Re: Genghis Khan

[bfarnell@xxxxxxx]

Bruce Grant wrote:
> 
> The "Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems" by Florian Coulmas, a
> really
> interesting book, has a article about this script. It is called
> 'Phags-pa and was
> designed on the orders of Khublai Khan by a Tibetan. Though based on
> Tibetan
> script, it was apparently designed for writing Mongolian and was written
> in
> vertical columns, left to right. Later, Khublai Khan attempted to make
> it the
> standard script of the Mongol Empire, and it was used to some degree for
> Chinese,
> Turkish, Sanskrit and Tibetan. The book gives the complete alphabet and
> has a
> picture of a metal pendant (a "safe conduct pass") written in the
> script.
> 
> Bruce
>

Oh well, thought it was a longshot, but the possibility was so cool I
got really excited.  I would have loved for it to have been a remnant of
the Mongols, just because I have a long fascination with them. Thanks
for the reference, I want to read up on it anyway.

Regards,
Brian