Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s4.t2: 7.3.2 Shortened -u (kuṟṟiyal-ukaram)
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s4.t2
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7.3.2 Shortened -u (kuṟṟiyal-ukaram)
c27.s4.t2.1
There seems to have been an interesting but short-lived attempt in the Early Tamil-Brāhmī script to distinguish the shortened *-u* from the short *-u* as illustrated by the following example:
c27.s4.t2.2
**ū** **pu** for *upu* (*uppu*) 'salt' (39.1.a)
c27.s4.t2.3
where the initial *ū-* stands for *u-* and the final *-u* for the shortened *-u*. In this orthographic system, the graphic **ū** stands for the vowels *ū* or *u* and the graphic **u** for the short vowel *u* or the shortened *-u* according to the context. See section 6.15 for explanation of the rationale of this system.