Mandaic alphabet

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.

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 scripts.

Letters

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:

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. 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 (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. It is only used with vowels a, wa, and ya. Using the letter ba as an example:

• ࡁࡀ‎ /bā/ becomes ࡁࡀ࡚‎ /ba/
• ࡁࡅ‎ /bu/ becomes ࡁࡅ࡚‎ /bo/
• ࡁࡉ‎ /bi/ becomes ࡁࡉ࡚‎ /be/

Gemination mark

A dot under a consonant (U+085B ◌࡛ MANDAIC GEMINATION MARK) can be used to note gemination, indicating what native writers call a "hard" pronunciation. Sample words include ࡀࡊ࡛ࡀ‎ (ekka) 'there is', ࡔࡉࡍ࡛ࡀ‎ (šenna) 'tooth', ࡋࡉࡁ࡛ࡀ‎ (lebba) 'heart', and ࡓࡁ࡛ࡀ‎ (rabba) 'great'.

Ligatures

The 23rd letter of the alphabet is the digraph adu (da + ya), the relative particle (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:

• ࡊࡃ‎ /kd/, ࡗ‎ /kḏ/, ࡊࡉ‎ /ki/, ࡊࡋ‎ /kl/, ࡊࡓ‎ /kr/, ࡊࡕ‎ /kt/, and ࡊࡅ‎ /ku/
• ࡍࡃ‎ /nd/, ࡍࡉ‎ /ni/, ࡍࡌ‎ /nm/, ࡍࡒ‎ /nq/, ࡍࡕ‎ /nt/, and ࡍࡅ‎ /nu/
• ࡐࡋ‎ /pl/, ࡐࡓ‎ /pr/, and ࡐࡅ‎ /pu/
• ࡑࡋ‎ /sˤl/, ࡑࡓ‎ /sˤr/, and ࡑࡅ‎ /sˤu/
• ࡅࡕ‎ /ut/

Both adu (U+0856 ࡖ MANDAIC LETTER DUSHENNA) and the old ligature kḏ (U+0857 ࡗ MANDAIC LETTER KAD) 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.

• ࡃ‎ /d/, ࡓ‎ /r/, ࡏ‎ /e/, ࡒ‎ /q/
• ࡅ‎ /u/, ࡉ‎ /i/
• ࡌ‎ /m/, ࡕ‎ /t/
• ࡊ‎ /k/, ࡍ‎ /n/, ࡐ‎ /p/
• ࡐࡀ‎ /pa/, ࡀࡍࡀ‎ /ana/, ࡔ‎ /ʃ/
• ࡑ‎ /sˤ/, ࡄࡍ‎ /hn/