Sharper than an Indian sword

fearn · 27th July 2010, 04:05 AM

I partially agree that it's "ceremonial," but only in the sense that lontar writing (lontar is the palm leaf) was largely superseded by paper some time ago, so any recent set probably wasn't used day-to-day. Still, it's great to see this: I'd always thought that the knife and stylus were two separate pieces.

As a side note, the curving lines and open loops of the characters were designed so that writers wouldn't cut holes in the palm leaf or so weaken it (by cutting perpendicularly through the parallel leaf fibers) that the leaf would fall apart. Very function writing system.

Best,

F

27th July 2010, 04:05 AM	#11
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	I partially agree that it's "ceremonial," but only in the sense that lontar writing (lontar is the palm leaf) was largely superseded by paper some time ago, so any recent set probably wasn't used day-to-day. Still, it's great to see this: I'd always thought that the knife and stylus were two separate pieces. As a side note, the curving lines and open loops of the characters were designed so that writers wouldn't cut holes in the palm leaf or so weaken it (by cutting perpendicularly through the parallel leaf fibers) that the leaf would fall apart. Very function writing system. Best, F