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The script that turned the page sideways.
Also known as: Sogdian alphabet
The Silk Road script of the Sogdians, from which the Uyghur and Mongolian verticals descend.
Writes Sogdian, the trade language of the Silk Road.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Rotated ninety degrees to run vertically under Chinese influence, carrying its letters with it, which is why the Mongolian and Manchu scripts descend from a right-to-left Semitic alphabet and are written downward.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Aramaic-derived letters joined along a continuous line, written horizontally right to left in earlier use and later rotated to run in vertical columns.
The Mongolian vertical script descends from Sogdian by way of Uyghur, carrying the rotation with it.