Another Mystery for us at Goodwill

[artx]

yes and by the way for who thought it is in hebrew so in not written in hebrew.

[frogpatch]

If you look at the sample of Burmese script in the link below and scroll to the bottom, you will see some similarities. For example the characters with the separate little o above or separate little c shaped mark above. Also the character that looks like a lazy s. Take into consideration that the book is handwritten and the samples are printed. My handwriting only bares a slight resemblance to the correct cursive form I was taught in school. I imagine there are variations to Myanmar also. The writing was derived form 6th century Mon which came from Indian Brahmii from what I have read. I don't know if it is Burmese but I think we are in the right part of the world. It may be 1000 years old or more which would make a difference. When you finally have a definitive answer please let us know. I am totally intrigued by this.

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/burmese.htm][url]http://www.omniglot.com/writing/burmese.htm[/url]

[KC]

"The Center for Burma Studies at Northern Illinois University is the national center for Burma studies in the United States. Its current director is Catherine Raymond. The center publishes the The Journal of Burma Studies, a joint publication made in collaboration with the Burma Studies Foundation and the Burma Studies Group of the Association for Asian Studies. There is also a lot of activity in Burma studies at the University of Michigan, Cornell University, L'Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, the University of Hawaii, the National University of Singapore, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, as well as in Universities and Institutes in Burma (Myanmar), such as Yangon University, Mandalay University, and the Historical Research Centre."

Here's the contact for Northern Illinois University http://www.grad.niu.edu/burma/contactus/index.shtml
http://www.grad.niu.edu/burma/index.shtml
Maybe one of these can help!!!

I WOULD NOT POST IT until you find out!  If it is a valuable transcript of sorts the University may even compete for it!!!!

[frogpatch]

Thanks again to my writer friends from India I have these two images for you to look at. The one is Tai Lue which is a modern language that dates to 1200. The others are labeled samples. I think you can narrow it down. The Tai Lue look remarkably like it.

[cogar]

Me thinks maybe Ironlord's post 1 pictures are upside down.

Here is one flipped 1/2 turn, whatta ya think.

==============

YUP, after posting this it looks better to ..... for whater that's worth.

The script is now "on" the lines, not underneath them.

Who knows, a 6-pack or 3, .... squinting both eyes ...... and reading extra fast I just might be able to ..... to ....., nah, forgeetit.

[frogpatch]

I thought so too at first but the little o shaped characters in all of the samples I have seen are always above a character and not below. One person that viewed it said it may be written form right to left. ??
Here is another link http://www.ancientscripts.com/dhivehi.html provided by another group member.

Imagine this conversation.
"Honey, what do you want to do with this ancient and probably priceless piece of Middle Eastern History?"
"Just give it to Goodwill. I am tired if trying to figure the language out. Let it become someone else s obsession."

[cogar]

Here is another view, ..... flipped horzontially from the above one ..... which puts the "straight" margin on the left .... and the text "overrun" on the riight side.

[mart]

Something about those lines makes me think this may not be as old as we think !! I think this is a copy of an older text !! I have never seen an old text with spaced lines !!

[mart]

http://www.ancientscripts.com/brahmi.html
This is the same link that Frogpatch gave above !!  They have examples of many ancient scripts !!  I checked Tibetan and Brahmi and it isn`t either !!  Maybe someone wants to research it !!  Its an excellent site !!

[kesgill]

I can be fairly certain that it is not Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Arabic or any language derived from them.  My best guess would be a type of brahmic writing (coming from India, but used throughout South/SE Asia - my line of work brings me there fairly often, so it looked familiar).  I would suggest looking into Burmese, Shan, Cham, Lao, or possibly Malaysian, first.

I agree that the document was originally posted upside down.  I still think it is brahmic language, which means that it would be read from left to right, but agree that a university would be the best place to find a definitive answer.

Also, note that Shan is a dialect of Burma (Myanmar), so you may want to look into that separately.

[ironlord1963]

      Funny you Should mention Shan.  I got my first reply back from one of the many emails I have sent.


Hi Albert,
That's an interesting piece and I can read some of it as Southern Shan (the script would be called Lik To Moan) from the Shan State of what is now Myanmar. I read modern Shan, and this one is probably over a hundred years old. The paper is probably Jae Sa, or a kind of pulp paper. Looking at the text it's either a fairy tale or a family story, as there are a number of characters mentioned. My older Shan reading isn't so fluent -the script is different -(it's like asking a scholar of Victorian English to read middle English) but it sure is Shan.
 Cheers,

Jane
   

This is my first reply back so I am making some headways.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Cool! I've really been enjoying following this one!

[cogar]

Me too enjoying it, ...... keep us posted on your progress.

[ironlord1963]

   O.K. it got posted yesterday, Lets see what happens.  Here is the link in case you want to follow it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Book-Document-Handwritten-Old-Shan-Language-Burmese-Myanmar-/400372190218?pt=Asian_Antiques&hash=item5d380acc0a

[talesofthesevenseas]

Why is the shipping so high on this item?