We are talking about the name of a script in a very specific context. In a general context, especially in Iran, when we are talking about how we write our language we call it Khaat-e-Farsi and it is the only correct word for the specific variation of Arabic Script that we use.
We usually don't talk about the common family of writing systems (scripts) that have common origin and share a great deal of common characteristics (all being primarily right to left, using cursive connection and position dependent glyph shapes, a couple of dozens of common characters, etc.) The target of the locale document prepared by Roozbeh's team is referring to the general name of this common root (which determines almost all of the key properties of our writing system)
In English, they call it Arabic Script, which correctly identifies its geographical origin and has nothing to do with nationalistic propaganda of any nation. They also have something called Extended-Arabic Script but it refers to more distant relatives of Arabic Script common in Africa. Our script is a close relative of Arabic Script, with only a few extra letters and rarely used marks plus the concept of compound word.
Unfortunately, in common Persian we rarely talk about the above concept and hence we don't have a common, well recognized term to convey the same meaning. If we don't like the Arabic word, we may substitute something like Islamic and call it Islamic Script. I don't mean to give it any religious weight, but just substituting the physical origin (Arabia) by culture that carried along this script into our country and a lot of other countries and caused a single writing system to become a family of closely related writing systems.
I suggest Roozbeh ask more expert (linguist) opinion to see if they have a Persian term for the above concept -- at least within their professional linguist circles.
This confusion among some potential audience of the document also indicates that you may need to add a footnote to explain the meaning of Arabic Script as intended in the locale document.
- Hooman Mehr
On Jun 9, 2004, at 9:37 PM, Peyman wrote:
The attached .jpg is a text from the book "pishineye zabane farsi" written by Dr. Safavi.
Peyman
Behdad Esfahbod <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi all,
Well, it depends on your point of view. Instead of bringing the
Pashto or Ordu case, lets have a look at the western equivalent.
They all call it Latin Script ("khatte laatin"), right? It's not
about language or font-style. And in computer software that's
what really matters.
Moreover from another point of view--the Unicode standard--we are
using the Arabic script, there's no such thing as Persian script
encoded in the Unicode standard.
behdad
On Wed, 9 Jun 2004, Ali A Khanban wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The name of the script, as in attachment, seems wrong. According to the
> constitution, the name of the language and script is Farsi (Persian).
> Look at
> http://www.iranonline.com/iran/iran-info/Government/constitution-2.html and
> http://www.moi.gov.ir/ghavanin/asasi.htm#three
>> I know that Persian script comes from Arabic and many may know it as
> Arabic, but are all the scripts with their root in Arabic script called
> Arabic? For example Pashto or Ordu?
>
> Best
> -ali-
>
> Roozbeh Pournader wrote:
>
> >I am glad to announce the availability of the first public draft of the
> >specification of locale requirements of Persian for Iran. The text tries
> >to specify the general requirements of internationalized software for
> >the Persian language of Iran. It's available from:
> >
> > http://www.farsiweb.info/locale/locale-0.6.pdf
> >
> >Please note that this is a draft, and needs your comments in order to
> >get improved and corrected. FarsiWeb's plan is to keep this a living and
> >maintained document. For feedback or comments, please email us at
> >, or call us at +98 21 602-2372. You! can also write
> >to us at the following address:
> >
> > Sharif FarsiWeb, Inc.
> > PO Box 13445-389
> > Tehran, Iran
> >
> >Also, please note that the documentation is published under a free
> >documentation license. For the exact details, see the text of the
> >license (and contact us or your lawyer in case of ambiguities, we are
> >able to explain the license or relicense the text in certain
> >conditions), but I wish to mention in short that the text is
> >copyrighted, and free documentation doesn't mean that you are allowed to
> >do anything you like with the text. You are allowed to use the
> >information you learn for any purpose of course, including using them in
> >proprietary software.
> >
> >The project has been funded and supported by the High Council of
> >Informatics of Iran, and the Computing Center of Sharif University of
> >Technology. We also wish to thank the Persian Linux project for helping
> >in the funding.
> >
> >I wish to thank Hamed Malek, Behnam Esfahbod, Houman Mehr, Elnaz Sarbar,
> >Behdad Esfahbod, Meelad Zakaria, Mehran Mehr, and the PersianComputing
> >community for their advice and contributions to the work. But as the
> >main contributor, every fault should only be blamed on me.
> >
> >Roozbeh Pournader
> >Sharif FarsiWeb, Inc.
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >PersianComputing mailing list
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >http://lists.sharif.edu/mailman/listinfo/persiancomputing
> >
> >
>
>
--behdad
behdad.org
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