Re: made-to-order alphabets
| From: | R. Nierse <rnierse@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, September 28, 1999, 7:29 |
|---|
> Van: dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
> Onderwerp: Re: made-to-order alphabets
> Datum: dinsdag 28 september 1999 6:35
>
> In Bright and Daniels _The World's Writing Systems_ there is mention
> made of a poem, attibuted to the Buddhist monk Kuukai, which uses each
> character of hiragana exactly once. It runs (in English
> transliteration):
>
> Iro wa nioedo chirinuru wo waga yo tare zo tsune naran ui no okuyama
> kyoo koete asaki yume miji ei mo sezu
>
> "The colorful [flowers] are fragrant, but they must fall. Who in this
> world can live forever? Today corss over the deep mountains of life's
> illusions and there will be no more shallow dreaming, no more
> drunkenness." (Bright and Daniels, p250)
>
> I've always thought that this was "way cool", and should by all means be
> emulated; not only should the characters in a writing system be arranged
> in a mnemonically advantageous way, but the arrangement ought to mean
> something!
>
Reminds me of Chu Shogi (a Japanese Chess variant). We are so dull in
writing down "e2-e4; Ng8-f6". In Chu Shogi every field had a word. When
all words were to be read one after another a poem appeared. This system is
not used anymore.
Rob