LINGUIST List 10.1990

Tue Dec 21 1999

Qs: Hangzhou Numerals & Unicode, ISSHAR & Unicode

Editor for this issue: James Yuells <jameslinguistlist.org>



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  • Patrick Andries, Hangzhou Numerals/ Unicode
  • Patrick Andries, ISSHAR/ Bengali and Oriya

    Message 1: Hangzhou Numerals/ Unicode

     Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 00:12:50 -0500
    From: Patrick Andries <pandriesiti.qc.ca>
    Subject: Hangzhou Numerals/ Unicode


    Another problem related to Unicode, but this time Chinese.

    Unicode has named the numerals used by shopkeepers (I can send rough reprensentation) Hangzhou numerals (U+3021 for 1 which is a vertical bar). My problem is that I don't seem to find anyone else but Unicode that names those numerals Hangzhou.

    In Putonghua, I believe they are called su1-zhou1-ma3-zi, "Suzhou numerals". In Cantonese they are, according to Sidney Lau, called the "Soochow" characters. There are other names reported in Matthew's Mandarin dictionary, with similar names in Cantonese. They are also called "Suzhou"/"Commercial" numbers in the Chinese-Russian Encyclopedia, also giving su1-zhou1-ma3-er. The "Chinese Encyclopedia, Vol. 8" also calls them "Suzhou

    This is what I found in G. Ifrah's Histoire universelle des chiffres (2 volumes of a thousand pages each, I'm not sure this edition has been translated into English), vol. I, p. 633 � To the various forms presented above, one needs to add the very special aspect of the signs used only by shopkeepers to indicate the price of thei wares. Called g�n m� z� ["kan ma tseu" in EFEO transcription] ("secret marks"), these numerals are those that every foreigner visiting the center of China must absolutely know if he is to understand the amount of his bill. � G. Ifrah has two variants for numeral five (the form represented in the character charts and a kind of z in latin script) and numeral one hundred (a kind of hooked theta and some character looking like a 3) (not in ISO 10646/Unicode).

    Can someone tell me what those numerals are called ? Is Hangzhou numerals a known denomination ? Or then, what should they be called ?

    Patrick Andries Saint-Hubert (Qu�bec)

    Message 2: ISSHAR/ Bengali and Oriya

     Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 23:09:06 -0500
    From: Patrick Andries <pandriesiti.qc.ca>
    Subject: ISSHAR/ Bengali and Oriya


    Unicode has encoded two characters that it names ISSHAR, one for Bengali (U+09FA) and one for Oriya (U+0B70).

    1) I was wondering how this name is written Bengali (and Oriya) ? More specifically how is � SSH � parsed ? Is it something like SA+VIRAMA+SHA (s') or SSA+( s.) VIRAMA+HA (or a third alternative) ?

    2) Also what is it used for ?

    P. Andries Montreal