Syriac Rbasa Below

ܷ marks an e-like vowel, like the e in “bed,” below a letter in West Syriac writing. In present-day teaching and careful reading, vowel points guide pronunciation; alone, it may float without a host letter.

Text symbol

Also called: rbasa · rbōṣō
Search it as: rbāṣā · rboso · Syriac vowel point · West Syriac e
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ܷ means

Read ܷ with its Syriac host as an e-like vowel. Type the host letter first, then this West Syriac point.

The earliest dated manuscript evidence for Syriac diacritical points is from 411 CE. Early dots distinguished identical spellings; later vowel marks supported biblical reading and teaching as Arabic became dominant.

West Syriac rbasa follows Greek epsilon Ε in shape. Greek-derived West Syriac vowel signs appear in dated manuscripts from the tenth and eleventh centuries. Jacob of Edessa proposed a system earlier, but that does not prove he invented it alone.