Hello! I recently downloaded a legacy font for Manday (Mandaic) called *Zazai*; I just started creating a Unicode version of this font, renamed *Zazay Unicode *. The Manday letters were remapped into their proper codepoints (from U+0840 to U+085F), and are named as follows: HALQA: 0840 BA: 0841 GA: 0842 DA: 0843 HA: 0844 USHENNA: 0845 ZA: 0846 HHA: 0847 TTA: 0848 IKSA: 0849 KA: 084A LA: 084B MA: 084C NA: 084D SA: 084E EN: 084F PA: 0850 SSA: 0851 QA: 0852 RA: 0853 SHA: 0854 TA: 0855 ADU: 0856 AKEDI: 0857 AYN: 0858 The 2-underdot *fricative* marker (name?!): 0859 The underbar * vocalization* marker (name?!): 085A The single underdot *gemination* marker (name?!): 085B The codepoint 085C is reserved. The small bullseye sign (Manday comma—name?!): 085D The large bullseye sign (Manday period—name?!): 085E The thick straight connector line (the Manday equivalent of the Arabic * tatwil*/*kashidah*—name?!): 085F Notice that HALQA is equivalent to ʾALEF/ALIF/HAMZAʾ, USHENNA to WAW, IKSA to YUDH/YAʾ, and EN to ʿAYIN/ʿAYN! The 0859 sign is placed *under* a similar-sounding Manday letter to indicate loan phonemes (those borrowed from Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Farsi, ... and so on): A (*halqa*) to ʾ; B to V; G to (velar) GH; D to DH; H to (pharyngeal) Ḥ; U (*ushenna*) to W; Z to ZH; H̱ to (laryngeal) *KH*; Ṭ to Ẓ; I (*iksa*) to Y; K to (velar) KH; S to CH; E (*en*) to ʿ; P to F; Ṣ to Ḍ; SH to J; T to TH, and AYN to (laryngeal) *GH*. The 085A vocalization sign is placed under the vocalic letters *halqa*, * ushenna*, and *iksa* (usually) to change their vowel sounds: A is lengthened to Ā; U lowered to O; and I lowered to E. The 085B sign placed under any letter functions like the Hebrew * daghesh-ḫazaq* and the Arabic *shaddaʾ*/*tashdid*—this sign then *geminates* (strengthens, doubles) the sound of the letter that the sign is placed under; when placed under SHA, it strengthens it to SSHA /ʃʃɑ/. Please provide the native Manday names for the signs in the range 0859 - 085F when you reply. I only have the *Zazai*/*Zazay* font so far; do any of you have any of the OTHER Manday fonts around (FürElise Manday, or any of the Ardwani Asabti typefaces, or the one with nice rounded strokes [like VAG Rounded])?! If so, please post these onto the Forums for us all to download. Thank You!
Robert Lloyd Wheelock International Symbolism Research Institute Augusta, ME U.S.A.
