Mandaeism
//ˈmændeɪ.ɪzəm// name
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 A monotheistic religion of the Iraqi region with a strongly dualistic and gnostic worldview, whose adherents (the Mandaeans) revere Adam and other Biblical figures, especially John the Baptist.
Etymology
From Aramaic 𐡌𐡍𐡃𐡏 (manda, “knowledge”) + -ism (from Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)). Although Mandaeism is the most widespread spelling in English, it is a hypercorrection. The expected derivation through Greek Μανδαϊσμός (Mandaïsmós) and Latin Mandaismus is Mandaism (compare with Judaism, from Ancient Greek Ἰουδαϊσμός (Ioudaïsmós), or with archaism, from Ancient Greek ἀρχαϊσμός (arkhaïsmós)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.