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Ai (Indic)

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Ai
Ai
Example glyphs
Bengali–AssameseAi
TamilAi
Thai
Malayalam
Sinhala
Ashoka BrahmiAi
DevanagariAi
Cognates
Hebrewע
GreekΟ, Ω
LatinO
CyrillicО, Ѡ, Ѿ, Ꙋ, Ю
Properties
Phonemic representation/ɐi/ /ɔi/ /ɛː/
IAST transliterationai Ai
ISCII code pointAD (173)

Ai is a vowel of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ai is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter ng. As an Indic vowel, Ai comes in two normally distinct forms: 1) as an independent letter, and 2) as a vowel sign for modifying a base consonant. Bare consonants without a modifying vowel sign have the inherent "A" vowel.

Āryabhaṭa numeration

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Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The ै sign was used to modify a consonant's value ×1012, but the vowel letter ऐ did not have an inherent value by itself.[1]

Historic Ai

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There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Ai as found in standard Brahmi, Ai was a simple geometric shape, and retained the same basic form into later styles of Brahmi. Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian Ai Ai has an accompanying vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A. All other independent vowels, including Ai are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Brahmi Ai

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The Brahmi letter Ai Ai, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Ayin , and is thus related to the modern Latin O and Greek Omicron.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ai can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with some vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi Ai historic forms
Ashoka
(3rd-1st c. BCE)
Girnar
(~150 BCE)
Kushana
(~150-250 CE)
Gujarat
(~250 CE)
Gupta
(~350 CE)

Tocharian Ai

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The Tocharian letter Ai is derived from the Brahmi Ai. Unlike some of the consonants, Tocharian vowels do not have a Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian consonants with Ai vowel marks
Kai Khai Gai Ghai Cai Chai Jai Jhai Nyai Ṭai Ṭhai Ḍai Ḍhai Ṇai
Tai Thai Dai Dhai Nai Pai Phai Bai Bhai Mai Yai Rai Lai Vai
Śai Ṣai Sai Hai

Kharoṣṭhī Ai

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The Kharoṣṭhī letter Ai is indicated with the E vowel mark Ai plus the vowel length mark . As an independent vowel, Ai is indicated by adding the vowel marks to the independent vowel letter A A.

Devanagari Ai

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Ai vowel
Ai vowel sign
Devanagari independent Ai and Ai vowel sign.

Ai () is a vowel of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Ai. Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter , and the Modi letter 𑘋.

Devanagari Using Languages

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The Devanagari script is used to write the Hindi language, Sanskrit and the majority of Indo-Aryan languages. In most of these languages, ऐ is pronounced as [ai]. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Bengali Ai

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Ai vowel
Ai vowel sign
Bengali independent Ai and Ai vowel sign.

Ai () is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter Ai, and is marked by the lack of horizontal head line and less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ऐ.

Bengali Script Using Languages

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The Bengali script is used to write several languages of eastern India, notably the Bengali language and Assamese. In most languages, ঐ is pronounced as [ai]. Like all Indic scripts, Bengali vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ɔ/ vowel.

Gujarati Ai

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Ai vowel
Ai vowel sign
Gujarati independent Ai and Ai vowel sign.

Ai () is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ai ai, and ultimately the Brahmi letter ai.

Gujarati-using Languages

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The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઐ is pronounced as [ai]. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Javanese Ai

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Telugu Ai

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Telugu independent vowel Ai
Telugu vowel sign Ai
Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign Ai.

Ai () is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Ai. It is closely related to the Kannada letter . Like in other Indic scripts, Telugu vowels have two forms: and independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of Telugu consonant letters. Vowel signs in Telugu can interact with a base consonant in one of three ways: 1) the vowel sign touches or sits adjacent to the base consonant without modifying the shape of either 2) the vowel sign sits directly above the consonant, replacing its v-shaped headline, 3) the vowel sign and consonant interact, forming a ligature.

Telugu Ai vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Kai, Khai, Gai, Ghai and Ngai. Note that how the vowel sign interacts with the base consonant is dependent on the location of the headline, the absence of a headline, and the presence of a tail to attach to.

Malayalam Ai

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Malayalam independent vowel Ai
Malayalam vowel sign Ai
Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign Ai.

Ai () is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Ai, via the Grantha letter Ai ai. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound.

Odia Ai

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Odia independent vowel and vowel sign Ai

Ai () is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Ai, via the Siddhaṃ letter Ai ai. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Odia usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Odia.

Kaithi Ai

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Kaithi independent vowel Ai
Kaithi vowel sign Ai
Kaithi independent vowel and vowel sign Ai.

Ai (𑂊) is a vowel of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Ai, via the Siddhaṃ letter Ai Ai. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Kaithi usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Kaithi.

Comparison of Ai

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The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including Ai, are related as well.

Comparison of Ai in different scripts
Aramaic
Ai
Kharoṣṭhī
-
Ashoka Brahmi
Ai
Kushana Brahmi[a]
𑀐
Tocharian[b]
-
Gupta Brahmi
𑀐
Pallava
Ai
Kadamba
-
Bhaiksuki
-
Siddhaṃ
Ai
Grantha
𑌐
Cham
Sinhala
Pyu /
Old Mon[c]
-
Tibetan
-
Newa
-
Ahom
-
Malayalam
Telugu
Burmese
Lepcha
-
Ranjana
Ai
Saurashtra
Dives Akuru
-
Kannada
Kayah Li
-
Limbu
Soyombo[d]
-
Khmer
ឰ / ៃ
Tamil
Ai
Chakma
𑄭
Tai Tham
ᩱ / ᩲ
Meitei Mayek
Gaudi
-
Thai
ไ / ใ
Lao
ໄ / ໃ
Tai Le
Marchen
-
Tirhuta
𑒌
New Tai Lue
Tai Viet
Aksara Kawi
-
'Phags-pa
-
Odia
Sharada
𑆎
Rejang
Batak
-
Buginese
Zanabazar Square
-
Bengali-Assamese
Ai
Takri
𑚇
Javanese
Balinese
Makasar
-
Hangul[e]
-
Northern Nagari
-
Dogri
-
Laṇḍā
-
Sundanese
Baybayin
-
Modi
𑘋
Gujarati
Khojki
𑈅
Khudabadi
𑊷
Mahajani
-
Tagbanwa
-
Devanagari
Ai
Nandinagari
-
Kaithi
Ai
Gurmukhi
Multani
-
Buhid
-
Canadian Syllabics[f]
-
Soyombo[g]
-
Sylheti Nagari
-
Gunjala Gondi
-
Masaram Gondi[h]
-
Hanuno'o
-
Notes
  1. ^ The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms.
  2. ^ Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession.
  3. ^ Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
  4. ^ May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
  5. ^ The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida.
  6. ^ Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas.
  7. ^ May also be derived from Ranjana (see above)
  8. ^ Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.


Character encodings of Ai

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Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter Ai in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. Ai from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.

Character information
Preview
Unicode name DEVANAGARI LETTER AI BENGALI LETTER AI TAMIL LETTER AI TELUGU LETTER AI ORIYA LETTER AI KANNADA LETTER AI MALAYALAM LETTER AI GUJARATI LETTER AI GURMUKHI LETTER AI
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 2320 U+0910 2448 U+0990 2960 U+0B90 3088 U+0C10 2832 U+0B10 3216 U+0C90 3344 U+0D10 2704 U+0A90 2576 U+0A10
UTF-8 224 164 144 E0 A4 90 224 166 144 E0 A6 90 224 174 144 E0 AE 90 224 176 144 E0 B0 90 224 172 144 E0 AC 90 224 178 144 E0 B2 90 224 180 144 E0 B4 90 224 170 144 E0 AA 90 224 168 144 E0 A8 90
Numeric character reference ऐ ऐ ঐ ঐ ஐ ஐ ఐ ఐ ଐ ଐ ಐ ಐ ഐ ഐ ઐ ઐ ਐ ਐ
ISCII 173 AD 173 AD 173 AD 173 AD 173 AD 173 AD 173 AD 173 AD 173 AD


Character information
Preview
Ashoka
Kushana
Gupta
𑌐
Unicode name BRAHMI LETTER AI SIDDHAM LETTER AI GRANTHA LETTER AI
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 69648 U+11010 71051 U+1158B 70416 U+11310
UTF-8 240 145 128 144 F0 91 80 90 240 145 150 139 F0 91 96 8B 240 145 140 144 F0 91 8C 90
UTF-16 55300 56336 D804 DC10 55301 56715 D805 DD8B 55300 57104 D804 DF10
Numeric character reference 𑀐 𑀐 𑖋 𑖋 𑌐 𑌐


Character information
Preview 𑆎
Unicode name SHARADA LETTER AI
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 70030 U+1118E
UTF-8 240 145 134 142 F0 91 86 8E
UTF-16 55300 56718 D804 DD8E
Numeric character reference 𑆎 𑆎


Character information
Preview
Unicode name NEW TAI LUE VOWEL SIGN AE
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 6582 U+19B6
UTF-8 225 166 182 E1 A6 B6
Numeric character reference ᦶ ᦶ


Character information
Preview
Unicode name KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAI LAO VOWEL SIGN AI LAO VOWEL SIGN AY THAI CHARACTER SARA AI MAIMALAI THAI CHARACTER SARA AI MAIMUAN TAI VIET VOWEL AY
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 6064 U+17B0 3780 U+0EC4 3779 U+0EC3 3652 U+0E44 3651 U+0E43 43708 U+AABC
UTF-8 225 158 176 E1 9E B0 224 187 132 E0 BB 84 224 187 131 E0 BB 83 224 185 132 E0 B9 84 224 185 131 E0 B9 83 234 170 188 EA AA BC
Numeric character reference ឰ ឰ ໄ ໄ ໃ ໃ ไ ไ ใ ใ ꪼ ꪼ


Character information
Preview
Unicode name SINHALA LETTER AIYANNA TAI LE LETTER AI SAURASHTRA LETTER AI CHAM LETTER AI
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 3475 U+0D93 6509 U+196D 43150 U+A88E 43524 U+AA04
UTF-8 224 182 147 E0 B6 93 225 165 173 E1 A5 AD 234 162 142 EA A2 8E 234 168 132 EA A8 84
Numeric character reference ඓ ඓ ᥭ ᥭ ꢎ ꢎ ꨄ ꨄ


Character information
Preview 𑘋
Unicode name MODI LETTER AI KAITHI LETTER AI
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 71179 U+1160B 69770 U+1108A
UTF-8 240 145 152 139 F0 91 98 8B 240 145 130 138 F0 91 82 8A
UTF-16 55301 56843 D805 DE0B 55300 56458 D804 DC8A
Numeric character reference 𑘋 𑘋 𑂊 𑂊


Character information
Preview 𑒌
Unicode name TIRHUTA LETTER AI LIMBU VOWEL SIGN AI
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 70796 U+1148C 6436 U+1924
UTF-8 240 145 146 140 F0 91 92 8C 225 164 164 E1 A4 A4
UTF-16 55301 56460 D805 DC8C 6436 1924
Numeric character reference 𑒌 𑒌 ᤤ ᤤ


Character information
Preview 𑚇 𑈅 𑊷
Unicode name TAKRI LETTER AI KHOJKI LETTER AI KHUDAWADI LETTER AI
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 71303 U+11687 70149 U+11205 70327 U+112B7
UTF-8 240 145 154 135 F0 91 9A 87 240 145 136 133 F0 91 88 85 240 145 138 183 F0 91 8A B7
UTF-16 55301 56967 D805 DE87 55300 56837 D804 DE05 55300 57015 D804 DEB7
Numeric character reference 𑚇 𑚇 𑈅 𑈅 𑊷 𑊷


Character information
Preview
Unicode name BALINESE LETTER AIKARA JAVANESE LETTER AI SUNDANESE LETTER AE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 6928 U+1B10 43405 U+A98D 7046 U+1B86
UTF-8 225 172 144 E1 AC 90 234 166 141 EA A6 8D 225 174 134 E1 AE 86
Numeric character reference ᬐ ᬐ ꦍ ꦍ ᮆ ᮆ




References

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  1. ^ Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 447–450. ISBN 0-471-39340-1.
  2. ^ Bühler, Georg (1898). "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. ^ Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838 [1]