epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

, a multilingual inscription is an inscription that includes the same text in two or more languages. A bilingual is an inscription that includes the same text in two languages (or trilingual in the case of three languages, etc.). Multilingual inscriptions are important for the

decipherment In philology, decipherment is the discovery of the meaning of texts written in ancient or obscure languages or scripts. Decipherment in cryptography refers to decryption. The term is used sardonically in everyday language to describe attempts to ...

of ancient

writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...

s, and for the study of ancient languages with small or repetitive corpora.

Examples

Bilinguals

Important bilinguals include: *the first known

Sumerian Sumerian or Sumerians may refer to: *Sumer, an ancient civilization **Sumerian language **Sumerian art **Sumerian architecture **Sumerian literature **Cuneiform script, used in Sumerian writing *Sumerian Records, an American record label based in ...

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

bilingual tablet dating to the reign of

Rimush Rimush (or Rimuš, ''Ri-mu-uš'') was the second king of the Akkadian Empire. He was the son of Sargon of Akkad and Queen Tashlultum. He was succeeded by his brother Manishtushu, and was an uncle of Naram-Sin of Akkad. Rimush reported having a sta ...

, circa 2270 BCE. *the ''

Urra=hubullu The ''Urra=hubullu'' ( ) is a major Babylonian glossary or " encyclopedia". It consists of Sumerian and Akkadian lexical lists ordered by topic. The canonical version extends to 24 tablets. The conventional title is the first gloss, ''ur5-ra ...

'' tablets (c. 2nd millennium BCE;

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

) in

and

; one tablet is a Sumerian-

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

bilingual glossary. *the bilingual Ebla tablets (2500–2250 BCE; Syria) in

and

Eblaite Eblaite (, also known as Eblan ISO 639-3), or Palaeo-Syrian, is an extinct East Semitic language used during the 3rd millennium BC by the populations of Northern Syria. It was named after the ancient city of Ebla, in modern western Syria. Varian ...

*the bilingual Ugarit Inscriptions (1400–1186 BCE; Syria): **tablets in Akkadian and Hittite **tablets in Akkadian and

Hieroglyphic Luwian Hieroglyphic Luwian (''luwili'') is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs. A decipherment was pr ...

**tablets in Sumerian and Akkadian **tablets in Ugaritic and Akkadian *the

Karatepe Bilingual The Karatepe bilingual (8th century BC), also known as the Azatiwada inscription, is a bilingual inscription on stone slabs consisting of Phoenician and Luwian text each, which enabled the decryption of the Anatolian hieroglyphs. The artifact ...

(8th century BCE; Osmaniye Province, Turkey) in Phoenician and

*the Tell el Fakhariya Bilingual Inscription (9th century BCE; Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria) in

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

and

*the

Çineköy inscription The Çineköy inscription is an ancient bilingual inscription, written in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician languages. The inscription is dated to the second half of the 8th century BC. It was uncovered in 1997 near the village of Çine, that ...

(8th century BCE; Adana Province, Turkey) in

and Phoenician *the Assyrian lion weights (8th century BCE; Nimrud, Iraq) in

(Assyrian dialect, using

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...

script) and

(using

Phoenician script The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician alph ...

) *the

Kandahar Edict of Ashoka The Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, also known as the Kandahar Edict of Ashoka and less commonly as the Chehel Zina Edict, is an inscription in the Greek and Aramaic languages that dates back to 260 BCE and was carved by the Mauryan e ...

(3rd century BCE; Afghanistan) in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

and

*the Amathus Bilingual (600 BCE; Cyprus) in Eteocypriot and

(

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

dialect) *the Idalion bilingual inscription that helped to decipher the Cypro-Syllabic script *the

Pyrgi Tablets The Pyrgi Tablets (dated ) are three golden plates inscribed with a bilingual Phoenician–Etruscan dedicatory text. They are the oldest historical source documents from pre-Roman Italy and are rare examples of texts in these languages. They we ...

(500 BCE; Lazio, Italy) in

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan ...

and Phoenician *the Kaunos Bilingual (330–300 BCE; Turkey), in Carian and

*the Philae obelisk (118 BCE; Egypt), in

Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

and

*the Rosetta Stone Series, in

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

(using Hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts) and

; they allowed the

decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs The writing systems used in ancient Egypt were decipherment, deciphered in the early nineteenth century through the work of several European scholars, especially Jean-François Champollion and Thomas Young (scientist), Thomas Young. Ancient Egy ...

(especially the last one) **the

Raphia Decree The Raphia Decree is an ancient inscribed stone stela dating from ancient Egypt. It comprises the second of the Ptolemaic Decrees issued by a synod of Egyptian priests meeting at Memphis under Ptolemy IV of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty, wh ...

(217 BCE; Memphis, Egypt) **the Decree of Canopus (238–237 BCE; Tanis, Egypt) **the

Rosetta Stone decree The Rosetta Stone decree, or the Decree of Memphis, is a Ptolemaic decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, Memphis by a council of priests confirming the royal cult of Ptolemy V in 196 BC. It is one of a series that affirm the royal cult of the king. It ...

(196 BCE; Egypt): the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle te ...

and the

Nubayrah Stele The Nubayrah Stele is a mutilated copy of the Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy V) on a limestone stele. The same decree is found upon the Rosetta Stone. From 1848, it was known that a partial copy of the Decree was on a wall at the Temple of Philae, b ...

*the Cippi of Melqart (2nd century BCE; Malta) in Phoenician and

; discovered in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in 1694, the key which allowed French scholar Abbé Barthelemy to decipher the Phoenician script *the

Punic-Libyan Inscription The Punic-Libyan bilingual inscriptions are two important ancient bilingual inscriptions dated to the 2nd century BC. The first known, the Cenotaph Inscription, was discovered in 1852, played a significant role in deciphering the Libyco-Berber scr ...

(146 BCE; Dougga, Tunisia) in Libyan and Punic; from the Mausoleum of Ateban, now held at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, it allowed the decipherment of Libyan *the ''

Monumentum Ancyranum Temple of Augustus and Rome is an augusteum located in Altındağ district of Ankara. It is thought to have been built around 25–20 AD. Besides being one of the most important Roman period ruins in the city, it is also known for ''Monumentum A ...

'' inscription (14 CE; Ankara, Turkey) in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and Greek; it reproduces and translates the Latin inscription of the '' Res Gestae Divi Augusti'' *the

Stele of Serapit The Stele of Serapeitis ( ka, სერაფიტას სტელა) is a funerary stele with bilingual inscriptions written in Ancient Greek and Armazic, a local idiom of Aramaic, found in 1940, at Armazi, near Mtskheta, in the ancient cap ...

(150 CE; Kartli, Tbilisi) in

and Armazic (a local variant of Aramaic) *the

Velvikudi inscription The Velvikudi inscription is an 8th-century bilingual copper-plate grant from the Pandya kingdom of southern India. Inscribed in Tamil and Sanskrit languages, it records the renewal of a grant of the Velvikudi village to a brahmana by the Pa ...

(8th century; India) in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

*the Valun tablet (11th century; Cres, Croatia) in Old Croatian (using Glagolitic script) and

*the Muchundi Inscription (13th century; Kozhikode, India) in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

*the ''

Kalyani Inscriptions The ''Kalyani Inscriptions'' ( my, ကလျာဏီကျောက်စာ), located in Bago, Burma (Myanmar), are the stone inscriptions erected by King Dhammazedi of Hanthawaddy Pegu between 1476 and 1479. Located at the Kalyani Ordinatio ...

'' (1479; Bago, Burma) in

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * An ...

and

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

(using

Burmese script Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (horse), a ...

) The manuscript titled '' Relación de las cosas de Yucatán'' (1566; Spain) shows the de Landa alphabet (and a bilingual list of words and phrases), written in Spanish and

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

; it allowed the decipherment of the

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

Maya script Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

in the mid-20th century.

Trilinguals

Important trilinguals include: *the trilingual Aphek-Antipatris inscription (1550–1200 BCE; Tell Aphek, Israel) in Sumerian, Akkadian and Canaanite; it is a lexicon *the trilingual Ugarit Inscriptions (1400–1186 BCE; Syria): **a dictionary (13th century BCE) in

and

. **a literary text in

and Hittite; it was imported from Hattusa. *the Behistun Inscription (522–486 BCE; Kermanshah Province, Iran) in

Old Persian Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was used in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record ...

and

( Babylonian dialect); it allowed the

decipherment of cuneiform The decipherment of cuneiform began with the decipherment of Old Persian cuneiform between 1802 and 1836. The first cuneiform inscriptions published in modern times were copied from the Achaemenid royal inscriptions in the ruins of Persepolis, wi ...

script *the Xanthos Obelisk (500 BCE; Xanthos, Turkey) in

, Lycian and

Milyan Milyan, also known as Lycian B and previously Lycian 2, is an extinct ancient Anatolian language. It is attested from three inscriptions: two poems of 34 and 71 engraved lines, respectively, on the so-called Xanthian stele (or Xanthian O ...

*the

Van Fortress The Fortress of Van (Armenian: Վանի Բերդ, also known as Van Citadel; ku, Kela Wanê; tr, Van Kalesi) is a massive stone fortification built by the ancient kingdom of Urartu during the 9th to 7th centuries BC, and is the largest example ...

inscription (5th century BCE; Van, Turkey) in

( Babylonian dialect), and

; it allowed the decipherment of Old Persian. *the

Letoon trilingual The Letoon trilingual, or Xanthos trilingual, is an inscription in three languages: standard Lycian or Lycian A, Greek, and Aramaic covering the faces of a four-sided stone stele called the Letoon Trilingual Stele, discovered in 1973 during the ...

(358–336 BCE; Turkey), in standard Lycian or Lycian A,

and

*the

Ezana Stone The Ezana Stone is an ancient stele still standing in modern day Axum in Ethiopia, the centre of the ancient Kingdom of Aksum. This stone monument, that probably dates from the 4th century of the Christian era, documents the conversion of King E ...

(356 CE; Aksum, Ethiopia) in Ge'ez,

Sabaean Sabean or Sabaean may refer to: *Sabaeans, ancient people in South Arabia **Sabaean language, Old South Arabian language *Sabians, name of a religious group mentioned in the Quran, historically adopted by: **Mandaeans, Gnostic sect from the marshl ...

and

*the Monumentum Adulitanum (3rd century CE; Adulis, Eritrea) in Ge'ez,

and

*the trilingual

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

for Meliosa (5th–6th century; Tortosa, Spain) in Hebrew, Latin and Greek; the Jewish headstone includes a pentagram and a five-branched menorah in the Latin text. *the Galle Trilingual Inscription (1409; Southern Province, Sri Lanka) in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

*the

Yongning Temple Stele The Yongning Temple Stele () is a stele erected by the Chinese Ming dynasty in 1413 with a trilingual inscription to commemorate the founding of the Yongning Temple (永寧寺) in the Nurgan outpost, near the mouth of the Amur River, by the eunu ...

(1413; Tyr, Russia) in

, Mongolian and Jurchen; ''see below''. *the '' Shwezigon Pagoda Bell Inscription'' (1557; Bagan, Burma) in

Burmese Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (hor ...

and

Quadrilinguals

Important quadrilinguals include: *the quadrilingual Ugarit Inscription (c. 14th century BC; Syria) in

and Ugaritic. *the

Myazedi inscription Myazedi inscription ( my, မြစေတီ ကျောက်စာ ; also Yazakumar Inscription or the Gubyaukgyi Inscription), inscribed in 1113, is the oldest surviving stone inscription of the Burmese language. "Myazedi" means "emerald stupa" ...

(1113; Bagan, Burma) in

Pyu Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Phyu Township Pyu Township is a township in Taungoo District in the ...

and

; it allowed the decipherment of Pyu. *the

(1413, Tyr, Russia) in

(using

Traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

characters), Jurchen, Mongolian (using

Mongolian script The classical or traditional Mongolian script, also known as the , was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946. It is traditionally writte ...

) and

Classical Tibetan Classical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetic after the Old Tibetan period. Though it extends from the 12th century until the modern day, it particularly refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from oth ...

; the Buddhist

mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

Om mani padme hum ' ( sa, ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ, ) is the six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. It first appeared in the Mahayana ''Kāraṇ ...

'' is transcribed from Sanskrit using 4 scripts arranged vertically on sides, and there is another Chinese text engraved on the front with abbreviated Mongolian & Jurchen translations on the back.

Inscriptions in five or more languages

Important examples in five or more languages include: *the ''

Sawlumin inscription The Sawlumin inscription ( my, စောလူးမင်း ကျောက်စာ ) is one of the oldest surviving stone inscriptions in Myanmar. The slabs were mainly inscribed in Burmese, Pyu, Mon and Pali, and a few lines in Sanskrit. Ac ...

'' (1053–1080; Myittha Township, Burma) in

and

(or Tai-Yuan, Gon (Khun or Kengtung) Shan; in

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...

script) *the Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass inscriptions (1342–1345; Beijing, China) in

(using the Tibetan variant of Ranjana script called Lanydza),

, Mongolian (using 'Phags-pa script),

Old Uyghur Old Uyghur () was a Turkic language which was spoken in Qocho from the 9th–14th centuries and in Gansu. History The Old Uyghur language evolved from Old Turkic after the Uyghur Khaganate broke up and remnants of it migrated to Turfan, Qomu ...

(using Old Uyghur script),

(using

characters) and Tangut; it engraves two different Buddhist

dharani Dharanis (IAST: ), also known as ''Parittas'', are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the Bud ...

-sutras transcriptions from Sanskrit using 6 scripts, another text ("Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda") in 5 languages (without Sanskrit version), and a Chinese & Tangut summary of one dharani-sutra. *the Stele of Sulaiman (1348; Gansu, China) in Sanskrit, Classical Tibetan, Mongolian, Old Uyghur, Chinese and Tangut (like the inscriptions at Juyong Pass); the Buddhist

'' is transcribed from Sanskrit using 6 scripts (last 4 arranged vertically), below another Chinese engraving.

Modern examples

Notable modern examples include: *the cornerstone of the UN headquarters (1949; New York, USA) in English,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, Chinese (using Traditional characters), Russian and Spanish; the text "

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

" in each official language and " MCMXLIX" (the year in

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

) are etched on stone. * Peace poles (since 1955; around the world), displaying each one the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in multiple languages (4–16 each one) *the Georgia Guidestones (1980, Elbert County, Georgia, USA), with two multilingual inscriptions **a short message at the top in four ancient languages, i.e., in

(Babylonian dialect; using

script),

(using

script) and

(using Hieroglyphic script) **the ten guidelines on the slabs in eight modern languages, i.e., in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Spanish, Swahili (using

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

(using

script),

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

(using

characters) and Russian (using

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...

). The

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...

(1948; Paris, France) was originally written in English and French. In 2009, it became the most translated document in the world (370 languages and dialects). Unicode stores 481 translations as of November 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Multilingual inscription Bilingualism

Examples

Bilinguals

Trilinguals

Quadrilinguals

Inscriptions in five or more languages

Modern examples

See also

References

External links