Mandaic Affrication Mark

It changes the sound of the Mandaic consonant before it.

Different hosts produce different readings: ࡕ࡙ can mark a voiceless sound made with the tongue between the teeth; ࡐ࡙ can mark air passing between the lower lip and upper teeth; and ࡂ࡙ can mark a voiced friction sound formed at the back of the mouth. The name is narrower than the mark's function.

In text, the mark follows its host letter but is displayed beneath it. Teaching material uses it to clarify pronunciation, while ordinary text may omit it. Alone, it has no fixed sound.

How did the Mandaic script develop?

It developed from the writing used for Aramaic, an older Semitic language.

Mandaic writing is generally placed in the late Parthian period, especially the second century CE (the second century of the Common Era). Its letterforms are linked to Parthian administrative writing and to scripts associated with Elymais and Characene.

The oldest dateable Mandaean magical texts appear as inscriptions on bowls and lead tablets from the third or fourth century CE. These dates belong to the wider script and surviving texts, not specifically to this pronunciation mark.