Javanese script

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Java
Type:	Abugida
Languages:	Javanese language
Time period:	c.900-1900s
Parent writing systems:	Proto-Canaanite alphabet Phoenician alphabet Aramaic alphabet Brahmi alphabet Pallava Old Kawi Java
Sister writing systems:	Balinese Batak Baybayin Buhid Hanunó'o Rejang Tagbanwa
ISO 15924 code:	`Java`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

History of the Alphabet
Middle Bronze Age 19–15th c. BC Canaanite-Phoenician 14th c. BC Paleo-Hebrew 10th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī & Indic 6th c. BC Tibetan 7th c. Khmer/Javanese 9th c. Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Nabatean 2nd c. BC Arabic 4th c. Pahlavi 2nd c. BC Avestan 4th c. Greek 9th c. BC Etruscan 8th c. BC Latin 7th c. BC Runes 2nd c. Ogham 4th c. Gothic 4th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic 10th c. Samaritan 6th c. BC Iberian 6th c. BC Epigraphic South Arabian 9th c. BC Ge'ez 5–6th c. BC
Meroitic 3rd c. BC
Hangul 1443
Zhuyin 1913
Complete genealogy

The Javanese script natively known as Carakan (Tjarakan) is the script originally used to write Javanese. It is an abugida script consisting of 20 main consonants with an inherent vowel "a" (normally pronounced as open back rounded vowel when reciting the consonants).

The twenty consonants are:

ha, na, ca, ra, ka
da, ta, sa, wa, la
pa, dha, ja, ya, nya
ma, ga, ba, tha, nga

1 Meaning Behind Javanese Script
2 Further reading
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Meaning Behind Javanese Script

The script itself is a poem, whose line-by-line translation is as follows:

There (were/was) warriors
(They) had animosity (among each other)
(They were) equally powerful (in fight)
Both (were) dead.

in detail:

hana/ana = there were/was
caraka = warrior (actually, 'one who loyal to and being trusted by someone')
data = have/has
sawala = difference (regarding a matter)
padha = same, equal
jayanya = 'their power', 'jaya' could mean 'glory' as well
maga = 'both'
bathanga = 'be a dead body' = 'die', since 'bathang' = corpse

[edit] Further reading

There are very few items available in English about Javanese script; however, the following give some introduction:

Gallop, Annabel Teh. Golden letters: writing traditions of Indonesia = Surat emas: budaya tulis di Indonesia (with Bernard Arps). London: British Library; Jakarta: Yayasan Lontar, c1991. ISBN 9798083067
Pigeaud, Theodore G. Th. Javanese and Balinese manuscripts and some codices written in related idioms spoken in Java and Bali: descriptive catalogue, with examples of Javanese script, introductory chapters, a general index of names and subjects Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1975. ISBN 3515019642