Mandaic is a southeastern

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

variety in use by the

Mandaean Mandaeans ( ar, المندائيون ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. ...

community, traditionally based in southern parts of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and southwest

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, for their religious books. Classical Mandaic is still employed by

Mandaean priest A Mandaean priest or ''Rabbi'' refers to an ordained religious leader in Mandaeism. Overview All priests must undergo lengthy ordination ceremonies, beginning with tarmida initiation. Mandaean religious leaders and copyists of religious texts ho ...

s in liturgical rites. The modern descendant of Classical Mandaic, known as

Neo-Mandaic Neo-Mandaic, sometimes called the "''ratna''" ( ar, رطنة ''raṭna'' "jargon"), is the modern reflex of the Mandaic language, the liturgical language of the Mandaean religious community of Iraq and Iran. Although severely endangered, it sur ...

or Modern Mandaic, is spoken by a small section of Mandaeans around

Ahvaz Ahvaz ( fa, اهواز, Ahvâz ) is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province. Ahvaz's population is about 1,300,000 and its built-up area with the nearby town of Sheybani is home to 1,136,989 inhabitants. It is hom ...

and

Khorramshahr Khorramshahr ( fa, خرمشهر , also Romanization, romanized as ''Khurramshahr'', ar, المحمرة, romanized as ''Al-Muhammerah'') is a city and capital of Khorramshahr County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population wa ...

in the southern Iranian

Khuzestan province Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...

. Liturgical use of Classical Mandaic is found in

(particularly the southern portions of the country), in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

and in the diaspora (particularly in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Sweden, Australia and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

). It is an Eastern Aramaic language notable for its abundant use of vowel letters (''mater lectionis'' with ''aleph'', ''he'' only in final position, ''‘ayin'', ''waw'', ''yud'')) in writing, so-called ''plene'' spelling (

Mandaic alphabet The Mandaic alphabet is thought to have evolved between the 2nd and 7th century CE from either a cursive form of Aramaic (as did Syriac) or from the Parthian chancery script. The exact roots of the script are difficult to determine. It was deve ...

) and the amount of

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

and AkkadianStephen A. Kaufman, ''The Akkadian Influences on Aramaic'' (Assyriological Studies 19; Chicago: The University of Chicago: 1974). language influence on its lexicon, especially in the area of religious and

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

terminology. Mandaic is influenced by

Jewish Palestinian Aramaic Jewish Palestinian Aramaic or Jewish Western Aramaic was a Western Aramaic language spoken by the Jews during the Classic Era in Judea and the Levant, specifically in Hasmonean, Herodian and Roman Judea and adjacent lands in the late first m ...

, Samaritan Aramaic,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, in addition to Akkadian and Parthian.

Classification

Classical Mandaic belongs to the Southeastern group of Aramaic and is closely related to the

Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Jewish Babylonian Aramaic was the form of Middle Aramaic employed by writers in Lower Mesopotamia between the fourth and eleventh centuries. It is most commonly identified with the language of the Babylonian Talmud (which was completed in the se ...

dialect in the major portions of the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cent ...

, but less to the various dialects of Aramaic appearing in the incantation texts on unglazed ceramic bowls (

incantation bowl An incantation bowl, also known as a demon bowl, devil-trap bowl, or magic bowl, is a form of early protective magic found in what is now Iraq and Iran. Produced in the Middle East during late antiquity from the sixth to eighth centuries, particu ...

s) found mostly in central and south

as well as the

. It is less related to the northeastern Aramaic dialect of

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

Usage

This southeastern Aramaic dialect is transmitted through religious, liturgical, and esoteric texts, most of them stored today in the

Drower Collection This article contains a list of Mandaean texts (Mandaean religious texts written in Classical Mandaic). Well-known texts include the ''Ginza Rabba'' (also known as the ''Sidra Rabbā'') and the '' Qolastā''. Texts for Mandaean priests inclu ...

, Bodleian Library (Oxford), and in the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

(Paris), the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

(London) and in the households of various Mandaeans as

religious text Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pr ...

s. More specific written objects and of linguistic importance on account of their early transmission (5th – 7th centuries CE) are the earthenware incantation bowls and Mandaic lead rolls (

amulets An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

) (3rd–7th centuries CE), including silver and gold specimens that were often unearthed in archaeological excavations in the regions of their historical living sites between Wasiṭ and Baṣra, and frequently in central

, for example ( Bismaya,

Kish Kish may refer to: Geography * Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish * Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish * Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf * Kish, Iran, ...

, Khouabir,

Kutha Kutha, Cuthah, Cuth or Cutha ( ar, كُوثَا, Sumerian: Gudua), modern Tell Ibrahim ( ar, تَلّ إِبْرَاهِيم), formerly known as Kutha Rabba ( ar, كُوثَىٰ رَبَّا), is an archaeological site in Babil Governorate, Iraq. ...

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...

, Nippur), north and south of the confluences of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

and

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

(Abu Shudhr,

al-Qurnah Al-Qurnah (Kurnah or Qurna, meaning connection/joint in Arabic) is a town in southern Iraq about 74 km northwest of Basra, that lies within the conglomeration of Nahairat. Qurna is located at the confluence point of the Tigris and Euphrates riv ...

), and the adjacent province of

Khuzistan Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...

(

Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') (Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ham ...

Phonology

Consonants

* The glottal stop is said to have disappeared from Mandaic. * and are said to be palatal stops, and are generally pronounced as and , but are transcribed as /, /, however; they may also be pronounced as velar stops * and are noted as velar, but are generally pronounced as uvular and , however; they may also be pronounced as velar fricatives * Sounds , only occur in Arabic and Persian loanwords. * Both emphatic voiced sounds and pharyngeal sounds only occur in Arabic loanwords.

Vowels

* A short is often replaced by the short sound.

Alphabet

Mandaic is written in the

. It consists of 23 graphemes, with the last being a ligature. Its origin and development is still under debate. Graphemes appearing on

s and metal amulet rolls differ slightly from the late

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

signs.

Lexicography

Lexicographers of the Mandaic language include

Theodor Nöldeke Theodor Nöldeke (; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a German orientalist and scholar. His research interests ranged over Old Testament studies, Semitic languages and Arabic, Persian and Syriac literature. Nöldeke translated several ...

Mark Lidzbarski Mark Lidzbarski (born Abraham Mordechai Lidzbarski, Płock, Russian Empire, 7 January 1868 – Göttingen, 13 November 1928) was a Polish philologist, Semitist and translator of Mandaean texts. Early life and education Lidzbarski was born in Rus ...

, Ethel S. Drower,

Rudolf Macúch Rudolf Macuch (16 October 1919, in Bzince pod Javorinou – 23 July 1993, in Berlin) was a Slovak linguist, naturalized as German after 1974. He was noted in the field of Semitic studies for his research work in three main areas: (1) Mandaic st ...

, and

Matthew Morgenstern Matthew Morgenstern, also known as Moshe Morgenstern ( he, משה מורגנשטרן; born 1968 in London, United Kingdom), is an Israeli linguist and religious studies scholar known for his work on Eastern Aramaic languages, especially Mandaic. H ...

Neo-Mandaic

Neo-Mandaic represents the latest stage of the phonological and morphological development of Mandaic, a Northwest Semitic language of the

Eastern Aramaic The Eastern Aramaic languages have developed from the varieties of Aramaic that developed in and around Mesopotamia (Iraq, southeast Turkey, northeast Syria and northwest and southwest Iran), as opposed to western varieties of the Levant (modern ...

sub-family. Having developed in isolation from one another, most Neo-Aramaic dialects are mutually unintelligible and should therefore be considered separate languages. Determining the relationship between Neo-Aramaic dialects is difficult because of poor knowledge of the dialects themselves and their history.Charles Häberl, ''The Neo-Mandaic Dialect of Khorramshahr'', (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2009). Although no direct descendants of

survive today, most of the Neo-Aramaic dialects spoken today belong to the Eastern sub-family of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and Mandaic, among them Neo-Mandaic that can be described with any certainty as the direct descendant of one of the Aramaic dialects attested in Late Antiquity, probably Mandaic. Neo-Mandaic preserves a Semitic "suffix" conjugation (or perfect) that is lost in other dialects. The

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

of Neo-Mandaic is divergent from other Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects. Rudolf Macuch, ''Neumandäische Chrestomathie'' (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1989). Three dialects of Neo-Mandaic were native to

Shushtar Shushtar ( fa, شوشتر; also Romanized as Shūshtar and Shūstar and Shooshtar) is a city and capital of Shushtar County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. Shushtar is an ancient fortress city, approximately from Ahvaz, the centre of the province ...

, Shah Vali, and

Dezful Dezful ( fa, دزفول, pronounced , Dezfuli dialect: Desfil, pronounced ) also Romanized as Dezfūl and Dezfool; also known as Dīzfūl and Ab I Diz is a city and capital of Dezful County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its popu ...

in northern

Khuzestan Province Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...

before the 1880s. During that time, Mandeans moved to

and

to escape persecution. Khorramshahr had the most Neo-Mandaic speakers until the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...

caused many people to leave Iran.

is the only community with a sizeable portion of Neo-Mandaic speakers in Iran as of 1993. Rudolf Macuch, ''Neumandäische Texte im Dialekt von Ahwaz'' (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1993). The following table compares a few words in Old Mandaic with three Neo-Mandaic dialects. The Iraq dialect, documented by E. S. Drower, is now extinct.

References

Literature

. 1862. "Ueber die Mundart der Mandäer," ''Abhandlungen der Historisch-Philologischen Classe der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen'' 10: 81-160. *

. 1964. ''Mandäische Grammatik'', Halle: Waisenhaus; reprint Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft with Appendix of annotated handnotes from the hand edition of Theodor Nöldeke by Anton Schall. * Svend Aage Pallis. 1933. ''Essay on Mandaean Bibliography''. London: Humphrey Milford. *

Franz Rosenthal Franz Rosenthal (August 31, 1914 – April 8, 2003) was the Louis M. Rabinowitz professor of Semitic languages at Yale from 1956 to 1967 and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Arabic, scholar of Arabic literature and Islam at Yale from 1967 to 1985 ...

. 1939. "Das Mandäische," in ''Die aramaistische Forschung seit Th. Nöldeke’s Veröffentlichungen''. Leiden: Brill, pp. 224–254. * Ethel S. Drower and Rudolf Macuch. 1963. ''A Mandaic Dictionary''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. * Rudolf Macuch. 1965. ''Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic''. Berlin: De Gruyter. * Rudolf Macuch. 1989. ''Neumandäische Chrestomathie''. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz. * * Joseph L. Malone. 1997. ''Modern and Classical Mandaic Phonology,'' in ''Phonologies of Asia and Africa'', edited by Alan S. Kaye. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. * Rainer M. Voigt. 2007."Mandaic," in ''Morphologies of Asia and Africa,'' in ''Phonologies of Asia and Africa'', edited by Alan S. Kaye. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. * * *

Charles G. Häberl Charles G. Häberl (born 1976 in New Jersey, United States) is an American religious studies scholar, linguist, and professor. He is currently Professor of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures ( AMESALL) and Religion ...

. 2009. ''The Neo-Mandaic Dialect of

''.

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Harrassowitz Harrassowitz Verlag is a German academic publishing house, based in Wiesbaden. It publishes about 250 scholarly books and periodicals per year on Oriental, Slavic, and Book and Library Studies. The publishing house is part of the company Otto Ha ...

. * *

External links

Mandaic lexicon online

Semitisches Tonarchiv: Tondokument "Ginza Einleitung"
— a recording of the opening of the ''Ginza Rabba'' spoken by a Mandaean priest.
Semitisches Tonarchiv: Tondokument "Ahwâz Macuch 01 A Autobiographie"
— a recording of autobiographical material by Sâlem Çoheylî in Neo-Mandaic.
Mandaic.org
Information on the Neo-Mandaic Dialect of Khorramshahr {{Authority control Eastern Aramaic languages Languages of Iran Languages of Iraq Sacred languages Gnosticism