Ahom (language)

Characters of the Ahom

The Ahom language is a lost language , with its own writing system, the Ahom script , which was spoken by the conquerors of Assam between the 13th and 19th centuries .

The Ahom called themselves Tai . In Assamese they were called Asam ( pronounced ohom today ), which leads back to the Shan and Siam . The state of Assam is named after them.

The Ahom invaded Assam in the 13th century and formed a kingdom. During the 18th century their power began to wane, eventually the Burmese and, in their wake, the British took over power in Assam. Although the British granted the Ahom the upper part of Assam, the court language had now become Assamese.

Ahom had a rather minor influence on Assamese. Yet the Ahom kings exerted an influence on literature that is almost unique in India. The buranji , a kind of court chronicle, was founded in the 16th century and is one of the best works of Assamese literature.

The Ahom alphabet has 41 letters. Although it is certain that Ahom, like the other Tai languages, was a tonal language , the tones were not explicitly written. You are not known.

The first ten numerals of Ahom are:

it

chang

cham

chi

Ha

ruk

cit

pet

kao

chip

Single receipts

1. ↑ Faulmann, p. 160

literature

• Carl Faulmann : The Book of Scripture . BiblioBazaar 2008 (repr. Of the 1880 edition).