InMandaeism,manda (Classical Mandaic:ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀ) is the concept ofgnosis or spiritualknowledge.[1] Mandaeans stress salvation of the soul through secret knowledge (gnosis) of its divine origin.[2] Mandaeism "provides knowledge of whence we have come and whither we are going."[3]: 531
On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects,Semiticists such asMark Lidzbarski andRudolf Macúch have translated the termmanda as "knowledge" (cf.Imperial Aramaic:מַנְדַּעmandaʻ inDan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf.Hebrew:מַדַּעmaddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd-, hence becoming -dd-[4]). In his 1965 Mandaic handbook,Macúch suggests that due to the special religious use of the word, -n- was added in order to make it unique from other words with the same root.[5]
Mandaia (Classical Mandaic:ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡀ,lit. 'Gnostic, Knower, Enlightened One'; plural:Mandaiiaࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ) is a Mandaic term that refers to a Mandaean layperson, as opposed to aNaṣuraia (Mandaean priest).[9]: 116
^Angel Sáenz-Badillos,A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge University Press, 1993 (ISBN978-0521556347), p. 36et passim. (See alsoBiblical Hebrew phonology#Classification: "Hebrew also shares with the Canaanite languages ... assimilation of non-final /n/ to the following consonant.")
^Macúch, Rudolf (1965).Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
