| Mandaic | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | Alphabet |
Period | 2nd century AD — present |
| Direction | Right-to-left script  |
| Languages | Classical Mandaic Neo-Mandaic |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Phoenician
|
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Mand(140), Mandaic, Mandaean |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Mandaic |
| U+0840–U+085F | |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
TheMandaic alphabet is awriting system primarily used to write theMandaic language. It is thought to have evolved between the second and seventh century CE from either a cursive form ofAramaic (as didSyriac) or fromInscriptional Parthian.[1][2] The exact roots of the script are difficult to determine.[3]It was developed by members of theMandaean faith ofLower Mesopotamia to write theMandaic language forliturgical purposes.[1] Classical Mandaic and its descendantNeo-Mandaic are still in limited use.[1] The script has changed very little over centuries of use.[3][1]
The Mandaic name for the script isAbagada orAbaga, after the first letters of thealphabet. Rather than the traditionalSemitic letter names (aleph,beth,gimel), they are known asa,ba,ga and so on.[4]
It is written from right to left in horizontal lines. It is acursive 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 usingtypeset Mandaic script.[5]
The Mandaic alphabet contains 22 letters (in the same order as the Aramaic alphabet) and the digraphadu. The alphabet is formally closed by repeating the first letter,a, so that it has a symbolic count of 24 letters:[6][7]
| # | Name[3] | Letter | Joining behavior | Transliteration | IPA[3] | Unicode code point | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Right | Medial | Left | Syriac | Latin[3] | Hebrew[6] | |||||
| 1, 24 | a | ࡀ | ـࡀ | ܐ | a | א | /a/ | U+0840 HALQA | ||
| 2 | ba | ࡁ | ـࡁ | ـࡁـ | ࡁـ | ܒ | b | ב | /b/ | U+0841 AB |
| 3 | ga | ࡂ | ـࡂ | ـࡂـ | ࡂـ | ܓ | g | ג | /ɡ/ | U+0842 AG |
| 4 | da | ࡃ | ـࡃ | ـࡃـ | ࡃـ | ܕ | d | ד | /d/ | U+0843 AD |
| 5 | ha | ࡄ | ـࡄ | ـࡄـ | ࡄـ | ܗ | h | ה | /h/ | U+0844 AH |
| 6 | wa | ࡅ | ـࡅ | ـࡅـ | ࡅـ | ܘ | u | ו | /u, w/ | U+0845 USHENNA |
| 7 | za | ࡆ | ـࡆ | ܙ | z | ז | /z/ | U+0846 AZ | ||
| 8 | eh | ࡇ | ـࡇ | ܚ | -ẖ | ח | /χ/ | U+0847 IT | ||
| 9 | ṭa | ࡈ | ـࡈ | ـࡈـ | ࡈـ | ܛ | ṭ | ט | /tˤ/ | U+0848 ATT |
| 10 | ya | ࡉ | ـࡉ | ܝ | i | י | /i, j/ | U+0849 AKSA | ||
| 11 | ka | ࡊ | ـࡊ | ـࡊـ | ࡊـ | ܟ | k | כ | /k/ | U+084A AK |
| 12 | la | ࡋ | ـࡋ | ـࡋـ | ࡋـ | ܠ | l | ל | /l/ | U+084B AL |
| 13 | ma | ࡌ | ـࡌ | ـࡌـ | ࡌـ | ܡ | m | מ | /m/ | U+084C AM |
| 14 | na | ࡍ | ـࡍ | ـࡍـ | ࡍـ | ܢ | n | נ | /n/ | U+084D AN |
| 15 | sa | ࡎ | ـࡎ | ـࡎـ | ࡎـ | ܣ | s | ס | /s/ | U+084E AS |
| 16 | e | ࡏ | ـࡏ | ـࡏـ | ࡏـ | ܥ | ʿ | ע | /e/ | U+084F IN |
| 17 | pa | ࡐ | ـࡐ | ـࡐـ | ࡐـ | ܦ | p | פ | /p/ | U+0850 AP |
| 18 | ṣa | ࡑ | ـࡑ | ـࡑـ | ࡑـ | ܨ | ṣ | צ | /sˤ/ | U+0851 ASZ |
| 19 | qa | ࡒ | ـࡒ | ـࡒـ | ࡒـ | ܩ | q | ק | /q/ | U+0852 AQ |
| 20 | ra | ࡓ | ـࡓ | ـࡓـ | ࡓـ | ܪ | r | ר | /r/ | U+0853 AR |
| 21 | ša | ࡔ | ـࡔ | ܫ | š | ש | /ʃ/ | U+0854 ASH | ||
| 22 | ta | ࡕ | ـࡕ | ـࡕـ | ࡕـ | ܬ | t | ת | /t/ | U+0855 AT |
| 23 | ḏ | ࡖ | ـࡖ | ܯ | ḏ- | דﬞ | /ð/ | U+0856 DUSHENNA | ||
Unlike most other Semitic alphabets, vowels are usually written out in full. The first letter,a (corresponding toalaph), is used to represent a range of open vowels. The sixth letter,wa, is used for close back vowels (u ando), and the tenth letter,ya is used for close front vowels (i ande). These last two can also serve as the consonantsw/v andy. The eighth letter corresponds to the Semiticheth, and is calledeh; it is pronounced as a longi-vowel but is used only as a suffix for thethird person singular.[7] The sixteenth letter,e (Aramaicayn), usually representse at the beginning of a word or, when followed bywa orya, represents initialu ori respectively.
A mark similar to an underscore (U+085A ◌࡚MANDAIC VOCALIZATION MARK) can be used to distinguish vowel quality for three Mandaic vowels. It is used in teaching materials but may be omitted from ordinary text.[9] It is only used with vowelsa,wa, andya. Using the letterba as an example:
A dot under a consonant (U+085B ◌࡛MANDAIC GEMINATION MARK) can be used to notegemination, indicating what native writers call a "hard" pronunciation.[9]Sample words includeࡀࡊ࡛ࡀ (ekka) 'there is',ࡔࡉࡍ࡛ࡀ (šenna) 'tooth',ࡋࡉࡁ࡛ࡀ (lebba) 'heart', andࡓࡁ࡛ࡀ (rabba) 'great'.[9]
The 23rd letter of the alphabet is the digraphadu (da +ya), the relative particle[1][6] (cf. Arabictāʾ marbūṭah,Coptic letter "ti", and Englishampersand).
In addition to normal joining behavior, some Mandaic letters can combine to form variousligatures:[3][9]
Bothadu (U+0856 ࡖMANDAIC LETTER DUSHENNA) and the old ligature kḏ (U+0857 ࡗMANDAIC LETTER KAD) are treated as single characters in Unicode.
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.[10]
Postclassical and modern Mandaic use manyPersian words. Various Mandaic letters can be re-purposed by placing two horizontally-aligned dots underneath (U+0859 ◌࡙MANDAIC AFFRICATION MARK). This idea is comparable to the fournovel letters in the Persian alphabet, allowing the alphabet to be used to represent foreign sounds (whetheraffrication,lenition, or another sound):[9]
Mandaicayin (ࡘ) is borrowed from Arabic ayin (ع).[1] Unlike in Arabic, Mandaic ayin does not join with other letters.[9]
Punctuation is sparsely used in Mandaic text.[9] A break in text can be indicated by two concentric circles (U+085E ࡞MANDAIC PUNCTUATION).[1]
A horizontal low line (U+0640 ـARABIC TATWEEL) can be used tojustify text.[1]
Each letter of the Mandaic alphabet is said to represent a power of life and light.[7]Mandaeans view their alphabet as magical and sacred.[7][1]
Acrostic hymns can be found inMandaic literature, for example in Book 12 of theRight Ginza.[11]
The Semitic alphabet contains 22 letters. In order to bring this number to 24, the number of hours in a day,adu was added anda was repeated as the last letter of the Mandaic alphabet.[4][7] Without this repetition, the alphabet would be considered incomplete for magical purposes.[4]
The Mandaic alphabet was added to theUnicode Standard in October, 2010 with the release of version 6.0.
The Unicode block for Mandaic is U+0840–U+085F:
| Mandaic[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+084x | ࡀ | ࡁ | ࡂ | ࡃ | ࡄ | ࡅ | ࡆ | ࡇ | ࡈ | ࡉ | ࡊ | ࡋ | ࡌ | ࡍ | ࡎ | ࡏ |
| U+085x | ࡐ | ࡑ | ࡒ | ࡓ | ࡔ | ࡕ | ࡖ | ࡗ | ࡘ | ࡙ | ࡚ | ࡛ | ࡞ | |||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
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