Thomas described his system as "designed to meet the existing need for a simple, legible shorthand that is based on already familiar writing lines, and that is written with a...
in 1935. - Charles K. BlissCharles K. BlissCharles K. Bliss was a chemical engineer and semiotician, inventor of Blissymbolics. He was born in Austria, and got the Australian citizenship.-Early life:...
- Australian engineer, invented Blissymbolics ca. 1949. - Chief Gbili - Liberian, invented Kpelle syllabaryKpelle syllabaryThe Kpelle syllabary was invented circa 1935 by Chief Gbili of Sanoyie, Liberia. It was intended for writing the Kpelle language, a member of the Mande group of Niger-Congo languages spoken by about 490,000 people in Liberia and around 300,000 people in Guinea....
ca. 1935. - Chögyal Phagpa - Tibetan monk, invented Phagspa scriptPhagspa scriptThe Phags-pa script was an alphabet designed by the Tibetan Lama 'Gro-mgon Chos-rgyal 'Phags-pa for Yuan emperor Kublai Khan, as a unified script for the literary languages of the Yuan Dynasty....
in 1269.
D
- Dhawan Turi - possibly mythical, ascribed invention of Varang Kshitri alphabet c. 1250 (?).
- Diedrich Westermann - German missionary, developed Africa AlphabetAfrica AlphabetThe Africa Alphabet was developed in 1928 under the lead of Diedrich Westermann. He developed it with a group of Africanists at the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures in London...
in 1928. - 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...
- Manchurian scribe, ascribed creation of Khitan scriptKhitan scriptKhitan scripts may refer to one of two mutually exclusive scripts used by the Khitan people during the 10th-12th centuries:*Khitan small script – invented in about 924 or 925 CE by a scholar named Diela...
ca. 925. - Duala Bukare - Liberian, invented syllabary for Vai languageVai languageThe Vai language, alternately called Vy or Gallinas, is a Mande language, spoken by roughly 104,000 in Liberia and by smaller populations, some 15,500, in Sierra Leone. It is noteworthy for being one of the few sub-Saharan African languages to have a writing system that is not based on the Latin...
around 1833.
E
- EnmerkarEnmerkarEnmerkar, according to the Sumerian king list, was the builder of Uruk in Sumer, and was said to have reigned for "420 years" ....
- legendary Sumerian king, ascribed invention of cuneiformCuneiformCuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
c. 2300 BC (?) according to Enmerkar and the Lord of ArattaEnmerkar and the Lord of ArattaEnmerkar and the Lord of Aratta is a legendary Sumerian account, of preserved, early post-Sumerian copies, composed in the Neo-Sumerian period ....
epic. - Enos - Biblical patriarch, ascribed introduction of consonantal Ge'ez alphabetGe'ez alphabetGe'ez , also called Ethiopic, is a script used as an abugida for several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea but originated in an abjad used to write Ge'ez, now the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church...
c. 3350 BC (?) according to tradition. - Émile Duployé - French abbot, inventor of Duployan shorthandDuployan shorthandThe Duployan shorthand, or Duployan stenography, , was created by Father Émile Duployé in 1860 for writing French. Since then, it has been expanded and adapted for writing English, German, Spanish, Romanian, and Chinook Jargon. The Duployan stenography is classified as a geometric, alphabetic,...
, 1868.
F
- Fenius FarsaFenius FarsaFénius Farsaid is a legendary king of Scythia who shows up in different versions of Irish folklore. He was the son of Bathath who was a son of Magog...
- legendary Scythian king, ascribed invention of OghamOghamOgham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the Old Irish language, and occasionally the Brythonic language. Ogham is sometimes called the "Celtic Tree Alphabet", based on a High Medieval Bríatharogam tradition ascribing names of trees to the individual letters.There are roughly...
writing c. 2000 BC (?) according to tradition. - Francis LodwickFrancis LodwickFrancis Lodwick was a pioneer of a priori languages . He was a merchant of Dutch origin who lived in London...
- Dutch linguist, invented Universal Alphabet in 1686. - Franz Xaver GabelsbergerFranz Xaver GabelsbergerFranz Xaver Gabelsberger was a German inventor of a shorthand writing system, named Gabelsberger shorthand after him....
- German secretary, invented Gabelsberger shorthandGabelsberger shorthandGabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator, is a form of shorthand previously common in Germany and Austria. Created circa 1817 by Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, it was first fully described in the 1834 textbook Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichenkunst oder Stenographie and became rapidly...
around 1817. - Fu HsiFu HsiIn Chinese mythology, Fu Xi or Fu Hsi , mid 29th century BCE, was the first of the Three Sovereigns of ancient China. He is a culture hero reputed to be the inventor of writing, fishing, and trapping...
- legendary Chinese king, ascribed invention of Chinese characters c. 2850 BC (?) according to tradition.
G
- George D. WattGeorge D. WattGeorge Darling Watt was the first convert to Mormonism baptized in the British Isles. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Watt was a secretary to Brigham Young, the primary editor of the Journal of Discourses and the primary inventor of the Deseret Alphabet.Watt was...
and Parley P. PrattParley P. PrattParley Parker Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger brother, Orson Pratt...
- American Mormon leaders, developed Deseret alphabetDeseret alphabetThe Deseret alphabet is a phonemic English spelling reform developed in the mid-19th century by the board of regents of the University of Deseret under the direction of Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.In public statements, Young claimed the...
ca. 1855. - George PsalmanazarGeorge PsalmanazarGeorge Psalmanazar claimed to be the first Formosan to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but was later revealed to be an impostor...
- European impostor and scholar, invented a (fraudulent) Formosan alphabet in 1704. - Gregg M. Cox - linguist who developed the Coorgi-Cox alphabetCoorgi-Cox alphabetThe Coorgi-Cox alphabet is an alphabet developed by the linguist Gregg M. Cox and is used by a number of individuals within Kodagu. It is used for the endemic language Kodava, also known sometimes as Coorgi, a minority language....
in 2005. - Guru Angad DevGuru Angad DevGuru Angad Dev Ji was the second of the ten Sikh Gurus. He was born in the village of Sarae Naga in Muktsar district in Punjab, on 31 March 1504 and given the name Lehna shortly after his birth as was the custom of his Hindu parents. He was the son of a small successful trader named Pheru Mal...
- SikhSikhA Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
Guru, ascribed invention of Gurmukhi scriptGurmukhi scriptGurmukhi is the most common script used for writing the Punjabi language. An abugida derived from the Laṇḍā script and ultimately descended from Brahmi, Gurmukhi was standardized by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad Dev Ji, in the 16th century. The whole of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji's 1430...
c. 1539 according to tradition.
H
- Heinrich Cornelius AgrippaHeinrich Cornelius AgrippaHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist.-Life:Agrippa was born in Cologne in 1486...
- German alchemist, created the Transitus FluviiTransitus FluviiTransitus Fluvii , or Passage Du Fleuve , is an occult alphabet consisting of 22 characters described by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in his Third Book of Occult Philosophy . It is derived from the Hebrew alphabet, and is similar to the Celestial and Malachim alphabets...
, MalachimMalachimThis article is about the Malachim alphabet. For the quasi-Chasidic dynasty, see Malachim .You might also be looking for Malakh , a type of angel in Judaism....
, and Celestial AlphabetCelestial AlphabetThe Celestial alphabet was written about by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in the 16th Century. Other alphabets with a similar origin are Transitus Fluvii and Malachim.-External links:*...
s, c. 1525. - Hildegard of BingenHildegard of BingenBlessed Hildegard of Bingen , also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and...
- German nun, invented Litterae ignotae c. 1150. - Honorius of ThebesHonorius of ThebesHonorius of Thebes, a possibly mythical character from the Middle Ages, is said to have authored The Sworn Book of Honorius, although the first printed manuscript of this work did not appear until 1629. Considerable mystery still exists about the identity of Honorius, both Pope Honorius I and Pope...
- possibly mythical author, ascribed invention of Theban alphabetTheban alphabetThe Theban alphabet is a writing system with unknown origins. It was first published in Johannes Trithemius' Polygraphia , in which it was attributed to Honorius of Thebes. Trithemius' student Agrippa attributed it to Pietro d'Abano...
c. 1220 (?). - Hussein Sheikh Ahmed KaddareHussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare-Biography:Kaddare was born near Mogadishu in the Banaadir region of Somalia to an Abgaal Hawiye family. In 1953, he created the Kaddare script, an orthography named after him that was used to transcribe the Somali language.-See also:* Osmanya script...
- Somali, invented Kaddare scriptKaddare scriptThe Kaddare script is a writing script created to transcribe the Somali language.-History:The orthography was invented in 1952 by Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare of the Abgaal Hawiye clan....
c. 1953.
J
- J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
- British author, invented the TengwarTengwarThe Tengwar are an artificial script created by J. R. R. Tolkien. In his fictional universe of Middle-earth, the tengwar were invented by the Elf Fëanor, and used first to write the Elven tongues: Quenya, Telerin, and also Valarin. Later a great number of languages of Middle-earth were written...
and SaratiSaratiSarati is an artificial script created by J. R. R. Tolkien. According to Tolkien's mythology, the Sarati alphabet was invented by the Elf Rúmil of Tirion.- External history :...
c. 1930. - James Evans - Canadian missionary, invented a syllbary used for Ojibwe and Cree c. 1840, these days referred to as Cree syllabicsCree syllabicsCree syllabics, found in two primary variants, are the versions of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics used to write Cree dialects, including the original syllabics system created for Cree and Ojibwe. Syllabics were later adapted to several other languages...
. - James Hill - British, developed Teeline ShorthandTeeline ShorthandTeeline is a shorthand system accepted by the National Council for the Training of Journalists, an organisation for training journalists in the United Kingdom. It was developed in 1968 by James Hill, a teacher of Pitman Shorthand...
in 1970. - James O. FraserJames O. FraserJames Outram Fraser was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China with the China Inland Mission. He pioneered work among the Lisu people of Southwestern China in the early part of the 20th century.- First years in Yunnan:...
- Scottish missionary, invented Fraser alphabetFraser alphabetThe Fraser alphabet or Old Lisu Alphabet is an artificial script invented around 1915 by Sara Ba Thaw, a Karen preacher from Myanmar, and improved by the missionary James O. Fraser, to write the Lisu language. It is a single-case alphabet....
c. 1915. - Jeremiah RichJeremiah RichJeremiah Rich was an English stenographer, who published a pioneering system of shorthand writing.-Life:His uncle, William Cartwright, taught him shorthand, and he became a noted practitioner of the art...
- English, invented a system of shorthandShorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
in 1654. - J.M.R. LeJeune - Canadian, created Chinook writing, 1893, an adaptation and expansion of Duployan.
- Johannes Pantheus - German author, invented EnochianEnochianEnochian is a name often applied to an occult or angelic language recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his seer Edward Kelley in the late 16th century. The men claimed that it was revealed to them by angels...
alphabet in 1478. - Johannes TrithemiusJohannes TrithemiusJohannes Trithemius , born Johann Heidenberg, was a German abbot, lexicographer, historian, cryptographer, polymath and occultist who had an influence on later occultism. The name by which he is more commonly known is derived from his native town of Trittenheim on the Mosel in Germany.-Life:He...
- German cryptographer, invented an "Angelic" (magical) alphabet in 1499. - John ByromJohn ByromJohn Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS was an English poet and inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand. He is also remembered as the writer of the lyrics of Anglican hymn Christians Awake, salute the happy morn.- Early life :John Byrom was descended from an old...
- British poet, invented a system of shorthandShorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
c. 1715. - John DeeJohn Dee (mathematician)John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy....
- English alchemist, invented another EnochianEnochianEnochian is a name often applied to an occult or angelic language recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his seer Edward Kelley in the late 16th century. The men claimed that it was revealed to them by angels...
alphabet ca. 1582. - John R. Malone - American, developed the UNIFONUnifonUnifon is a phonemic orthography for English designed in the mid-1950s by Dr. John R. Malone, a Chicago economist and newspaper equipment consultant. It was developed into a teaching aid to help children acquire reading and writing skills. Like the pronunciation key in a dictionary, Unifon matches...
alphabet ca. 1955. - John Robert GreggJohn Robert GreggJohn Robert Gregg was an educator, publisher, humanitarian, and the inventor of the eponymous shorthand system Gregg Shorthand.-Childhood:...
- Irish author, invented Gregg ShorthandGregg ShorthandGregg shorthand is a form of stenography that was invented by John Robert Gregg in 1888. Like cursive longhand, it is completely based on elliptical figures and lines that bisect them. Gregg shorthand is the most popular form of pen stenography in the United States and its Spanish adaptation is...
c. 1888. - John William Tims - American, developed BlackfootBlackfoot languageBlackfoot, also known as Siksika , Pikanii, and Blackfeet, is the Algonquian language spoken by the Blackfoot tribes of Native Americans, who currently live in the northwestern plains of North America...
syllabary c. 1890. - John WillisJohn WillisAir Chief Marshal Sir John Frederick Willis GBE, KCB, FRAeS , was a senior Royal Air Force officer.-Flying career:...
- English, invented a system of shorthandShorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
in 1602.
K
- Karl Richard LepsiusKarl Richard LepsiusKarl Richard Lepsius was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist and linguist and pioneer of modern archaeology.-Background:...
- German linguist, developed Standard Alphabet by LepsiusStandard Alphabet by LepsiusThe Standard Alphabet by Lepsius is a Latin alphabet developed by Karl Richard Lepsius to write African languages. Published 1855 and in a revised edition in 1863, it was comprehensive but it was not used much as it contains a lot of diacritic marks and therefore was difficult to read, write and...
c. 1855. - Kisimi Kamala - Sierra Leonean, invented MendeMende languageMende is a major language of Sierra Leone, with some speakers in neighboring Liberia. It is spoken by the Mende people and by other ethnic groups as a regional lingua franca in southern Sierra Leone....
syllabary, Ki-ka-ku, in 1921. - KūkaiKukaiKūkai , also known posthumously as , 774–835, was a Japanese monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and ....
- Japanese monk, ascribed invention of KanaKanaKana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
syllabary c. 806, according to tradition.
M
- Mangei Gomango - Indian, invented Sorang SompengSorang SompengSorang Sompeng script is used to write in Sora, a Munda language with 273,911 speakers in India. The script was created by Mangei Gomango in 1936 and is used in religious contexts...
script in 1936. - Marcus Tullius TiroMarcus Tullius TiroMarcus Tullius Tiro was first a slave, then a freedman of Cicero.The date of Tiro's birth is uncertain. From Jerome it can be dated to 103 BC, which would make him only a little younger than Cicero...
- Roman secretary, ascribed invention of Tironian notesTironian notesTironian notes is a system of shorthand said to have been invented by Cicero's scribe Marcus Tullius Tiro. Tiro's system consisted of about 4,000 signs, somewhat extended in classical times to 5,000 signs. In the European Medieval period, Tironian notes were taught in monasteries and the system...
shorthand c. 63 BC, according to tradition. - Moubao Azong - Tibetan king, ascribed invention of Dongba scriptDongba scriptThe Dongba, Tomba or Tompa symbols are a system of pictographic glyphs used by the ²dto¹mba of the Naxi people in southern China. In the Naxi language it is called ²ss ³dgyu 'wood records' or ²lv ³dgyu 'stone records'. They are perhaps a thousand years old. The glyphs may be used as rebuses for...
, c. 1250 (?), according to tradition. - Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-KhwārizmīMuhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi'There is some confusion in the literature on whether al-Khwārizmī's full name is ' or '. Ibn Khaldun notes in his encyclopedic work: "The first who wrote upon this branch was Abu ʿAbdallah al-Khowarizmi, after whom came Abu Kamil Shojaʿ ibn Aslam." . 'There is some confusion in the literature on...
was born in Central Asia (c.778 - c.850) created the notations of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.
N
- NurhaciNurhaciNurhaci was an important Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late sixteenth century in what is today Northeastern China...
(king), or possibly his translators Erdeni and Gagai ? - Manchurians, created Manchu alphabetManchu alphabetThe Manchu alphabet was used for recording the now near-extinct Manchu language; a similar script is used today by the Xibe people, who speak a language descended from Manchu...
in 1599.
O
- OdinOdinOdin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
/*WōdanazWodanazor is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of a god of Germanic paganism, known as in Norse mythology, in Old English, or in Old High German and in Lombardic...
- the chief god in Scandinavian/Germanic paganism (The poem HávamálHávamálHávamál is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom....
)Runic alphabetRunic alphabetThe runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
Futhark (Later Futhorc) c. 150 AD (?) per tradition. - OgmaOgmaOgma is a character from Irish mythology and Scottish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gallic god Ogmios....
- legendary Irish deified chieftain, also ascribed invention of Ogham writing c. 1875 BC (?) according to tradition. - Ong KommadamOng KommandamOng Kommandam was the right hand man of Ong Keo. He quickly picked up the struggle for independence with far greater success because he was able to unite the highland minorities of Southern Laos. In 1910, he was shot by French Résident Supérieur of Salavan, Jacques Dauplay, who had supposedly...
- Laotian freedom fighter, developed the Khom scriptKhom scriptThere are two scripts in Southeast Asia called Khom script. This article describes the obscure script from Laos that Sidwell and Jacq have described under the name "Khom script"....
, first used 1926. - Osman Yusuf KenadidOsman Yusuf Kenadid-Biography:In the early 1920s, in response to a national campaign to settle on a standard orthography for the Somali language , Kenadid, a leader in the Majeerteen Sultanate of Hobyo in Somalia and nephew of Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid, devised a phonetically sophisticated alphabet called Osmanya for...
- Somali, invented Osmanya script c. 1921.
P
- Pandit Raghunath MurmuPandit Raghunath MurmuPandit Raghunath Murmu was the creator of the writing known variously as Ol Chiki script, Ol Cemet' , Ol Ciki, Ol, and sometimes as the Santali alphabet, in 1925, used for writing the Santali language of India and neighbouring countries...
- Indian, created Ol Chiki scriptOl Chiki scriptThe Ol Chiki script, also known as Ol Cemetʼ , Ol Ciki, Ol , was created in 1925 by Raghunath Murmu for the Santali language. Previously, Santali had been written with the Bengali alphabet, Oriya alphabet, or Latin alphabet, on the rare occasions it was written at all...
in 1925. - ParacelsusParacelsusParacelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....
- Swiss alchemist, invented Alphabet of the MagiAlphabet of the MagiThe Alphabet of the Magi was an alphabet invented by Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim for the use of engraving angelic names upon talismans. It was likely influenced by the various undefined alphabets from older Grimoires of the time....
c. 1520. - Peter Benjamin GrahamPeter Benjamin GrahamPeter Benjamin Graham , was an Australian visual artist, a master craftsman in a variety of printing techniques, and an art theorist. Peter saw no contradiction between abstract and figurative art...
- Australian artist, invented New Epoch Notation Painting in 1964. - Pharnavaz I of IberiaPharnavaz I of IberiaPharnavaz I was the first king of Kartli, an ancient Georgian kingdom known as Iberia to the Classical sources, who is credited by the medieval Georgian written tradition with founding the kingship of Kartli and the Parnavaziani dynasty...
- Iberian king, ascribed development of Georgian alphabetGeorgian alphabetThe Georgian alphabet is the writing system used to write the Georgian language and other Kartvelian languages , and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus such as Ossetic and Abkhaz during the 1940s...
in 284 BC, according to tradition.
R
- Ramkhamhaeng the GreatRamkhamhaeng the GreatPho Khun Ram Khamhaeng was the third king of the Phra Ruang dynasty, ruling the Sukhothai Kingdom from 1279–1298, during its most prosperous era. He is credited with the creation of the Thai alphabet and the firm establishment of Theravada Buddhism as the state religion of the kingdom...
- Thai king, ascribed invention of Thai alphabetThai alphabetThai script , is used to write the Thai language and other, minority, languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks ....
in 1283, according to tradition. - Reginald John Garfield Dutton - British, invented Dutton SpeedwordsDutton SpeedwordsDutton Speedwords , sometimes called rapmotz, is an international auxiliary language as well a shorthand writing system. It was invented by Reginald J. G. Dutton in 1922. It was first published in 1935 under the title International Symbolic Script and a year later using the name Speedwords...
shorthand in 1922. - Ríg - (identified as HeimdallHeimdallIn Norse mythology, Heimdallr is a god who possesses the resounding horn Gjallarhorn, owns the golden-maned horse Gulltoppr, has gold teeth, and is the son of Nine Mothers...
) gave the runes to his son, Jarl (Poetic EddaPoetic EddaThe Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...
poem Rígsþula) Runic alphabetRunic alphabetThe runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
Futhark (Later Futhorc) c. 150 AD (?) per tradition. - Robert BoydRobert Boyd (stenographer)Robert Boyd , of Russell, Ontario, Canada, was the inventor of a system of shorthand, Boyd's Syllabic Shorthand. The system was first published in 1903, with a later publication in 1912....
- American, invented Boyd's Syllabic ShorthandBoyd's Syllabic ShorthandBoyd's syllabic shorthand is a system of shorthand invented by Robert Boyd, published originally in 1903, and updated in 1912. In this system, symbols are distinguished both by orientation and shape, with the shape representing the vowel and the orientation the consonant...
in 1903. - Ronald Kingsley ReadRonald Kingsley ReadRonald Kingsley Read was one of four contestants chosen to share the prize money for the design of the Shavian alphabet, a completely new alphabet intended for writing English...
- British, invented the Shavian (early 1960s) and QuikscriptQuikscriptQuikscript is an alphabet specifically designed for the English language. Quikscript replaces traditional English orthography, which uses the Latin alphabet, with completely new letters. It is phonemically regular, compact, and comfortably and quickly written...
(1966) writing systems.
S
- Saint Clement of OhridClement of OhridSaint Clement of Ohrid was a medieval Bulgarian saint, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. He was the most prominent disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, especially their popularisation among...
- Archbishop, ascribed invention of Cyrillic alphabetCyrillic alphabetThe Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
c. 900, according to tradition. - Saint MesrobSaint MesrobSaint Mesrop Mashtots was an Armenian monk, theologian and linguist. He is best known for having invented the Armenian alphabet, which was a fundamental step in strengthening the Armenian Church, the government of the Armenian Kingdom, and ultimately the bond between the Armenian Kingdom and...
- Armenian monk, created the Armenian alphabetArmenian alphabetThe Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and contained originally 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages...
in c. 405. - Saint CyrilSaints Cyril and MethodiusSaints Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they...
- Greek monk, believed to have created Glagolitic alphabetGlagolitic alphabetThe Glagolitic alphabet , also known as Glagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Slavic glagolъ "utterance" . The verb glagoliti means "to speak"...
c. 863. - Saint Shahjalal - Bengali, ascribed invention of Syloti Nagri alphabet c. 1300, according to tradition.
- Sam PollardSam Pollard- Sources used : — Dingle describes how Sam Pollard used positioning of vowel marks relative to consonants to indicate tones — Morrison recounts meeting Sam Pollard and his wife at the Bible Christian Mission in 1894 — reports on an article in The Sunday Times describing the...
- British missionary, invented Pollard scriptPollard scriptThe Pollard script, also known as Pollard Miao, is an abugida loosely based on the Latin alphabet and invented by Methodist missionary Sam Pollard. Pollard invented the script for use with A-Hmao, one of several dialects of the Hmong language. The script underwent a series of revisions until 1936,...
in 1905. - Samuel F. B. MorseSamuel F. B. MorseSamuel Finley Breese Morse was an American contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, co-inventor of the Morse code, and an accomplished painter.-Birth and education:...
- American inventor, invented Morse codeMorse codeMorse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
c. 1835. - Samuel TaylorSamuel Taylor (stenographer)Samuel Taylor was the British inventor of a widely-used system of stenography.He began working on his own method of stenography in 1773, based on earlier efforts. In 1786, he published An essay intended to establish à standard for an universal system of Stenography, or Short-hand writing, the...
- American, invented Universal Stenography system of shorthandShorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
in 1792. - Sejong the Great of JoseonSejong the Great of JoseonSejong the Great was the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. During his regency, he reinforced Korean Confucian policies and executed major legal amendments . He also used the creation of Hangul and the advancement of technology to expand his territory...
- Korean king, invented HangulHangulHangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
writing in c. 1443, promulgated in 1446. - SequoyahSequoyahSequoyah , named in English George Gist or George Guess, was a Cherokee silversmith. In 1821 he completed his independent creation of a Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible...
, Cherokee silversmith, invented CherokeeCherokee languageCherokee is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system. It is the only Southern Iroquoian language that remains spoken. Cherokee is a polysynthetic language.-North American etymology:...
syllabary c. 1819. - Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh NuurSheikh Abdurahman Sheikh NuurSheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur was a Somali religious leader and the inventor of the Borama script for the Somali language.-Biography:Nuur was born in Borama, Somalia to a Gadabuursi Dir family...
- Somali, invented Borama scriptBorama scriptThe Borama script is a writing script for the Somali language. It was devised around 1933 by Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur of the Gadabuursi clan.-History:...
c. 1933. - Shong Lue YangShong Lue YangShong Lue Yang was a Hmong spiritual leader and inventor of the Pahawh script, an semi-syllabary for writing dialects of the Hmong language, as well as the Khmu language...
- Laotian, created Pahawh HmongPahawh HmongPahawh Hmong is an indigenous semi-syllabic script, invented in 1959, to write the Hmong language.-Form:Pahawh is written left to right...
alphabet in 1959. - Sirijonga - Nepalese king, ascribed invention of Limbu alphabet c. 880, according to tradition.
- Stephen of PermStephen of PermSaint Stephen of Perm was a fourteenth century missionary credited with the conversion of the Komi Permyaks to Christianity and the establishment of the Bishopric of Perm'. Stephen also created the Old Permic script, which makes him the founding-father of Permian written tradition...
- Russian missionary, invented the Old Permic scriptOld Permic scriptThe Old Permic script, sometimes called Abur or Anbur, is an original ancient Permic writing system.-History:The alphabet was introduced by a Russian missionary, Stepan Khrap, also known as Saint Stephen of Perm in 1372. The name Abur is derived from the names of the first two characters: An and Bur...
alphabet in 1372. - Sol Chong - inventor of the Korean Idu script and Gugyeol scriptGugyeolGugyeol is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. It was chiefly used during the Joseon Dynasty, when readings of the Chinese classics were of paramount social importance...
(c.650 - c.730), according to tradition. - Solomana KanteSolomana KanteSoulemayne Kante or Solomana Kante was an African writer and inventor of the N'Ko alphabet for the Mande languages of West Africa...
- Guinean author, invented the N'KoN'KoN'Ko is both a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949 as a writing system for the Mande languages of West Africa, and the name of the literary language itself written in the script. The term N'Ko means 'I say' in all Manding languages....
alphabet in 1949.
T
- TenevilTenevilTenevil was a Chukchi reindeer herder, living in the tundra near the settlement of Ust-Belaya in Russian province of Chukotka. Around 1927 or 1928 he independently invented a writing system for the Chukchi language. It has never been established with certainty whether the symbols in this writing...
- ChukchiChukchi peopleThe Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
reindeer herder, developed a writing system for Chukchi languageChukchi languageThe Chukchi language is a Palaeosiberian language spoken by Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug...
c. 1931. - Thikúng Men Salóng - Bhutanese scholar, invented Lepcha scriptLepcha scriptThe Lepcha script, or Róng script is an abugida used by the Lepcha people to write the Lepcha language. Unusually for an abugida, syllable-final consonants are written as diacritics.-History:...
some time around 1700. - Thomas HarriotThomas HarriotThomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland...
- English mathematician, invented phonetic alphabetPhonetic alphabetPhonetic alphabet can mean:* phonetic transcription system: a system for transcribing the precise sounds of human speech into writing.** International Phonetic Alphabet : the most widespread such system...
for transcribing Carolina Algonquian languageCarolina Algonquian languageCarolina Algonquian is an extinct Algonquian language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup formerly spoken in North Carolina, United States....
in 1584. - Thomas MoreThomas MoreSir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
- English author, invented Utopian alphabet in 1516. - Thomas SheltonThomas SheltonThomas Shelton was the English translator of Don Quixote. Shelton's was the first translation of the novel into any language.-Life:...
- English translator, developed Short Writing, an early shorthandShorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
, in 1626. - Thonmi SambhotaThonmi SambhotaThonmi Sambhota [bhrahmi samhita; localized form of ]is traditionally regarded as the creator of the Tibetan script and author of the Sum cu pa and Rtags kyi 'jug pa in the 7th century AD. Thonmi Sambhota is not mentioned in any of the Old Tibetan Annals or other ancient texts, although the Annals...
- legendary Tibetan scribe, ascribed invention of Tibetan scriptTibetan scriptThe Tibetan alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Denzongkha, Ladakhi language and sometimes the Balti language. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday...
c. 650, according to tradition. - ThothThothThoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
- mythical Egyptian deity, ascribed invention of Egyptian hieroglyphics c. 3000 BC (?) according to tradition. - Timothy BrightTimothy BrightTimothy Bright, M.D. was an English physician and clergyman, the inventor of modern shorthand.-Early life:Bright was born in or about 1551, probably in the neighbourhood of Sheffield. He matriculated as a sizar at Trinity College, Cambridge, 'impubes, æt. 11,' on 21 May 1561, and graduated B.A. in...
- English, invented Characterie shorthandShorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
in 1588. - Tony Koyu - from Arunachal Pradesh invented Tani Lipi a scientific script of Arunachal Pradesh in 2001.
U
- UlfilasUlfilasUlfilas, or Gothic Wulfila , bishop, missionary, and Bible translator, was a Goth or half-Goth and half-Greek from Cappadocia who had spent time inside the Roman Empire at the peak of the Arian controversy. Ulfilas was ordained a bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work...
, Goth missionary, believed to have invented Gothic alphabetGothic alphabetThe Gothic alphabet is an alphabet for writing the Gothic language, created in the 4th century by Ulfilas for the purpose of translating the Christian Bible....
c. 350 AD , according to tradition. - UyaqukUyaqukUyaquq was a Yupik Moravian missionary and linguistic genius who went from being an illiterate adult to inventing a series of writing systems for his native language and then producing translations of the Bible and other religious works in a period of five years.Uyaquk was born in into a family of...
- Yupik (Alaska Native) missionary, invented YugtunYugtunYugtun is a dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska. A syllabic script, now referred to as the Yugtun script, was invented in the early 1900s by Uyaquk to write the language....
script c. 1900.
V
- Valerie SuttonValerie SuttonValerie Sutton is a developer of movement notation and a former dancer.She was born in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City, the daughter of a physicist father and a poet/model mother...
- American choreographer, developed MovementWriting for transcribing dance in 1972 and SignWritingSignWritingSignWriting is a system of writing sign languages. It is highly featural and visually iconic, both in the shapes of the characters, which are abstract pictures of the hands, face, and body, and in their spatial arrangement on the page, which does not follow a sequential order like the letters that...
for transcribing sign languages in 1974. - Vuk Stefanović KaradžićVuk Stefanovic KaradžicVuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philolog and linguist, the major reformer of the Serbian language, and deserves, perhaps, for his collections of songs, fairy tales, and riddles to be called the father of the study of Serbian folklore. He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary...
, Serbian linguistLinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, developed Serbian Cyrillic alphabetSerbian Cyrillic alphabetThe Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
c. 1818, adapting Cyrillic alphabet.
W
- Wanyan XiyinWanyan XiyinWanyan Xiyin was a trusted advisor of the Jurchen chieftain, Wanyan Aguda . Described by modern writers as the "Chief Shaman" of the pre-Jin Jurchen state, he became deeply interested in Chinese culture, and isparticularly known as the creator of the first writing system for the Jurchen...
- Manchurian scribe, invented Jurchen scriptJurchen scriptJurchen script was the writing system used to write Jurchen language, the language of the Jurchen people who created the Jin Empire in the northeastern China of the 12th–13th centuries. It was derived from the Khitan script, which in turn was derived from Chinese...
in 1120. - Wido Zobo - Liberian, invented Loma syllabary ca. 1935.
- William Bell WaitWilliam Bell WaitWilliam Bell Wait was a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind who invented New York Point, a system of writing for the blind that enjoyed wide use in the United States before the Braille system was universally adopted there. Mr...
- American teacher, invented New York PointNew York PointNew York Point is a system of writing for the blind invented by William Bell Wait , a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. The system used three bases of equidistant points arranged in two horizontal lines with one, two, three or four points in each line...
system in 1868.
Y
- Yang Shong lue - Hmong, invented Pahawh script in 1959.
- Yeli RenrongYeli RenrongYeli Renrong was a scholar close to the Tangut Emperor Li Yuanhao, who, according to the official History of Song , commanded him to design the complex Tangut script in 1036 or 1038, based on Chinese writing, for use in writing the Tangut language....
- Tangut scholar, invented Tangut scriptTangut scriptThe Tangut script was a logographic writing system, used for writing the extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia Dynasty. According to the latest count, 5863 Tangut characters are known, excluding variants...
in 1036.
Z
- Zaya PanditZaya PanditZaya Pandita or Namkhaijantsan was a Buddhist missionary priest and scholar of Oirat origin who is the most prominent Oirat Buddhist scholar....
- Kalmuk lama, developed Todo script in 1648. - Zhang BinglinZhang BinglinZhang Binglin was a Chinese philologist, textual critic and anti-Manchu revolutionary.His philological works include Wen Shi , the first systematic work of Chinese etymology...
- Chinese linguist, invented shorthand that was developed into Zhuyin in 1913.