So I'm a copy editor with an English degree and spelling and languages are kind of my thing. Recently I purchased a bunch of those "coin sets of all nations" for pretty cheap and I was breaking them out to upgrade my collection, as they were mostly uncirculated. Anyway, when I got to Bhutan I noticed strange inconsistencies with the naming. It goes 5 chetrums, 10 chetrums in 1975, then 10 chhertum in 1979, 20 and 25 chetrums, but then 25 chhertum in 1979, and 50 chhertum in 1979. I've never seen a language that does something like this. Two h's in a row, and why did they change the "r" from one side of the "t" to the other? And in case you think it's a Krause misprint, it's actually on the coins. Here are a few I have pictures of.
Interesting. From wiki: The ngultrum (/əŋˈɡʌltrəm/; Dzongkha: དངུལ་ཀྲམ [ŋýˈʈúm], symbol: Nu., code: BTN) is the currency of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is subdivided into 100 chhertum (Dzongkha: ཕྱེད་ཏམ [pt͡ɕʰɛ́ˈtám], spelled as chetrums on coins until 1979). T 25ch Dorje (a double diamond-thunderbolt) is a part of Coat of Arms and represents the harmony between secular and religious power Lettering: ཕྱེད་ཏམ་ཉརེ་འྔ TWENTY FIVE CHHERTUM
I can not read Uchen script, but i do read Brahmi and Nagari. The Tibetan Uchen script derives from Brahmi and has many similarities. I think the discrepancies derive from different factors. First Dzongkha is a tonal language which may be written down in different manners. I think the classical tibetan script has been modified a bit to cover Bhutanese sounds over time. Uchen script, like the Indic scripts is an abugida. That means every character is one or multiple consonants with an implicit vowel, usually "a". Small appendages may modify the vowel. This can not always be transliterated fully into an alphabet based script. In indic tradition, Chha, or Chcha, is one of the basic syllables. we just do not have it in western languages. Regarding the "Tr" in 1974, the character in uchen is actually written as "Rta". After this, it seems written as "Kr" ?
