C 88

Siglum: C 88
Alternative Sigla: Dunand 1379
Transliteration: l s²mt bn nṣr bn ṣn ʾmn mk w ts²[wq] l- bʿls¹my w l- bny dd -h w l- kll qyḥ f ʾlt w ds²r s¹lm w qbll ʾhl
OCIANA
Translation: By S²mt son of Nṣr son of Ṣnʾ the confidant of Mk and he {longed} for Bʿls¹my and the children of his paternal uncle and for every qyḥ so ʾlt and Ds²r let there be security and reunion with family.
OCIANA
Language and Script: Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: C: ns¹m for nṣr; ʾmn m- ḏ wts² "security for the family of Wts² [?]" for ʾmn mk w ts²[wq] "the confidant of Mk and {he longed }; w l- kl lqyḥ " and for all camels which give birth"; for w l- kll qyḥ " for every qyḥ"; w qbl l- ʾhl "and lodging for the troop" for w qbll ʾhl "and reunion with family".
Commentary: ʾmn could mean either "a confidant" or "a guard". The Nabataean kings Malichus I and II were often called mnkw in Nabataean (e.g. for Malichus I: CIS ii 174 [see Starcky 1985: 169], and for Malichus II: JSNab 10, JSNab 20, etc.). This was written mk in Safaitic with the inconsistent, but quite common, assimilation of n before a following consonant (see Al-Jallad 2015: 51). Thus, the author of C 88 could be claiming to be a confidant, or more likely a guard, of either Malichus I (c. 62/60/58–30 BC) or Malichus II (AD 40–70/71). The l before kll has a small side stroke at each end, but cannot be a r back-to-front (compare the r in nṣr and ds²r). Similarly the first l of kll has a small side-stroke at the top but cannot be a h (compare the h in dd-h and ʾhl). The k of kll is back-to-front We can offer no explanation for qyḥ.

Associated Drawings: An unfinished drawing of a female camel with hairy hump

Al-Jallad, A. An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 80). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
[CIS ii] Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars II Inscriptiones Aramaicas continens. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1889-1954.
[JSTham] Jaussen, A. & Savignac, M.R. Mission archéologique en Arabie. I. (Mars-Mai 1907) De Jérusalem au Hedjaz, Médain Saleh. II. El-ʿEla, d'Hégra à Teima Harrah de Tebouk. Texte et Atlas. III. Les châteaux arabes de Quṣeir ʿAmra, Ḫarâneh, et Tûba. (5 volumes). (Publications de la Société Française des Fouilles Archéologiques, 2). [Reprinted Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1997]. Paris: Leroux/Geuthner, 1909–1920.
[C] Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951.
[JSNab] Starcky, J. Les inscriptions nabatéennes et l'histoire de la Syrie méridionale et du Nord de la Jordanie. Pages 167-181 in J-M. Dentzer (ed.), Hauran I: recherches archéologiques sur la Syrie du Sud à l'époque hellénistique et romaine. (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique, 124.1). Paris: Geuthner, 1985.

Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA