I insert below an interesting post from Michael Everson to this list some
time ago. At the end of an i18n class for our developers, I exempt them
from supporting example 10.
...
-Kim Peck
---------------------
Inspired by a comment in the Unicode FAQ.
1. Boustrophedon top-to-bottom: early Greek
>>>aaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbb<<<
>>>cccccccccc
2. RTL top-to-bottom: Hebrew, Arabic, Egyptian
aaaaaaaaaa<<<
bbbbbbbbbb<<<
cccccccccc<<<
3. RTL bottom-to-top: Orkhon (Yenisei, K�k Turki)
cccccccccc<<<
bbbbbbbbbb<<<
aaaaaaaaaa<<<
4. LTR top-to-bottom: Latin, Cyrillic
>>>aaaaaaaaaa
>>>bbbbbbbbbb
>>>cccccccccc
4. Downward columns (RTL): Japanese, Chinese, Egyptian
v v v
v v v
v v v
m g a
n h b
o i c
p j d
q k e
r l f
5. Downward columns (LTR): Mongolian, Egyptian
v v v
v v v
v v v
a g m
b h n
c i o
d j p
e k q
f l r
6. Downward in columns of two: Mayan
vv vv
vv vv
vv vv
ab kl
cd mn
ef op
gh qr
ij st
7. Upward columns (LTR): Batak
f l r
e k q
d j p
c i o
b h n
a g m
^ ^ ^
^ ^ ^
^ ^ ^
8. Upward boustrophedon (LTR): Ogham
f g h
e i
d j
c k
b l
a m
^ v
^ v
^ v
9. Rotated boustrophedon: Rongorongo
>>>cccccccccc
qqqqqqqqqq<<<
>>>aaaaaaaaaa
10. Spiral: Phaistos
k l m
j c
i b d
h a e
g f
==========
--
Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta ** http://www.indigo.ie/egt
15 Port Chaeimhghein �ochtarach; Baile �tha Cliath 2; �ire/Ireland
Guth�n: +353 1 478-2597 ** Facsa: +353 1 478-2597 (by arrangement)
27 P�irc an Fh�ithlinn; Baile an Bh�thair; Co. �tha Cliath; �ire
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 3:03 PM
To: Unicode List
Subject: Re: boustrophedon more current, not ancient?
On 12/20/2000 02:26:24 PM Elaine Keown wrote:
>Literally 'boustrophedon' refers to how an ox plows a field.
And I think that has always been understood in the context of writing to
mean with successive lines running in alternate directions (regardless of
the direction in which lines follow one another in a paragraph). For
vertical text, the would mean TTB, BTT, TTB, etc. I have never heard of
boustrophedon used for vertical text.
- Peter
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Constable
Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
E-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
