The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its Connection with Other Scripts c10.s31: Analysis of Table XLIV
The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its Connection with Other Scripts c10.s31
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Analysis of Table XLIV
c10.s31.1
The sequences show that the first two signs in Col. IV and the signs given in the column against texts 37-41 are variants. The original form is probably )( , whence ) and then ( , by drawing the left half of the sign further to the right and shortening it. The key sequence is ↑R. In text No. 41 this word is written as an integral compound )+(
c10.s31.2
The last two signs are probably quite independent, being of different ideographic origin. The signs ) ) > are variants of one another, but as the key sequences |R, V/R, R| show, quite independent of ( . The reversed aspect of these signs is purely accidental, and their ideographic origin quite distinct. ) is clearly allied to ) as the sequence U/R shows. Whether the internal strokes are in the nature of a gunu modification involving no modification of sound or sense (as sometimes in Sumerian), or represent a modification of the vowel, or indicate merely an older and fuller form of the sign it is not at present possible to decide. On the whole I incline to the gunu explanation of all these additions of more than one interior stroke, e.g., in P, ☥, U, ♮.