Writing systems of Asia

History of the writing systems of Asia, Cuneiform, Indus script, Linear Elamite, Chinese characters, Aramaic, Greek, Brahmic, Pahlavi, Syriac, Arabic, Sogdian, Hanja, Armenian, Georgian scripts, Kanji, Kana, Sawndip, Devanagari, Tibetan, Old Turkic, Old Uyghur, Bengali-Assamese, Khmer, Thai, Laotian, Burmese, Chu Nom, Mongol, 'Phags-Pa, Manchu, Oirat, Hangul, Latin, Cyrillic
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support the channel with an ebook purchase or a donation. Thank you for your support. You help make the channel better
www.amazon.com/dp/B07QSC7BD1
www.amazon.com/dp/B07WS28WV7
www.paypal.com/paypalme/costa...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music:
The Heartache - Ugonna Onyekwe
Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
Lost Frontier by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@llamallama1509]

So there was a brief historical period around 50BC when people writing in Greek and Chinese met? Kinda awesome.

[@paulmayson3129]

They even had a Greek-Chinese War!

[@CostasMelas]

It is known from the chinese sources, the war of the heavenly horses between Han and Dayuan (Greeks)

[@covertfeelings8330]

@@CostasMelas wait, does dayuan mean foreigners?

[@therandomizer9943]

@@covertfeelings8330 Dayuan in English is Greeks. That's what the Chinese people called them back then

[@christopherhardy8808]

Yes, Kings and Generals has a video on it

[@sunolili862]

the fact that cuneiform still existed 2000 years ago and not just like in bronze age, makes me feel things

[@justacrow9847]

Just don't get very excited. You might have an accident.

[@GreenArt4]

The last Egyptian hieroglyphs were even more recent, in 394AD!

[@kademcarthur5362]

Cuneiform looks almost alien.

[@fountainpen4945]

Central Asia seems to have experienced a bit of everything, truly fascinating !

[@juandiegovalverde1982]

That’s because it is in the center of Asia.

[@puljz8551]

@@juandiegovalverde1982 yeah

[@awellculturedmanofanime1246]

more like the center of eurasia though @@juandiegovalverde1982

[@MartinMizner]

People learning European languages: *slightly different words* People learning Asian languages: *completely different alphabets* (yes, writing systems)

[@EnderSpino]

They're more like writing systems than alphabets

[@juandiegovalverde1982]

The Chinese characters (hanzi, kanji) are not an alphabet. Each one of them represents an idea, not a sound. The kanas of the Japanese (hiragana, katakana) are syllabaries. Each one of them represents a syllable.

[@juandiegovalverde1982]

@Nephalim Power how do you know?

[@puljz8551]

@Nephalim Power wtf

[@puljz8551]

@UCKGX8NG0RIJE6Li5RW9015w It was the Romans you idiot

[@asyndeton]

Great video as always! The ways of writing in Europe are widely known but this diversity in Asia is just awesome to see like this on a map!

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@denizmetint.462]

And not only through war.

[@Syllaeus]

@@CostasMelas Why didn’t you show Greece using the Phoenician writing system?

[@sathiskumar911]

@@CostasMelas Bhrami scripts are derived from Indus scripts You have done a mistake recent archeology findings in tamilnadu keladi has proved Bhrami is from South India dates back to 600 bC. From potteries

[@arta.xshaca]

@Sathiskumar Yes and No. Cuneiform (the grandfather of all writing scripts) had symbols for each word. So it had a huge vocabulary. But Aramaic was made from it and it was easy as it had each symbol for a letter. It spread through Alexander's Empire and Greek(another grandson of Cuneiform) emerged and also became widespread. Aramaic was spread to the Indus Valley,where it was converted into Brahmi. And Greek took over Aramaic(though it still existed for a time).But earlier Cuneiform was transformed by Elamites to Linear Elamite script. Then with trade across land,Elamites shared it with their linguistic brothers Harappans who made it into Indus script. Indus script was also used among the Dr and IAs for a time and influenced Aramaic also which came in the same place,thus Brahmi was created. An amalgam of mostly Aramaic and also a great deal of Indus script.

[@olbiomoiros]

Seeing Greek and Chinese overlap is so weird yet fascinating!!

[@DarkenMapper03]

It's crazy to see that the Ancient Greek alphabet and Chinese characters once overlapped

[@iamseamonkey6688]

this must have been hell to make it's so hard to keep track of. honestly massive respect for being able to do this. this must have been one of your most difficult projects. congratulations

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you. Indeed, it was one of the most difficult I have made

[@facileengineering1668]

@@CostasMelas The Background Music was so moving especially when almost most of Asia was becoming Dark Green and India was still Orange 👍. Proud of the great sacrifices of our Ancestors to help us retain our cultural and linguistic identity.

[@sunolili862]

not to be petty, but i wish you would use a map a bit bigger so we could fully see caucasian mountains and arabian peninsula

[@angamaitesangahyando685]

This is a nice trade-off. Don't forget that it's quite hard to find a decent map to begin with. And if there is a larger map, it will include Central Asia and Siberia, the useless lands with no civilisation. Asia is China+India+Iran+Indochina. - Adûnâi

[@sunolili862]

@Armo Moose who on earth thinks Arabian peninsula is not Asia??

[@gnjc3480]

Siberia isn't showed completely either

[@DanksterPaws]

@@sunolili862 Geographically sure, but politically and culturally, it is more closely tied to Europe and Africa

[@franciscoflamenco]

@Nephalim Power How can you not see that? It is pretty clear that the Middle East has much closer ties to North Africa, and to a lesser extent to Europe and the rest of Africa, than it does with the rest of Asia.

[@helterhhh]

Sanskrit inscription have been found in southern Vietnam (then the Funan Empire) dating from the 1st century CE.

[@piesause1376]

True I'm Cambodian I learned it in school. But maybe it's not as widespread. It's only used by monks, religious pilgrims and merchants at the port cities of the Mekong delta. And later by the royalties. But the people didn't know how to write the khmer language out in scripts yet.

[@safuwanfauzi5014]

@@piesause1376 im from malaysia, this map not totally accurate because southern thai from nakhon si thamarat or in malay we called ligor writien in kawi script used all in malay archipelago, then we switch to jawi or modified arabic with additional own script for our sound, patani region, santun, trang, krabi, phuket writen in jawi spoke malay while in chumpon are mon-khmer before all these people become thai. this not show all southeast asia script like old malay script like rencong, sumatra script like batak, gayo, rejang, kerinci, minangkabau, lampung, sulawesi, jawa, maluku, borneo script like iban script, luntarsug script in east coast of sabah, philippine pre-spainsh scipt like baybayin, tagbanwa, huanoo, buhid, luntarsug in sulu archipelago near sabah and others, except papua island dont have script. today javaese, balinese, sundaese, bugis sulawesi, lampung sumatran, batak sumtran, malay of bengkulu, south sumatran and jambi still used own script but not as offical as regional and heritage script.

[@user-no5qd4py5m]

Sanskrit was a parasite.. dont have scripit of its own.. Now using nagari script

[@knowledgedesk1653]

@@user-no5qd4py5m Still influenced more area than Tamil

[@nopek1405]

@@user-no5qd4py5m lol,we do not need a tamil chauvinist here and there 😂😂

[@YummYakitori]

There is also the Tangut, Jurchen and Khitan scripts which were developed based on Chinese characters

[@aayushagarwal4138]

Northern and southern bhrahmi have a lot of variations, e.g. tamil,Punjabi,Leia,telugu etc which are unintelligible like say Greek and Latin and cyrillic

[@byron-ih2ge]

They are like independent of each other

[@yuzhouyan7217]

Whereas the Chinese characters in China, Korea, and Japan had been totally intelligible to each other up to WW2. I don't know why this video separates them from the outset.

[@angamaitesangahyando685]

Telugu and Kannada are similar, however, right? And Devanagari is almost the same as Gujarati? Even the Siddham-derived Bengali is somewhat similar to Devanagari. And then you have the Odia, Sinhalese, Tamil and Malayalam scripts... Which are also connected to the likes of Thai/Lao/Khmer and Burmese. I've been drawing a map myself, could you split them in rough groups if you are familiar with them? - Adûnâi

[@dwarasamudra8889]

@@angamaitesangahyando685 People often forget about how influential the Odias were. People often think that it was only the Tamilians that influenced South East Asia but Odias and Bengalis had a huge influence too. The Odia script looks more similar to the Burmese script to me than any South Indian script.

[@infinite5795]

@@dwarasamudra8889 Odias influenced Balinese culture as well. That's why, Malaysians and Indonesians still call indians today as Keling ( the older name of Odisha, Kalinga) and we Odias still celebrate Bali jatra.

[@udayanbaidya8696]

Aah the lost indus valley script

[@d.dementedengineerc99isurf26]

You'd figure Sumeria/Old Babylon surely knew of the Indus valley script, but it's a mystery to us even now. Strange.

[@udayanbaidya8696]

@@d.dementedengineerc99isurf26 We need a Rosette stone equivalent really

[@karaqakkzl]

@@udayanbaidya8696 you mean Rashid stone

[@henricoz_9745]

@@karaqakkzl Rosette to Latins and Westerners

[@elfarlaur]

There have been examples of it found as far as Bahrain so there is hope that we will find a Resetta stone type inscription some day.

[@felixmiles4909]

Mr Costas Melas, once again i lift my hat respectfully. Your animations require a tremendous amount of work and research, whereas other youtubers are making a thoughtless bullsh.t and they have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Your work is educational and valuable. I salute you.

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you very much. Your comment is support to continue

[@rupalitales5444]

@@CostasMelas Odia, Bengali is brahmi scripts not Dev nageri

[@mycarima3497]

the egypts, and then the middle east, had really created legacy in spreading the writing systems on majority of the world. on the other hand, the chinese also creates their own legacy by creating their unique writing systems themselves and spread it throughout east asia. truly an interesting video and channel. thank you for making this!

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@serge2ndsiberian652]

Да, Ближний Восток - это кухня, где новые виды письменности пеклись как пирожки, одна за другой! 🍞🍔🍕🍮🍰🍩🎂

[@arta.xshaca]

Thanks for giving the video I wanted! Great as always!

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@limeliciousmapping4652]

I love your content! It's always so interesting, I immediately click

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@solomonchow6494]

I waiting for this for a long time...

[@bluetannery1527]

i love this channel so much. i just. you should know how badass this channel is

[@tangushreder9079]

Cool video! We are waiting for next about another tipes of writing sistems in Africa or in North and South Americas .

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@sminsmin3456]

There is Hyangchal and Gugyeol, similar to Kana, modified Chinese characters. It was used in most of Korea before the creation of Hangul

[@bendahara8284]

My country still use Jawi script. But, we didn't use it widely anymore only for religious events related to Islam. We learn it in "sekolah rakyat" (an Islamic school) from age 7-12. *Jawi is a type of Arabic script to write the Malay language.

[@aman-hl9re]

Jumpa orang Melayu

[@HistoryofAztlan]

Amazing video. I’m glad I came across it. I have a question: when did the Greek script stop being used completely in the area east of modern Iran? On your map it’s still there by 200 AD. What is the latest use of it that you found in your research. I thought that it died out by the time of Kanishka the Great when he declared that the Greek alphabet would not be used anymore in 136 AD.

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you. After Kanishka there were a rapid decline in Bactria, but a minor usage was kept for a while. Moreover some around peoples such as Indo-Scythians kept the usage of the Greek for a small period later

[@connormurphy683]

Could you please do languages of Mexico + Central America? I would really like to see the history of language shift visualized

[@CostasMelas]

I would love to make them in the future

[@weifan9533]

4:28, old Zhuang characters were not called "Sandwip" but "Sawndip", where "Saw" means "characters" and "Ndip" means "crude" (cognate with Proto-Austronesian *Qudip "Raw, Crude"), so the literally meaning would be "crude characters".

[@kutaykalender2321]

i was going to write this, but you wrote it :D

[@figmundsreud8000]

Always that one guy that just has to show how smart he is right? Keep it up man, everyone loves a know it all. 🧐🤮 how bout u just appreciate the incredible amount of effort and research he did 😁

[@weifan9533]

@@figmundsreud8000 I certainly appreciate his effort, but as a responsible viewer I also need to point out his error.

[@12.haikalfk80]

ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮛ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ ᮊᮤᮝᮛᮤ Modern Sundanese Script, the derivative from Old Sundanese and Pallawa (Brahmic) Script that used in Priangan/Pasundan Area, Indonesia

[@joacoolcipher]

Can you make history of Sino-Tibetan languages?

[@user-tv4ih2kq6r]

But as I recall these major writing systems are just groups, right? Cuz as I research before like Brahmic, as it approaches other native groups its structure rapidly changes to the point theyre mutually unintelligible to each other. Such as Indochina, malayan archipelago, and Indian subcontinent, even parts of China and central Asia. Like as well, Kulitan of Philippines, a Brahmic derived scripts that has been sinicized due to Hokkein (Chinese) immigrants. Nice video tho.

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you. Beautiful nickname with letters from different alphabets, Latin, Cyrillic, Greek :)

[@JcDizon]

I think Kulitan adopting the vertical style of writing like Chinese might be a recent phenomenon, like a few decades and only a small minority practiced it. I am partially from the Kapampangan ethnic group and I only learned about the existence of the Kulitan a few years ago through KZbin videos. I asked an uncle about it and he was so surprised that it exists. Though I admit, I grew up in Canada and barely know much about Kapampangan culture but I've been researching ancient Filipino scripts for over 15 years and Kulitan only popped up in the internet a few years ago. I was thinking that it wasn't much different from the Tagalog Baybayin and it's just the Kapampangan variant of Baybayin.

[@user-tv4ih2kq6r]

@@JcDizon actually among Philippine writing system, kulitan is entirely different from the rest. Some considered other writing systems as just different penmanship and few changes to suit the langauge, but Kulitan, itself works differently from others to make it exclusively different.

[@kevaran1422]

The Philippines is trying to revive its Southern Brahmic Scripts namely Baybayin, Badlit, Kulitan, Hanunuo, Kurdita, Basahan, Buhid, Tagbanwa Scripts.

[@andreyserebryakov2231]

Good one! It was very interesting

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@David240500]

What sources do you use to make these videos? They’re very good, is there a place we can donate?

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you. I have used numerous sources that I will organise them and I add them in the description part. I haven't make a place about donate yet. Maybe in the future, when I will have made more integral job

[@SxVaNm345]

Asia has gotta have the most diverse native and historic writing systems in the world, this should be enlightening

[@thanasisvoutsas461]

Bigger area more writing systems

[@mechanikalbull5626]

@@thanasisvoutsas461 false. Africa is huge but only certain few writing system emerged, even icluding arabic, it is fewer than asia. Same on combined north and south america, what is their ancient writing system? I can’t recall one

[@anirudh177]

@@mechanikalbull5626 I think we only the Mayan and Aztec scripts.

[@shivpatel733]

Yes but most of this diversity is being lost with the adoption of Latin script

[@anirudh177]

@@shivpatel733 Wait, which Asians adopted Latin script.

[@s.ayenigeldim3687]

Great

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@menear]

great video! but why is west asia (aka middle east) not included? is west asia, not asia??? i always hate it when maps show "asia" but it is only eastern asia

[@CostasMelas]

I have made a separate video about the Middle East

[@mj9665]

Good job!

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@dildarinsan7246]

Fantastic video 👍💯.....So many cultural diversity in our continent Salam from Bangladesh 🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩 ভালোবাসা অবিরাম ❤️👍

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you :)

[@PPTScience]

Korea did not continue to use Chinese characters from China, but used improved characters such as Idu, Hyangchal, and Gugyeol that were more optimized for Korean language.

[@user-wm6rm4un4s]

Absolutely Right ! You may say that again👍

[@maxwalker1159]

Cool

[@KH-hw4cu]

Great work 👍👍👍

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@DanksterPaws]

So since the Brahmic langauges extended as far as the Philippine Islands (There it was called Baybayin which you didnt differentiate from the other Kawi scripts). That would mean that the Phoenician script, is the ancestor of almost all scripts. From Latin To Greek To Brahmic.

[@CostasMelas]

Yes, except from the Chinese group and Hangul

[@dayangmarikit6860]

We also used Kawi in the Philippines before Baybayin developed.

[@dayangmarikit6860]

@@CostasMelas - Mayans had their own writing system and also the Rongorongo in Easter Island.

[@ngaefweh5712]

I always wondering how was the transition of Persian language from using Pahlavi script to Perso-Arabic script, it is very interesting to me. Sorry for my poor English 🙏🙏

[@kxnyshk]

It happened after the decline of Zoroastrianism from Persia, Zoroasters' most works were written down in Pahlavi, but after the Arabic invasion by Rashiddun and Umayyid Caliphs resp. Zoroastrians were highly executed, much of whom fled and took refugee in what is modern day Western coast of India, where their art and cultured later flourished however Pahlavi script couldn't make it. And back there in Persia, a new script called Parso-Arabic emerged which is in continuation till now. Interestingly this Parso-Arabic script also gave birth to Nastaliq script, which is used to write some Indian languages like Urdu (in Ind/Pak), Punjabi (Pak), Kashmiri (Ind/Pak).

[@nothingexists5066]

Why you use Arabic scripts use brahmi script Indus script 3500bce > brahmi script

[@user-vs7gv4cn8o]

Brahmi ftom Phoenician ​@@nothingexists5066

[@Meow-ml5hv]

Wow, it seems much more diverse and mixed than in video about Europe

[@CostasMelas]

Diversity in Europe is gradually declining but in Asia it is maintained

[@dayangmarikit6860]

@yitzhak shekkelsteingoldmanberg - (Diversity is declining because of race mixing?)... that's a paradoxical statement.

[@salmanahmadabbasi6791]

Great video. I love how you simplify such complex things. A suggestion: no mention of Kharoshthi script, that was widely used in antiquity in Bactria and Indus before Brahmi scripts.

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you. It is considered a type of Brahmi script

[@iSyriux]

@@CostasMelas No it's not

[@golonawailus4312]

there were actually Khitan script (large version and small version), Tangut script, Jurchen script varied from Chinese characters, but all disappeared later

[@kevaran1422]

i wonder what causes the decline of indus script. usually its because other scripts overrun it but here it just died off.

[@bbenjoe]

Kazakhstan is switching to the latin alphabet, and Mongolia is also starting to bring back it's traditional writing system to a certain level.

[@francescocampanile8587]

Very good, I love this tipe of map, I would like the time map about writing sistems in America 😄, I hope it

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@randomuser522]

There have been a number of scripts that you have missed/missed their mapping that were in the Arabian peninsula

[@brettfafata3017]

I wonder why Mongolia never adopted some variety of Chinese characters. Going off of geography alone it seems way more likely than them adopting a script that comes from Arabic.

[@erlingqiericyice1977]

before Mongol empire, there are several languages group that is adopted by Northern nomaids yet not shown on this map, which I do not know why. The kithan Liao the Jurchen Jin. Mongol is a minority in Liao empire.

[@jutea9858]

Chinese characters seem to have been used during the Yuan Dynasty.

[@38-jishjilson89]

The traditional Mongolian script is from Syriac not from Arabic.

[@deexero]

They did. It was the Liao Dynasty cousins of the Mongol people.

[@alexandergalitevstudentfvh8696]

religion.

[@natt07048]

I like how you represented maritime Southeast Asia in the latter parts, Malaysia and Indonesia purple with hints of green, while the Philippines purple with hints of brown. Latin script may have taken over for everyday and official use because of colonial influence, but their older historical scripts weren't exactly wiped out and still have cultural importance. I'm actually glad that more Filipinos are starting to learn about our ancient scripts ☺️

[@ianhomerpura8937]

They still use the Jawi script in BARMM, especially during elections.

[@natt07048]

@@ianhomerpura8937 oooo that's nice. Can the majority read them?

[@azhariusman9428]

actually abugidas in indonesia didn't die until japanese occupation. you can still go to antique shops and buy magazines and novels written in javanese script from 1930s. so it's not 'ancient' with the case of Indonesia. such a cringe word.

[@natt07048]

@@azhariusman9428 sorry, I was not aware that that's the case for Indonesia. I only assumed based on how it was represented on the video. Thanks for the info! Are most Javanese literate when it comes to the Javanese script? Or Indonesians in general with their native scripts? For Philippines, native scripts are obscure except for very few indigenous groups that still use them such as the Mangyan in Mindoro. There's only been a slow recent resurgence of public knowledge of Baybayin and other scripts. I also didn't remember these being taught when I was in grade school.

[@azhariusman9428]

​@@natt07048 Most of Sumatra have only used jawi extensively; because it's based on arabic script, most Muslims can read them easily. For Javanese script, they teach it in schools in Java. All street signs, govt buildings, etc. are written in both latin and javanese script. But few can actually read them. Same thing with balinese scripts. What I previously wanted to mention is these scripts aren't ancient, they only died less than 100 years ago.

[@steffenseitter4791]

How about following Video Ideas: -Spread of Metal Use (Copper, Bronze, Iron ect.) in Europe -Spread of Currency (Salt, Amber, Silver, Monery ect.) in Europe

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you for the suggestions

[@erikprank4611]

I think, there were some claims, that Tamil-Brahmi script was a bit older?

[@dwarasamudra8889]

Thats done by Tamilian politicians; they like to claim everything as Tamil. They even like to claim that all other South Indian lanaguges are derived from Tamil which is not true at all.

[@GrigRP]

There's no such thing as a Tamil script. It is just Aramaic derived like all the others.

[@knowledgedesk1653]

@@GrigRP Ignorant. Some sites about Brahmi scripts are discovered as early as 6th century BCE. While earliest influence of Aramaic in India is 4th century BCE and in only in western Indus valley. It proves it was not from Aramaic.

[@blackpearl5834]

@@dwarasamudra8889 ok cool mr." indo Aryans " 😁😂...

[@emmymoobiez]

Incredible, but you forgot Tai Tham, and Cham script.

[@rasulpourjafar2080]

Goodjob 👍

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@jadonsaruansarom]

There is one writing system in northern Thailand called Lanna script.

[@andrefarfan4372]

Great. #Rosalina

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@atruv2089]

What's that Sandwip script under Variations of Chinese Characters? I've not been able to find anything about it

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

its an old chinese-descended script used by the Zhuang peoples and neighbors in southwestern china, who are ethnically related to the Thai, Lao, and other Tai-Kadai languages. They're near the border with Vietnam.

[@angamaitesangahyando685]

Yunnan and Guangxi are absolutely crazy. But Wikipedia says that...> In 1957 Standard Zhuang using a mixed Latin-Cyrillic script was introduced, and in 1982 this was changed to Latin script; these are referred to as the old Zhuang and new Zhuang, respectively. Bouyei is written in Latin script. - Adûnâi

[@ht92ccgo]

I've searched for "Sandwip" and only got an island's name. But there is a writing system calls "Sawndip". Not sure if it spells right or wrong...

[@Gugeoji._.]

It’s called “Sawndip” not “Sandwip” or 「方塊壯字」in Chinese（literary translate: Square shaped Zhuang character)

[@oscaraleksanderhalvorsen921]

What program do you use to animate?

[@CostasMelas]

paintnet and blender

[@darussalam2022]

There are still two scripts used in southern China: Nuosu and Dongba(Naxi) script used by ethnic minorities which are not included

[@sunolili862]

also i cant quite see what script is used in indonesian besides latin. what is the second colour?

[@CostasMelas]

Green and brown about the places that the Arabic (Jawi) is used and the places that the various Brahmic is used

[@sunolili862]

@@CostasMelas thanx!

[@thanasisvoutsas461]

Hey there costas can you explain why Taiwan didn't have any writing system till that late seems weird

[@CostasMelas]

Native Formosan languages that they were spoken exclusively until the early 17th century didn't use any script. Later the chinese migration started and the coming of the Dutch

[@thanasisvoutsas461]

Costas Melas wow ok thx

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

i think the brahmic scripts like Baybayin in the Philippines, didn't reach the native austronesian formosan groups in taiwan, so later, it's mostly the dutch, spanish, chinese, and japanese who later introduced the many writing systems

[@ProletarianNuklearWarrior]

I think one correction would be that not all of the north of the indian subcontinent in 600CE-700CE was using devanagari script right then.

[@papazataklaattiranimam]

RIP:Old Turkic,Old Uyghur

[@aminr4736]

That was soghdi Variations of persian alphabet like pahlavi

[@byron-ih2ge]

Mirhirkula ?

[@super2298]

@@aminr4736 nope

[@angamaitesangahyando685]

To be fair, the Hungarians are using the Turkic runes now (barely above the LARPer level, bu still). - Adûnâi

[@oldaccount7660]

@@aminr4736 Old Turkic alphabet and sogd alphabet are very different from each other. It's definitely not soghdi or pahlavi

[@yuzhouyan7217]

Thanks for the cool video! I have a question. Chinese characters in China, Korea, and Japan had been totally intelligible to each other up to WW2. I don't know why this video separates them from the outset.

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you. They are famous distincts members of the group, which however are grouped below their family (chinese)

[@jutea9858]

@Anastasia Cebulska But the widespread use of Hangul and Katakana hiragana in Japanese is relatively recent, and if you can find some East Asian newspapers from the beginning of the last century, you will find a high proportion of kanji in them.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@jutea9858 up until the 1980s Hanja is seen in newspapers. Nowadays it is still used but only in news broadcasts and legal stuff, if I remember correctly.

[@zsqduke]

Not true. In Japan Kanji is annotated with Kana. In Korea Hangul was invented way before WWII. In Vietnam they created unique characters. The Chinese characters are the same yes but the systems of writing, which the Chinese characters are a part of, are not.

[@Andy-bb2eo]

汉字不是发音文字，在古代朝鲜和越南的两个读书人，可以直接用写字沟通。 就像123456789可以在全世界表达意思一样。但汉字是非常难以学习的，现在每个学生的学习十年才能掌握。 因为无法通过发音提示你字符的样子。

[@ilesalmo7724]

This merely gives us which systems are where at what time. It doesn't give use that clear picture on how various writing-systems evolved from their ancestors. It would be good to do it the same way this channel has done with various language-trees. For example, I heard that most modern alphabets used today in Eurasian continent originate either from Egyptian Heiroglyphs or Chinese characters. Egyptian -> proto-Sinaitic -> Phoenician -> Greek -> Etruscan -> Roman -> Modern etc.

[@christopherellis2663]

Half the map is missing. Cuneiform gave rise to the South Arabian and Ethiopian scripts, hence the Abjads that spread east, even unto the Philippines

[@zaraiwzara]

No, the phoenecian abjad based on the canaanite script was the basis for all of the abjads in the semitic languages, hebrew aramaic script-> arabic script

[@user-zz8ll5ry7r]

Φανταστική δουλειά για μια ακόμα φορά! Ποιες πηγές είχες;

[@CostasMelas]

Ευχαριστώ πολύ. Έχω χρησιμοποιήσει ένα μεγάλο πλήθος πηγών, που θα πρέπει να το οργανώσω και να το ανεβάσω κάποια στιγμή.

[@user-zz8ll5ry7r]

@@CostasMelas Παρακαλώ. Σε ένα edit στις περιγραφές των βίντεο, ίσως να βοηθούσε.

[@raralemueneri3903]

So Nice 💘💘💘💘💘💘

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Mongolia is now in the process of changing its script back to Mongol.

[@joacoolcipher]

Why did the Indus Script die out? Edit: I didn't mean to start a history debate in the replies

[@xyrocknirmou8699]

Because of the fall of Indus Valley civilizations in 1500 BC

[@khorps4756]

because of tall blonde blue eyed german-speaking Aryans from the North

[@xyrocknirmou8699]

@@khorps4756 you mean Indo-Aryans ?

[@khorps4756]

@league legends *** they were big beautiful Hyperboreans with volkswagens

[@dwarasamudra8889]

@@xyrocknirmou8699 its like the Greeks. We Indians forgot how to write for a while and then when we remembered, our scripts became the most used scripts in Asia.

[@wayner396]

Should have showed all of Asia but very interesting video. Now I need to research why the indus system died out

[@arta.xshaca]

Siberia is just wasteland and rest of Middle East is shown with Europe and Africa. And the Pacific Islands and Papua are also not that interesting in writing history

[@wayner396]

@@arta.xshaca well when you have half the developments on the map taking place of screen and only see what's in the very corner of what you're trying to show it's a bit obnoxious. Plus the middle east is part of Asia geographically. Either way just my 2-cents

[@JcDizon]

Kinda surprised about India. I thought that they were already literate with the Brahmic scripts when their Vedic civilization started appearing.

[@arta.xshaca]

Well,the Vedic civilization is (Harappan +Indo Aryan). So the Harappans already lost their script. And that the Vedas were preserved orally. Then Brahmi came from Aramaic and people wrote it down.

[@deepblue3682]

@@arta.xshaca about brahmi, it's still under question weather its influenced by aramic or its an independent Indian script like indus valley script.!!..

[@GrigRP]

@बोधिधर्म No it's not. It's Aramaic derived.

[@GrigRP]

@@deepblue3682 It's only under question to pajjeets like you.

[@rtam7097]

@@GrigRP where r u from bro?

[@edwintomy6921]

Syriac arrives in Kerala, India, in 52 AD :D

[@kinishsathish2403]

I'm pretty sure that with more discoveries of Tamil-Brahmi in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu Inscriptions, the origin of Brahmi is further down south I think. Great video though, learned a lot!

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@nikunjarya9641]

Well, Northern Brahmic and Southern Brahmic scripts are much more diverse, though you mentioned the ones outside India like Tibetan, Khmer, Thai but we also have Gurumukhi, Kannada, Tamil, Sinhala, Malayalam, Telugu, Oriya, Gujarati, Dogri etc Independent Brahmic Scripts in India. It's not just Devanagari, which is used only to write Sanskrit, Hindi, Kashmiri, Nepali and Marathi.

[@connormurphy683]

Plus many others that are no longer widely in use, such as Modi (for Marathi), Goykanadi (in Goa), Sharada (for Kashmiri), Multani, Khudabadi (for Sindhi), Mahajani (for Marwari)

[@nikunjarya9641]

@@connormurphy683 I actually use Sharda, even today for writing Sanskrit mantras. So technically it's not dead yet😅😅

[@connormurphy683]

@@nikunjarya9641 That's great that you're keeping it alive

[@sumi2973]

And Siddhaṃ is still alive in Japanese temples

[@truthunbiasedunfiltered1428]

@@sumi2973 is ur name in cham abugida?

[@heirofptah]

Does anyone know what 'Sandwip' means? I don't seem to find much info by just googling it

[@CostasMelas]

Sorry, it is sanwdip. I made a small anagramming. It is the script of the Zhuang people

[@heirofptah]

@@CostasMelas Thank you! I was intrigued by it, because Google would only show me a small island in Bangladesh

[@nursyafizah5981]

Where are all those maritime southeast asia script?? , rencong, rejang, baybayin, javanese etc

[@CostasMelas]

There are so many, so they are grouped as Southern Brahmic.

[@nursyafizah5981]

@@CostasMelas i know. But i guess you cannot fit them well into a single video

[@rebeccablackvirus975]

@@nursyafizah5981 they got erased by latin script now so it doesnt matter.

[@dayangmarikit6860]

@@rebeccablackvirus975 - A lot of them are still being used alongside the Latin script.

[@abloodorange5233]

Look at how Cyrillic just slowly encroaches from The north on Arabic and then rapidly switches under Stalin

[@denizmetint.462]

They also had a Latin script similar to Turkish for a short period of time, but then Stalin pressed the switch.

[@JossLun]

@@denizmetint.462 I heard Kazakhstan would come back to this kind of latin script.

[@angamaitesangahyando685]

Kazakhstan is switching to Latin because they are mighty TURKS, and the Mongolians are going back to their native top-to-bottom writing, both starting in 2020. - Adûnâi

[@denizmetint.462]

@@angamaitesangahyando685 I never understood why the Mongolians switched to Cyrillic in the first place, since they weren't part of the Soviet Union.

[@cariopuppetmaster]

@@denizmetint.462 alot of Russian influence

[@mr.mcpicklesthegreat9382]

Good vid but could have had the rest of Asia in the map, Middle East cut in half and Russia’s just gone

[@slyninja4444]

6:28 So unsatisfying for manchuria not to fill up that whole area.

[@irinakolcheva5212]

European writing systems look more similar than these in Asia. :)

[@ikengaspirit3063]

Wish there was a more detailed version of the India part of the map. At least, at end of centuries.

[@peterthesneakybastar]

Wow who would’ve thought the first crossover with Chinese was a European dialect! (Greek) 3:14

[@ziyadpepe6291]

So... the Arabian peninsula is in Africa?.

[@albar-maulana]

Malaysia doesnt have native script that related with brahmic script... They only use jawi (based on arabic)

[@wijaya4565]

Wrong. Look up kedukan bukit inscription. I know its in sumatra, but thats how malay was written before jawi script

[@amlans5314]

@@wijaya4565 also i read there are inscriptions in malaysia from kedah bujang valley in a script which is related to pallavi. It doesnt have a standard name, but some call it post-pallava script. But it does show malaysia use brahmic scripts before jawi.

[@msb8792]

Great video as usual. Syriac should be labeled as a sub-Aramaic script though, not a standalone one

[@CostasMelas]

Thank you

[@sepep6288]

The levant, Arabia, and Anatolia: Are we north american to you?

[@blablablable3093]

Maybe you Forget About Aksara Kawi that Exist Since 8-16th Century in Java Indonesia.its Also Take Influence of South Brahmi (Palava)

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

the legend of script names on the side is hyper reduced. theres so many other scripts too that were distinct but had to be generalized under just the one color

[@iamseamonkey6688]

since you've been focusing alot of religions recently, how about giving judaism a shot? i think it'd be interesting to see where it went after in between nero's destruction of jeruselum and the establishment of israel.

[@CostasMelas]

I would like to make it in the future

[@theark4833]

In centerall asia and West middle east you don't add avastanic sanskrit and vedic alphabet

[@whoisjoe5610]

It was there briefly during 320 AD ish, but then vanished, it was shown in the video.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Your video about europe should have been made the same way showing the variants not just saying latin or kirilik.

[@infinite5795]

Europe is not as diverse as say Asia, infact the no of scripts used in India, both historical and modern outnumber the whole western hemisphere and Middle East combined.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

@@infinite5795 Šor bat dēr ār mōr vēiz ov raiting den džas "latin", dis iz en ingliš sentens riten de vēi māī pīpl rait.

[@091lsm._]

What kind of varian? Most of them used either latin or cyrillic🤷🏻‍♂️ Only Greece which is different from the rest of european countries. ꦮꦺꦴꦁꦱꦶꦁꦮꦶꦠ꧀ꦧꦼꦔꦺꦤ꧀ꦒꦃꦤꦼꦒꦫ꧞ꦤꦼꦒꦫꦤꦶꦁꦌꦫꦺꦴꦥꦩꦃꦔꦤ꧀ꦔꦔ꧀ꦒꦺꦴꦄꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦭꦠꦶꦤ꧀ꦧꦫꦶꦱꦶꦫꦶꦭꦶꦏ꧀ ꦠꦼꦫꦸꦱ꧀ꦱꦼꦥꦼꦔꦼꦠꦲꦸꦮꦤ꧀ꦏꦸꦭꦩꦃꦔꦤ꧀ꦕꦸꦩꦤ꧀ꦤꦼꦒꦫꦪꦸꦤꦤꦶꦱꦶꦁꦒꦸꦤꦏ꧀ꦤꦄꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦱꦶꦁꦧꦺꦢꦏꦫꦺꦴꦭꦶꦪꦤꦺ🤷🏻‍♂️

[@moorgen7759]

No arabic in xinjiang ?

[@Agent-ie3uv]

❌❌

[@mathematics7676]

Unde graeci ex Asia?

[@user-tm7bq8nq5c]

한글을 쓸수있어 다행이다.. 아니면 한자를 다 외우고 다녔겠지 ㅠㅠ

[@yuzhouyan7217]

Even if King Sejong did not create hangul, I guess the Koreans would have adopted some easier scripts like Latin by now because the Chinese characters don't fit the Korean language anyway.

[@mechanikalbull5626]

@@yuzhouyan7217 it would feel weird and wrong to see korean written in latin alphabet

[@yuzhouyan7217]

@@mechanikalbull5626 Why is it not weird to see Malay and Vietnamese written in Latin alphabet? (well maybe you consider those weird too)

[@justrandomthings709]

@@mechanikalbull5626 Lol! Annyeong haseyo! See? What's weird about that?

[@imorichwu4797]

@@yuzhouyan7217 哈哈哈哈 the Korea language what you are using, is for pronounce Chinese Character in ancient. not fit ,so ridiculous

[@el_vago]

ugarit is in asia. ugaritic alphabet appeared around 1400bc. not shown. the famous phoenician alphabet, also in asia... not mentioned at all. it all started with aramaic? seriously?

[@V-man117]

God damn, ancient Greeks really did reach everywhere

[@cheesedog9295]

you need correction philippines sign the nathional script bayvayin of the philippines please change it thank you

[@sunduncan1151]

Chinese characters are the only writing system which is always developped and still used until present day while the other ancient writing systems are already extinct.

[@stefan5234]

Greek? Latin?

[@sunduncan1151]

@@stefan5234 Greek and Latin are used since around 800 and 700 BC respectively while Chinese is used since around 1200 BC so I didn’t count Greek and Latin because they are much newer. I meant the earliest writing system like Cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, etc.

[@jutea9858]

@@stefan5234 I don't know Greek, but Latin is a dead language that is for sure.

[@stefan5234]

@@jutea9858 you did write this coment in latin alphabet,am i right?

[@erua1707]

@@jutea9858 We're talking about the writing systems, not about the languages.

[@wireplay-1.5metre]

tangut,khitan and jurchen alphabet were also based on chinese characters