Sukhothai script

The Sukhothai Script

The Sukhothai script is an old way of writing. It started in the Sukhothai Kingdom. People also call it the proto-Thai script or the Ram Khamhaeng alphabet. This script was used for important messages long ago.

One famous example is on the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription. It shows how people wrote many years ago. The Sukhothai script is a type of Brahmic script. This means it is related to other writing systems used in parts of Asia.

The Sukhothai script came from a relaxed, flowing style of the Khmer script. Experts think it was created around the late 1200s by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great. It was first seen on an important stone writing called the Ram Khamhaeng stele.

From Sukhothai, this writing style spread to nearby areas like Lan Chang, Lan Na, and Ayutthaya. Over time, it changed a little but stayed very similar. In the south, it became the modern Thai script. In the north, it turned into the Fakkham script, which had longer, pointier letters.

The Sukhothai script was written from left to right. It did not use spaces between words, capital letters, or punctuation marks at the end of sentences. This script included 39 symbols for consonant sounds. It was the first in the world to use special marks to show different tones in words.