Editing Vietnamese language (section)

=== Chữ Nôm ===
{{main|Chữ Nôm}}
From around the 13th century, Vietnamese scholars used their knowledge of the Chinese script to develop the {{lang|vi|chữ Nôm}} ({{literal translation|Southern characters}}) script to record folk literature in Vietnamese. The script used Chinese characters to represent both borrowed [[Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary]] and native words with similar pronunciation or meaning. In addition, thousands of new compound characters were created to write Vietnamese words using a variety of methods, including [[phono-semantic compound]]s.{{sfn|DeFrancis|1977|p=24–26}}
For example, in the opening lines of the classic poem ''[[The Tale of Kieu|The Tale of Kiều]]'',
* the Sino-Vietnamese word {{lang|vi|mệnh}} 'destiny' was written with its original character {{linktext|lang=zh|命}};
* the native Vietnamese word {{lang|vi|ta}} 'our' was written with the character {{linktext|lang=zh|些}} of the homophonous Sino-Vietnamese word {{lang|vi|ta}} 'little, few; rather, somewhat';
* the native Vietnamese word {{lang|vi|năm}} 'year' was written with a new character 𢆥 that is compounded from {{linktext|lang=zh|南}} {{lang|vi|nam}} and {{linktext|lang=zh|年}} 'year'.
The oldest example of an early form of the {{lang|vi|Nôm}} is found in a list of names in the Tháp Miếu Temple Inscription, dating from the early 13th century AD.<ref name=Holcombe>{{Cite book |last=Holcombe |first=Charles |title=A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1107544895 |page=207}}</ref><ref name=Kornicki>{{Cite book |last=Kornicki |first=Peter |title=Languages, Scripts, and Chinese Texts in East Asia |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-192-51869-9|page=63}}</ref>
{{lang|vi|Nôm}} writing reached its zenith in the 18th century when many Vietnamese writers and poets composed their works in {{lang|vi|Nôm}}, most notably [[Nguyễn Du]] and [[Hồ Xuân Hương]] (dubbed "the Queen of Nôm poetry"). However, it was only used for official purposes during the brief [[Hồ dynasty|Hồ]] and [[Tây Sơn dynasty|Tây Sơn]] dynasties (1400–1406 and 1778–1802 respectively).{{sfn|DeFrancis|1977|pp=32, 38}}

A [[Catholic Church in Vietnam|Vietnamese Catholic]], [[Nguyễn Trường Tộ]], unsuccessfully petitioned the Court suggesting the adoption of a script for Vietnamese based on Chinese characters.{{sfn|DeFrancis|1977|pp=101–105}}{{sfn|Marr|1984|p=145}}