ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N1638
DATE: 1997-09-18

DOC TYPE:Expert contribution
TITLE:Proposal to encode Meroitic in Plane 1 of ISO/IEC 10646-2
SOURCE:Michael Everson, EGT (IE)
PROJECT:JTC1.02.18.02
STATUS:Proposal.
ACTION ID:FYI
DUE DATE:--
DISTRIBUTION:Worldwide
MEDIUM:Paper and web
NO. OF PAGES:4

A. Administrative

1. TitleProposal to encode Meroitic in Plane 1 of ISO/IEC 10646-2
2. Requester's nameMichael Everson
3. Requester typeExpert request
4. Submission date1997-09-18
5. Requester's reference 
6a. CompletionThis is a complete proposal.
6b. More information to be provided?No

B. Technical -- General

1a. New script? Name?Yes. Meroitic
1b. Addition of characters to existing block? Name?No.
2. Number of characters24
3. Proposed categoryCategory D
4. Proposed level of implementation and rationaleLevel 1
5a. Character names included in proposal?Yes
5b. Character names in accordance with guidelines?Yes
5c. Character shapes reviewable?Yes
6a. Who will provide computerized font?Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta
6b. Font currently available?Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta
6c. Font format?TrueType
7a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts, etc.) provided?No.
7b. Are published examples (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources) of use of proposed characters attached?No
8. Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing?No

C. Technical -- Justification

1. Contact with the user community?No.
2. Information on the user community?Scholarly community.
3a. The context of use for the proposed characters?Used to write Meroitic.
3b. Reference 
4a. Proposed characters in current use?Yes
4b. Where?By scholars.
5a. Characters should be encoded entirely in BMP?No. Positions U+0001 33E0 - U+0001 33FF are proposed for the encoding.
5b. RationaleAccordance with the Roadmap.
6. Should characters be kept in a continuous range?Yes
7a. Can the characters be considered a presentation form of an existing character or character sequence? Meroitic is derived from Egyptian hieroglyphic, but is a unique alphabetic writing system.
7b. Where? 
7c. Reference 
8a. Can any of the characters be considered to be similar (in appearance or function) to an existing character?No
8b. Where? 
8c. Reference 
9a. Combining characters or use of composite sequences included?No
9b. List of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images provided?No
10. Characters with any special properties such as control function, etc. included?No

D. SC2/WG2 Administrative

To be completed by SC2/WG2
1. Relevant SC 2/WG 2 document numbers: 
2. Status (list of meeting number and corresponding action or disposition) 
3. Additional contact to user communities, liaison organizations etc. 
4. Assigned category and assigned priority/time frame 
Other Comments 

Issues

Identification of the corresponding Egyptian hieroglyphic character may be useful, but it appears that several of the characters may in fact be unique to the Meroitic script. Should the parenthetical links be kept?

Monumental and handwritten Meroitic have vastly different glyph representations. Both are given here. It would be an advantage to implementors of this script to allow the two tables to be printed in the standard.


Names and code table

000	0001 xx00	MEROITIC LETTER A (A1)
001	0001 xx01	MEROITIC LETTER E (H6)
002	0001 xx02	MEROITIC LETTER EE (F1)
003	0001 xx03	MEROITIC LETTER I (A26)
004	0001 xx04	MEROITIC LETTER J (M17)
005	0001 xx05	MEROITIC LETTER W (V4)
006	0001 xx06	MEROITIC LETTER B (E11)
007	0001 xx07	MEROITIC LETTER P (Z28)
008	0001 xx08	MEROITIC LETTER M (G17)
009	0001 xx09	MEROITIC LETTER N (N35)
010	0001 xx0A	MEROITIC LETTER NY (M23)
011	0001 xx0B	MEROITIC LETTER R (N33 N37) ??????????
012	0001 xx0C	MEROITIC LETTER L (E23)
013	0001 xx0D	MEROITIC LETTER H (D21) ??????????
014	0001 xx0E	MEROITIC LETTER HH (W24) ??????????
015	0001 xx0F	MEROITIC LETTER S (N24) ??????????
016	0001 xx10	MEROITIC LETTER SH (L22)
017	0001 xx11	MEROITIC LETTER K (G39)
018	0001 xx12	MEROITIC LETTER Q (M44)
019	0001 xx13	MEROITIC LETTER T (V13)
020	0001 xx14	MEROITIC LETTER TEE (04) ??????????
021	0001 xx15	MEROITIC LETTER TE (F18A) ??????????
022	0001 xx16	MEROITIC LETTER D (D10)
023	0001 xx17	MEROITIC WORD SEPARATOR
031	0001 xx18	(This position shall not be used)
031	0001 xx19	(This position shall not be used)
031	0001 xx1A	(This position shall not be used)
031	0001 xx1B	(This position shall not be used)
031	0001 xx1C	(This position shall not be used)
031	0001 xx1D	(This position shall not be used)
031	0001 xx1E	(This position shall not be used)
032	0001 xx1F	(This position shall not be used)

HTML Michael Everson, everson@indigo.ie, http://www.indigo.ie/egt, Dublin, 1997-09-18