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Linear1

by Thomas Heller

Description

Linear1 is an experimental script that can be used to represent alphabets with up to 23 distinct characters. Its main properties are:

Linear1 is written left to right, top to bottom here, but can be used to write from right to left as well, especially since its characters are vertically symmetrical. See also Linear2 and Ringscripts, Starscripts and Tunnelscripts for more experimentation with writing direction.

Example text



"The history of Linear1 script is very long and complicated. Many tried to decipher its meaning, but very few have succeeded. May you, blessed traveller, grasp its secret!"

Characters

No. Glyph English name Symbol Position R/A O/C Shifts Latin
1 upper circle upper circle circle upper round closed 1 a
2 lower circle lower circle circle lower round closed 1 b
3 double circle double circle circle symmetrical round closed 2 c
4 upper double circle upper double circle double circle upper round closed 2 d
5 lower double circle lower double circle double circle lower round closed 2 e
6 double double circle double double circle double circle symmetrical round closed 4 f
7 hill hill curve upper round open 2 g
8 valley valley curve lower round open 2 h
9 double curve double curve curve symmetrical round closed 2 i
10 upper heart upper heart heart upper round closed 3 j
11 lower heart lower heart heart lower round closed 3 k
12 double heart double heart heart symmetrical round closed 5-6 l
13 upper braid upper braid braid upper round closed 3 m
14 lower braid lower braid braid lower round closed 3 n
15 peak peak tip upper angular open 3 o
16 mirrored peak mirrored peak tip lower angular open 3 p
17 diamond diamond tip symmetrical angular closed 5 q
18 upper box upper box box upper angular open 4 r
19 lower box lower box box lower angular open 4 s
20 double box double box box symmetrical angular closed 6 t
21 inverse pyramid inverse pyramid triangle upper angular closed 4 u
22 inverse pyramid mirrored inverse pyramid mirrored triangle lower angular closed 4 v
23 hourglass hourglass triangle symmetrical angular closed 6 w
- space space - - - - 0  

Stick extension

To represent all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, 3 more characters are needed. To compensate for this, the following stick symbols can be used in addition to the 23 main characters:

No. Glyph English name Symbol Position R/A O/C Shifts Latin
24 upper stick upper stick stick upper angular - 3 x
25 lower stick lower stick stick lower angular - 3 y
26 double stick double stick stick symmetrical angular - 4 z

These characters do not fulfill Linear1's second property of not writing over the same line again, but they fulfill Linear1's first property that all text is written as a continuous line. Because sticks are fairly easy to write, they are nonetheless presented here as the recommended way for writing additional letters.

Download

Sorry, there is no vector font of Linear1 yet, but if you want to experiment with Linear1 yourself, you can download PNG files for all characters in the following formats:

Images are in the png subdirectory of the archives.

HTML Generator

The following helper can be used to generate HTML code that makes use of the PNG "font". Enter some Latin characters (from the "Latin" columns above), click "generate" and corresponding <img> tags will appear.

Input

Preview

Output


Copyright © 2021 by Thomas Heller [ˈtoːmas ˈhɛlɐ]