Syriac letter Dalath

On a phonetic Syriac layout, try the d key. The exact mapping depends on the layout you installed.

If the result is a square, check the font. The input can be correct even when the selected font cannot display Syriac letters.

What sound and grammatical job does ܕ have?

It writes /d/ and can also have a softer voiced sound. In its hard reading, Dalath has the d sound. In its soft reading, it has the voiced “th” heard in English “this”; the mark that signals the reading is separate from the letter.

The Syriac script took shape in an Aramaic writing environment around Edessa, though its precise path among earlier regional scripts is debated. The earliest unmistakably Syriac inscription known is the Birecik stone, dated 6 CE. Syriac appears in inscriptions, mosaics, and practical records such as a bill of sale; a regular Estrangela hand appears in the first dated Syriac manuscript (411 CE).

Dalath also has a grammatical job: in some Syriac genitive constructions, it links nouns in a relation like “X of Y.”

Why can ܕ look like ܪ in early writing?

A dot distinguishes them in later Syriac writing. Dalath’s dot sits below the letter and Rish’s above. Earlier writing can omit the dots, leaving the two genuinely ambiguous.

Estrangela, Serto, and East Syriac are historical Syriac writing styles with different shapes. The script has also been used for Neo-Aramaic varieties and for Arabic written in Syriac letters, known as Garshuni.