Dongba symbols

Dongba
Dongba;
Script type	Pictographic
Time period	At least 30 C.E. to the present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Naxi language
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Nkdb (085), Naxi Dongba (na²¹ɕi³³ to³³ba²¹, Nakhi Tomba)

The Dongba, Tomba or Tompa or Mo-so symbols are a system of pictographic glyphs used by the ²dto¹mba (Bon priests) of the Naxi people in southern China. In the Naxi language it is called ²ss ³dgyu 'wood records' or ²lv ³dgyu 'stone records'.^[1] The first artifacts with this script on them originate from approximately 30 AD.^[2]

The glyphs may be used as rebuses for abstract words which do not have glyphs. Dongba is largely a mnemonic system, and cannot by itself represent the Naxi language; different authors may use the same glyphs with different meanings, and it may be supplemented with the geba syllabary for clarification.

The logograms Naxi and Tomba in Naxi Dongba characters

^ He, 292
^ Memory of the World: The Treasures That Record our History from 1700 BC to the Present Day (1st ed.). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. 2012. p. 36. ISBN 978-92-3-104237-9.

[He_a-1] He, 292

[2] Memory of the World: The Treasures That Record our History from 1700 BC to the Present Day (1st ed.). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. 2012. p. 36. ISBN 978-92-3-104237-9.

[1]

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