Unicode Trivia U+0837

Codepoint: U+0837 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION MELODIC QITSA"
Block: U+0800..083F "Samaritan"

The Samaritan script was derived from the Paleo-Hebrew circa 600 BCE and was used alongside the Aramaic script in Judaism until the latter was repurposed as the Hebrew alphabet circa 100 BCE.

Samaritan is a right-to-left abjad with 22 basic consonants and diacritics to mark vowels:

Much is made of the extensive punctuation in the Samaritan script. Here are the fifteen codepoints of the "Punctuation" column (U+0830 to U+083E):

a. U+0830 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION NEQUDAA"

A central dot. Confusingly, the annotation for this codepoint says it's a "word separator". However, the original Unicode submission notes suggests that, along with U+0831, it should be treated as a sentence terminal with U+2E31 "WORD SEPARATOR MIDDLE DOT" used for Samaritan word separation. But the UCD confirms that U+0830 was not marked as a sentence terminator. Section 9.4 of Unicode Standard again suggests using U+2E31 to separate Samaritan words and that U+0830 is actually analogous to an English semicolon. Not to be confused with the combining U+082D "SAMARITAN MARK NEQUDAA" which is an editorial mark indicating that there is a variant reading of the word.

b. U+0831 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION AFSAAQ"

Literally "interruption". Section 9.4 of Unicode Standard describes it as "pause"; slightly longer than a semicolon. It does not terminate a sentence. Looks and acts like an English colon.

c. U+0832 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION ANGED"

Literally "restraint". A shorter pause than U+0831. Possibly analogous to an English comma.

d. U+0833 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION BAU"

Literally "prayer". Performative punctuation indicating that the preceding sentence is a request, prayer or humble petition.

e. U+0834 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION ATMAAU"

Literally "surprise". Performative punctuation indicating that the preceding sentence is an expression of surprise. Analogous to the English exclamation mark.

f. U+0835 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION SHIYYAALAA"

Literally "question". Performative punctuation indicating that the preceding sentence is a question. Analogous to the English question mark.

g. U+0836 "SAMARITAN ABBREVIATION MARK"

Follows an abbreviation. Analogous to an English full stop used in this way.

h. U+0837 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION MELODIC QITSA"

An end of section like U+0839. It indicates the end of a sentence which one should be read melodically.

i. U+0838 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION ZIQAA"

Literally "shouting". Performative punctuation indicating that the preceding sentence is shouted or cried out. Analogous to the English exclamation mark or, just possibly, SHOUTY CAPS.

j. U+0839 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION QITSA"

An end of section. It may be followed by a blank line. Analogous to a paragraph break.

k. U+083A "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION ZAEF"

Literally "outburst". Performative punctuation indicating that the preceding sentence is an outburst or said in anger. Analogous to the English exclamation mark.

l. U+083B "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION TURU"

Literally "teaching". Performative punctuation indicating that the preceding sentence is a didactic expression or teaching.

m. U+083C "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION ARKAANU"

Literally "submissiveness". Performative punctuation indicating that the preceding sentence is an expression of submissiveness.

n. U+083D "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION SOF MASHFAAT"

An end of sentence. Analogous to an English full stop.

o. U+083E "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION ANNAAU"

Literally "rest". Like U+0839 but indicates that a longer time has passed between actions narrated in the sentences it separates. Analogous to a paragraph break with a dinkus.

I agree that this is an impressive repertoire of punctuation. Latin typography is similarly rich, so I've tried to come up with an equivalence table:

Obviously, it's not a one-to-one mapping and these days you'd probably use symbols like "♫" or emoji for some of them.

I smiled when I saw that U+0837 "SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION MELODIC QITSA" comes at the end of the sentence. I had visions of performers suddenly coming across the marker and realising, too late, that they were meant to be singing or chanting the preceding text. I guess that's why subtitles use hash symbols at the beginning and end of lyrics.

In a similar vein, I've always found the English convention of putting exclamation marks and question marks only at the end of sentences bad for reading:

Have you finished?

Yes!

The Spanish convention seems much more sensible :

¿Has terminado?

¡Sí!