Mandaic Gemination Mark

The consonant before the dot takes extra time to say. This is consonant gemination: a “double consonant” in pronunciation, not a second letter in the text. The mark follows the consonant it modifies.

The Mandaic script’s development is placed in the second century CE or earlier. Its route remains debated: one account traces it to Aramaic writing; another points to the Parthian chancery, a royal administration’s writing tradition. Connections with Elymaic and Characene, two other ancient regional scripts, are also discussed. The oldest datable Mandaean magical texts, from the third or fourth centuries CE, include ritual writing on bowls and lead tablets.

Examples in Latin transliteration include ekka (“there is”), šenna (“tooth”), lebba (“heart”), and rabba (“great”). Neo-Mandaic writing usually leaves gemination unmarked, so this dot is useful when teaching or pronunciation-focused text needs to show it.

How do I type the Mandaic gemination mark?

Place the mark immediately after its consonant. It is a nonspacing combining mark: the character sequence must put it after the Mandaic base consonant, and a shaping engine positions it below that letter. If it follows the wrong base, it marks the wrong consonant.

Font support varies: without a Mandaic font or complex-text shaping, the mark may disappear, appear as a box, or sit apart from the consonant. If it looks wrong, check the font and the character just before it.