Meitei script

The Meitei script (Meitei: ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Meitei mayek), also known as the Kanglei script (Meitei: ꯀꯪꯂꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Kanglei mayek)^[5] or the Kok Sam Lai script (Meitei: ꯀꯣꯛ ꯁꯝ ꯂꯥꯏ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: Kok Sam Lai mayek), after its first three letters,^[6][7] is an abugida in the Brahmic family used to write Meitei language, the official language of Manipur, Assam and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is first known from engravings on 6th century CE coins and copper plate inscriptions,^[8] as verified by the various publications of the National Sahitya Akademi.^[1] It was used till the 18th century, until it was replaced by the Bengali script. In the 21st century, it was revived and reused.^[9] Beginning in 2021, the Government of Manipur began to officially use it, alongside the Bengali script, per the Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021.^[10]

Since Meitei language does not have voiced consonants, there are only fifteen consonant letters used for native words, plus three letters for pure vowels. Nine additional consonants letters are available for writing loan words. There are seven vowel diacritics and a final consonant (/ŋ/) diacritic. The names of the twenty-seven letters are based on parts of the human body.^[11]

Regarding epigraphic records, Meitei script appears in the Yumbanlol (Yumpanlol), composed in the 6th century C.E. It was a group of copper plate inscriptions about an ancient Meitei language literary work.^[12][13]

The Old Manipuri script also appears on coins issued during the reigns of Meitei Kings, Ura Konthouba (c. 568-653 CE) and Ayangba (c. 821-910 CE). These coins are presently preserved in the Mutua Museum in Imphal.^[1]

The origin of the official script of Manipur is derived from religious book Wakoklon Puya.^[14]

The earliest stone inscription, found in the village of Khoibu, Manipur, is also believed to date to time of Ura Konthouba. This inscription is presently kept in the Manipur State Museum, Imphal.^[1]

Another early copper plate Meitei inscription dates to the 8th century CE, inscribed during the reign of King Khongtekcha (c.721 AD). It was discovered by scholar Yumjao from Phayeng in 1935. It is one of the earliest known examples of Meitei literature.^[15][16][17]

A stone inscription found at Khoibu in Tengnoupal district, of current Manipur state, contains royal edicts of king Senbi Kiyamba (d. 1508), representing one of the earliest portion of the Chietharol Kumbaba or Royal Chronicle of Manipur. It is one of the primary texts in the Meitei script.^[18]

In 1980, a modernized version of the writing system was approved by Manipuri law for use in educational institutions.^[19][20] The modernised version of the Meitei script was encoded in Unicode in 2009.

in 2022, a joint meeting consensus of the Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillol Apunba Lup, the All Manipur Working Journalists' Union and the Editors' Guild, Manipur agreed that Meitei language newspapers would switch from the Bengali script to the Meitei script from 15 January 2023.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

من السمات الفريدة لهذا الخط استخدام أسماء أجزاء الجسم في تسمية الحروف. ^{[ 26 ]} يُسمى كل حرف في لغة الميتي باسم جزء من أجزاء جسم الإنسان . على سبيل المثال، الحرف الأول " kok " يعني "الرأس"؛ والحرف الثاني " sam " يعني "الشعر"؛ والحرف الثالث " lai " يعني "الجبهة"، وهكذا. ^{[ 27 ]} يظهر هذا الربط في كتاب "Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Amailon Pukok Puya" ، الذي يشرح بالتفصيل كيف نشأ كل خط وحصل على تسميته، والذي يُعتبر على نطاق واسع مصدر خط الميتي. ^{[ 28 ]} بعض الحروف لها شكل ثانٍ (lonsom) يُستخدم في نهاية الكلمة للدلالة على الحروف الساكنة الانفجارية.

في ديانة الساناماهيزم التقليدية لدى شعب الميتي، يُعتقد أن حروف وأرقام الميتي هي من خلق الإله الأعلى. ^{[ 29 ] [ 30 ]}

الحروف الأساسية

حرف (بما في ذلك الأبجدية الصوتية الدولية) [ 31 ]	اسم	المعنى (المعاني) [ أ ]	لونسوم
ꯀ IPA: /k/	ꯀꯣꯛ , kok	الرأس أو الدماغ	ꯛ
ꯈ IPA: /kʰ/	ꯈꯧ , khou	الحلق، الحنك، الرقبة
ꯉ IPA: /ŋ/	ꯉꯧ , ngou	البلعوم، الحنجرة	ꯡ
ꯆ IPA: /t͡ʃ/	ꯆꯤꯜ , chil	شفه
ꯇ IPA: /t/	ꯇꯤꯜ , til	اللعاب	ꯠ
ꯊ IPA: /tʰ/	ꯊꯧ ، أنتَ	الصدر، القفص الصدري، الأضلاع
ꯅ IPA: /n/	ꯅꯥ , nā	أذن	ꯟ
ꯄ IPA: /p/	ꯄꯥ , pā	رمش	ꯞ
ꯐ IPA: /pʰ/	ꯐꯝ , pham	الشرج، أو الأرداف، أو الرحم
ꯃ IPA: /m/	ꯃꯤꯠ , mit	عين	ꯝ
ꯌ IPA: /j/	ꯌꯥꯡ , yang	العمود الفقري
ꯂ IPA: /ل/	ꯂꯥꯏ , lai	إله	ꯜ
ꯋ IPA: /w/	ꯋꯥꯏ , wai	السرة، القلب
ꯁ IPA: /s/	سام​​	شعر
ꯍ IPA: /h/	ꯍꯨꯛ , huk	مشترك
ꯑ IPA: /ɐ/	ꯑꯇꯤꯡꯉꯥ ، atinga ꯑꯇꯤꯌꯥ ، عطية	الخلود، الجنة، الألوهية، الميلاد
ꯏ IPA: /iː/	ꯏ, e	blood	ꯢ
ꯎ IPA: /u(ː)/	ꯎꯟ, un	skin

Meetei Mayek (Meitei script) was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for the Meitei script is U+ABC0 – U+ABFF.

Characters for historical orthographies are part of the Meetei Mayek Extensions block at U+AAE0 – U+AAFF.

Meitei Mayek keyboards and other input methods are available at or supported by:

• Gboard
• AppleiOS 13
• Linux
• Macintosh operating systems
• Microsoft SwiftKey
• Windows

• The Living God: Medicine and The Ancient Meetei Civilization, 2015 documentary film

• Meitei inscriptions
• List of Meitei-language newspapers
• Meetei Mayek (Unicode block)
• Meetei Mayek Extensions (Unicode block)
• Wikipedia:Meitei script display help
• Bengali–Assamese script
• Bengali alphabet
• Mayek (disambiguation)

• Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1997). A grammar of Meithei. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 0-19-564331-3.
• Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). Early Meithei manuscripts. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 59–71). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
• Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). A glossary of 39 basic words in archaic and modern Meithei. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 189–190). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.

• Omniglot, a guide to written language
• MANIPURI FONTS at Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation