Mandaic Letter It

It marks a Mandaic sound and can also mark a word ending.

ࡇ represents a pharyngeal sound, made at the back of the throat; eḥ is one Latin-letter transliteration. In Neo-Mandaic, it can appear at the end of personal names or words as a third-person singular suffix, an ending linked to one person or thing being discussed. “It” is the letter's name, not an English translation.

Mandaic is an Eastern Aramaic language, and its script was developed for Mandaean worship. Written Mandaic includes ritual books, prayers, hymns, and ritual instructions.

Is Mandaic related to Syriac?

Yes. They are distinct Aramaic languages and script traditions.

Accounts place the script's development between the second and seventh centuries CE. One traces it to a cursive Aramaic script, a flowing handwritten form; another proposes the Parthian chancery script, the formal writing used by officials. Separately, Mandaic letter forms have links to Elymaean and Characene material from the second to third centuries CE.

Mandaean magical texts on bowls and lead tablets appear in the record from the third or fourth century CE. A Mandaic incantation bowl—an inscribed bowl used for a protective spell—from the fifth to seventh centuries CE was placed under a house threshold as a demon trap. Later written Mandaic centers on religious literature, while Neo-Mandaic is a modern spoken variety.