1. Alphabet

1. The Alphabet. The Tibetan Alphabet was adapted from the la nya tsha form of the Indian letters by thon mi sam bho ta minister of king srong btsan sgam po about the year 632 (s. Kopp. II, 56). The Indian letters out of which the single Tibetan characters were formed are given in the following table in their Nāgari shape.

(See our own 'Standard & Extended Wylie diagrams Sambhota' for images of the Tibetan script and how it relatse to the Wylie transliteration used on this wiki.)

It is seen in this table that several signs have been added to express sounds that are unknown in Sanscrit. The sibilants tsa tsha dza evidently were differentiated from the palatals of the original (as in tsi na for character omitted), we must suppose that the sibilisation of those consonants, common at present among the Hindus on the Southern slopes of the Himālaya (who speak tsār for CO, four etc.), was in general use with those Indians from whom the Tib. Alphabet was taken (cf. also the Afghan CO and CO likewise sprung from CO and CO). wa is differentiated from ba, which itself often is pronouned v, as shewn in the sequel; in transcribing Sanscrit, CO and CO

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