| Classical Nepal Bhasa | |
|---|---|
| Old Newar | |
| पुलाङु नेपाल भास | |
 A manuscript from the 16th century written in Classical Newar. | |
| Native to | Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, India |
| Era | Developed into Modern Nepal Bhasa in the 19th century |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Early forms | |
| Nepalese scripts: Ranjana script, Prachalit script, Bhujimol script Litumol script Other: Brahmi script, Kutila script, Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | nwc |
| ISO 639-3 | nwc |
| Glottolog | None |
Classical Newar or Classical Nepal Bhasa (Modern Newar: pulāṃ bhāy, 'old language') also known as Old Newar, is the vernacular and literary form of Nepal Bhasa used prior to the 19th century.[1] The term is most generally used to describe the form of Nepal Bhasa used in manuscripts and other sources from the Malla dynasty.[1][2][3]
The antiquity of the Newar language is not known. The Sanskrit stone inscriptions from the Licchavi Dynasty contains frequent use of Tibeto-Burman words, especially for proper nouns like names of person, settlements and rivers, suggesting the existence of a vernacular Tibeto-Burman language, which is believed to be an early form of the Newar language.[4][5]
- ^ a b Malla, Kamal Prakash (2000). A Dictionary of Classical Newari. Kahtmandu, Nepal: Cwasa Pasa. pp. vii. ISBN 99933-316-0-0.
- ^ Acharya, Baburam (1952). Nepal, Newar and Newari language. Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepal-Sanskritik Parisad.
- ^ Alan Hopkinson (2008) UNIMARC Manual: Bibliographic Format. Walter de Gruyter.
- ^ Shrestha, Purushottam Lochan (2001). Tripura ra Yuthunimama Durbara [The Royal Houses of Tripura and Yuthunimama] (in Nepali). Bhaktapur Offset Prints. p. 4. ISBN 99933-622-0-4.
- ^ Levy, Robert Isaac; Rājopādhyāya, Kedar Rāj (1990). Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. University of California Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-520-06911-4.