Soyombo

The Soyombo script was created in 1686 by Bogdo Zanabazar, a Mongolian monk and scholar who modelled it on the Devanagari alphabet. The Soyombo script was designed to write Mongolian, Sanskrit and Tibetan and for transcribing foreign words. The name means "Self developed Holy Letters" in Sanskrit. It is used mainly for inscriptions on prayer wheels official seals and temples.

Notable features

Type of writing system: Abugida / Syllabic Alphabet
Writing direction: left to right in horizontal lines. Can also be written vertically.
Used to write: Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit

Soyomobo alphabet for Mongolian

Soyombo alphabet for Mongolian

Notes

The national symbol of Mongolia has a number of forms, and is widely used on flags, banknotes, stamps. etc. It is also used to indicate the beginning of a text. This symbol is known in Mongolian as соёмбо / ᠰᠣᠶᠤᠮᠪᠤ, which comes from the Sanskrit word svayambhu (self-manifested, self-existing)
The terminal marks cintamani and candamani indicate the end of a text.
The tsheg is used to separate words
The shad is used to separate separate sentences

Soyomobo alphabet for Sanskrit and Tibetan

Soyombo alphabet for Sanskrit and Tibetan

The Soyombo font used on this page was created by Jason Glavy

Download an alphabet chart for Soyombo (Excel)

Download a font for Soyombo by Bryson Schnatimann (OTF, Unicode)

Sample text in the Soyombo script

Source: https://www.trends.mn/n/1453

Video about the Soyomobo script

Links

Information about Soyombo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyombo_alphabet
https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U11A50.pdf
http://silverhorde.viahistoria.com/main.html?research/MongolScripts.html

Soyombo fonts
https://web.archive.org/web/20020203192752/http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/asian.html
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~corff/im/Soyombo/overview.Soyombo.html

Abugidas / Syllabic alphabets

Ahom, Aima, Arleng, Badagu, Badlit, Basahan, Balinese, Balti-A, Balti-B, Batak, Baybayin, Bengali, Bhaiksuki, Bhujimol, Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dham Lipi, Dhankari / Sirmauri, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fox, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Halbi Lipi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Hočąk, Ibalnan, Incung, Inuktitut, Jaunsari Takri, Javanese, Kaithi, Kadamba, Kamarupi, Kannada, Kawi, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Prih, Khmer, Khojki, Khudabadi, Kirat Rai, Kōchi, Komering, Kulitan, Kurukh Banna, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Mahajani, Malayalam, Meitei (Modern), Manpuri (Old), Marchen, Meetei Yelhou Mayek, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script, Multani, Nandinagari, Newa, New Tai Lue, Ojibwe, Odia, Ogan, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Purva Licchavi, Qiang / Rma, Ranjana, Rejang (Kaganga), Sasak, Savara, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Sheek Bakrii Saphaloo, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sukhothai, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Tanchangya (Ka-Pat), Tani, Thaana, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigalari, Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Vatteluttu, Warang Citi

Other writing systems

Page last modified: 16.03.23

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