Re: A script puzzle

On Thu, 4 Dec 2008 21:19:12 -0000, Peter Collier
<petecollier@...> wrote:

>Maybe Urdu, or Persian then?
It's good, but it's not right...

On Thu, 4 Dec 2008 22:42:56 +0100, Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...>
wrote:

>Could be Thaana, a script formerly used for Divehi (Maldivian):
>
>http://www.omniglot.com/writing/thaana.htm
Bingo, it's Thaana.

Omniglot says
| Some of the Taana letters were derived from Dhives akuru, while others
were modelled
| on Arabic numerals.
but AFAICT actually there's no connection between Dhives akuru and Thaana,
and Wikipedia is closer to the truth:
| The origins of T&#257;na are unique among the world's alphabets: The first nine
letters (h–v)
| are derived from the Arabic numerals, whereas the next nine (m–d) were the
local Indic
| numerals. (See Hindu-Arabic numerals.) The remaining letters for loanwords
(z–ch) and
| Arabic transliteration are derived from phonetically similar native
consonants by means
| of diacritics, with the exception of y, which is of unknown origin. This
means that Thaana
| is one of the few alphabets not derived graphically from the original
Semitic alphabet —
| unless the Indic numerals were (see Brahmi numerals).

Any takers on the decryption?  Shouldn't be hard now.

Alex