Avestan Letter Le

Use an Avestan-capable font and its assigned input mapping.

Some Avestan font workflows give letters custom key assignments, so the keystroke depends on the font and input method.

What does 𐬮 represent, and why was this script developed?

It represents the l sound in Pazand.

𐬮 adapts the Avestan letter Re 𐬭 for Pazand, a Middle Persian tradition written with Avestan letters. In Latin transliteration, its value is written l; within a word, it marks a sound rather than a whole word meaning.

The Avestan script developed in the Sasanian period, perhaps by the fourth century CE, after Avestan had long been recited aloud. Its large set of letters recorded distinctions important to liturgical pronunciation. The oldest surviving Avestan manuscript is dated 1288. The forms drew mainly on Pahlavi, the cursive script used for Middle Persian, which has roots in Aramaic; Avestan writing distinguished sounds that Pahlavi had combined.

What does it mean if someone sends 𐬮?

Treat it as a script sample unless context says otherwise.

A Unicode document from 2002 describes Avestan writing in liturgical and scholarly use among Zoroastrians and Iranianists.