Thaana Script

Thaana is the writing system of the Maldivian language, spoken in the Maldives. It has characteristics of both an abugida, through its diacritics and vowel-killer strokes, and a true alphabet, because all vowels are written. Its consonants are derived from indigenous and Arabic numerals and its vowels from the vowel diacritics of the Arabic abjad, and Maldivian orthography in Thaana is largely phonemic. The script first appeared in Maldivian inscriptions towards the beginning of the fifteenth century in an early form known as Gabulhi Thaana, and the earliest known surviving Thaana inscription, dated to 1479, was found on a gravestone. The modern Thaana script was invented sometime before 1705, possibly as early as the sixteenth century.