Khitan Small Script logogram for gold

In Khitan Small Script, 𘮝 is the logogram “gold.”

A logogram is a written sign for a whole word, rather than for a sound. In the Khitan spelling of Da Jin (“Great Jin”), this sign supplies “gold,” giving the Jurchen dynasty’s name its literal sense.

Khitan calendars also use 𘮝 for the yellow/gold term associated with the earth element. A dotted paired form, 𘮞, is recorded for the same term; dots on some Khitan logograms are thought to mark grammatical gender, but that explanation is not certain.

Why does 𘮝 look like 山?

In Khitan it means gold; in Chinese, 山 means mountain.

The outline is the same, but the sign belongs to a different writing system and represents a different word. Its shape does not tell you its Khitan sound.

In Khitan Small Script, a logogram can stand alone for a word, while phonograms—signs for sounds—usually group into blocks to spell words. This character is used as a logogram, not read as the Chinese character.

How did Khitan Small Script begin?

It was created to write the Khitan language.

Khitan was the language of the people who founded the Liao state in northern China. Historical records place the script’s creation about 925 and credit Yelü Diela; they say he drew inspiration from Uyghur writing. It was one of two distinct Khitan scripts, used alongside Khitan Large Script.

The earliest dated surviving small-script monument in a scholarly inventory is a 1053 epitaph for Yelü Zongjiao. Khitan Small Script appears mainly on tomb epitaphs and monuments, continued under the Jin dynasty, and later influenced the Jurchen writing systems.