GS 51

The final prepositional phrase lends itself to several interpretations: (1) The wood ʾasal- in Arabic can mean "brush (plant)" or "palm thorn". If we take ʾs¹{l}y here to mean the same thing, then the author was perhaps waiting, camouflaged by the brush. Perhaps ʾs¹{l}y is a plural form, *ʾas¹liyā or a fuʿlay patter, *ʾuslay. (2) Through metaphorical extension, the word ʾasal can also signify a lance(s), Arabic rimāḥ. If we understand the Safaitic word in this way, then we have a few options for translation: a. We can take ʾs¹{l}y as a lancer, with the nisba -y, and the author could be lying in wait above him: m- ʿl- ʾs¹{l}y "above a lancer". We can also translate ʾs¹{l}y as a "lancer regiment", producing: "and he lay in wait for enemies above a lancer regiment" b. We can assume that this is an ʾl dialect rather than a h- dialect and parse the sentence as mʿ- l- ʾs¹{l}y, "he lay in wait for enemies with the lancer" or perhaps "with the lance". c. We can treat ʾs¹{l}y as a toponym, perhaps a component of ʿl ʾs¹{l}y "the ʾs¹l heights". The word ʾs¹l occurs in a familiar toponym in Saudi Arabia, west of Riyadh, maʾsal. In this case, we have "he lay in wait for enemies from atop ʾs¹ly or from ʾs¹ly heights" C. The l of this word has a bit of damage in the middle that resembles an attempt at a loop. It is possible that the author intended a d, erred, and did not bother redoing it. If we restore a d here, we produce ʾs¹[d]y, which, among other things, could mean two or more (military) troops, following the meaning of ʾs¹d in OSA. Less likely, it could mean two lions. In this case, we can translate: "he lay in wait for enemies above two troops".

• GS 50
• GS 52