Mandaic alphabet

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The Mandaic alphabet is a writing system primarily used to write the Mandaic language. It is thought to have evolved between the second and seventh century CE from either a cursive form of Aramaic (as did Syriac) or from Inscriptional Parthian.<ref name="TUSME">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The exact roots of the script are difficult to determine.<ref name="DBWWS">Template:Cite book</ref> It was developed by members of the Mandaean faith of Lower Mesopotamia to write the Mandaic language for liturgical purposes.<ref name="TUSME"/> Classical Mandaic and its descendant Neo-Mandaic are still in limited use.<ref name="TUSME"/> The script has changed very little over centuries of use.<ref name="DBWWS"/><ref name="TUSME"/>

The Mandaic name for the script is Abagada or Abaga, after the first letters of the alphabet. Rather than the traditional Semitic letter names (aleph, beth, gimel), they are known as a, ba, ga and so on.<ref name="MandadaicHandbook">Template:Cite book</ref>

It is written from right to left in horizontal lines. It is a cursive script, but not all letters connect within a word. Spaces separate individual words.

During the past few decades, Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki, a Mandaean living in Australia, has digitized many Mandaean texts using typeset Mandaic script.<ref>Mandaean Network.</ref>

Letters

File:Mandaic chart from the Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic.png
Mandaic alphabet chart

The Mandaic alphabet contains 22 letters (in the same order as the Aramaic alphabet) and the digraph adu. The alphabet is formally closed by repeating the first letter, a, so that it has a symbolic count of 24 letters:<ref name="MandadaicDictionary">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Mandaeans1937">Template:Cite book</ref>

Mandaic alphabet<ref>This table can be viewed correctly using Firefox and the font Noto Sans Mandaic.</ref>
# Name<ref name="DBWWS"/> Letter Joining behavior Transliteration IPA<ref name="DBWWS"/> Unicode
code point
Right Medial Left Syriac Latin<ref name="DBWWS"/> Hebrew<ref name="MandadaicDictionary"/>
1, 24 a Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang a א /a/ U+0840 HALQA
2 ba Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang b ב /b/ U+0841 AB
3 ga Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang g ג /ɡ/ U+0842 AG
4 da Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang d ד /d/ U+0843 AD
5 ha Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang h ה /h/ U+0844 AH
6 wa Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang u ו /u, w/ U+0845 USHENNA
7 za Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang z ז /z/ U+0846 AZ
8 eh Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang -ẖ ח /χ/ U+0847 IT
9 ṭa Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang ṭ ט /tˤ/ U+0848 ATT
10 ya Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang i י /i, j/ U+0849 AKSA
11 ka Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang k כ /k/ U+084A AK
12 la Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang l ל /l/ U+084B AL
13 ma Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang m מ /m/ U+084C AM
14 na Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang n נ /n/ U+084D AN
15 sa Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang s ס /s/ U+084E AS
16 e Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang ʿ ע /e/ U+084F IN
17 pa Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang p פ /p/ U+0850 AP
18 ṣa Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang ṣ צ /sˤ/ U+0851 ASZ
19 qa Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang q ק /q/ U+0852 AQ
20 ra Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang r ר /r/ U+0853 AR
21 ša Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang š ש /ʃ/ U+0854 ASH
22 ta Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang t ת /t/ U+0855 AT
23 ḏ Template:Script Template:Script Template:Lang ḏ- דﬞ‎ /ð/ U+0856 DUSHENNA

Vowels

Unlike most other Semitic alphabets, vowels are usually written out in full. The first letter, a (corresponding to alaph), is used to represent a range of open vowels. The sixth letter, wa, is used for close back vowels (u and o), and the tenth letter, ya is used for close front vowels (i and e). These last two can also serve as the consonants w/v and y. The eighth letter corresponds to the Semitic heth, and is called eh; it is pronounced as a long i-vowel but is used only as a suffix for the third person singular.<ref name="Mandaeans1937"/> The sixteenth letter, e (Aramaic ayn), usually represents e at the beginning of a word or, when followed by wa or ya, represents initial u or i respectively.

A mark similar to an underscore (Template:Unichar) can be used to distinguish vowel quality for three Mandaic vowels. It is used in teaching materials but may be omitted from ordinary text.<ref name="L208270"/> It is only used with vowels a, wa, and ya. Using the letter ba as an example:

Gemination mark

A dot under a consonant (Template:Unichar) can be used to note gemination, indicating what native writers call a "hard" pronunciation.<ref name="L208270"/> Sample words include Template:Script (ekka) 'there is', Template:Script (šenna) 'tooth', Template:Script (lebba) 'heart', and Template:Script (rabba) 'great'.<ref name="L208270"/>

Ligatures

The 23rd letter of the alphabet is the digraph adu (da + ya), the relative particle<ref name="TUSME"/><ref name="MandadaicDictionary"/> (cf. Arabic tāʾ marbūṭah, Coptic letter "ti", and English ampersand).

In addition to normal joining behavior, some Mandaic letters can combine to form various ligatures:<ref name="DBWWS"/><ref name="L208270">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Both adu (Template:Unichar) and the old ligature kḏ (Template:Unichar) are treated as single characters in Unicode.

Similar characters

Due to their similar shapes, certain Mandaic characters are sometimes confused with each other by both historical Mandaean scribes and modern scholars, particularly in handwritten manuscripts. These include the following.<ref name="Häberl 2022">Template:Cite book</ref>

Extensions

Affrication mark

Postclassical and modern Mandaic use many Persian words. Various Mandaic letters can be re-purposed by placing two horizontally-aligned dots underneath (Template:Unichar). This idea is comparable to the four novel letters in the Persian alphabet, allowing the alphabet to be used to represent foreign sounds (whether affrication, lenition, or another sound):<ref name="L208270"/>

Ayin

Mandaic ayin (Template:Script) is borrowed from Arabic ayin (Template:Script).<ref name="TUSME"/> Unlike in Arabic, Mandaic ayin does not join with other letters.<ref name="L208270"/>

Punctuation and other marks

Punctuation is sparsely used in Mandaic text.<ref name="L208270"/> A break in text can be indicated by two concentric circles (Template:Unichar).<ref name="TUSME"/>

A horizontal low line (Template:Unichar) can be used to justify text.<ref name="TUSME"/>

Religious use

File:MS DC 41-9 - human figure.jpg
Illustration of Adam Kasia from Alma Rišaia Rba (DC 41), with the letters of the Mandaic alphabet inscribed inside

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Each letter of the Mandaic alphabet is said to represent a power of life and light.<ref name="Mandaeans1937"/> Mandaeans view their alphabet as magical and sacred.<ref name="Mandaeans1937"/><ref name="TUSME"/>

Acrostic hymns can be found in Mandaic literature, for example in Book 12 of the Right Ginza.<ref name="GR Gelbert">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Semitic alphabet contains 22 letters. In order to bring this number to 24, the number of hours in a day, adu was added and a was repeated as the last letter of the Mandaic alphabet.<ref name="MandadaicHandbook"/><ref name="Mandaeans1937"/> Without this repetition, the alphabet would be considered incomplete for magical purposes.<ref name="MandadaicHandbook"/>

Unicode

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

The Mandaic alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2010 with the release of version 6.0.

The Unicode block for Mandaic is U+0840–U+085F:

Template:Unicode chart Mandaic

See also

References

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