Version 1.0, 19-21 October 2021
Version history:
Version 1.0, 19-21 October 2021
Avestan script
The Avestan script is a right-to-left alphabet, especially designed to codify the pronunciation of the Avestan language of the prayers, sacred traditions, hymns etc. of the Zoroastrian religion. It is based on the Pahlavi script, but unlike it in many respects: Avestan letters are not connected, and whereas the Pahlavi writing system is ambiguous in many ways (it does not record vowels, and several consonantal signs are polyvalent, i.e., signify more than one consonant), the Avestan script has signs for every phoneme of the Avestan language (and of the Pahlavi Middle Persian language); indeed, some think the script is not only phonemic but phonetic to some degree. This accords well with the presumed purpose of the invention of the script, namely to record and thereby ensure the proper pronunciation of the already 1,500 year old religious utterances which had up to that point been orally transmitted. The languages that can be written in this script: Avestan (also Young Avestan) and Middle Persian (called Pazend or Pāzand when written in Avestan script).
Font and font sizes
The font Noto Sans Avestan can be downloaded freely from the Google Noto Fonts site.
- Brill 11 pt ~ Noto Sans Avestan 10½ pt
- Brill 10 pt ~ Noto Sans Avestan 9½ pt
- Brill 9 pt ~ Noto Sans Avestan 8½ pt
Typesetting software
At the time of writing (October of 2021), InDesign does not support typesetting Avestan script: it is not recognized as a right-to-left script and therefore Avestan text is garbled when rendered in InDesign. MacOS applications that use Apple’s CoreText framework render Avestan text in the Avestan script well, but no page layout application uses CoreText. Of all page layout applications, only TeX can be tweaked to render the Avestan script correctly, which means that publications containing such Avestan-script text can and must only be typeset by TAT, who use an installation of LuaTeX.
Web fonts
See Web Fonts and Script Proportions on Brill Websites 035 for web font, font license and font rights holder information; script and language tag and script proportion.
